Job Descriptions

The last job that I interviewed and took on was for a preschool aid position at a local daycare in Corvallis. The job description mentioned these points: looking for someone to assist the lead teacher in day to day activities, who will actively engage with the children, who can change diapers and assist children with going to the restroom, communicate with parents when needed, uphold sanitization standards, and be responsible for showing up to each shift with a high-energy attitude who is positively interacting with each person they come across at work.

When I came to the job, I felt as though they did describe what they needed in someone more than they described what the job actually entailed. This started to make sense, as I saw that management really didn’t know what the standards of the job was for each position and wasn’t sure how to enforce what each employee needed to be accountable for accomplishing. This began to create large issues the longer that I worked at the place, as the people who had integrity and did the job well were praised, and the people who failed to do their job were merely left alone, not reprimanded. Management would then complain to employees who exceeded their expectations about the employees who dragged everyone else down, instead of dealing with the issues themselves. I felt that this went completely against the standard of creating a positive, high-energy, environment, because it became increasingly difficult to be be high-energy when my bosses were complaining to me about issues they were having with my coworkers each day.