Reflections / Week 2 13th-17th January
Friday, January 17, 20145:14 AM
Week 2 of my internship had me traveling a whole lot.
Danny New, the Retail Executive for Pestle & Mortar, introduced me to the concept of stock-taking this week. Stoke-taking , also known as an inventory check is the physical verification of the quantities and condition of items held in an inventory or warehouse. It is done to provide an audit of existing stock valuation and to find out if there is discrepancy in stock information. Pestle & Mortar clothing carries out their stock-take manually by sending representatives from the headquarters to their 5 retail outlets once a month.
As Pestle & Mortar is carried by Tangs and Parkson , we had to abide by the rules of both department stalls whenever we conducted stock-takes at their outlets. First, an authorization letter would need to be sent to the store manager. Attached in the authorization letter would be details of the Pestle & Mortar representatives that were going to conduct the stock take and details of their visit. I assisted Danny in writing these letters and was soon put in charge of it. Stock-takes at department stores had to be carried out before the department stall was opened to the public. This meant going to the store an hour or so before their usual opening hours. When carrying out a stock-take,every person would be assigned to a certain rack or area . Your job would be to count and jot down the details of the product such as the name, color, size and amount. At the end of the stock-take, one person would be appointed to compile everyone's list and the final list would be sent over to the accounts departments for checking.
Throughout my second week, I was assignment to different retail outlets everyday to carry out stock-takes together with other Pestle & Mortar staff.
Stock-taking at the Pestle & Mortar Bangsar Flagship store
A very empty mall. One Utama before opening hours.
At the inventory area of Tangs department store in Empire Mall
The Pestle & Mortar team conducting a stock-take at our outlet in SS15
During the stock-take, I put what I learnt the week before in good use. It was easier to keep track of the products when I knew the specific names of each one of them. I'm glad that I made it a point memorize the product names the week before. I was definitely more prepared for this task.
In addition to carrying out stock-takes during week 2, I also learnt about the movement of fixtures and decorative items. The Pestle & Mortar store in Pavilion was scheduled to receive a new display case and Danny got me involved in the process. First, I was sent to the hardware store to get appliances. And then Nathaniel , another intern, and I was given the task to paint fixtures.
Painted wood panel to be used as a decorative display item at Pestle & Mortar , Pavilion.
The next day, the fixtures along with the display case was to be delivered to Pavilion. I followed Danny to supervise the movement of it.
The loading bay of Pavilion. Awaiting the arrival of the display case
The display case that is to be delivered to Pestle & Mortar Pavilion
Week 2 Overview
Relating what you learnt with your experiences
I did not spend much time in the Pestle & Mortar office during Week 2
of my internship. Most of my time was spent liaising with people
connected to the company. I learnt a lot from Danny; most of what I
picked up was interpersonal skills. I also learned about the different
SOP's (standard operating procedures) that Pestle & Mortar had to
follow when liaising with other companies.
Observations
My observations during Week 2 was a little different. Instead of trying to read the culture of the company like I did during week 1 , I refocused my observations to the people of the company. I observed Danny, to understand the way he worked. I also asked him a lot of questions about his previous job and past experiences. I was very lucky as he was willing to open up to me and give me pointers here and there about the job. The most evident thing I could remember him telling me was to not be caught up in office politics and that as long as I was trying my very best at what I was doing, that it was all that mattered. I observed that Danny was very detail oriented and always gave priority to human connections. He was a people person and greeted everyone genuinely. In return, I saw that people at the office and the people he liaised with him were all very comfortable. They seemed more at ease and natural even when speaking about business issues.
Key Learning
The most important thing I learnt this week was the businesses is centered around relationships with people. Just this week itself I liaised with o many different people, all of which who had their own traits and personalities.
Some were friendly and nice while others were cold and rude. I learnt that in order to get the most done in the fastest time, I needed to be able to connect with different people of different levels. My supervisor, Danny was very well versed in that and I learnt a lot from just observing him.
Development & Growth
This week I learnt that I could not be the best in everything. While doing the stock-take I wanted to be in charge from the beginning till the end. Danny however knew better and delegated the task according to everyone's expertise. I realized that by working as a team, things could be done faster and sometimes, even better.
Key Achievements
My main achievement this week was accepting my flaws and working on my strengths. Seeing how Danny worked with the best traits of a person made me realize that everyone had their own
set of strengths and weaknesses and that it was okay not to be good at everything.
I was also given more responsibilities during week 2 and I could see that Danny was molding me in the correct direction of my internship.
Challenges Faced
The challenges I faced this week involved was learning to multi task. Danny threw many responsibilities to be because he knew that I could handle it. At first I found it hard to get my thoughts together to focus on a certain matter when I had so much other unfinished work, but I learnt from my colleagues how to put priority on what carried the most weigh. This week also saw me maneuvering through the roads of KL everyday. I got many lessons in time management and I could say that I'm much better at finding my way now than I was before.
❤"Reflections / Week 2 13th-17th January" was Posted On: Friday, January 17, 2014 @5:14 AM |
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