Personal Professional Development

Personal Professional Development

Work Experience

11/06/16

My work experience started on the first week bakc to college after the Christmas holidays (4/01/16) 

Both me and the manager of the store I would be working at agreed on working for 2 hours on a Monday once I had finished college that day (3:30-5:30)

The placement I had found was at a florist that was close by to the college I go to.

While we had set the time I was to work there for, I never worked past five because she closed the store by that time, and it wasn't set in stone that I had to be there until 3:30 sharp, so on most occasions I was earlier, which meant I could fit in more time if possible and when I could.

I didn't start doing anything with the flowers until later on, when she thought I was ready for it, so to begin with, I was mainly clearing up the store and just helping out in general. 

Week 1 - (3:30 - 4:50)

For my first week there, I was shown around the shop and also went through health and safety. Since it was just after Christmas and all of the Christmas stock was still displayed, I was helping out put away any decorations or throwing out any old flowers that couldn't be used after the Christmas holidays. I also repainted the chalk board sign that goes out onto the street.

Week 2 - (3:30 - 4:55)

After my first week the preparation for valentines had begun, since it was one of the busiest times for the store. I was tying ribbons for the bouquets that would be made later in, and I also learnt the basics of making bouquets through watching the manager of the store demonstrate and go through the steps. 

When making a bouquet, the customer chooses the arrangement they would like  with any adjustments out of a wide variety of choices. Each arrangement has a certain number of each flowers, which could be substituted depending on the stock as long as the main flowers were in the arrangement. 

Before starting the arrangement, a piece of soaked oasis block goes into the container so that you have something to push the flowers into and so that moisture can soak into something so the flowers don't die. It is secured into or onto the container using a specific type of tape.

When putting it together, you turn the vase or container in a circle, placing the flowers in a circle so that t looks even from each direction. 

When cutting the flowers, depending on how high you want them to go in the vase, (most arrangements have a dome like structure, so the flowers would be higher in the centre and lower towards the edges) you cut the flowers at the stalk, using the desired height you want the flowers to go and the top of the work space as a reference, and you always cut it slightly longer so that you can adjust it later if you need to.

As you make the arrangement you constantly turn the container around so you can see how it looks as you are putting new plants into it, so that it maintains its shape.

Adjustments can be made once it is done, and once it is done to standard, decoration is added as well as water with flower food mixed into it.

Week 3 - (3:10 - 3:45)

Because I didn't have a lot of time that week, I only readied information cards for the valentines bouquets, which consisted of putting a care guide, flower food and a business card into a plastic sleeve, which would then go into the bouquets along with a small card when made.

Week 4 - (3:30 - 4:35)

This week I actually started to learn more hands on, and learnt how to plant spring bulbs properly and how to organize planters, all of which went on sale after, which was reassuring.

To plant the bulbs properly, I had to remove them from the plant pots they were in to begin with (there were three bulbs in each) and separate them. The planters I was putting them into were small baskets, and would hold three bulbs.

At the bottom of the planters was a thin layer of polystyrene, which would soak up moisture and stop it from leaking out of the planter.

When planting them, I learnt that the roots are the only part of it that goes into the he compost, the bulb itself sits on top of the dirt, and that they went in a circular shape. There were a lot of roots, so I had to dig quite far down to fit them all in.

Once I had planted them, I the. Added the decoration and the flower food water mix.

Another planter I made was using a variety of two to three small plants, which were a lot easier to plant. The method was almost the same, except the planter was long so the plants went in a line.

Week 5 - (3:20 - 4:35)

This week I made my first arrangement and cleared up the shop after Mother's Day, which was another big event for the store. I applied all that I had learnt through watching into making the arrangement. 

The arrangement was made in a small "peony dish" and was for a funeral. It was a little hard to get true foliage into the circular shape without it being uneven, and was also a little difficult trying not to over fill the bottom with the various different leaves I was working with.

As well as making this arrangement, I also prepared some flowers for later use and put them into the cold storage room, and brought all stock from the outside displays back into the store.

Week 7 - (3:10 - 4:40)

For this week I made another arrangement.

Overall, I feel like I enjoyed the work experience to begin with, however, over the time that I was there, my interest stared to dwindle because of all of the time j spent stood around waiting for instruction and without having anything to do. 

I did, however, find what I learnt very informative, as I learnt to identify some different flowers and foliage, and also learnt how to plant things and make arrangement, which, while I am no longer working with flowers, I feel will be beneficial when the time comes to make my exhibition, and would also help with my understanding of composition.

I stopped going to work experience because of the time I was stood around when I was set nothing to, and I felt as though it was a waste of time when I could've been actually been doing something. That and because my ability to cope with stress at that point in time was starting to affect how I handled talking to people as much.