Work Hard, Play Hard

This summer I was fortunate enough to be the lead manager of our beloved and the world renowned college bar Kam’s. Located in Champaign, Illinois for over 70 years, Kam’s leads a long legacy that precedes the name everywhere it travels. Being open every night from 8 pm to 2 am gives us a short window to do business compared to many other industries and even other service industries such as restaurants. This small amount of time being operational means that those 6 hours are extremely busy involving thousands of customers and varying amounts of employees. I never knew that managing that part was the easier side of the business! Apart from the nightly work that occurs while we are open and serving customers, I was also responsible for the day to day management of the employees, promotions, inventory, and preparation. With over 145 employees, scheduling everyone for every week is a task that takes learning individual preferences, availability, and effectivity. Working with this number of employees also brings responsibility for individual performance reviews and giving required feedback. Being responsible for the employees also brought me the task of promoting the exceptional workers and relieving underperforming employees of their positions. Training the newly promoted employees for their newly acquired positions was not only fun, but offered a slight challenge that I was eager to accept. I enjoyed teaching them the requirements of their job as well as showing them how to interact with their subordinates in an effective and conscientious manner. This opportunity was one that I value due to the real world applications that this prepares me for once I am in my career. One of my favorite parts of my internship was discussing promotions and ideas that will bring in customers. I was lucky enough to not only meet our suppliers, but also meet their supervisors and learn more and more about the large industry that they are involved in while also building relationships and networking. The opportunities to discuss with these individuals their organizations strengths and weaknesses combined with their knowledge of the industry gave me un-paralleled insight into a possible career path. Inventory tracking while being a dry, mundane subject and task, is very important to ensuring enough supply while also maintaining a decent margin on our products. This past summer definitely gave me the experience in management that I wanted and needed to be successful later in my career through hands on engagement with subordinates, networking abilities and knowledge, and the reminder that the little things still matter.