Stop for a minute and think about who you are as an employee. Not the person you are striving to be or the person you think people expect you to be. Not the person your supervisor sees or the person you present when you know you are being watched but that person you are when you think no one is watching. The real you. Are you doing room inspections regularly or room audits (you know, when you check every other room occasionally)? Do you really do all your rounds or are you that person that reports doing all rounds even though you know you laid down to take a nap and when you woke up it was 2am? Are you that person telling others about how your supervisor is full of …unprofessional habits?? Do you find ways to do things your way with no regard to your supervisor’s/departmental standards because after all who are they to tell you anything?
Now that you have a picture of that person you are when no one is looking, let’s imagine this. Imagine you have been given your very own dream business to run. Your very success depends on whether or not the people you hire will work according to your standards to help your dream come true. If they work according to your standards you are guaranteed to be a millionaire, if not then you lose everything. Are you willing to hire that person that you just got a picture of? Is that person someone you would feel 100% confident with helping you reach success. If you did hire this person, as you reach your success, if this person never improves to help you keep growing will you still want this hire or would you want to fire?
If you can look at who you really are and feel that you would hear you’re hired, congratulations! You are on the path to professionalism and success. Continue your development so that you can be compensated in a manner that reflects your high value in a competitive employment market. On the other hand if you think you’re fired would be appropriate or you would have questions about hiring you, congratulations! You just discovered valuable information that will help you get to where you want to be. Use this opportunity to develop you into that professional you want to be. After all, being a paraprofessional is temporary. You may be getting over on your supervisor and the department now but some day you will be entering the “real world”. What you do now will certainly impact whether you hear you’re hired; and believe that if the person you are that comes around when no one is looking is not up to standards it will also impact whether you hear… you’re fired.
Submitted by Larita L. Hugee, Area Director & Paraprofessional Coordinator, University of Maryland Eastern Shore