Shannon Shields

Home Address:Flat 2, 42 Fitzroy Avenue, Belfast, BT71HW

Telephone Number:  Mobile – 0866681054 / 07734228071

Email Address: shannonmargaretshields@gmail.com

 

 

Career Objective:

My career objective is that I hope to progress through the jewellery career, improving my knowledge for the craft and any necessary skills and becoming more confident in my own work and then starting  my own business selling my own work and becoming a known name locally and internationally.

 

Education

2014 – Present                    Ulster University, Belfast.

                                                BA Hons in Contemporary Applied Arts

.

 

2013 – 2014                         North West Regional College, Derry.

                                               Diploma in Foundation art and design studies.

Award:

Distinction in Final Project

 

2007-2013                           Loreto Community School, Milford.

Junior Cert: English (C), Irish (C), Math (B), Art (A), French (C), business studies (C), RE (B), Home Economics (A), Science (C)

Leaving Cert: English (D1), Irish (C3), Math (D1), Art (B3), French (E), Social & Scientific (C2), Biology (D3)

 

Work Experience

Summer work at local stables – June – August 2009

I began working at the local stables in Carrigart in June 2009. My duties involved bring the horses into the stables first thing in the morning and leaving them back out in the evening, grooming them and making sure they were presentable to clients, tacking up the horses, cleaning all tack correctly and efficiently, dealing with customers as they arrived, taking bookings and dealing with payments, fitting customers with correct safety ware, leading treks out on the beach and ensuring everyone was safe when leaving and arriving at the stables. My days were normally 10am-7pm, 7 days a week. I had a lot of responsibility while working there, it required a huge amount of concentration as mistakes weren’t allowed and working with animals, especially horses, required a certain amount of skill which I gained from my 6+ years of equestrian lessons.

 

Transition Year

Vet. Assistant –September 2011- January 2012

In September 2012 I began transition year and as part of this I had to find work placements. At the time I was interested in becoming a vet nurse so I chose to work with the local vets practice in Milford. My job involved assisting the vets on calls to local farms all over Donegal. On these calls we would carry out a number of tests on herd of cattle, sheep or horses. We’d also have to deal with any emergency cases that arose at the time. I also had to carry out office work which involved labelling blood samples and packaging them correctly, recording the day’s tasks on the computer, and dealing with payments of call out bills and assist with surgery on the allocated surgery days. This required a lot of concentration and professionalism. I had to make sure my knowledge of the situation was correct as a wrong judgment or implement could have had horrible repercussions. 

 

Primary School Classroom Assistant– January – May 2012

I began working in my local primary school in January 2012 as part of my second work placement for transition year. I was required to help any teachers that needed my assistance during the day, I helped the children with their work, I supervised the playground during lunch hours, and I assisted with school outings and did activities like arts and crafts with the kids on Friday evenings. I also cleaned the classrooms and made sure everything was neat and tidy.

 

Skills Profile:

Throughout my school years I gained many skills and knowledge. I was able to take part in the Build a Bank challenge in my school during transition year. This involved an interview which helped me gain knowledge of the whole process when applying for a job. I then got the job of Sales and Marketing Executive. I believe my level of skill in the art department helped me to achieve this goal. I had to create many posters and leaflets to inform customers of the aims of the bank and think of creative ideas to get the bank known by as many people as possible through all levels of media including local newspapers, social media and local radio. I gained the understanding of what it meant to work in a team and that each part of the team is valuable in a successful business. I learned customer care, problem solving and excellent communication skills from this experience that I know I will carry with throughout my career.

I also gained some small experience in using Photoshop and digital painting. I found this very useful as it opened up my options when it came to projects and having more skills when it came to doing commissions for people. 3d printing is another thing I have some experience in which I gained from my current course. This is important as its growing very popular and I believe it will be a skill I can improve on in the next couple of months and it will be an important part in possibly gaining a job in the art category.

As an Art student I’ve also begun selling my own work around my local area in the last few years, from this I’ve improved my communication skills greatly. I have become more confident in my work due to the growing interest and positive feedback from past and present customers. I’ve learned good business skills from pricing my own work. I’ve learned great time management skills from having a certain amount of time to finish pieces of work from university projects and commissions from people. These are all skills I believe that I can carry forward into any work force in the future.

 

Referees:

Name:         Sheila O’Brien                                           Name:    Margaret O Connor

Position:     Lecturer                                                    Position: Principal

Address:     North West Regional College             Address: Loreto Community School

                     Strand Road Campus                                                Milford

                     Derry.                                                                          Letterkenny

                                                                                                           Co.Donegal

 

Postcode:   BT48 7AL                                                  

Telephone:  +44 28 7127 6000                              Telephone: +353 74 915 3399

Email:    sheila.obrien@nwrc.ac.uk                          Email:  admin@loretomilford.com