My Objectives as an Intern at Abu Dhabi Airports Company - Essay Example

Internship Report Introduction This report is about my internship experience at the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). During the internship, I was posted to the security section of ADAC. The report presents information about my experience in regard to the various activities that I undertook during the internship period, the things that I achieved, and the lessons that I learned in regard to the company as well as my prospects for a career in the field of airport security. The report is divided into various sections as follows. The first section presents an overview the Abu Dhabi Airports Company profile. This is followed by information about my job description and work plan while at ADAC. The internship objectives section in the report highlights my objectives as an intern at ADAC, that is, what I wanted to achieve during this period. This section is followed by a description of my accomplishments during the internship period, and finally, the lessons that I learnt. The last section of the report is the conclusion, which wraps up my internship experience as discussed in the entire report. Company profile ADAC is a public joint-stock corporation that is fully owned by the government of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi Airports, 2014). The company was established in 2006 to lead the redevelopment of the aviation infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. ADAC plays a critical role in ensuring that the Economic Vision 2030 program of Abu Dhabi is attained by ensuring that the airports that are under the company’s management are well designed, operationally efficient and safe to facilitate efficient air transport (Abu Dhabi Airports, 2014). ADAC owns and manages five airports in Abu Dhabi. These airports are the Abu Dhabi International Airport, the Al Ain International Airport, the Al Bateen Executive Airport, the Delma Island Airport, and the Sir Bani Yas Island Airport (Abu Dhabi Airports, 2014). One of the key roles of ADAC is to ensure that security is observed within the airports that the company owns and manages. Job description and work plan During my internship at ADAC that lasted seven weeks, I performed different jobs which entailed different work plans. My main duties entailed performing some of the duties that are performed by the staff at the Security Passes Department of ADAC. Given that I worked at different points and performed different tasks during the entire internship period, my job description and work plans varied week by week. My job description and work plans during the internship were as follows. During the first week, I spent some time familiarizing myself with the work environment as well as the people that I would be working with at the Abu Dhabi Airport. I also learned the process of issuing the security pass, how various rules and regulations are applied at ADAC, and how to manage clients. In the second and third weeks, I was involved in practical activities such as checking, printing and issuing vehicle passes, processing vehicle security passes, using the ID software program to renew passes, and checking whether a pass has been approved or rejected. In the fourth week, I was involved in the preparation and issuance of airport security passes as well as checking, printing and issuing camera and laptop security passes. In week five, I was at the Aviation Security (AVSEC) Department, where I learned about airport security quality control and the coding system used for the different airports managed by ADAC. During the sixth and seventh weeks, I had an opportunity to learn about airport security operations information, specifically the Airport Security Program (ASP). I also learned about the preparation of monthly and yearly reports such as the OGSM (Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Measures) and other procedures such as Security Inspections and Document Control. Internship objectives Overall, my objectives during my time as an intern at ADAC were as follows: To perform the tasks assigned to me and use them as a platform to learn and improve my work-related skills. My target as an intern was to perform the different tasks that I would be assigned as a way of making use of my skills and learning to improve my skills further. This is informed by the point that being exposed to a work environment would enable me to apply the skills that I have learnt at the university in doing practical tasks. In addition, my aim was to learn new skills at the place of work since the work environment and the learning environment at the university are notably different. Indeed, the internship gave me an opportunity to perform some tasks that I had never performed before. To familiarize myself with the company’s operations and culture as a way of boosting my job prospects. Since working in the aviation industry is one of my key aspirations, I hoped that interning at ADAC would give me exposure to the work environment and culture of companies that are involved in aviation operations. Indeed, I had an opportunity to learn and participate in various operations at ADAC. While doing so, I interacted with different people and learned about the culture of the organization. I know that different organizations have different operations and cultures, and the internship gave me a starting point to learn about the two phenomena. To improve my soft skills such as communication skills, social skills and interpersonal skills by interacting with and working with different people in the company. Although I have some of these skills, such as social skills and communication skills, I had never applied them in work environment before I went for the internship. Therefore, my objective was to not only make use of these skills by interacting with different people but also improve them through the learning process. I intended to achieve this by working and relating with different members of staff at ADAC and by assisting the clients of the company in the different tasks that I would be performing at the organization. To identify my strengths and weaknesses while undertaking different tasks. Along this line, I wanted to assess the areas in which I perform well at the workplace and those in which I am weak and correct the weak areas by taking on new challenges and learning from other people. Accomplishments My accomplishments at ADAC are in regard to the learning that I was exposed to, as well as the fact that I was able to perform some tasks that I was familiar with and those that were totally new to me as part of the internship. As regards learning, I had many opportunities to learn while interacting with different people and doing the required tasks. From the very first week, I learnt that when a new person joins an organization in any capacity, he or she has to be introduced to the people within the organization, the various sections of the organization, and the tasks to be performed. For instance, my first day of the internship involved getting to know the people who I was set to work with for the entire period, and I was guided by the person who would be supervising me. I was also guided throughout the various sections of ADAC where I was posted. This enabled me to learn how different tasks in those sections are performed as well as the importance of carrying out different procedures. Such processes included preparing and issuing security passes and managing other issues related to airport security. As regards performing tasks that I was familiar with and others that were new to me, my