Ninth Day at Work Experience

Yesterday , the 27th of November was my second last day at the solicitors.

I arrived on time to be greeted by Barbara the other secretary as Maria was out sick. Yesterday there was also another student on work experience so there was not as much work for me to do as he had been there since Monday so he had most things finished. 

As usual , the first thing I had to do was stamp date the post and then scan it into the computer. There was a lot of post yesterday and because you can only scan things one at a time it took quite a lot of time to complete. I then had to save the post on the computer into the correct files.
The next thing I had to do was to walk down to a different solicitors to collect the DX post. This is where the solicitors in Leixlip all have a locker where the DX is delivered to.

I then returned back to the office where I helped Barabra with the filing. I then had to photocopy certain cheques and receipts so that they could keep a copy of everything. I also had to record a cheque which they received into the book so they could keep a record of it.
I then had to go to the shop and purchase the newspaper for Anne.

Eighth Day at Work Experience

Today, Wednesday the 21st of November was my 8th day at work experience.
When i arrived at 5 to 10 this morning the solicitors was not open. I waited outside for a few minutes and began to worry but luckily soon enough Maria came to open up the office. 
I then took a seat at my usual desk and then i asked should I stamp date the post and scan it as I do this every week. I then had to save the documents I had scanned into the correct files on the computer.
I then had to help Maria by trying to find a file for someone. I had to check in the presses in the office which involves searching alphabetically, and then upstairs in the board room. 
I was then given instruction to find "searches" for certain people. Maria then explained what searches are and told me how to find the one we were looking for.
The next task I was given was to search through a pile of miscellaneous files and find certain ones which they were looking for and place them in a pile all together.
Today I learned that I should really take innitiative more  because I found my self asking questions on what should I do such as "should I scan the post" but I do it every week so I should have confidence in doing it rather than asking all the time as I know it is my job to do it. 
I also learned to have confidence on the phone because today I had to answer the phone calls when the receptionist was out of the office,  and once you get over the first one it's not too bad.

7th Day of Work Experience

Last Wednesday , the 14th of November was my 7th day of work experience. 

The first thing I had to do was stick labels on to old cartridge boxes. I then was given the responsibilty of bringing 2 boxes at a time over to the post office because they had to be sent back as you are not allowed to dispose of them.

The next task given to me was to find certain hanging files in the office which are found in the presses and give them to Maria the secretary.

I then had to stamp date the post and scan it and save it to the correct files on the computer.

I enjoyed bringing the boxes over to the post office because it was a change to what i normally do in the solicitors which is file and scan documents. 

Sixth Day at Work Experience

Last Wednesday (the 7th of November) was my 6th week of work experience in the solicitors. I think last week was my favourite week so far in the solicitors. This is because i got to do a lot more last week and I was mostly busy throughout the day.  The first thing I had to do was find a number of files which were stored in a big press in the office. I was given a list of  around 30 surnames and I had to find each file.  This took very long because some files were stored downstairs but some were stored upstairs and some weren't present at all. After I had found all of the files i then had to put them on the table up in the board room. It was my first time being up there and it all looked very official. The room was filled with books on law and other things. Maria, the secretary and my supervisor, then was told to bring down a cheque and parcel to the TopMark cabs in leixlip. This was just a minute walk away from the solicitors so I offered to go. I enjoyed going because it was something different to do instead of always being in the office. The cheque was to pay for a taxi to deliver a parcel which had to be in town as soon as possible.I also had to go to the shop to buy lunch for the solicitor and the secretary.The last thing I had to do was scan the post and save it to the computer which I do every week and find easy at this stage.I am beginning to enjoy work experience now and I am learning all about the world of work. I can't believe I only have 4 weeks left!

 

Fifth Day at Work Experience

Last wednesday ( the 24th) was my fifth day at work experience. 

I woke up late so I was stressing that i wouldn't make it on time but luckily I did and I was a few minutes early which is always a good thing. When I went into the office I met with Maria , my supervisor and she told me to finish off filing the wills that I had been doing previously. I then went and got the box of wills and continued with them. I had to print labels for them all and then put them in alphabetical order. 

When I had finished this I had to organise will correspondences. This was quite boring and took a long time. The supervisor didn't quite know what I was to do with them as the solicitor Ann came in and told us to do it a different way so soon after she told me to give up and that we can do it another time.

The next thing I had to do was to scan things onto the computer and save them which I do every week and find easy enough.

At one stage of the day my supervisor had gone for a lunch and so I was the only one in the reception and a customer came in. I started to freak out and get nervous before they came in the door but I think I handled it well.

