Weeks 4 and 5 recap!

Sorry ETC, I've failed you as an intern. I was unable to finish my blog for week 4 so I will combine it with week 5. In my defense, I think that this just goes to show how busy I am here!

The last two weeks have been very productive. Since finishing the New Hire Orientation presentation, I held my first GoTo Meeting with Jessica to show Andrea and Tony, two members of our HR team, the final product. I reviewed the organization of the presentation and how it should be presented. It was perfect timing because Andrea will be handling a fairly large group of new hires during orientation on August 13th. I'm attending the presentation so that I can make adjustments to it afterward if necessary. I'm excited to see how it goes!

One of my newer projects has been creating customer service and soft skills training for Client Service Representatives. The main focus of the training is how to de-escalate a call. I had a great time working with Liz, one of the CST team leads, to come up with effective ways to approach some of the more common issues that occur over the phones. I listened in on a few calls with her to get an idea of how Client Service Reps interect with clients. She really knows how to handle escalated situations! I give her a lot of credit; I don't know if I would have been as calm as she was. I finished up the training this week and plan to present it on Friday to Kathy, Phil, and Amanda, who are the CST supervisors, along with Ira and Rob, who are working on Project Apple. Hopefully this training will improve the call experience for both our clients and CST Reps!

Recently, Jessica and I have been taking on a hefty task list for Project Apple with Ira and Rob. Luckily, I get the tasks that don't require knowledge of IRA's. Jessica, however, has been working on a real estate training program for Project Apple Liasons. Ira gave her an intimidating-looking book that covers everything you would need to know about real estate investments. Way over my head. So instead, I've been working on Outlook training to show CST Reps some of the shortcuts that Outlook has to offer. This will hopefully make their lives easier! It's actually making my life a bit easier too as I learn about some of the shortcuts.

Sadly, I no longer get to spend time with Tiffany and Andy in Elyria. Luckily, they send me funny emails to make up for it! With project Apple requiring many new training programs and me living closer to Berea, it's just easier to be here full time. Andrea did stop by from Elyria to go out to lunch with Jessica and I, which was a great time! I was happy to get Aladdins twice this week; once with the other wonderful interns and once with Jessica and Andrea. Not mad about that!

Overall, it was another fantastic two weeks here at ETC! It's crazy to think that I only have three weeks left... :(

Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk Yeah

When I heard that the Equity Trust intern program exposes you to a wide range of careers, projects, and tasks I never thought it could pave a way to a modeling career.  KT had some shirt samples come in from a vendor for our employees to wear at the upcoming Networking Conference in Orlando, Florida.  We were deciding if we liked the look of the royal blue, button-down shirts and I was asked to try one on.  Naturally gifted model and all, I struck a few poses so KT could send a picture to Jeanette to hear her thoughts while she is out of town.  We then compared how it looked with the khaki pants Wes was wearing and the black pants I was wearing.  Needless to say I won the competition!  Now before anyone tries to scoop me up for their modeling agency let it be known that I only won because I happened to be wearing the black pants that looked better with the blue shirt.  It was no indictment of Wes's own modeling skills.  Like I keep telling you, interning at ETC keeps you on your toes!

On a more serious note, I continued plugging away at the competitor analysis I have been working on.  I looked at the first fee comparison and brainstormed another scenario that would delve deeper into how the fees actually work through multiple years and differentiate us even more.  I then set up the second scenario and scripted another portion of my analysis.  I drafted my hypothetical profile that I will use when I call each competitor's sales team and act like I am interested in opening an account with them.  I also thought of some questions that I will ask each sales team that will give a more complete profile of each company.  We continued posting for our Olympic Facebook campaign.  We have not been getting that many entrants to the Equity Trust Games contest we are promoting so we used a different method with our most recent post.  Rather than explaining how to enter, we focused on what one could win from the contest.  We decided people aren't as interested in what they are guessing and what the contest is for as they are for what they can get from it (and rightfully so).  I'll let you know if it worked in my next blog.  Kent needed a letter mailed to our Gold Level Service clients and asked if I could help him out.  He sent me over an excel spreadsheet with the information of all the GLS clients in Florida.  I then created a mail merge and printed the mailing labels and copies of the materials that would be included in the mailing.  Also this week, Jaime Acosta in the IT department was a great help with my Evergreen project.  I sent him some questions that had arisen regarding the coding and programming aspects of the program.  I asked him what it would take to host the program on our own server as opposed to the one provided by Evergreen.  After he took the time to analyze my situation he provided his answer and we concluded that it would not be practical to try to host it on our server.  It was decided that, as of now, we would push forward with the current settings of EBS so we can get a live program out there to analyze.  Finally, Alicia, Tyler, and I went to lunch again this Wednesday.  One of the many benefits of ETC's internship is the relationships you can form with your other interns.  We are all in the same situation as college interns so it is great to be able to hang and work with some of your peers.

