Resume/ Skills Inventory/ Goals

Melissa Richards
204 – 50 ARMSTRONG COURT • HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA B3M 4M6
PHONE :(902) 223-4042 • EMAIL :MELISSARICHARDS.XX@GMAIL.COM

Objective
To obtain a part-time position in an innovative company, which will allow me to express my creative abilities to a fun and dynamic environment.
A position that will help me apply my education to real world situations.

Education
Sept 2008 – Present Nova Scotia Community College , Waterfront Campus
Applied Communication Arts Program Dartmouth, NS

2007 – 2008 Saint Mary’s University Halifax, NS
First Year Bachelor of Arts

2003 – 2007 Northumberland Regional High School Alma, NS
Professional Skills

Communication
• Customer service training – confronting and assisting
• Listened intently to customer inquires
• Worked efficiently with others on assembly lines
Organization
• Reorganized merchandise in store - cleaning and striating
• Organized warehouse to assure faster shipping
• Stocked supply shelves
• Built and used pallets for shipments
• Prepared heavy paperwork for shipment orders and company files
• Kept work area clean and tidy following safety guidelines.
Computer Skills
• Mac & PC Platforms
• Operating computer software for schoolwork.
o Adobe CS3
o Microsoft Office 2008
• Internet Explorer
Employment
December 2008- present Black's Photography Halifax, NS
October 2008 – December 2008 Winners, Sales Associate Bayers Lake, NS
Spring 2008 – Sept 2008 Michelin Canada, Tire Builder Pictou, NS
June 2007- Sept 2007 WareWell Garments, Shipper Stellarton, NS


References Available Upon Request



Learning Narrative: The Coast


Meeting with the coast has proven to be a very useful experience for both the student and amateur photographer/designer in me. Researching interviewing and presenting an appointed company is one of the best ways for a student to get a feel of what work will be like in the actual work force. It was also nerve racking to find out we had to interview the company face to face. I have previously researched the coast for personal interest and was excited when finding out I was to research them thoroughly. We were informed that we needed to gather our information together in a binder with a power point and a poster to use as visual aids to our presentation.

My assigned group members and I arranged several meetings to distribute the workload evenly among each member of the group. There were many tasks that needed to be taken care of in the short amount of time that was given, therefore a schedule was written. Shortly our roles were assigned, we contacted The Coast Headquarters and discussed the meeting arrangements. Once we arrived to the building, we each divided up questions that we planned to ask. The interview went smoothly with the grand tour and a brief summary of what its like to produce a weekly paper. The part that helped us most with our questions was when we were set up with the design director for the paper. Moon talked about everything that involved design. He encouraged us to get our work on the field and not to be afraid of rejection. We then wrote up our notes we had taken during the meeting and started to put together the presentation, we each completed the tasks expected of us.
My tasks were as follows
- Design our own customized cover for The Coast to use on our poster
- Write both progress reports to keep an up to date schedule
- Power point – design slides that represent pages that would be in the newspaper/ combine them with slides that were facts about The Coast.
- Design the cover for the binder, another possible cover for The Coast.
- Present The slides I created from the power point.
I feel as though my group members and I worked very well together. We hit a few speed bumps along the way while working with a member of the graphic print production class. The person we were set up with was very difficult to get in contact with. He neglected to contact us, and when he eventually did, he forgot to mention a time of meeting. Although he did pull through at the last minute, providing us with our poster. This being our only problem I feel that we have been lucky in the fact that everything else ran smoothly and our presentation went as planned.
This is what I have learned from the Group Research Repot and Presentation:

1. Reliability- Don not rely on other people to get the work finished for you. If it is something you cant do yourself, be prepared to call the next person qualified.

2. Communication- People in your group may try to turn things their way, in our final presentation one of my group members, surprisingly threw in a new article that he wrote himself. This lead me and the other group members confused because there was no preparation and we were unsure of when to change the slides, and the article didn’t fully make sense.

3. Weight-When you are to work with a group, many times a few people will take charge. I feel that two of my group members and I took on a lot of the tasks and the other group members just kind of finished what was left to do.

4. Combining ideas- As I did a lot of the visual Designing, I noticed that it helped a lot to have other peoples opinions and inputs. When I pitch my idea, some one likes it, but adds to it will give me motivation to get more creative.

5. Presenting- I realized that I do get very nervous, and my voice starts to crack. I don feel like it takes down the quality of my presentation, but it does distract me and I tend to rush through things.