All and all it was quite a boring day and I didn't have much to do but I still enjoyed it.

Fourth Day of Work Experience

Today, the 17th of October was my fourth week of work experience.
It's gone by so quickly, doesn't feel like I've been there that long! Time flies when you're having fun i guess..
I've been enjoying the solicitors so far although it can be boring at times ,but everything can be. Today I didn't do anything new but just continued what i was doing last week. I had to continue filing the wills. Last week i filed from A-K so today i worked from L-Z. Unfortunately i didn't get them all done as it is very time consuming so i only got up to S done but luckily there isn't much left so i will have them done quickly next week.
I ran out of sellotape a half an hour before i was to finish work. They had no extra and i needed it to for the wills so i didn't have much to do for the last half an hour so i was slightly bored. I just saved some things into the computer but luckily it wasn't only half an hour and not any longer.
It gave me a chance to talk to my supervisor who I get on very well with so far and who is lovely.
I look forward to next week hope that after I have the wills completed I am given a new task that will help me to learn more about the solicitors.

Third Day of Work Experience

Yesterday, October 10th was my third day of work experience in the solicitors.
I have settled in very well in the solicitors in the previous 2 weeks so the nerves were no longer kicking in as I entered. I went into my office where Anne the solicitor and Maria my supervisor were. I said good morning and then i scanned the post which i do every week. After scanning the post I had to save it onto the files on the computer. 

My next task was given to me by my supervisor Maria. I was given a big box which contained all the wills which were individually in envelopes. I was then given a folder which had all the names of the wills we should be present in the box and in which order they should be in. Some of the wills were not in the correct order so i had to fix them and some were not even present. Some of the envelopes were missing the correct labels so i then had to go and print a label and stick it onto the envelope. 

This task took me a lot of time and I was doing this for the whole day but I didn't mind as I enjoy organising things. 
I didn't get to finish all of them so next week I will be finishing off the task.

Second Day of Work Experience

Yesterday the 3rd of October was my second day of work experience in the solicitors. I was not as nervous as the first day as i had become comfortable with the workplace. I arrived a few minutes early but my boss directed me to my office as my supervisor was not in yet. 

She then arrived and gave me a job to do. I had to stamp the post to say it was received and then scan the documents that were received onto the computer and save them into the files. I remembered how to do this from the first week so i didn't need any help.

The solicitor gave Maria ( my supervisor) a task of putting together documents and organising them in the correct order which looked easy enough but soon we realised that it wasn't and it took quite a long time to get everything right. 
After this was complete my supervisor handed me a book and i had to type out 3 pages which she assigned to me. 

Luckily i'm a fast typer so this didn't take too long.
There wasn't much work for me to do yesterday and the solicitors was very quiet so I'm hoping there will be more for me to do next week as i found it quite boring at times.

First Day of Work Experience

Last Wednesday was my first day of work experience. I will be working in Paul Kelly & Co Solicitors for the next 10 weeks. I was to start work at 10am so i left my house at 9.30 so that i wouldn't be late. I arrived at the solicitors for 5 to 10 so i was just on time!  I was very nervous to leave my car and hardly wanted to go in! I was just hoping to have a nice supervisor and a nice workplace. I walked in to be greeted by my supervisor who was luckily very nice and helpful. Firstly,she taught me the basics of the business and how it runs and what exactly they do. She also taught me how to use the computer programme which they use there. At first i found it tricky but I got used to it in no time. 
The next task i had to do was to learn how the photocopier works. It wasn't difficult at all as it only involved pressing one button so i felt comfortable knowing that i could at least do one thing without messing up! I had to scan and copy documents onto the computer using the photocopier. When the documents had scanned i then had to save them in files that were already existent on the computer. 
My supervisor then had a break for a few minutes and told me that if the phone rang i was to answer it. I had my fingers crossed hoping that it wouldn't ring because i'm very awkward whilst on the phone! Luckily the phone didn't ring but when the phone rang later that day i was told to answer it. My supervisor had told me what to say so it actually wasn't as bad as what i thought it would be.
The solicitors had received a letter from a different company asking if they held a will for a recently deceased lady but unfortunately they didn't so i had to respond to the letter. 
There wasn't much left for me to do after that and i was left sitting there with not much to do towards the end. The boss then came in and told me that i was able to go as they had no other work that needed to be done. 
All in all the first day was good but towards the end i became very bored and had nothing to do.Apart from this I am still looking forward to my next day and the next 9 weeks of work experience.