I'll catch you all next week! Unless I leave ETC for a modeling career that is...

Olympic sized headache

This past week was primarily focused on social media.  We began our Olympic Facebook campaign yesterday so last week was full of planning, drafting, and brainstorming.  I was exposed to a side of contests that I have never seen before.  There is so much behind the scenes work that must go into setting up a contest.  We first had to read through the International Olympic Committee's legal publication regarding the copyright and trademark restrictions for the 2012 London Olympics.  You wouldn't believe how stringent they are!  We wished to run a contest coinciding with the Olympics that asked contestants to like us on Facebook and then guess how many medals the United States would win this year.  Little did we know but the words London, Summer Games, Olympics/Olympian/Olympiad, or even 2012 were copyrighted!  It goes without saying that it was extremely difficult to brainstorm a way to run our "Olympic" promotion without specifically mentioning the Olympics.  We used to crafty marketing lingo to come up with the 2012 Equity Trust Games!  We first had to set up the contest on a program called Shortstack.  This sets up a tab for the game to be played directly from our Facebook page.  Another long, arduous process we had to go through was reviewing our own rules and regulations.  It is mind-blowing to me all the detail that must be put into each game or contest because of all the lawsuits that are filed in today's day and age.  Luckily we got the contest up and running and I will be posting a new Olympic themed post each day until the end of July. 

Also this week we threw together a short campaign because we were closing in on 1,974 likes on our Facebook page.  Since Equity Trust Company was founded in 1974 we thought it would be a fun idea to post some fun facts about the year 1974.  I drafted and posted four different posts talking about how gas prices have changed from 55 cents a gallon, how that was the year the speed limit was changed to 55 mph, and also mentioned the Rumble in the Jungle boxing match that took place that year between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.  It was exciting to me to see the quick feedback to these posts as I received a like only one minute after posting.  Now if only my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts could be so popular! 

This week I also continued with my competitor analysis and met with Kent and Jeanette about the Evergreen system.  I am hoping to start running with that later this week.  Finally, great news from the BiggerPockets blog forum that I have been monitoring.  A gentleman responded to one of my posts, he must have liked that I was an informative and educated poster, asking for information regarding a self-directed IRA.  I passed him along to our sales team and I learned later that they had converted this lead and he opened an account with us!  I was extremely excited that the posting I have been doing on the site is generating business for our company. 

I should hopefully be posting later this week to update you on my work.  I'll cross my fingers the IOC didn't notice how many times I mentioned the Olympics in this blog, since I'm sure they follow the ETC marketing intern very closely.  Until next week!

Week 3

Another great week in the HR Department of ETC!

     This week I've been finishing up the New Hire Orientation Presentation. I've been working on shortening the presentation to only the most relevant information so that we don't scare any new hires away during their first week! I added some fun activities to engage them in hopes that they will be just as excited to be at ETC as I am! Over the course of the next few weeks I will be working with Jessica to create self-taught training materials that new hires can complete on their own time. We're trying to cut down on the amount of time that they are just sitting and listening to a speaker, and rather provide more hands-on ways to get information across.

     This week I sat in on my first HR departmental meeting with John, Tiffany, Andy, Jessica, Tony, and Andrea. We discussed the progress of the department and goals for each member of the team. We also touched on some of the open positions that HR has been recruiting for. On Wednesday we had an Open House in Berea to hire a new batch of Client Services Representatives. There was a fairly decent turnout for the position. I had to play secretary for a bit, but there was free lunch involved so it was totally worth it!
     In Elyria I worked with John again on a department headcount for Operations. I set up meetings with all of the supervisors of the department to verify their numbers. I jotted down the responsibilities of each team in the department and how they interact with other departments within ETC. Jessica and I plan to incorporate that information into the Orientation material so that new hires have a better idea of how the company functions. I really enjoy getting to work with the supervisors of other departments because it gives me the opportunity to get to know more of the employees here. I was impressed with how accomodating and friendly each supervisor was.

