I was just asked to take notes on the White House press briefing and told to send them out to the top two people. Who knew that all the note-taking I’ve done during the last four hours would finally pay off! I took notes during the press briefing, immediately re-wrote everything in a comprehensive paragraph format, and then forwarded it via e-mail. Dare I say that it was my mini-moment of glory? That said, swine flu is something that should be taken very serious and I am not aiming to make light of the current situation

During the last week I have been shadowing several screening managers at the airport.

Hector: screening manager (my old sm)
Frank: screening manager (my current sm)
Bill: TSM-I (my old sm) He essentially oversees other screening managers.

Screening managers oversee checkpoints for one shift, ranging from one checkpoint up to four occasionally. Hector explained to me that the job itself is not particularly difficult; when things are running smoothly there is little for him to do but when bumps occur then he is expected to take care of the issue. It seems like a simple concept, but this honestly had not occurred to me before. I suppose my theory was, the higher up you are the more work you have. Instead, Hector and even Bill emphasized that, while they do not have more work per se, they do have more responsibilities. [“If something goes wrong, we’ll be held accountable for it”]

On the days that I shadowed a screening manager we started with a daily meeting that all screening managers attend. Apparently a meeting is held for each shift, so a total of three per day. After the meeting we visited each of our assigned checkpoints. The meeting and checkpoint visits lasted for approximately three hours. Afterwards we would adjourn in one of several offices and start reviewing paperwork.

I realize this is an incredibly broad overview of what I did, but it really is difficult to explain to an outsider.

My internship currently goes until April 25th, meaning I have exactly two weeks remaining.

How you will continue to network in your field:
As far as making connections go, I will still work with two separate departments while also interning in the SOCC for several days. I think networking will be a little bit easier for me because I will not really be leaving my internship-site once I have completed my 14 weeks.

How you intend on continuing to apply for positions to increase the chance of getting hired:
I already applied for one position and a similar one just opened up again and I may apply for that one as well. (both are in the SOCC) I am currently on a waiting list to go full-time with TSA. In the meantime I think I will continue to apply for various positions at the main office.
If I apply for any additional positions I will use the same resume and essay question answers. I believe that the elimination process occurs at the interview stage, not during the application process. Perhaps I will make changes to my application process once I have received some feedback from current applications.

What you will accomplish before the end of your internship:
Next week I will shadow a screening manager at his checkpoint. During the last week I may shadow someone in the Regulatory Department. Each of the people I am going to shadow apparently already have a project lined up for me. For me, this seems like a really nice way to cap off this internship.
The screening manager will actually have me working with files that I had to put together during my first several weeks interning at the Airport.

Strengths:
A strength in regard to the workplace is that I have gotten to see behind-the-scenes in almost all of the departments within TSA. I think this makes working anywhere else in the airport easier because I know how things are handled.

Weaknesses:
The fact that I am still thoroughly fazed by people’s titles may be a weakness. Spending time in the SOCC, or even just being in the main office, I have realized that most of upper management is quite approachable. It may take a while for me to get used to addressing some people by their first names.

BAOs: To give you the gist of it, whenever a piece of luggage goes through screening and looks “bad”, BAOs get called. Likewise they test screeners as well as train them.

During this internship I have been shuffled between people and various departments in order to gain a better understanding of what happens at TSA behind the scenes. I think at this point Wes has gradually run out of places for me observe a department or shadow someone. There are so many different components to such a large organization, but understandably not every department or person is suitable for me to shadow. Anyway, since working at the checkpoint I have always been interested in what the BAOs do; no one mentioned if I could shadow them during my internship. Because of this I strolled in to their office on Tuesday and asked if I could shadow them, I should mention that no one EVER goes in their office. The Supervisor said that I could shadow the department but that there were certain things that I would have to skip out on. (makes sense..) Unfortunately my internship hours are a bit complicated to work with, in conjunction with the BAOs, so I was told to come back on Wednesday and they would let me know if anything else came up that I could tag along for in the future.

BAOs are stationed at the main office almost 24/7, I believe there are no flights for a three or four hours period in the early morning. (don’t quote me on that) I spent the first hour learning a bit more about what the BDOs do and afterwards I followed one of them (Steven) to the Airport. Steven went to two different checkpoints to give a class that some new-hires and transfers had missed out on. He ended up giving the same class a total of three times and I would like to think that because of the repetition, the information got ingrained in my head. The class was interesting and it was great to see how enthusiastic the TSOs were; unfortunately supervisors aren’t always supportive of classes and refuse to release TSOs so that they can occasionally attend a class.

