Community Resource Guide For Helena VISTAS Volume 1. July. 2014

Phase 1 Setting Out: 0-1 months in In the first phase of your service you are excited about the year ahead, but also a bit nervous or even overwhelmed. In the professional realm you have very little information about how you will be spending your year. In your personal life you are probably still figuring out how to function in a new and unfamiliar environment. Professional Development Areas Understand who exactly you work for and how to market and introduce yourself accordingly: Your VISTA leader- Talk with your VISTA leader about how to introduce yourself professionally before the first day of service. Establish a communication method with your site supervisor: Medium-Phone, email, face to face/Interval- Once a day, once a week/Purpose-To notify of work plan, to update on ongoing projects, to get feedback on completed projects. Learn who your co-workers are if you have any. They can be an invaluable asset: Orientation-During orientation you’ll probably be introduced to individuals who you will be working with or others in the same building as yourself. If not, make it a point to do so. Get to know them and discover what areas they work in as they could be helpful later in your term of service. They can be a great place to bounce ideas off of as well. Establish a work day routine that meets the requirements of VISTA service: Set and stick to work day hours that meet the 40 hour per week minimum, confirm with your site supervisor that your hours are appropriate/Fill out your daily work log, each day. Do not expect that you will remember. Set up your office and computer systems: Set up your voicemail, computer and email logins. Be sure to save this information in a secure location. Create an online file storage system (Microsoft Office, Google Drive, Drop box etc.) so you can access you files when your work site is closed. Check with your sight supervisor to make sure there is not confidential or personally identifiable information that should not be stored online. 8

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