Professional Field Experience (PFE) Reflection.
Introduction
The critical goal of education is to prepare and introduce us to the workforce. We go to school to be prepared to solve essential issues in the fields that we intend to pursue. Therefore, there is an enormous level of importance placed on professional field experience. During spring, I participated in my Professional Field Experience in Almobda Company. Almobda company is a chemical company that is located in Saudi Arabia. For a long time, the company has been trying to penetrate the American market, and this provided me an excellent opportunity to work while learning.
With the enormous geographical distance between Saudi Arabia and the United States, my first experience was different from that of a typical office structure. There was no office to go, and no office personnel to interact with face to face. The geographical difference was also an issue. I could not board a train or a plane to go to the office. There was also the issue of the time difference since Saudi Arabia is on the Eastern side of the world, and the United States is in the West. However, the Internet and new technology that is in place eased the process.
My assigned supervisor was very kind and accommodating during the scheduling of the regular checking that the work demanded. I also had to rearrange my daily schedule to suit my working hours.
Communication and feedback from others
The supervisor also gave me contacts of my colleagues who I could call whenever I had an issue. In this organization, I realized that the supervisor implemented democratic, affiliative, and coaching styles of leadership. During the scheduled check-ins, we would agree and vote on who would take what responsibility. He also offered advice and guidance, considering I had not worked in the field of chemical engineering before. I also realized that he always encouraged us to discuss and communicate amongst ourselves and try to come up with a solution before we escalated the problem to him for an answer.
With the complexity of the business model, it was not possible to carry out my duties without consulting my colleagues in different departments. We used the set-out channels of communication where I would request the information that I thought I would use early in advance. The early request ensured I got all the information that I needed and in the right order. It also ensured that my relationship with my colleagues was good since I never inconvenienced them by requesting the data within a short deadline.
Communication and feedback were not only centered within the structures of the company but also to the outside world. When interacting with clients, I took note of the comments, suggestions, and feedback that they gave. I filtered them, prioritizing the comments that determined the future working relationship. With this type of feedback, I forwarded it to the supervisor and also retained a copy for follow-up purposes. I also documented progress from the client-side, ensuring we were up-to-date with the changes that the client needed. I also took note of personal feedback that the clients gave me, ranging from what I wore to how I spoke and expressed myself. This type of feedback helped to improve my performance and type and mode of presentation. In most instances where I was interacting with clients or potential clients, I gave them my business card and encouraged them to contact me at any time when a need arose. It acted as a way of opening lines of communication, which made the interaction with the client fruitful.
Learning and performance
During the period spent in this organization, I have learned how to flexible with my schedule. I have learned to receive calls as late as 3 am and be ready to act on the request. In this period, I have learned how to work with minimal supervision as the supervisor could not micromanage every bit of my work due to the geographical and time differences. With my job description being that of getting new clients for Almobda, I have improved my communication skills exponentially. I have learned how to book appointments early in advance.
I have also learned how to use rhetorical features in my communications with the clients. Most of the clients, as I have learned, prefer to work with an organization that provides more than the service or the good that they are primarily offering. They prefer an organization where they feel they are valued and well taken care of. The procurement officers do not operate on logic only. They like their numbers to be straight and accurate, but they also want that what they are dealing with ethical and has some form of emotion within.
Setting and monitoring progress toward meeting goals.
With my job description being promoting the market in the United States, I managed to infiltrate various social groups and explained to them what the company was all about and its mode of doing business. I managed to create a new network of people and organizations that ended up doing business with the company. In instances where a person or a company could not use our services, I always asked the company to refer us to another company in need. In so doing, I managed to attract new business to our company registering a 21% increase in customer base. I also managed to interact with previous clients and improved the quality of services that they were receiving.
The 21% increase in the customer base was a happy surprise bearing in mind my supervisor and I had set a target of a 10% increase. The use of social media and formal communication channels highly contributed to this success. Physical interaction with the client base was also paramount in achieving the set goals. My take-a-way during the setting and meeting of goals is that a person should never promise a client anything they cannot deliver. They should tell them the truth, and they will choose what to do with the fact. The daily progress report, coupled with the weekly reports, played a vital role in monitoring the progress toward achieving the goals set out at the beginning of professional field experience.
Communicating through writing
During this period, I have learned to write reports and document every aspect of the work that I have carried out during the day. Although something may appear not crucial at first, the supervisor may ask for it, and it would be disappointing not to provide him with the right answer. At the beginning of my professional field experience, I wrote reports that were a summary of what I had done during the week. However, my supervisor highlighted the need for field agents to write their personal opinions and recommendation to aid the company in future decision making.
Working at Almobda, I regularly interacted with my supervisor, Mr. Saad. The communication between us was formal taking place on the company’s official communication channels. However, the language used in communications was informal. In discussions that needed simple explanations, we preferred being brief and going straight to the point. The interaction between the supervisor and I was mainly centered on the supervisor asking for clarification, reports, and my welfare. I also contacted him to inquire of changes in the product and client’s remarks and requests.
Strengths and weaknesses.
I believe my supervisor’s evaluation was accurate. I quickly adapted to the organization’s structure and work ethic. I brought myself up to speed with the core functions of the business and also implemented other personal skills. My communication with my colleagues was cordial, respectful, and friendly. We set team goals and personal goals, which I helped achieve. I conveyed relevant information to my team and the supervisor. The data was accurate and up-to-date with all the necessary supporting documents.
Although the supervisor did not highlight any weaknesses as far as my period there is concerned, I plan to improve on my report writing. As at the moment, the weekly report is satisfactory, but I need to upgrade it to provide more than my weekly assessment. Secondly, I need to work on different marketing strategies to attract more clients. The current methods are working, but I fear they might be hitting a saturation point, and there is a need to have new strategies before that happens.