On our way back to the main office Steven got a call and before I knew it we were speeding back to the airport, me made it there in record time. It turned out that one of the checkpoints had a bag in its x-ray that looked pretty bad. Since Steven was one of two people on call he was the one to respond. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty neat; our race back to the airport was like something out of a movie. Although Steven is allowed to park the car RIGHT in front of the airport and just run in, we parked across the street and jogged in to the terminal. Correction, he jogged through the exit while I speed walked through security and then stood off to the side.

Even though I’ve gotten this amazing amount of access along with this internship I wasn’t sure if this was one of those things that I wasn’t really privy to, so I just watched Steven from afar and then later got a re-cap of the whole thing. The bag that he had been called in for ended up being alright. It belonged to a roadie who had a few electronics that just did not look right on the x-ray image.

Today was a BIG day because the new FSD (Federal Security Director) arrived in Arizona today. We have an FSD right now (Jim) but he isn’t permanent, he just came to AZ to sort of transition between the last FSD and the incoming one. On Thursdays my schedule has me at the HR Satellite Office located at the Airport. Well, when I arrived at the Satellite office there was a sign that read “at FSD meeting”. After a quick call to Wes it turned out that the majority of FSD staff members were going to be meeting the new FSD at 9am. Wes said I should try and attend the meeting, but I didn’t arrive at Headquarters on time! When I arrived everyone was already seated and I would have had to walk right past the new FSD and most likely interrupt his speech just to enter the room. So I did a somewhat bitter stroll back to the front desk. I had so been looking forward to meeting the new FSD!

Well, before leaving I dropped in to the SOCC to discuss several things and to my surprise the new FSD was standing in the middle of the room! Apparently he had gotten a mini-tour of the SOCC and was in the process of meeting everyone working there today. I couldn’t just stroll up to him and introduce myself, never mind interrupting everyone else, so I just tried blending in to the background. As the FSD was on his way out of the SOCC he apparently spotted me, came back to where I was at, and made it a point of introducing himself. I managed a handshake, uttered my own name, and that was it. Someone else from the SOCC mentioned that I am an intern and the FSD chimed in that he had actually been wondering if TSA had a program that catered to interns. It sounded as if he was quite keen on the idea!

So even though I missed the original introductory meeting I still got to meet the new FSD and everything turned out quite well. After my shift at the FSO (Federal Security Office) I went to the Airport to complete my regular shift at the checkpoint; several times I might have let it slip that I had already met the new FSD earlier in the day. Maybe it’s just me, but meeting the new FSD during his first (official) 4 hours in PHX seems like a big deal to me! :-)

Today I went to a networking lunch with two other girls from the Office (Rochelle & Malisa). Once a month administrative assistants employed by various State and Federal agencies meet to socialize while simultaneously networking. I debated asking Rochelle and Malisa how these networking lunches had started but another admin. assistant actually answering my question while we were having lunch. She told me that by networking on occasion and getting to know people from other departments and agencies, if we should every have to work together, we would already have a point of contact. It sounds silly, but as soon as she explained her theory to me, a little light bulb went on.

All State and Federal agencies undoubtedly have each other’s contact information, but it would make such a big difference to have a point of contact.

TSA needs to work with Law Enforcement
TSA -> calls LE phone number -> speaks to LE person
Bill from TSA -> calls Jane from LE -> discusses situation

So that’s a crude explanation, but I think you get the general idea. I think networking lunches like the one I attended can be incredibly beneficial. I know it may seem odd to “waste” time on a seemingly silly socializing lunch that is on the clock so to speak, but you have to be able to look past the occasional gossiping and dinning to realize that connections are being made that would take much longer in a normal work setting. We all know that it is easier to make a connection outside of a rigid work environment when people are more at ease.

This week I spent my “other” days working with Catherine, one of two financial specialists. Catherine explained to me vaguely what her job entails and right off the bat had me listen in on a conference call regarding travel cards. TSA employees that have to “travel” for work are issued a credit card that, with the proper documentation, will be paid for by the government. (Trips can range from flying someplace to driving to a spoke airports within Arizona) At the beginning of this month TSA changed banks, so now another bank will issue our designated travel credit cards. Because of the change all info regarding cardholders is being reviewed right now.
Catherine had me review the list of AZ Cardholders and pay attention to details like birthdays and their assigned airports, ensuring that no files were labeled incorrectly during the transfer from the old bank to the new one. Believe it or not but it was incredibly time consuming looking up everyone’s birthday and which airport they are assigned to.