Done!!!

As many of you may or may not know, during your 12 weeks at Equity Trust you have to do a project that you are assigned to at the beginning of your internship. Each week you meet with you mentor to go over the progress, make any changes, and have your mentor try and fix any road blocks that are in your way.

My project over the 12 weeks was to plan, design, populate, and create queries for a relational database. Planning the database was the hardest part because I had to schedule meeting with all the managers and process engineers to determine what data they needed from all the database, which of course took time. Once I was able to gather the correct data, populating my database was relatively easy, all I had to do was do a import from Excel. This week I was finally able to finish my project, which is very good, because now I can test it for any bugs.

This is harder than I thought!

And by the title, I don’t mean that my internship is so hard that I feel as I can’t do my work. Quite the opposite in fact! To explain…this week I’ve been focused on our new applicant tracking system – Taleo. I finished with writing the manual in outline form in Microsoft Word last week, but then I decided it didn’t look organized or nice enough for a manual that will be used for years to come. So Josh, our wonderful IT intern, helped to create a simple Excel template I could write the work procedures in. Then I transferred the entire outline from Word over to the excel format. After that, I had to create a table of contents, cover page (which our awesome Marketing intern, Ryan, helped me with), and formatted the whole thing. In general…that is why I said it’s harder than I thought.

The good part about that though: I’m learning. By doing all this technical work, I’m teaching myself new things about computer applications and learning about technology on my own (which is quite an accomplishment for me, as I normally run away from computer problems).

We’re also beginning to tape employees for the testimonial part of our website. Everyone seems really nervous, but I’m sure it will end up being great. Look out for a blog next week about how I’m teaching myself Windows Movie Maker…ahhh!

"I was driving and saw a sign that said "blasting zone ahead", shouldn't that read "road closed"?" - Brian Regan

Is anyone else excited it's Friday? It sure has been a busy week, correction, ten weeks. I finished my analysis of the Q1 2009 and Q4 2008 marketing reports today, and I just got off a conference call with one of the marketing channel managers and a few suits from the bank we are working with. In an earlier post, I mentioned a project which I was lucky enough to help with from the beginning stages. We are creating a new product which will create a better customer experience online. The call I was just on was to discuss the best processes (possibly the hardest word in the English language to pluralize) to integrate into our project. It is amazing what kind of work goes in behind the scenes to make a customer's experience better! Anyway, I am excited to continue this project, and gain valuable experience working alongside the project manager.

Next week is the 2nd to last week, which means I have A LOT to get done. I still have a few things to help with for the HR intern, and I have to finish the creation and printing of the new HR brochure. This brochure will showcase my creativity and artistry, just ask the HR recruiter, I am sure she thinks I am akin to Monet... or Manet, whichever one didn't marry his father's mistress.

Aside from these projects, I still have to put everything together into my final presentation which I will be giving to management in two weeks. So, I better stop blogging and go to work!

Candyland!

This title is extremely appropriate (I think the other interns would agree) because we had training yesterday and the day before and ate a TON of candy. Our HR recruiter bought all of this candy for everyone to pass around to keep things exciting while we presented our training presentations. Needless to say, out of the 7+ hours of presenting we did, a lot of candy was consumed.

Anyway, like the other interns mentioned, we had an extremely busy week. Getting together everyday and going over our training presentation got to be a little tiring after a while but I think we all did a great job and things came together nicely. We received a lot of compliments from many of the employees. Our goal was to try and keep things interesting for our audience and I feel we were fairly successful. My favorite part of the presentation would have to be the short video clips - especially the one that displayed leadership. Lauren this is for you - "You know you're supposed to have a cover sheet on all of your reports, MITCH!!!!! ...Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Janice!"

Aside from the intern training project this week, I have started working on another project for Sales and Marketing selling the Networking Conference and Gold Level Service. It has been a slow start since out of the 8 people I tried to get ahold of today on the phone, only 2 picked up. I have a long list to call so I'm confident things will go a lot better as I continue to make calls next week. I would however, like to extend a "pat on the back" to Jeff for signing someone up for the conference today - LUCKY. Good job!

While it was fun getting together with all of the interns to work on the project, I'm sure all of us are glad it is finished and we can focus more on our individual projects.

Pinning the Tail on the Donkey...

