CLC - Personal & Academic Achievements

October 9th, 2022

Jordana Waugh

This January I earned a raise at work. It required me to have a difficult and challenging
conversation with my manager and research a respectful way to discuss my wage. I’ve been working at
Milestone for two years and I’ve been promoted twice, one of which included increase in my wage.
However, after perfecting my role and proving my worth to the team as an expeditor and hostess, I felt like
I deserved to be reward for my dedication and work ethic. It is a challenge for me to advocate for myself
and acknowledge when I’m doing well. This forced me to reflect on my achievements at work and be
confident in essentially bragging about myself, which is a stretch for me. I watched youtube videos, read
articles, and consulted with my former manger on the professional way to ask my general manager for a
raise.

Over the past two years at Milestones I’ve gained many skills to make myself worthy of a raise. I
was a shy fourteen year old host when I started, with no prior work experience, but I felt a pressure to
impress my managers and my co-workers. I pushed myself to improve my relationship with guests and
co-workers, applied all the feedback I was given, and never complained when I was asked to do
something. I gained a strong work ethic, communication skills, and learned many applicable skills while
working in a restaurant environment. Within a month I was reward with Star of the Week, and overtime I
worked my way through different roles. I am now the head expeditor and have recently started to push
myself even further and train as a pantry chef. As an expeditor I’ve learned knife skills, mulit-tasking,
stress managment and how to be assertive in a respectful way. In addition, I’ve trained a large portion of
our new staff, whether it be on hosting, food running, expo-ing, or food knowledge. I’ve learned how to
give positive feedback and coaching when needed and explain complicated tasks in a simplified way. I
think having a job while you are young in crucial in gaining skills separated from home and school and I’m
beyond thankful for the privilege and opportunity to have a job.

Reflecting on what I’ve achieved has made aware of how uncomfortable I feel acknowledging my
succuses and advocating for myself. I felt extremely anxious leading up to the conversation because I was
afraid of failure and the outcome of the conversation. I knew how valuable I was, however I tend to be
humble in advocating for myself and voicing my accomplishments outloud. I didn’t want to come off as
better than my peers or superior but I felt like I deserved to be rewarded to my commitment. In the end, I
realised there is nothing wrong with being confident in your worth and success, as long as you stay
grounded.

I am only sixteen and I have two years of job experience and have gained many skills that transfer
over into future jobs. When I’m nineteen, I plan to serve at restaurants while I’m in university and I am
crossed trained in front of house and back of house. I have an amazing relationship with my manager and I
am confident in the letter of recommendation I will receive when it is time for me to move on. I’m happy
that I’ve had the opportunity to ask for a raise with a manager I feel comfortable with as practice for future
jobs. I know a rough estimate of what to ask for, how to say it and when. I don’t plan to work at a
restaurant as my full-time career, however some of the skills that I’ve learned with transfer over my what I
want to do. I either want to be a lawyer or a pyhcologyst and my communication skills will help me talk to
new people and build connections with him. The training skills I’ve learned can be applied to any job and
are a good baseline for me to learn more. Finally the cooking skills I’ve gained will be with me all
throughout my personal life.