Internship at Chiltern International
My Project Management Internship at Chiltern International has been an amazing experience. I have applied my Project Management course, including MS Project, resourcing projections, relationship management, and most importantly in my case, crisis mitigation.
I used MS Project to create project timelines and determine resources required for various projects. I also pulled critical thinking and systems thinking skills from the capstone to make effective decisions in the midst of tight timelines and unexpected roadblocks. I have been holding resourcing meetings every week (sometimes daily when needed) in order to better determine the resource need for each project not only for this week, but also in the near future. I’ve used relationship management skills by maintaining a beneficial relationship with my team members and their project leads. I’ve made myself useful to them and built a relationship that causes them to trust me with resourcing information that sometimes even leads don’t know. The most critical tool I have gained in my MIS academic career is crisis mitigation; this is a skill that is not limited to classroom learning. Throughout the program, I have had to think quickly and effectively to find solutions to tough situations. This skill has served me very well at Chiltern, as there have been some situations where a solution is not readily apparent and I had to determine one quickly in order to solve the problem at hand. I have been given positive feedback on how quickly I pick things up and respond to issues that occur throughout projects.
Overall, this has been a fantastic experience for me as a student: it has given me a glimpse into actual project manager life. It has given me invaluable experience that will serve me well in the years to come. I have learned about various situations and how to handle them, major or minor. I am beginning to understand how to manage successful projects and the teams that make them possible.