These past two weeks have been crazy. All of us have been running around in circles getting our Universal Training Presentation set up. We presented our project, “Setting the PACE,” yesterday and two days ago, amounting to seven, hour long presentations. Everyone in the company ended up seeing the presentation and I believe the end result was a great success. We based our program off of a survey that was sent to all the employees a little over a month ago. They claimed that they would like to hear about communication, leadership, teamwork, accountability and Sterling Trust. We tied it into the topic of PACE (People Achieving Common Excellence).

Emily and Max did a terrific job on Sterling Trust. Emily’s tidbits on the background of the company were very informative as well as Max’s explanation of the institutional approach that Sterling takes. Max really held the audience in the whole time and I think he did great! His presentation was neither too short nor too long, but just right. Lauren explained what it takes to be a leader in the workplace and I think everyone came out thinking that no matter what position you hold, everyone has an equal opportunity to step up and lead. Lauren Gates, the other sales intern, explained accountability and how it can cost companies billions and billions of dollars each year. All the employees now take accountability a little bit more serious as they contribute to the endless success that Equity Trust continues to have day in and day out.

I feel communication is a huge factor in “setting the PACE” inside of a company such as Equity Trust. I was able to pick up enough information to educate the employees on not only how to be successful in the workplace, but in social and personal relationships outside of Equity Trust as well. Lastly, Ryan and Josh put together a great teamwork activity where everyone participated and had a blast. It is hard to believe the imagination that some of the employees over at the Elyria office have! Ryan also tried extremely hard to spark the crowd with his humorous jokes. I am proud of him, because some of his jokes got shut down as everyone was silent after his punch line. But, Ryan, you never gave up, buddy. You are a true soldier and one of these days someone is going to laugh until they wet their pants.

Overall, we pinned the tail on the donkey with all of the employees of Equity Trust. Our mission statement was to make a long last effect on them as well as improve our presentation skills as students still in college. We drastically were able to enhance those skills, but were not able to do that without the undivided attention that each and every employee gave us. From the feedback that we received, there is no doubt that with the help of Amanda Thompson and all of the employees I can candidly say, mission accomplished.

Office Leadership with a "Get it Done" Attitude

Do you know what the five most important global leadership traits are? If you don’t, here they are: 1) Performance 2) Character 3) Persistence 4) Adaptability 5) Flexibility. If you attended Equity Trust Company’s summer intern training presentation, you would had been able to name off all of those traits, because all of the interns just delivered training to the entire company for the past two days. It was a really exciting opportunity for us. I mean, how many college students can say that they delivered training to an entire professional organization? Probably not many. It was just another great experience for all of the interns and something we’re all really going to realize the value of later on in our education and in our future work experiences.

To tell you a little bit about it…our project was called “Setting the PACE.” PACE stands for People Achieving Common Excellence. To achieve common excellence in the workplace, there must be knowledge, accountability, communication, leadership, and teamwork. Each of us touched upon a different subject; my subject was leadership. I trained the employees on the most important leadership traits in today’s global economy, how to go about developing those traits, ways to demonstrate leadership in the workplace, and what Equity Trust managers/supervisors think about leadership at ETC.

Although we were really tired of hearing ourselves talk after delivering this presentation over seven times, it was actually kind of fun. We’ve heard good feedback from the employees about the presentation, and that always makes you feel good. So to give you a little taste of our presentation, here’s a link to one of the videos we showed during the presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRkiouh5NEI

Enjoy!

Exciting Internship

Hello everyone! My name is Max and I am an accounting major at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. This is my second internship at Equity Trust Company. This summer I am a management intern looking at some specific aspects of ETC’s finances, and last summer I was in the marketing department. Having two internships that have focused on two different areas of the company has provided me with a unique opportunity to view the company from a wider perspective, and I think it has given me a greater appreciation of just what an exciting place Equity Trust is to work.

From reading the posts made by my co-interns, you may be aware of the ETC’s recent purchase of Sterling Trust, a firm that was previously a competitor. This is a phenomenal development, especially when placed in the larger context of the current market conditions. Anyone who maintains an interest in current events or the financial industry understands the unprecedented and uncertain nature of today’s economy. It has motivated aggressive government intervention in both the free market and specific industries.

Despite the challenges so many other firms face today, Equity Trust continues to enjoy sustained growth and expansion. It makes me proud that while other firms are threatened by the lack of security in today’s market place, Equity Trust is in a position of strength; to the point a major acquisition is justified! This is a strong testament to the type of company the Equity Trust is, and its prospects for future growth in the retirement and self directed IRA industry.

