While finishing the last week of our first module in Praxis. The other students and I have been learning about different job roles, as well as how to properly pitch ourselves through our past experience and work related skills. Today I’d like to talk about a job I have held with SmashBurger Inc. from June 2018 to present (September 2019). As a guest services expert and management trainer, I learned many useful skills and have gained experience in important aspects of business. In this post im going to answer a few questions and dive into the details of my experience in this role, in hopes or proving myself as a valuable asset to any team.

1-What were the hard skills I used in this role?

-Cash handling and profit management

-Inventory management

-Staff and management training

2-What were the biggest ways I became more valuable over the course of my employment? How did I measurably improve?

When I started with SmashBurger back in June of 2018, I was hired on as a simple cashier. At this point in my life I had no prior job experience and was being hired as just another standard employee. However, I quickly proved my worth through more than 100 customer surveys with 100% approval ratings in my first 3 months. This lead to my promotion from cashier to guest services expert, where I was training new employees on how to properly interact with customers and do their jobs at max efficiency. I quickly became well educated in the inner workings of the food industry and how things run behind the scenes. Everything from how to stay on top of inventory, to maintaining a positive profit-labor hours ratio. Because of this I was quickly promoted to a training position, specifically one where I train anyone being promoted or hired into a management position. I teach these employees skills that helps them run their own successful stores. In the last 15 months I have gone from a simple cashier, to someone that helps in growing and improving Smashburger as a restaurant, and as a national brand. 

3-What were the most valuable things I did for the company?

Throughout my time with SmashBurger, I played a pivotal role in improving our customer approval rating, increasing sales and profit, and building the SmashBurger empire with equally impressive results coming out of the managers I trained.

As proof of my impact, I’d like to turn to some statistics provided to me by my general manager, Jeffery Gould.

Before my hiring/promotion - Average sales check = $9.46

After my hiring/promotion - Average sales check = $10.10

Before my hiring/promotion - Customer approval rating = 80%

After my hiring/promotion - Customer approval rating = 91%

As you can see by these statistics, I made a measurable impact on the efficiency and quality of our business. It is also notable that throughout my time as a trainer, I have trained 9 general managers who upheld similar customer approval ratings after their training with me.

4-What about my role was most impressive?

How quickly I was promoted to a guest services expert and then to a management trainer (5 months). As well as the measurable impact I made in the efficiency of our store and others.

5-Why am I more employable because of this experience?

Because of the experience I gained through training many people to be successful in their own careers, the customer service skills that I acquired and refined over my time with the company, and my understanding of the background work that keeps a business running healthy. I have grown from a simple cashier, into a hardworking and dedicated addition to any team.

Braden Schmidt 9/28/2019