Statement of Relevance of Internship

My interest is in the food and beverage industry, and that informed my choice of the internship placement. Last year August, I talked to my coworker about my interest to go for an internship in the food and beverage industry. I purposely asked about the industry because I believed there are specific skills and knowledge I needed to perfect. I had extensive training in cooking different types of culinary and even serving them in a restaurant setup. However, I had not had an opportunity to put these skills to practical use. Because I was interested in developing them further, I had no option other than to seek internship opportunity. After talking to the colleague, he referred me to The Brazen Tavern, a restaurant that prepares classic America delicacies, has a bar and lounge and a guest conference room. Other than putting my skills into practice, I was also interested in exploring the hotel industry, and I consider Brazen Tavern as a perfect place to start that journey. I wasnt disappointed once at the facility; I continued to learn while working. I specifically learned how to chop, blanch, and cut different food items among many skills. This was on top of the official duties I had been assigned, which was to cook grilled meat. There are many other skills I also learned during my stay, and everything was consistent with the main purpose of my internship.

The internship was relevant to my education in several ways. Essentially, it had brought what I was learning in class from a practical perspective. The class work had been majorly theoretical, with few classes to compliment it. But here I was just dealing with everything that I had been studying in school. Similarly, communication is in overall principle in any education setup. I school it is a subject that was not emphasized in my major, but quite instrumental in any educational setup. I was required to communicate regularly to facilitate tasks within the workplace; talking to the store manager requesting items, or reporting when inventory was going down. Serving customers and engaging them and so forth. All these were experiences that were worth the internship, and that proved my suitability in the industry. I also played a role as an administrative assistant and had an opportunity to carry out duties beyond cooking. At the onset, I was a junior staff, but with time, I was listed among those capable of training and supervising others. Regarding that, I was able to train other new line cooks, preps, and dishwashers. Somehow, the position felt managerial and gave me the perception that I can handle more challenging tasks.

Over my stay at the restaurant, I learned more skills that I had when I joined them. Other than perfecting the skills that primarily took me there, I also gained managerial and leadership skills. First I learned how to work with people, or how to embrace teamwork. A restaurant job needs coordination of several people to complete a task, and that is what made me learn. Whereas I would be cooking, some was waiting for the food to get ready, so he or she can serve clients. The same case happened when I needed ingredients. The back and forth engagements made me appreciate the value of teamwork, and I had an opportunity to see that when well organized, it can achieve results faster. I am usually a free person, but at the workplace, I have to learn how to follow the rules and procedures. I had to learn how to listen to others without offending or cutting them short carefully. Either way, I improved my skills on teamwork and communication, which I believe are critical for anyone aspiring to be a leader or manager. I was however not amused by the employee turnover rate. It was poor. Many of them had resigned, and others were planning to leave. In my view, the managers, as well as the chef, were responsible. They were probably not highly trained on leadership and management skills and were easily letting their best staff leave the company. The skills and knowledge gained at the firm, particularly teamwork and communication skills are instrumental in my daily life. I appreciate teamwork in handling tasks, make on-time contact in case there are a need and many other things which go on in my daily life. I would be that appreciated of those things had it not been the internship.

A few weeks after I joined the restaurant, I had learned how to make so many foods. That just made me discover I was talented than I had been thinking. My key strength was the ability to learn quickly, and the person for the industry. I loved everything I was doing. I had been assigned supervisory roles to train and supervise newcomers. That was equally a revelation of my strengths. I discovered that I could teach effectively, and I can deliver in a short period. It also offered me a chance to measure my managerial skills. The last instance that made me discover I would do better at some point was the low employee turnover rate. I had tried to understand why employees were leaving and in the process, I learned some basic managerial principles which should be applied to keep your best talent, as a manager or a business leader. I also discovered that my communication skills did not meet the standard required professionally, and I did work hard to improve them. That was one of my shortcomings. However, I found an opportunity to address the weakness while at the restaurant.

Capitalizing on the personal strengths I discovered, and the weaknesses I worked to improve at Brazen Tavern, I will soon resume a supervisory role at Foragers Dekalb Market in Brooklyn. It will be the first managerial job I am taking and will be keen to apply lessons from my experience at Brazen Tavern to show professionalism and help the company perform excellently. I am excited about the opportunity, and I look forward to taking it as soon as possible. However, as someone who is very passionate about the hotel industry, I believe this is just another one step up, among the so many steps ahead of me. I am looking into a future working in an executive position in the industry, and that will be the fulfillment of my dream. For now, just like I did at Brazen Tavern, I keep on adding to my skills and knowledge, potentially in preparation for more challenging executive level duties in future.