6. Overall I learned that the best way to become a good artist/designer is to get my work out there. Hand in pictures, design logos, just attempt to get my self known.





Skills Inventory

Technical skills
• Internet explorer
- can efficiently use google and other websites for precise searches
- can design basic websites using HTML and links
• Adobe CS3
o Photoshop
• Modify pictures using tools provided to give a different effect and contrast.
o Illustrator
• Create new images and tracing using the pen tool.
o Indesign
• Combine images from other formats to create final products. I.e. poster
• Microsoft office
o Microsoft word
• Create word documents and put it in the proper format.
o Microsoft Power Point
• Create technical power points for presentations and visual aids.
• Email
o Compose professional emails to contact and inform others.
• Imovie
o Edit and add effects to videos
Communication skills

• Writing
o Cursive and print with correct spelling and minimal errors
• Typing
o Graduated keyboarding class
• Listening
o Easy to confront
• Minor sign language
o Alphabet and small words
• Speaking English and basic French
o Fluent in English and can read basic French.
o Comfortable with speaking in a crowd




Employment Skills
• Organized
o Work in a neat and orderly environment
o Keep final product professional
• Meet deadlines
o Hand projects in on time and be prepared
• Complete tasks responsible for
o Stay on top of all tasks and responsibilities
• Working in a group
o Can be depended on by others to have my work done
o Offering my assistance to others


Goals


As a young adult I am starting to feel the roles of responsibility growing heaver. Being in my second year of post secondary education is really making me think hard about what career I am most interested in. First step was to change universities and get into the right program that suited my needs. My short-term goals are all mostly based around my education. Some of my personal goals include: Becoming a more creative photographer, decide what course(s) I would like to apply to for next year and to get my license to insure better traveling.
Some of my short-term educational goals include: graduating from the Applied Communication Arts Program at NSCC and applying to both the photography program and the Graphic Design program in hopes to be accepted for the following autumn semester.
My career goals are not as major as my education goals because I am working up to my career through school. Any part time jobs that I hope to acquire would be somehow connected to my schooling. I am currently trying to obtain a position at Blacks Photographic in hopes I can become more familiar with different cameras and camera accessories. I am also trying to get my photography out around the city so I plan to submit my photos to local newspapers and websites.
Being nineteen years old I find it hard to look far into my future and plan a steady path. But courses like ACAP are great for giving me a taste of what each career is like. For my long-term personal goals I hope to become more organized and maybe keep a schedule instead of being all over the place. Other long-term personal goals include things like: moving closer to the city, paying off my student loan and to have a career that would allow me to travel.
Education for a long-term look is seemingly shorter than I think. After this year and two years of whatever course I decide to further my education in, I will be ready for the work force. I hope to graduate from NSCC with high marks and a good reputation. Another goal is to successfully have all the qualifications for a job in photography or design. Future career goals seems very simple in the fact that once I have my education that is required, I will easily hound all interesting company’s to make sure I get a job in what I truly love.







Reflective paper - Personal tests


Jung Typology Test
The Results From this Test stated That I was A moderately expressed Extrovert, meaning that I have a very expressed intuitive personality.
Learning Style Inventory
The Results from this test showed that I was a visual learner. In a classroom setting I benefit from visual aids and states that I may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with art and design.
Emotional Intelligence
My results indicated an above average score on emotional intelligence.
With an above average score I tend to be good at interpreting, understanding and acting upon emotions. Also stating that I am good with social or emotional conflicts.
In the process of completing these tests I found my self to be very socially involved. Most every question that involved a crowd, the public or social confrontation it proved to be a strong aspect of my personality.
I believe that these test are truthful in the fact that the results are clearly my personality and learning styles.
I found the Learning style inventory results to be the most puzzling as I was not aware that I was a visual learner but reading the results proved to me that the test knew more that I gave it credit for. Learning Style Inventory results states : You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with visual art and design. The test had no way of knowing that I have been planning to study Graphic Design so clearly my personality says more about me than I ever expected.
Knowing my type indicator, Learning Style and Emotional intelligence may effect my style in how I work with others in a team or group by the theory of the self-fulfilling prophesy. By gaining the knowledge of how I learn and now I act among others will indirectly effect my actions because I will unconsciously act the way think I am suppose to act.
Since my ‘type’ that was indicated suggested a career that I am already pursuing, I believe that the only effects that I will receive will be confidence in my work. Also it may help me to a better understanding of how to present my work for example: attending to the needs of every learning style by having visual aids, interesting speeches and writing important facts down or even handing out sheets .