Time Warner Cable Badge
In May of 2014, I was hired by Time Warner Cable for my first professional experience, an internship that was scheduled to last from May to August of 2014. I started in the Financial Shared Services department where I worked on vendor maintenance, database management, and prepared some reports for the director of shared services. In July of 2014 I moved to the Transactional Accounting Services department where I spent the majority of the time archiving contracts and other accounting documents. It was a full-time paid internship and it provided me with great experience.
My Time Warner Cable badge represents a personal success in achieving belonging on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as I was once afraid of entering the professional world. I had concerns that I would not belong in the professional workplace. I was unsure if I could handle sitting at a desk for eight hours, five days a week. I was unsure if my personality would mesh well with my coworkers’. What if I found out that I did not like the professional world at all? Moreover, I was afraid that I would not be able to get an internship because of the amount of competition and the limited number of positions available. In previous years I applied to internships and other part-time professional summer work and was denied from the positions. Even in the summer of 2014, I was originally denied this position. Fortunately for me, the person originally hired did not make it through the background check successfully and I was offered the position. When is started, I stuck to my old habit of hiding in the background not taking any chances. However, I knew I had to take the chance. I knew that if I never tried I would regret my decision for the rest of summer break. I wanted professional experience and I was afraid of falling behind the other students who already had internships. I decided to transition into a new chapter of life.
Taking the initiative to accept the internship position at Time Warner Cable helped conquer these fears and let me know that I belong in the corporate world despite the struggles. I had to get used to working a 9 to 5 job instead of the part-time work I had previously done. It was also very different not having a summer break. During the summer I usually hung out with friends, went to the gym every day, and played basketball. With this new full-time job, I no longer had the same amount of leisure time as I had in previous summers. It was a sacrifice I had to make in order to be successful at my new job. I am not naturally a very talkative person, so getting used to communicating with coworkers sitting near me was also a little bit challenging. As the summer progressed, I vastly improved my communication and teamwork skills due to the daily exposure to these tasks. This ranged from working on communicating with a team of coworkers to just casual chatting in the break room. I worked very hard to impress my boss and tried to learn as much as possible about the different processes used in each of the departments. This professional experience was a major resume and confidence booster. I performed so well that my boss offered to keep me on throughout the school year. I currently work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week while going to class on Tuesday and Thursday.
The way I operate in the work environment now is much different than when I first started. I used to just come in, keep to myself, do my work, and then leave at 5:00. Now I am very approachable and often discuss a variety of subjects throughout the day with my coworkers. I am no longer afraid to reach out to people in my department and get to know them better.
Throughout my internship at Time Warner Cable, I have worked with a wide array of people. From mailroom workers, hourly employees, managers, directors, vice presidents, and everyone in between. I am much more confident in my ability to fit in a corporate environment than I was even a few months ago. This experience at TWC has been an excellent building block to future employment opportunities as well. I plan on using what I learned at TWC in my future endeavors and I am so grateful to have the feeling of accomplishment this experience afforded me.
