Devan Carney

Working at Target seasonally has given a whole new level of professional experience. I was introduced to a lessened responsibility from a managerial job at Dollar General yet given copious more training on professional responsibility, accountability and interpersonal handling. I worked over the entire holiday season both as a cashier and a "Drive-Up" attendee, in basic it was my team and I's responsibility to both accurately and quickly deliver various sized orders to customers waiting outside, this both kept me working on my feet fro hours at a time and compelled me to manage my time spent between stocking duties, assisting confused customers and delivering groceries. The holiday's were incredibly busy I was able to keep pace and at times exceed the capabilities of the fulltime workers.

As a dollar general manager my responsibilities included all that is normally expected of a cashier, handling money, handling long lines of customers as well as maintaining a pleasant welcoming demeanor in addition to managing and delegating various tasks to the workers under me. Accommodating for everyone's breaks, their issue and any needs that demanded a manager be present. The Dollar General I work for in particular had a very interesting dynamic within the town it is established in. The only store within walking distance that sells fresh foods, foodstuffs and other needed essentials, making it extremely packed, busy and teeming with many town residents that all may need help or problems resolved within the store. The job and it's circumstances demand one has exceptional people skills to handle and politely deal with any frustrations the various customers could have. Additionally the job comes with various physical labor qualities, the ability to lift at least 50 pounds, lots of truck unloading and dealing with various vendors. Mostly working night shift my responsibilities included counting up the store's money, recording every worker’s register till that day, along with any overages and shortages and deliver to the bank daily the store's deposit.

Over the years albeit inconsistently I have worked for the Players annual golf tournament while there I was tasked yearly with different tasks, I always worked with the VIP guests usually with food catering and waiting. These experiences fostered both a love of customer service and respect for the food service industry.

As a Burger King crew member I was tasked with the preparation, cooking and making of all the various food items we sold. As well as expected to have strong customer service skills and keep my work station extremely tidy. We were constantly timed and pushed for maximum speed and efficiency, a very large emphasis on teamwork and communication was placed upon me. I was working with numerous people and a constantly changing team under stressful circumstances. I had to be ready and willing to work with others towards a common goal, as well as accept and hear both coaching and criticisms from various forms of management.

Very similar to my future experience at Burger King, yet at McDonald's everything was more intensive, more customers, more menu items, faster times, more coworkers and more daily tasks. I was delegated to operate the drive through service numerous times and developed very good customer service skills from said experience, being responsible to warmly greet and take the orders of every customer both over the radio and in person at the window. Working both the Drive Thru and working the grills gave me valuable organizational and money handling skills. As the position evolved and I was promoted to Crew Trainer I gained experience teaching new workers the ropes, rules and general flow of the work place. Which gave me an excellent experience taking coworkers under my wings and having my success rely on another coworkers success helped me to work closer and with every worker I was tasked with training.