What I do: I am currently a Worldwide Financial Analyst at Seaquist Closures, a division of AptarGroup. Seaquist Closures is located in Mukwonago WI. Seaquist Closures is the world’s largest manufacturer of caps and closures (i.e. ketchup cap, salad dressing cap, shampoo cap, lotion cap, etc.).
How I got my job: I found the posting for my position on Monster.com. I was proactive in finding a job before I graduated to ensure an easy transition from school to work (with a little break between). I was looking for a job and going to interviews six months before I graduated. Going through the internship classes helped me to determine what type of job I would prefer and would best suit me. I learned how to analyze companies in the interview process and pick out key indicators of the culture, position, and general attitude of the people that I would be working with to see if it would be a good fit for me.
How I use my Alverno education: It is always good to have knowledge and education in your field because it will help you understand and learn everything faster, but the most valuable things that I learned from Alverno are broader skills. Working in groups on team projects taught me so much about how to work with different personalities and how to deal with shortfalls.
Another key Alverno ability is the self-assessment. I use the ability to self-assess my work and that of others work more than anything. This is a very important skill to learn because assessments lead you to learning and growth in every situation. The key to beginning a good self-assessment is honesty and not being afraid to say you or someone else did something wrong or could improve. Learn from everything that you have access to.
How I define career success: I define success in multiple ways. First and foremost the thing that I look at is how I have grown and what I have accomplished over the past year or two. If I am not happy with the amount or quality of things that I have accomplished, or lack there of, I know that I need to get in gear so I am not disappointed in myself next time. I think about WHO I want to be (personality) and how I need to develop as a person to become that in the future.
I also define success by my attitude and making the first step at any one goal. I know that if I have the right attitude about anything and the determination to figure out a way to make at least the first step happen, I will achieve any goal that I have in mind.
Tips from the field: The best career advice that I can give to anyone is to always be ambitious, open-minded, and know how to manage your boss. As you learn your job, and become more efficient at doing it, you generally have more time on your hands to take on more. Do not be afraid to ask questions or take on new responsibility when appropriate. These are wonderful learning opportunities that expose you to things outside your comfort zone and help you grow in new ways. These types of opportunities can also lead you to possibly discovering another field of interest within the company.
Managing your boss is important because it maintains a level of awareness between the both of you. A simple example of managing your boss would be if your boss gave you feedback on a memo or paper you wrote by making review notes all over your paper and telling you to send it out after you make the noted changes. You read the notes and cannot read half of them so you go back and tell your boss that you cannot send out the memo because you cannot read their feedback. You are telling your boss that you cannot do what they told you to do because of something they did. Another example would be to request scheduled regularly scheduled meetings (i.e. every Monday at 9:00 a.m.) with your boss so you can review open items that you have been waiting on them for or to discuss your progress on achieving your goals. This type of request shows that you are making an effort to be considerate of their time and get what you need to do your job.
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