2018-08-31 11:14

Sister Cities Seeking Full-Time Seasonal Position

Photos with Santa in Sundance Square Plaza

Job Title: Sundance Square Santa Program Manager

Job Type: Seasonal Full-Time

November 1 – December 24, 2018

BASIC FUNCTION: Responsible for managing the day to day operation of Sundance Santa

JOB SPECIFICATIONS: High school education or equivalent is required. Must have project management experience and possess the ability to meet deadlines. Must work well under pressure. Good organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills are required.

SUPERVISORY DIMENSIONS: Volunteers

EXTERNAL CONTACTS: General public and Sundance Square customers

INTERNAL CONTACTS: Daily contact with Fort Worth Sister Cities International staff and volunteers & Sundance Square staff

RESPONSIBILITIES & ROUTINE DUTIES:

• Oversee day to day Sundance Santa processes at the set in Sundance Square Plaza
• Be on set full-time to set up and coordinate while Santa is open
• Trains, tracks & manages volunteers
• Manages the schedule through the electronic line system (QLess)
• Assists with customer relations and answers questions
• Serves as primary point of contact between QLess and Sundance Square Santa matters
• Contacts QLess Customer Service in case of issues with electronic line, seeks quick resolution and tracks progress
• Provides regular review of daily interactions with customers and maintains copies of communication with QLess for recordkeeping and recognizing opportunities for improvement.
• Manages customer expectations and interacts with customers.
• Be available to work November 16 & 17 and then Wednesday – Sunday from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

DESIRED SKILLS & EXPERTISE

• Energetic, outgoing, customer-oriented personality
• Ability to engage customers in a courteous, helpful, and respectful manner
• Able to learn and adapt to current technology needs and communicate changes with others
• Proficiency with Apple products (iPad), familiarity with using apps and basic computer skills
• Able to think quickly on the spot to answer customer questions
• Physical demands include: standing for prolonged periods of time, outdoors
• Spanish is a plus
• Exercise flexibility and patience in difficult situations
• Composure and ability to handle stress
• Ability to multitask, provide attention to detail and proactively solve problems
• Basic mathematical skills
• Act in a manner of integrity that shows support for Fort Worth Sister Cities International & Sundance Square, its values and employees, while meeting customer expectations

COMPENSATION: $15/hour with time and a half for hours over 40 each week

EXPERIENCE: 3+ years Client Services Coordination or retail shop management

2018-08-21 10:16

Humility & Respect

Editorial by President/CEO Mae Ferguson

Featured in Rotary Club of Fort Worth newsletter

Imagine that you have a crucial building project that will vastly change things for the better and your boss has assigned a partner to assist you. This partner has strengths that will compliment your areas of expertise and vice versa, but there is a problem; you only understand how to create triangles and your partner only understands how to create circles. How would you proceed? How would you find a common language so that you could achieve your goal?

As unlikely as this scenario might seem, it is not so different from attempting to conduct business with those in other countries. Often businesses, civic groups, religious institutions and even charities face challenges when working with people from different cultures. The most obvious barrier is language, but in many ways that barrier is the easiest to overcome.

There are often more important nuances to consider, such as: how do they like to be greeted, what conversational topics are taboo, what is customary in terms of giving gifts, what are their dining preferences, what is their viewpoint on doing business with women, what are their religious customs, what are their expectations on attire, what are their business customs, do they shake hands, bow or kiss?

Does conducting international business or traveling for leisure now seem more daunting when you are facing those questions? Technology has made it easier to conduct business worldwide. Companies sell to clients all over the world and dealing with different cultures can be tricky. But, it need not be.

Protocol training provides tools to help navigate these waters by respectfully considering these cultural nuances and familiarizing others to work within them. Training is needed for companies, civic groups, churches, individuals, and non-profit organizations to make international business and leisure travel easier and more engaging and successful.

In order to host international visitors and provide the best possible experience for their guests, companies will focus on specific nuances of different cultures for their training such as proper pronunciations, conversational topics, dining etiquette, potential pitfalls, how to make introductions properly, how to greet properly, the importance of punctuality and receiving and reading business cards.

As a certified protocol officer, I regularly consult with various groups to discover needs, goals and intent. Protocol trainings are customizable and tailored to the needs of any company, group, individual or organization all with a desired outcome of – mutual understanding and respect of other cultures and good international relations for all.

A quote I regularly use during trainings comes from Dorothea Johnson, who is the founder of the Protocol School of Washington who says, “The soul of politeness is not a question of rules but tranquility, humility and simplicity.”