     I scheduled and held my very first meeting on Friday! Granted, it wasn't the most exciting of discussions, but it's a step! The purpose of the meeting was to review the CST script I've been working on. Kathy, Amanda, and Phil, the leadership team within CST, attended the meeting and gave me feedback. The script will likely be incoporated into the CST training materials and be placed in each of the call center cubicles as a quick reference guide of phrases that the Client Service Reps can use during calls. The script was also help to make calls more uniform.

    I have to say, the employees of ETC are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I'm not even saying that because I'm sure my supervisors are eventually going to read this. :) But really, I have to hand it to ETC for finding such a positive and helpful group of employees. Maybe I'm shocked because I spend the majority of my year around rude college kids. But, I would rather give ETC the benefit of the doubt. The smiley faces at the end of each email I recieve certainly lends to a positive work environment, and I genuinely enjoy being here each day!

Now I can stop brain freeze

Another successful week has been completed here at Equity Trust.  It was jam-packed with meetings, new projects, and Dairy Queen!  Since my parents always told me to save my dessert for last I will hold off on the DQ until I tell you what I have been working on. 

After our Evergreen meeting last week I began researching some of the program's competitors.  Wes provided me with over ten different programs that provide webinar automation services.  I went on their websites and documented what features they offer and how they compare to those offered by EBS.  I threw out the majority of the programs on the list but flagged about three that are somewhat comparable to Evergreen for further research. 

We have been brainstorming how best to handle any complaints that are posted on our Facebook page.  Since we recently upgraded our systems we have been having a few issues handling our customers accounts.  We have had one particularly unruly customer who continues to post negative feedback on our page.  Although we follow up, and eventually resolve, each issue this client is still not satisfied.  We got together and decided we would contact him again with an opportunity that should assuage him. 

On Wednesday Brendan assigned me a new project.  In the past several marketing interns have conducted a competitor analysis that looks into the website content, fee schedules, and sales procedure of the top firms in the self-directed IRA industry.  Since it has been a few years since the last analysis I am going to update our information.  I am excited for this project because it allows me to play detective.  We have agreed on a client profile that includes my age, occupation, investments I am interested in, and how much I have to invest.  I will then utilize this profile to contact our competitors and learn how they pitch their products.  I hope to compile an extensive comparison and help our company to continue to improve.  I had to leave a little early Wednesday because I had my 2 month check up for my elbow surgery.  It is extremely valuable that ETC allows me the flexibility to leave a little early for my appointments.  The doctor gave me great news!  I am finally cleared to begin strengthening my arm in the weight room for the first time in over six months.  To say I am excited would be an understatement, even if it is just to curl five pound weights! 

In addition, I had another meeting with Rich Desich and Kent to discuss how we would like to continue with our Evergreen Webinar program.  We are planning on utilizing one of the 2,600 Homevestor franchises.  We hope to produce an educational webinar that will run continuously.  We will use Homevestor to help drive traffic to the webinar and thus tap into their leads.  Rich did a great job explaining the thought process that was put into each slide.  It was amazing to learn more about the psychological component of marketing.  Every word, every topic, and every slide has a specific response it should provoke.  Rich encouraged our team that this program should help revolutionize how we produce webinars and generate leads from them.  Like I've mentioned before, this is an opportunity most interns do not have.  I am lucky to be in the position that I am and I have no doubt I am learning more than many of my peers.   

Is all this work making your hungry?  Me too.  Once again the marketing department infused fun and food into the work week.  Brendan decided it was time to treat the department to Dairy Queen to celebrate Kelly registering over 100 people for our Tax Free Wealth Seminar in San Francisco.  She has been doing great work with TFWS and I was more than happy to "help her celebrate."  I got an Oreo Blizzard, which unlocked an extremely useful piece of information.  KT informed me that you can stop brain freeze by pressing your thumb against the roof of your mouth.  I figured there was only one way to test this statement.  I began to shovel copious amounts of Oreo Blizzard into my mouth until I felt that familiar pain in my head.  Sure enough it worked!  I will no longer live in fear of the dreaded brain freeze thanks to KT.  I guess it just proves my theory that interning with ETC will teach you more than the rest!

