My last day involved signing co-worker hardhats, (much like signing a cast) finishing projects, and saying my goodbyes.  Like all other days at the internship, I took advantage of all opportunities.  Goodbyes turned into conversations, and conversations led to advice from successful employees of the company.

Today I take away three important pieces of advice from my District Manager.  First she confirmed my previous observation that “people don’t like change” with an example from her experiences.  Next, she taught about “staying in the middle of the pack.”  A steady worker will usually be more successful than someone who does something above and beyond one day, but then puts in below average work the next day.  For example:  the car speeding in front of all the other cars will be the one the cop notices, while all of the other cars go on unnoticed.  I aim to maintain a steady flow of high quality work.  The last piece of advice that I took away from this conversation was that you never know who you are standing next to, talking to, or walking past in the hallway.  Sometimes, you will walk by someone extremely powerful and may not even know it!  It helps to be aware that this may be happening so you can prepare yourself to always make the best possible impression.  I will be making a conscious effort to look pleasant, smile, and say hello when appropriate.

Reflecting on this summer, I have grown and learned a tremendous amount.  The lessons that I am taking away from this internship are experiences that cannot be taught in a classroom.  This includes on the job training, commuting into the city, and making connections with experienced people.  I am delighted to say that I was invited to come back to Con Edison next summer.  I recognize the opportunities that came out of this internship, and I am excited to continue to learn and grow with each new experience!

The lockout is over!  We are back to our original projects, including audits and embargos.  So far, I have trained two more people- Jennifer and Anthony.  I enjoy teaching people new things, and sharing information.  The district managers teach me how to do certain tasks and I take notes as they speak.  Then, I either share the material with my co-workers through email, or create tutorials to be shared throughout the company.  I want to try to eliminate the redundancy of the district manager’s jobs.  Instead of taking time to teach each intern each year, there should be a resource where the interns/new employees can access these instructions.  This is why I began creating these tutorials and guidelines.

As the strike continues, I continue to eat the free meals provided by Con Edison.  For safety reasons the company tries to keep us in the office throughout the day by providing us with free meals.  I enjoy free sandwiches and beverages every day now! 

Each workday is more and more rewarding.  Today I was recognized by one of the District Managers for being efficient and organized.  I feel needed by the company and love to stay busy.

Two favorite tasks of the day:

1) Training Alandria (our new intern) on company procedures.  I went through our computer system with her, and showed her our daily tasks.  Training a new employee reinforces what I have learned, and I enjoy helping new additions to the company.

2) Calling customers who have been waiting and waiting for some kind of contact from Con Edison.  Since I am comfortable with the computer system and available resources, I began to help each customer individually.  I would look up their case in the Work Manager system, and then assist their individual needs.  If I do not have the answer to the question, or they need something that I cannot provide, I simply look up their district and email the appropriate District Manager.

Today was a productive day, and I loved my job.  Maybe I liked it so much because I'm getting the hang of it?  I am really getting to know my co-workers, and am actually enjoying my work.  All that and a free lunch!

My second month of work- the union gets locked out!  This means that the company locked out the union workers since they could not come to an agreement in a timely manner.  The union members collect unemployment, and the only people left in the office are management and interns.  Working directly with management makes for an even better learning experience; working in an office with a lack of employees makes for more important work (not just intern stuff..)  Today, I began taking the Customer Service Representative's calls.  My job is to answer the customers and contractors questions, and relay any information they need about specific job cases.  If I do not know the answer, I promptly contact the correct person and get the answer.

In addition to that, I have been working on closing out old cases that have not been touched in a while.  This enhances my research and analysis skills since I am using technology and resources to find out information about each specific case.  I am utillizing my problem solving skills with each case I close! 

Today I trained a new intern.  She was surprised when I said I'd only been with Con Edison for one month because "I seemed like I knew so much about the company already."  I guess that means I am a quick learner!

I am starting to be more productive, now that I have learned the daily processes of Con Edison.  Excel spreadsheets have become second nature, and engineering terminology is more familiar than ever!  My first project was to reinvent the call sheet process.  Keeping in mind that people normally don't like change, I decided to interview those who would be affected by the call sheet renovation and research their purpose.  Research was always one of my strongest skills, and I found a lot of issues that needed fixing.  Success is when all four of the district managers on the floor approve your idea, and agree that it will make their lives that much easier.  The new call sheet process was created using Microsoft Infopath, which connects the daily form to a spreadsheet in Excel.  So far I have learned more than I expected about the company, and am excited to continue improving!