An experience like none other

Today, all of the interns had to present at a meet and greet that the HR department at ETC was putting on for various Ohio and Michigan colleges and universities. We each had to talk a little about our background, our past and current projects, and our overall experience at ETC. One of the things I mentioned about my experience at ETC is networking. I know this is beat into our heads all the way through college, but the professionals I have had the opportunity to network with on a daily are truly inspiring. Everyday, when I come into work, I speak and interact with the Controller and Assistant Controller of the organization. I work on projects with bother of these individuals as well as the CFO of Equity Trust. I have not heard of many internships, if any at all, where this type of experience is gained. Each one of the people I have had the opportunity to work with in the accounting department are extremely professional, helpful, knowledgeable, experienced, and intelligent. I know that my daily interactions with all of these people make my experience here at ETC one-of-a-kind.

Hi my name is Tealla from Equity Trust Company...

So today I had the pleasure of following up on attendees of last years networking conference. It was a nice change of pace from my normal day to day activities. I was able to speak to people from all around the United States and help them to decide to return to this event. My co-workers are putting so much effort into this event it only seems necessary for there to be a great turnout-which there will be. There are so many new sessions and exciting things planned for this event it seems crazy not to go. Now I can truly see how much work is needed in planning an event for hundreds of people. From the graphic designs of multiple banners, to the guest speakers, to the food, it all has to compliment each other and flow with ease.

Fun in and out of the office!

Today is the middle of week 10 for me, and there is still so so much to do! All last week I was focused on creating and administering the Employee Mid-Year Survey. This survey is a follow up to the Annual Survey, and it is to see if our goals and action plans are being proven effective to maintain employee satisfaction here at ETC. I have recently started to analyze the results, and it is very interesting being on this side of things.

This week I am re-organizing a folder on the network that hold all the job descriptions and score cards for each titled position. I have met with most of the supervisors to review specifically what I need updated, in order to make the new folder clean and up to date.

Yesterday was birthday treat for July Birthdays, and so ETC had an ice cream truck come to each office and we all got to choose a ice cream bar! It was a perfect treat! :) Also today is the Happy Hour at Champs restaurant with the Interns, Executives, and Supervisors, that I know we are all very excited for! Earlier in the summer, when the second group of interns came, there was a lunch scheduled for all of the interns with the executives, and I wasn't able to attend, so I am especially excited for today!

New Offfice!

As of Monday, July 19th, I have been working out of the Elyria office. This switch came when I started working on a knowledge transfer project where I am writing work instructions for different processes. This project has given me some new opportunities and a chance work more closely with different people from different departments. Everyone I have encountered thus far has been very helpful and outgoing. Although I do not know how long I will be working out of this office I am glad I have the chance to work out of both offices. Both are unique and have found things I like and dislike about both. Being able to adapt quickly to this new environment has been seamless and easy.

Project I: Complete

Last week the deadline for the functional specifications of eVantage commenced as the next phase of the eVantage re-factoring project kicked off. I was given a one day notice by my supervisor to complete these functional specifications for the presentation in the project launch meeting. I successfully completed the document by the meeting, where the role of the document became more clarified. The following day, I met with the lead Business Analyst on the project team to discuss the information contained in the document. Such information included existing system functionalities, controls, data entry fields, data retrievals, and a corresponding screenshot. This information will be used to ensure existing eVantage system functionalities in the newer re-factored version that will be rolled out in December 2010. Thus documenting these functionalities is extremely important in not damaging the core value of eVantage.

As the project moves forward at a rapid pace, these functional specifications should prove useful in the gathering of the Business Requirements and User Stories for the revamped application. Assisting in such requirement and user story development appears to be the next set of tasks in this project development, and I am extremely excited and anxious for more IT development opportunities!

Deadlines

As I finish my 6th week of my internship at Equity Trust I can't believe how fast time is flying. It seems like yesterday I met my fellow interns and started working on my marketing projects. During this week at ETC, I produced a promotional video for Sterling Trust Company. This video will be sent out to certain potential clients in hope that they decide to choose Sterling Trust as their new custodian.
There was a strict deadline that the company needed the video finished by which created some stress since many revisions arose due to the difference in opinions of what the video should exemplify. Not to mention, once again there were operating system issues along with applications concerns. It turned out that one of my supervisors was able to lend me her Mac in order for me to accomplish my job. Without that laptop I would not have been able to finish on time and I greatly appreciate her help as well as the continous help from my mentor. The employees here are always lending a helping hand even if they have lots of tasks to finish as well. Overall, the video was finished on time and I hope that it can meet its objective once it is released to the public.

Practical Wellness for the Workplace

As other interns have mentioned, over the past week, we have been working with one another in sharing practical tips and tools about stress, nutrition, and exercise in the workplace. It was a great experience to be able to work with interns from across the company in developing an interactive presentation for all of the employees of ETC.

We are also gearing up for our College Meet and Greet that will happen on July 30th. At this event, college career service representatives will learn about career opportunities for undergraduate students and for recent college graduates. In promoting this event, I had the opportunity to interview college graduates within the company and then create an informational video that will be sent to all of the colleges and universities.

This week, I'll be continuing on the website, hoping to tweak some of the details of the site before it goes live in a few weeks. I've recently been working on creating a "Connection" page which draws in our facebook, twitter, and linked-in page. It has taken a bit of work to create an interactive and useful design, but it's a great challenge.

Can't believe that the summer has gone by so fast!!!