Madison Hoopman

Throughout my my life I have been asked, "Why do you have a lack of technical experience (internships, relevant entry level work, etc.)?" I chose to opt away from getting technical experience during my years in college for a few reasons. 

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Reason 1: I trust my education and needed networking experience. 

My first reason for not pursuing technical experience is I trust the education at Black Hills State University. I feel the programs I have been a part of have prepared me to have the business knowledge needed for most jobs. I also trust my time at BHSU has taught me how to most effectively learn. I know the ways I absorb information best and what practices help me to retain information. With this being said, looking at my experience, I realized I needed to be better versed in networking, a huge employment skill. Seeing this gap in my portfolio I chose to pursue summer work that would help me develop my social and networking skills. I have spent the last 3 years waitressing. This job may seem entry level and not applicable for technical work, but I disagree. I believe customer service centric work are the best precursors to professional work. Serving forces an individual to learn how to create purposeful conversation with a large variety of people in an efficient manner while effectively completing a job for various customers simultaneously. This is speed networking. While serving I learned how to sell the product, sell the restaurant, sell myself and create a continuing relationship within, on average, 3, 2 minute conversations. This was the best experience for the professional world I could have acquired. 

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Reason 2: I decided to commit to multiple part time jobs and learn how to organize a schedule. 

Leading up to college I always had a structured schedule that was developed for me. Through college, I realized I needed to learn how to organize my life and learn how to remember all obligations.Being a college athlete helped me become more accountable and organized. Despite the large time commitment of being a college athlete I needed a job. I decided to be a college athlete, attend classes, work as an operations specialist, tutor, and be a teacher's assistant simultaneously. All of these tasks were part time and had very different schedules. It was challenging for me to coordinate each schedule while also upkeeping various other tasks I needed to complete. This experience helped me to develop an organized professional personality as well as learn how to negotiate and communicate working hours with various bosses and clients. 

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Reason 3: I wanted to live in the present rather than wishing for the future.  

I felt confident in my skills after graduating college that I would be able to secure a job and provide myself with a livelihood if I spent my time in an internship or not. I know my ability to learn and my work ethic are to a caliber that is exceptionally hard to compete with. Knowing this, I did not want to burn myself out before starting my career. I made it a priority to me to make time to learn new skills, as described above, that would benefit me for the remainder of my life while also prioritizing my physical and mental health. I chose to prioritize making time to develop social relationships that will cultivate me throughout my life. These priorities are very important to me and by taking time to care for myself I believe I am now prepared to work full time while also knowing how to care for my relationships and my well being.

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