accomplishments were as follows. To start with, after learning about the process of issuing security passes in the first week, I was able to put what I had learnt into practice by following the steps and carrying out the process successfully on my own. Specifically, I grasped all the details required for issuing permanent and temporary passes, and I was able to fill information in all the relevant forms for processing security passes at the airport. I also learnt how to scan the security pass and I was able to do the same during the first week of the internship. Another of my key accomplishments is with regard to being able to access the social media pages of ADAC and being familiar with how the company uses social media to communicate with its stakeholders. As part of week two and three tasks, I was able to check, print and issue vehicle passes and apply the requirements that are needed for issuing such passes. I was able to use the ID software program to renew passes for the Delma Island Airport and the Sir Bani Yas Island Airport. Another key accomplishment that I made was being able to check, print and issue camera and laptop security passes. In addition to this, I was able to apply the measures that are followed before issuing security passes for the aforementioned gadgets, such as filling the relevant forms and checking the details of laptops and cameras for which the concerned people are applying for the security passes. These were part of my tasks in week four. Also, being able to create a security pass for myself in week five while at the AVSEC Department was such a great accomplishment as it gave an insight into what it takes to process a security pass. My accomplishments in week six and week seven are in relation to being able to understand the details of the airport security operations. Specifically, I got to understand concepts like Airport Security Program (ASP) and the significance of preparing monthly and yearly reports about airport security. These operations are important because they are required at every airport in Abu Dhabi and they are also a mandatory requirement nationally and internationally. I also managed to know about how procedures such as Security Inspections and Document Control are carried out. A notable aspect of my achievements during the seventh week is that I was able to prepare a travel checklist. I prepared the checklist based on my own knowledge as well as the information that I had learnt during my stay at ADAC. At the same time, I was also able to prepare a travel checklist in Arabic, which was a major accomplishment because I had never done such a task. Lessons learnt I learnt a lot of things during the internship. The first one is in regard to the importance of communication and being a good communicator. Given that ADAC is a large organization, effective communication within the company is very important since there are very many people that one has to interact with. For my case, I was interacting with my supervisor as well as other people such as the employees in the various departments and the clients that I was helping ADAC staff to serve. Dealing with many people means that one can be easily misunderstood, especially when everyone has their own way of doing things. But with good a communication system, which was the case at ADAC, I found out that it is possible to communicate effectively and ensure that things run smoothly. For instance, the employees at ADAC are free with each other and this enabled me to communicate effectively with them during my stay at the company. I also learnt that being free with others and asking for assistance whenever required is one way of enhancing effective communication within an organization. Another lesson is in regard to the culture at ADAC. Everyone in the organization is accommodating and always willing to help others. In particular, when I was new in the organization and not familiar with many operations, all the people that I worked with interacted with me and helped me whenever I needed assistance. This was very important to me given that prior to going for the internship, I had learnt that interns should treat every person within the organisation at which they interning with respect, whether it is the supervisor or other employees in the organization. And it was interesting that the people at ADAC did not treat me as an intern but as one of their colleagues. The culture whereby employees interact very closely with each other is important because it enhances teamwork. Because of the friendly environment created by the employees and managers at ADAC, I was able to work as part of a team with all the staff members in all activities in which I participated, such as processing security passes. The prevailing organizational culture enabled me to work well with the employees of the organization, and I am hopeful that this made me recognizable as a team player. Another lesson that I learnt is the importance of hard work. I learnt that in order to be successful at the workplace, one needs to work hard and complete the tasks that he or she has been assigned. Although in the first week I was not involved in doing complicated tasks, the weeks that followed involved some tasks that were quite demanding. For example, I had to learn and familiarize myself with processes such as issuing security passes very fast. The nature of the work at ADAC is such that one has to learn processes quite fast and know how to apply them without having to ask for assistance all the time. Yet, even processes that ordinarily appear easy, such as processing security passes for vehicles, are quite complicated when one does them practically. I also learnt that at the airport, one has to learn a lot of information, such as information about airport and airline security. Thus, in order to be competitive, one has to put a lot of effort in understanding the information and knowing how various processes are applied in practice. Prior to going for the internship, I was aware that interns need to work hard in order to impress others, hence increasing their chances of being identified for permanent positions within the organization at which they are interning. Therefore, I put my best effort in every task that I performed. Conclusion The internship at ADAC was a wonderful experience for me given the lessons that I learnt and the achievements that I made. Initially, I was supposed to intern at Gulf Center for Aviation Studies (GCAS), but I was taken to ADAC because GCAS is an educational institution and an arm of ADAC and would not offer the practical work exposure that I required. In particular, it was indicated that ADAC would allow me to have a better experience of the work environment given the nature of operations there, which was in line with the objectives of my internship. The internship at ADAC involved different tasks that entailed different work plans. This enabled me to achieve my objectives, which were to do the tasks and learn more; to familiarize myself with the company’s operations and culture and boost my job prospects; to improve my soft skills; and to identify my strengths and weaknesses while performing different tasks. I also achieved a lot through learning and doing practical tasks related to airport security. Through the internship, I learnt a lot including the importance of communication and being a good communicator, the significance of an organizational culture that is characterized by friendliness, and the importance of hard work. References Abu Dhabi Airports. (2014). Overview. Retrieved from http://www.adac.ae/english/who-we-are/who-we-are/ Read More