Kelsey Gorman '11

Last Week

This week was my last week at Van Meter Industrial. It was a bittersweet goodbye. I am excited to get back to school and go home but I have really loved the company. The environment may be one-of-a-kind. There is a hierarchy, but at a meeting I am comfortably speaking with anyone. Yesterday, the president and CEO gave me a hug goodbye. That really touched me. Also, yesterday there was a lunch to celebrate someone returning to work. He was off of work for several months due to cancer. It was a very touching experience which included the cancer survivor receiving a plaque from his boss. I have learned so much about job expectations, work norms, work behavior, and business life. I definitely will not forget my summer at VMI and I will use what I learn to become more successful in the future.

Week 10

When I came back to work, there were flowers and a sympathy card sitting at my desk. It really made me feel like a part of the team and I really appreciated the gesture. There was also the letter "K" and a note from my manager. She gave everyone the first letter of their name a note saying how she appreciates us. It was really easy to transition back into work and I definitely missed work while I was gone. Another intern and I are working on finalizing plans for the internship program for next year. Plans are to increase the program and to have it become more standardized with people starting on the same date. It is really exciting to know that something I am working on now will affect other interns next summer. It is crazy to think that my internship is almost done. It has honestly gone by so quickly and I have complete many different tasks and projects.

Week 8 and 9

This past week, I only worked for 2 days because my family drove to Oklahoma for a funeral. The week before was a good, busy week. The first intern left last week which felt very weird. It really does feel like I am losing a good friend. The HR department received flowers and chocolates from “secret admirers”. The card was addressed to everyone (including me) and signed with people's nicknames. I think it just shows how people enjoy the company and the people they work with. Also, their was a blood drive. Many people participated from the CDC and the building I work in. I was told that the blood drive happens once a year. I also observed new employee orientation. The new employees meet many people including the president and learn all about the company and the benefits of being an employee. I also worked on some more filing as well as typing up a report and recommendations from the CDC meetings.

Week 7

This week I was kept pretty busy. I finished all the I-9s and wrote up a summary of how to properly fill out and correct I-9s. I also had the opportunity to listen to a termination over the phone. It was interesting because since your couldn’t see the employee you couldn’t tell how he was feeling and reacting. It was tough to listen to and hard for the people who did the terminating. There was also several meetings at the warehouse about improvements that I took notes on. The overall department I work in, Organizational Effectiveness, volunteered at Matthew 25. Matthew 25 is an organization that provides free lunches for children and adults. OE served meals for a week. It was a really rewarding experience. I am proud to be apart of a company that values service and community so much, even if it is only for a summer.

Week 6

The highlight of this past week has was going to the IAICE conference. Even though I have never felt put down by being an intern, it was very nice for people not to know that I was an intern. I felt more valued and I had the same experience as everyone else. It was so informative and just a good experience all around. There was a session on unpaid versus paid internships. Another session included information about international students. I didn’t realize how hard it is for a student to stay over in the US after graduation and extremely hard to stay here permanently.

This week, I also had the opportunity to sit on phone interviews. I was asked my opinion on one of them and I was told that I had good observations and insights. It was nice to hear that I have good observations and ideas. That all happened on one day/ It is easy to say that that was my favorite day so far.

Week 4

This week I started the I-9 audit, which took up a lot of time. My favorite part of this week was probably having lunch over at the warehouse. We discussed job shadowing with the warehouse managers. It was really interesting because the managers honestly wanted our opinion on what we thought of our experience and any way that they could improve the warehouse. It is really interesting because they are really concentrated on safety and ways to help out the employees and customers. Everyone in the warehouse is really proud of how VMI concentrates on serving its customer. I also set up phone screens for several different positions. I get the opportunity to sit it on some of the phone screens so I am very excited about that!

Week 3

This week I finished my filing project (which they expected to take the whole summer). It looks much better and I am proud of the finished result. My manger had mentioned that there will be more projects coming my way so I am excited to see what those projects will be. I have been researching flex time for shift workers and drivers. There are not many companies that have the option of flex time in these areas. Also, I have been doing research on pre-employment exams for different jobs including sales, warehouse, manager, customer service, information technology, and others.

Week 3

This past week went by fast. The upper management was gone for a couple days at a retreat. It was empty and quiet at work during those days. I was given another project, which ended up being confrontational. It required people company wide to sign a form about previous driving records. Before I arrived, this was policy was debated and I was given the project without knowing the background information. I personally did not receive any negative feed back, but according to my manager some of the other managers were upset. It stressed me out because my manager just told me that we had to talk and gave me no further information. Everything turned out ok, especially since I did not receive any negative feedback. It is interesting that while this conference was going on, people that were at work kept making comments about the upper management as a whole, while they are all so different.

Week 2

This past week went by so fast. I was finally given my projects to start working on. I am excited about my projects because they cover many different parts of human resources. They deal with benefits, compliance, personnel folders, recruitment and selection. As much as I like my projects, I wish I could sit in on more meetings, but it is nice to be given a project and able to run with it. I have learned so much about how to deal with people in the work place but I wish I had received more feedback on how I am doing. I am looking forward to next week though!

Week 1

My first week was amazing. I felt welcomed by everyone in the company. The Human Resource team is amazing. On my first day there were flowers sitting at my desk with a welcome card for me. I have not started on any long term projects for Van Meter Industrial but that is going to be starting this coming week. I have been kept busy by helping the HR catch up with things around the office. I am excited for the upcoming week. I will be able to learn more about the company and the inner-workings, which will help in learning how the HR department functions.