In essence, the heart of protocol is caring enough to go the extra mile to ensure that you are presenting yourself, your company, your city or country respectfully, and it goes beyond that. It is caring enough to be open to receive the beauty that other cultures are waiting to share with you. When viewed through that lens, protocol becomes so much more than a set of rules or code of conduct. It truly is the Rosetta Stone that unlocks the power of international relations.

2018-07-09 11:23

Meet the 2018 Summer Interns

Courtney Cannon

Courtney Cannon is a recent graduate and Zeta Tau Alpha alumna of the University of North Texas (UNT). Receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies with a concentration in international development and humanitarian affairs, she is very interested in learning and immersing herself more in all cultures of the world. As the Leadership Academy Coordinator for Fort Worth Sister Cities International (FWSCI), she organized all aspects of both the Junior International Leadership Academy (JILA) and the International Leadership Academy (ILA) programs for this summer.

Matthieu Ferrero

Matthieu Ferrero was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, near Washington, DC. He moved to France when he was 2, after his brother was born. He lived in France for about 12 years, then went to live in Vietnam for four years, attending a French high school in Ho Chi Minh City. After passing his final exams and before studying at university, he enrolled in a business school in Nîmes, France, to earn a Bachelor of Business Administration. As it is his second year in the program (out of three), he is doing his international internship at FWSCI.

Grace Lu

Grace Lu is an international studies major at Texas A&M University (gig ’em!) with a concentration in environmental studies and minors in bioinformatics and Chinese. She is a program coordinator intern for youth outbound exchanges at FWSCI, working primarily with the Harashin Scholar Program. In her free time, Grace enjoys swimming and reading.

Megan Metersky

Megan Metersky will be entering her sophomore year at the University of Notre Dame. She is currently studying international economics and applied computational mathematics and statistics. She has been involved with FWSCI for many years, participating in student exchanges and ILA. This summer, she is coordinated the Dual Language Immersion Camp and will be a facilitator at ILA.

José Mauricio “Mau” Moreno García

Mau is a student of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Toluca where he is studying mechatronics engineering. He is a creative person and he is not afraid to express new and innovative ideas. He has experience in several areas, the strongest being design and teamwork. He also has a lot of experience speaking in public and attracting people through technology. In addition, he has had international experiences in robotics competitions in Chandler, Arizona; St. Louis, Missouri; and leadership experience in Fort Worth, Texas. This summer, he worked as an international intern in the FWSCI office working on ILA and JILA where he also served as a facilitator.

Amber Parsley

Amber Parsley is 22 years-old and from Arlington, Texas. She recently graduated from UNT with a degree in public relations. This summer, she assisted Katie Wharry as a Marketing and Community Engagement Intern.

Alexis Runyons

Alexis Runyons was a Program Coordinator Intern at FWSCI. Her main tasks were finding host families and managing logistics for ILA. During the month of July, she worked as a facilitator at ILA, as well. Currently, she is a student at UNT, and is majoring in communication studies, double minoring in marketing and Chinese, and pursuing a certificate in digital media studies. She is a half Taiwanese, half American individual that hopes to return to Taiwan after graduation and pursue a career in social media management.

Avalon Wolfe

Avalon Wolfe is a rising sophomore at Stanford University, where she intends to major in political science and minor in computer science. She is involved with the Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford, Stanford in Government, and Night Outreach. After graduation, she seeks to work with international policy and intergovernmental organizations, with the hopes of eventually running for public office. Aside from serving as a Program Coordinator Intern at FWSCI this summer, she is volunteering at Prevent Blindness Texas and self-studying the C programming language.

Muna Yowell

Muna Yowell is a senior at UNT majoring in international studies with a minor in Arabic. She worked as an intern at FWSCI as the Tricolore Games Coordinator, responsible for the logistics of an international youth sports games in Fort Worth’s sister city Reggio Emilia, Italy. In the fall, she will be interning at the International Rescue Committee in Washington, DC and will be graduating in December 2018.

Ameera Zaman

Ameera Zaman was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, but her parents are from Bangladesh. She is currently a junior at UNT where she is majoring in communication studies and minoring in biology, Arabic, and social sciences. This last year, she joined a collegiate Bollywood fusion dance team called Chingaarii. She has been involved with FWSCI since her sophomore year of high school, traveling to Reggio Emilia, Italy and Nagaoka, Japan as a Youth Ambassador. She has also been an Associate Delegation Leader (ADL) for an exchange to Japan, and currently she is a Program Coordinator Intern. She primarily worked on anything involving the facilitators for JILA and ILA, but she also helped with the rest of the program. She also serve as a facilitator for ILA this summer. She looks forward her future endeavors with the program.