College skills relevant to the real world?! By Katie
October 28, 2011
Over the past few weeks, I have been to several meetings in Annapolis at the State Board of Elections. As with any job, people are always looking for easier, more efficient ways to complete tasks and make things more instantaneous. I was appointed to a committee to brainstorm about how to make the task of recruiting, organizing, filing, and paying election judges a little easier. This was a great way to get to know other election staff from around the state (networking). Each local board has the same tasks to complete, but each completes them in their own unique way. Of course, this is just fine as long as the job gets done, but since we use a statewide database, it is much more challenging to find something that is conducive to the needs of 24 counties in Maryland. This committee is only one example of how there are challenges that require a little bit of creativity, but practicality at the same time.
Being creative and practical reminds me a lot of my college experience. Many people will wonder what the practical application is of learning the scientific method or writing a narrative about his/her interpretation of Shakespeare. This is an interesting problem as a college student, and even those who have never experienced these tasks. In college, I remember thinking, “Okay… and the point of this is… and where will I use it in my daily life?” Since being out in the job force, I have come to discover that it’s not necessarily the topic in the classroom that needs to be focused on; it’s the practical application of the task at hand and how the critical thinking and creativity develops the brain.
I am by no means a scientist, but in my opinion, as you go through your college career and even on to post-graduate work, you are learning how to manage your time, deal with deadlines, become a critical thinker, and have creative ideas. Ultimately, these skills transform into how well you work under pressure when your boss asks you to complete a task by tomorrow or your staff meeting requires ideas on how to reach out to new clients. You may be proud of your college degree and major, but sometimes the employer may not even be interested in what you majored in. They may just like knowing that you have been put through the challenge of developing your skills as a student.
Being a student is a much different experience than just on-the-job training. It certainly is a matter of preference and ability to go to college, but my point today is that you need to gain a little perspective in your college experience and make the best of it. In the end, the skills you never realized you were developing will appear eventually and you’ll realize how much you really did learn in college.
Board of Elections? What do they do? By Katie
October 6, 2011
Hello Again! I’m sure that you have all come across a person who has a job that you wonder, “What do they really do?” Well, this is one of those jobs. My job title is Election Administrative Assistant II, which sounds like I just assist the administrator of elections. It is never a surprise when people say, “well, you only work on Election Day, so what could you possibly do all year long?” We just smile and say, “This is more than a full-time job”.
As with any process, Election Day doesn’t just happen. The Carroll County office I work at has a total of six people, all women working full-time. We have 36 precincts around the county where people go to vote and run 6 days of Early Voting the week prior to Election Day. Fortunately, our county only experiences an election every two years – Gubernatorial and Presidential elections, but in each case, there is a Primary and a General.
If you are a voter in Maryland, you know that you vote on electronic voting machines and check-in to the polling place by electronic pollbook. In order for these to be ready each election cycle, they go through vigorous testing, upgrades, and battery changes. This takes an immense amount of time with a huge inventory of heavy equipment (around 750). Among the six of us, we do the majority of this in-house with a little help from teams provided by the State. All of the serial numbers from each piece of equipment must be tracked, which a staff member takes care of.
In order for the equipment to get set-up in each polling place, this requires the assistance of community volunteers, also known as Election Judges. From the month after one election to the night before Election Day of the next election cycle, election judge recruitment and organization happens. This is the main part of my job. I am responsible for communicating with people who have expressed an interest in being an election judge (around 800), tracking them in our database, hiring judges (around 400) to fulfill the needs of each polling place, coordinating judge training, conducting judge training, and upon successful completion of Election Day, organizing the payroll sheet so the election judges get paid. Election judges are the most critical piece to making Election Day happen because they are the ones out at their polling place directly dealing with the public on that day. They have a lot of responsibility!
While the election judge process is the main part of my job, each of the staff in our office is trained to be as versatile as possible. On any given day, you will see us processing voter registration applications, updating the office procedure manual, processing petitions (if applicable), keeping our district lines and addresses up-to-date in our database, and performing maintenance on the voting equipment. As the upcoming election approaches, we will be preparing forms and election judge manuals, counting supplies so we know what needs ordered for the polling places, processing absentee ballots, assisting nursing homes with absentee voting, and communicating with potential candidates. Additionally, we maintain a Facebook page and website, as well as coordinate voter registration drives at the local high schools and within the community.
On the surface, you can say, “I work at the Board of Elections” and everyone will think of Election Day only, but as you dig a little deeper, there is a lot that goes into making Election Day perfect. The lesson here: Just take a job title with a grain of salt. When a job says “Analyst” or “Administrative Assistant”, for example, you never truly know what they do until you actually get into the job or ask.
So, until next time, ask lots of questions any time you’re looking into a career field, internship, or potential job!!! J
Hello McDaniel!
My name is Katie Helwig. In 2009, I graduated with my B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice and a minor in Political Science. I enjoyed every moment of my educational experience at McDaniel and really had great mentors and professors.
When I graduated in May, 2009, I had already received a job offer with the State of Maryland at the Carroll County Board of Elections where I started in June, 2009. However, to explain how this happened, I need to rewind a few years to 2006 between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I ran across a job posting for a part-time Election Clerk at the Board of Elections office. I was hesitant to apply because I knew I could not give as many hours as they had indicated on the job posting and since I was taking classes full-time, my schedule could not be consistent. I decided to apply anyway because I had the philosophy that you never know what an employer may be able to work around and what the needs of that office is until you speak with them personally. This was one of the smartest things I did because I was hired on the spot and I could work around my class schedule!
So, I started in June and when September came, I just altered my hours so I would go to class for an hour and come in to work for two hours until my next class. Luckily, I was a commuter student and the office was down the street from McDaniel. This job was only supposed to last through December, 2006, but my boss knew how much I loved my job and they enjoyed having me, so she just opted to keep me as a part-time employee to see how things would go. I continued to work through May, 2009 when I graduated. There also happened to be a full-time state position available in the office, which I interviewed for in March, 2009 and was offered in May.
Many people say I’m “lucky” because I just “fell” into a job that I love as soon as I graduated. I don’t look at it like that. This was an opportunity that had requirements, such as the part-time, consistent schedule, that I didn’t necessarily think I qualified for. However, I took a chance, applied, and interviewed. I got the job! I know there aren’t as many opportunities out there in today’s job market, but you never know what a job will turn out to be unless you give it a shot!
The lesson I learned and would like everyone reading my blog to know is that you have to take chances. It was by chance that I applied for a job that, at the time, I thought wouldn’t turn into anything. So, if you’re still not sure what you want to do after college, take some different classes you wouldn’t normally think to take. Take a chance to learn something new.
My goal in writing a blog is to tell you a little bit about what goes on day-to-day in my career, as well as share some thoughts on the obstacles we are all facing as young, college graduates with an economy that doesn’t have as many job opportunities as there were 5 years ago and paying those student loans!
Until next time, please just take a chance and jump at an opportunity. You never know what can come out of it!