My Time At ETC So Far

     Equity Trust Company is an awesome company. I've been here since the beginning of May and I've loved every minute of it! I've been kept busy though for the past week or so, so I'm just finally getting around to my first post on this blog. I am the Summer Computer Networking Intern here at ETC. My supervisor, John Moses, has been assigning me little projects since I started here. For my first project, I had to create an imaging server using the open-source imaging solution FOG to make computer deployment a more efficient process. After doing almost everything I could with that, he has moved me on to another project in cleaning up the Active Directory and updating employee information. I've been working with Tiffany from Human Resources to get the information I need. She's been a great help.

     Updating Active Directory has been a little more interesting then my previous project because I've had the opportunity to talk to a large number of ETC employees I probably never would have spoken to. When there is information missing from the reports given to me to update employee information in Active Directory, I have often had to call and speak with them or send them an email to get this information. Now when I receive company-wide emails, I can often remember the names of the people in the email from when I have spoken to them, which is kind of neat. I have also been helping Jessica with technical support, since she has been in Elyria for the past two weeks. That has also been a great way to meet some of my fellow employees. I will most likely finish up working on Active Directory today. I'm excited about what is in store for my next project from John. He has mentioned in the past that he wants me to organize all the crazy wiring on the server racks, so that could be next.

    ETC has such a great atmosphere to work in. Everything is laid back. The business casual dress code is great (we even get to wear shorts when it's hot in Fridays!). We get an hour lunch break every day, and sometimes we even get free food from a catered cookout provided by ETC in the parking lot! I've also had the pleasure of going out to eat and to an Indian's game with all of my fellow ETC employees paid for by the company. It was an awesome way to get to know everyone.

     I'm excited about what's in store the next couple of weeks. My internship is supposed to end around the beginning in August, but I'd be more than willing to stay a bit longer if I was offered. We'll just have to see how that goes...Hopefully the rest of my time at ETC will be just as great as it has been so far!

Week 2

Week 2 has been just as good as week 1! I have been very busy working on projects. 

      In Berea, I mainly focus on the training and orientation aspect of Human Resources. Jessica has me working on the Corporate Training New Hire Orientation Presentation. Phew, that's a mouthful! I really like this project because I get to be a bit creative and add in my own orientation activities and games. I also like working with the heads of departments to incorporate important information into the presentation that new hires would need to know about those departments.  Jessica and I have been working with Phil, Amanda, and Kathy from CST. They're a great group! We had a meeting this week to discuss creating different levels in the CST training program. I'm also working on some scripting for CST so that calls will be more standardized. I was able to sit in on calls with both experienced and new call center employees to see how they interacted with clients. My goal was to determine which parts of the conversion could have a script incorporated. There are many projects going on within the training side of HR, so I will keep you posted as I start the next one!

      In Elyria I get to experience the recruiting side of Human Resources. This week I helped post job opportunities on Monster.com, NEOintern.com, various career service sites for colleges in the area, and social media sites. I reviewed resumes for potential candidates for job openings and scheduled interview appointments. I have learned that there is an art to reviewing resumes. Recruiters have to be able to determine whether or not a person will be a good fit for the company and stay with the company based on work patterns and histories. Even the layout and wording of a resume can make a huge difference in whether or not a candidate will be interviewed. I'm taking notes for my own resume! I got to work with my first member of the Executive Management Team, John Cameron. I helped create a department headcount report with Andy. Also, I finally got to work with Tiffany, who is back from her conference! 

      One of the things that drew me to ETC was its dedication to community involvement. I really like that ETC takes part in Relay for Life and Corporate Challenge, among many other events. This week, I signed up for the 10k relay for the Corporate Challenge. Also, I ran the Towpath Freedom 5k for which ETC was a sponsor. I ended up being the 18th female finisher and got 3rd in my age division! I think that ETC does a great job of providing fun opportunities for employees outside of the workplace, and I've really enjoyed getting to be a part of them!


I love working here!!