One of my main responsibilities in the office is to order textbooks and desk copies for the faculty. This responsibility comes with its benefits and challenges as shown below.
One of the main challenges of this responsibility is textbook order quantity, each semester textbooks will need to be ordered for students however it is extremely difficult to estimate how many copies will be needed. This is something I have found personally challenging as I do not want to waste textbooks or exceed the department budget, however, it is extremely hard to predict how many students will require the textbooks especially when retailers like Amazon are becoming more and more popular when buying school supplies and textbooks.
However, one of the main benefits is that I get to communicate with new people in the industry everyday wether that be faculty, students or the publishing companies/ representative. Building these personal connections helps me achieve not only one of my personal industrial placement goals but also one of the 8 IP objectives. My personal goal (4) is to develop my interpersonal skills to work as part of a team to contribute towards the larger organisational objective. I have noticed a significant growth in my communication skills through email especially when communicating with several publishers and faculty members at the one time. I have also been able to achieve one of the IP objectives, number 4, to develop technical skills appropriate to the employment; through having consistent contact with employees and outside organisations I have gained a huge insight into American email etiquette.”Using good manners, proper English, and sensitivity to bring a professional tone to electronic correspondence is another way professional businessmen and businesswomen can make a good impression” (Mind Your E-mail Manners, 2003, p. 26). Please see appendix 1 for a useful paper on USA vs UK email etiquette. Furthermore gaining knowledge in using software programmes such as faculty enlight to place the textbook orders. This software is used by many other universities in the USA including the University of Baltimore and Kent State University therefore, this has been a very useful skill to learn.
Appendix 1
https://www.usingenglish.com/articles/differences-between-british-american-emails.html
References
Siddle, P. F. (2003). Mind your email manners . Journal of Accountancy , P26. Open publish panel
Abby Duncan 