Time Management

How are you managing time, workload and academic pressures? How can you improve your time management skills?

I feel like I am managing my time and workload and academic pressure at the moment reasonably well.

I have seen the stress that can be caused if your time at work is not managed efficiently. It was one of the graduates first month but it was also Quarter end at Janssen since transferring across from Medical. She had not managed her time efficiently throughout the month and had left quite a few tasks to the last minute. On Friday afternoon, when everyone else had completed all their own tasks for Quarter End, this graduate still had not even started on her Rec’s. She was rushing with the deadline that she had to catch a flight at 8pm that night. From 3-8pm everyone was working to help this one graduate finish and she was stressed as others were having to stay behind to help her finish and wait for her to be finished so that she could get all her tasks approved. This caused great stress for not only the graduate who had not completed everything but also everyone in the office as we want to pass this internal audit that is being done on the quarter. From observing and being a part of this chaotic quarter end, I have seen firsthand how important it is to manage your time and tasks throughout the month at work and to ensure that you do not forget about doing anything. It is much better to update spread sheets a few times a week instead of waiting to do it all at the end of the month. I have learnt from this, that with my own tasks to keep on top of everything. I have a list written out of everything I have to do and when it is due. I make sure that I update my Claims Visibility worksheet constantly whenever we get a new claim through, so that my manager is able to have an up to date version within a few minutes’ notice. I also come into work early/leave late if I have to complete tasks as it is better to work a bit longer on certain days then leave it all to the last minute. Prioritising tasks is also important. To know which tasks are the most important and urgent to do is important, these tasks are completed more often and I spend more time on them than others. I will spend most of my time throughout the day on these projects/tasks and then update my other tasks/projects that are ongoing either in the morning or at the end of the day.

I am finding I have to manage time extremely well, as I leave college at 7:30 in the morning at won’t get back till 6:30 at night most days and later at least once a week. I find that I use the time in the morning if I catch public transport to read over my lecture notes. When I sit down to study, however, I find that I do use my time more efficiently with my studies.

However, I do need to improve my time management skills at night. I find that after working from 8:30-5:00 it is hard to find the concentration to do my studies. I usually allow the time getting back to college and dinner time as my downtime and then study after dinner. This however, doesn’t always work very well as I have other commitments which also use up quite a bit of my time. I have found that I have had to set most of my Saturdays aside now for Studying as I am not getting as much done throughout the week as I would like to. I need to be more efficient in doing my work as well. I have set out a study plan for the rest of the semester to help me stay on top of my university studies. Without this time specifically set aside, I have had trouble finding time to always do my studies. I also need to make sure I keep onto of this blog and that I have started making dot points of the different tasks I am completing so that at the end of my placement when it comes to do my presentation, I will be on top of it.

I am finding that my time management skills are constantly improving as I am having more to manage and getting the hang of managing my time. I am also finding that it is helpful to my uni studies to be working and making it easier to learn certain aspects of topics in Management Accounting as there are parts that do relate to mine or others tasks at work.

Links between My University Studies and Work

Discuss a work experience that will bring relevance to what you are studying at uni? Has a work experience motivated you to explore new areas of knowledge? Why? How are your work experiences helping you develop your professional skills? I am finding that there are many topics that I have learnt across the past year and a half that are relating to different tasks that I am completing in the workplace. What we learnt on reconciliations in Semester 1 last year gave me a basic understanding on what they are. I have however, been able to develop this understanding through in quarter end completing a variety of different reconciliations for different accounts – mainly employee related cost accounts. In quarter end I also helped the costing graduate with her journal entries, setting up the journal template. I was able to put into practice and debit/credit different accounts due to their expenses. This activity also allowed me to further consolidate my understanding on the movement of money across accounts and the reasons for these movements. However, I am also finding that a lot of the work I have learnt so far is not relating to many of the tasks that I am undertaking at Janssen. One of the projects I had to undertake was looking over our current customers and deciding whether we should increase their monthly credit limits. I needed to decided and provide enough evidence if it is feasible to increase their credit limit and whether they will be able to reliably make the payment of this increased amount. To do this I had to order both the Payment Predictor and the Commerical Beauro Enquiry Reports from Dun and Bradstreet. These reports highlights the customers ability to make their payment and if it is a correct decision to increase their limit. I had to have enough evidence that the Financial Control would approve the increase. At the moment I am helping with the FBT banking. I have been consolidating the FBT 2013-14 years costs from SAP, using a variety of excel skills that I have been learning as my placement has progressed to ensure that I am giving the correct amounts for each account. They are then checked against the amounts in gsrx and if different have to be investigated into to check and find reasons for the differing values. Working with the graduate on this task has allowed me to explore a lot more of the costing side of Janssen, which I am finding quite interesting. My professional skills have been developing constantly as my placement has been progressing. Over the past few weeks I have been given more complicated tasks and tasks which relate to different areas of the business instead of just mainly to the accounts receivbale. This has allowed me to gain a greater understanding of different roles and develop different skills, especially advanced excel skills that related to this more complicated tasks. I have also had to communicate a lot more with people in different departments and with our customers and wholesalers. Most of my tasks also need me to communicate with others in the Business Intelligence Group, this means I am constanly improve my professional interpersonal skills and my understanding of different areas. I have also had to write instructions out for many of my tasks in a coherent and fluent way that when the next intern comes in to continue that they will be able to read through the instructions quickly and complete the task.