Gracias City of Phoenix!

I am really grateful with the opportunity that the City of Phoenix has given me during this past semester. As a foreigner, being able to intern in the city government from another country is really valuable. I also believe it has been an incredible experience which I consider that has added an enormous value to my master experience in the U.S.

First, I want to thank my main supervisor, Toni, who is the Director of the Public Information Office and despite of having a very busy position, she always made time to listen to me and guide me in the work that needed to be done. She was also always willing to explain me how things work at the City and introduce me to people in other offices or departments. I also want to thank Jon, who was the person previously in charged of the program, and despite being in his new position in another department of the City, he trained me and he was always willing to help me and answer any of my questions. Then, I also want to thank Tammy, the new person in charged of the program, who recently started the position, and I have been working together with her a lot in this past month. Finally, I want to thank the rest of the people working at PIO, Alejandro, Rosalinda, Yvette, Sina, Joyce, Stephanie, Michelle, Margaret and Matt, because they helped me every time I had any doubt regarding of how things work at the City and also because they made feel comfortable working there. 

I am definitely looking forward to keep working with all of them next semester and also meet new people!

Dear Toni,

I really appreciate the opportunity of interning at PIO that you have given me. I had an amazing learning experience. Not only I have learned about PIO, but I’ve also learned a lot about how the City of Phoenix works.

Thank you for integrating me with so much enthusiasm to the office and showing me interest from how things work in the country I come from. I feel very lucky to have had the experience of working at a local government in the U.S.

Finally, I would also want to thank you for the opportunity of continuing the internship next semester. I am more than excited to see how the projects I’ve been working on will turn out in the following months.

Sincerely,

Natalia Cuneo

After 4 months

This internship at the City of Phoenix has been an incredible learning experience mainly because it has been my first job in another language, which I consider it to be a big challenge. I have not only learned about the program I am interning at, but also I have learned about how the Public Information Office works. Having had the opportunity to attend to the weekly staff meetings has been a great experience to learn about everybody else’s work.

I definitely think I have achieved the goals of starting to become more familiar with how a U.S. local government works, have a better idea of what my interests and skills are and finally being able to see in real life things I have learned in different school courses.

I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to interact with people from other departments and also learn from them. The fact that the program has a team conformed by employees from different departments makes it really interesting because you constantly hear different perspectives and suggestions about the projects we were working on.

One of the things I value the most about this internship is that I always had the opportunity to give my opinion and suggest ideas of the work we were doing. I think this is essential to keep interns motivated in what they are doing.

I am also very excited because one of the projects that I have been working during the whole semester, the request for sponsorship for the defibrillators located in different facilities of the City, is about to be issued and it definitely feels enthusiastic being part of this project.

I was recently offered to continue this internship next semester, which I guess is a good indicator of my performance during the internship, and this really excites me and motivates me towards the future.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

A final paper I am working on for one of my classes has to do with how the U.S. performs in the PISA exam in comparison to other countries. PISA is the Program for International Student Assessment designed by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and is taken every three years in 70 countries, since the year 2000. This exam is taken by 15-year-old students and the subjects tested are science, mathematics and reading. I think that this exam is well designed and it actually measures the so-called “21^st century learning skills” needed like critical thinking and problem solving for instance.

Overall, the U.S. ranks on average in reading (ranking 14 in OECD) and science (ranking 17) but then drops to below the OECD average in mathematics (ranking 25).

The top PISA performers are: Shanghai, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.

Here is a very interesting video on how the exam works and its main features:

Linking school and work

We are getting closer to issue a request for sponsorship (RFS) for the defibrillators located in public facing areas in different facilities of the city government. I have to say that I have learned a lot during this process because there are so many details that came up during the process which are not always very easy to predict in advance. Furthermore, is very exciting to see the developing process of a project since inception. I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to contribute with my opinion and propose ideas for the (RFS).

Once the RFS is issued another interesting process begins, because different companies will bid on this opportunity, thus one offer must be chosen. After a company wins the biding process, the implementation process starts, which will probably be next year. I think it is very important to link what we learn in the academic field to what actually happens in reality. For instance, last semester I took a course where I studied the bidding processes that a government has to go through in order to outsource a service and now during this internship I am actually seeing real examples by learning a lot on how request for proposals and request for sponsorships actually work.

Strengths of my organization

I believe that the greatest strength of the Public Information Office, as the name of the office suggest, is its ability to communicate very clearly the goals and activities of the City to the community and inside the organization.  I also consider that it is very valuable that there is a lot of space for employees at this office to constantly brainstorm new ideas, which makes the work environment a very stimulating place to work.

Another important strength that I see at this office is how everybody works in a collaborative way and how this is an essential factor in order to achieve the goals of the organization and have a more stimulating working environment.  Furthermore, everybody demonstrates an incredible sense of community service, which I believe is indispensable for employees working at a public organization such as the City of Phoenix.

One thing I would try to change is to make some processes less bureaucratic because many projects take longer to be completed because of this. However, I also understand that is not that easy in a public organization where there are laws that describe how processes must be done.

Post II on Career Service Event

How to use LinkedIn in a job search?

Webinar with Jennifer Rhodes

November 15th 

I decided to attend this career service event because I believe LinkedIn is a great tool that helps us looking for a job and is becoming more and more popular.

Basically LinkedIn is a professional network that helps you connecting with people that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do it. Plus, many companies are using it to check on potential candidates for different positions. I specially liked the following quote that Jennifer Rhodes used to describe the potentiality of LinkedIn  “Turn relationships into opportunities”.

Some of the main characteristics of this network are:

• Connect with people who work in a field that you are interested in
• Follow companies and groups you are interested in
• Share ideas/articles
• Get an idea of who might be a potential interviewer for a job
• Share Power Points and projects that reflects what you have been working on

LinkedIn has a job section where you can look for positions just typing key words. You can also have a premium account if you pay, however the basic accounts allows you to get a lot of information too. There is also an education section where you can look for any higher education institution you might be interested in.

Key suggestions for your profile

• Maintain connections
• Have a good summary in the profile section (brief professional history, top skills and experience and written in first person)
• Ask for other people’s recommendation about your professional skills
• Up date status weekly
• Have a professional photo in your profile

Some interesting figures about LinkedIn

• More than 225 M people world wide (64% outside the U.S.)
• More than 2.9 M companies
• More than 60 K college and universities

Interesting TED Talk

I want to share this TED talk video, where Michael Porter, a Harvard business professor, talks about the idea of solving social problems through business. I think he has an interesting point of view on how to address the current social challenges like poor nutrition, access to water, climate change, lack of skills and more because he proposes that addressing a social issue through business creates shared value (social value + economic value). For instance, reducing pollution emissions can actually generate profit and save money, thus there is an incentive to work towards this direction. He also puts as examples of organizations that are working on technology that saves water, organizations that train people in IT skills and many more.