From my perspective, at its foundation Equity Trust is committed to innovation. It is a company core value, but at the same time it is more than a phrase that is read out loud at team meetings. Rather, it is a practice employed universally. I am sitting in the marketing department this summer, and it is really the epicenter of the creative growth of the company. Everyday I see that traditional boundaries are pushed and new business options explored- and I feel that it is this spirit of innovation that helps to make Equity Trust such a dynamic, engaging, and challenging place to work.

Where did the time go?

I can't believe I just finished week 8 of 12 for my internship! Only 4 weeks left...

This week I have kept fairly busy because all of the interns are gathering their information for the Universal Training Project we are trying to wrap up for next week. I think everyone did a really great job on their portions of the presentation and thanks to Jeff for consolidating all of them! (Good job guys!)

Next week should be pretty interesting because just about everyday (except Friday) all of the interns will be together rehearsing our training project and then presenting it about 10 times in the next 2 weeks to all of the employees of the company. Hopefully we won't be too nervous the first couple of times! I think everyone will do great - especially since we will be rehearsing it together a few times today and next week.

As Emily just mentioned, we had happy hour yesterday with the Leadership Team. It was very nice to sit down and relax with everyone and chat about work, what we did for the 4th of July, etc. It is always a fun time doing things like that with the company and HR does a wonderful job in setting things up like that. (Thanks!)

I have a feeling the next 2 weeks will fly by because of all of our training that we will be doing. Before I know it I will only have 2 weeks left of my internship!

Week 8

Hello, my name is Emily Steffensen. I am the accounting intern here at Equity Trust Company. I am a junior at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Yes, South Dakota. Now you may be wondering, "How did she end up in Ohio at Equity Trust Company?" Well, Equity Trust Company was granted a trust charter from the State of South Dakota in 2003, which enabled them to expand their business. Because of this, Equity Trust Company has relations within South Dakota, and that is how I ended up here.

My mentor while here at Equity Trust Company is the CFO of the company. I also work very closely with the accounting controller. My internship responsibilities are very hands-on activities. I pay accounts payable invoices every week, key journal entries into the accounting software, and help prepare the month end financial statements. I generally do what an entry level accountant does. It is not very often in an internship where you have those opportunities! I am having so much fun working with the accounting department, the other interns, and all employees at Equity Trust Company!

Yesterday, the interns and leadership trainees had happy hour with the Leadership Team at Champps. Although all of the interns are not 21, the event was a lot of fun. When Equity Trust Company has employee events, they go all out! The HR Director made sure everybody had enough to eat! She ordered one of every appetizer on their menu. Afterwords, some of us even had extremely large desserts!

I am having such a good time in Ohio and at Equity Trust Company. The internship experience is truly unique. It is definitely going to be hard for me to go back to South Dakota!

“Time flies by when you’re having fun”

I guess time does fly by when you’re having fun. I can’t believe that we are already going into our 8th week here at Equity Trust. It just seems like yesterday that I was coming into my first day here.

Why is it so fun?

Everyday is a learning experience for me; I don’t know what challenge I am going to be faced with each day. I am currently working on two projects. My first project is consolidating some of our current database into one relational database so that upper management can analyze the information efficiently. I am building the database in Microsoft Access (which has given me some headaches but I have gotten over them). For my second project I am updating one of our internal websites (intranet), which I have to write some HTML here and there, nothing to strenuous.

Well it's been fun posting, now back to work I go! Have a good day everyone!

You Know You're in HR When...

This is now week four for me, and I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of things. When the Recruiter asks me to do a reference check on someone, it’s no problem! And on the plus side, I found out that I really do like doing Human Resources work…listening in on phone interviews, doing reference checks, reviewing resumes, etc. And it’s pretty nice to find that out since I’ll probably be doing it for the rest of my life…well, at least for the next 5 years I’m guessing. And you definitely know you’re in HR when the other interns start coming to you about the company dress code and when they give you a hard time about the blogging and social networking policies you write. Oh well…all part of the world of HR!

As for my projects, this week has been almost entirely focused on the new applicant tracking system that Equity Trust will put into place next month. It’s a great system that’s really going to help the recruiting process by consolidating all the candidate, requisition, and user information in one place. However, like any new system, it’s definitely got some kinks. And I’m the one who’s assigned to figure them out, which is pretty exciting. Like I mentioned before, the staff here at Equity Trust really does trust you to be a problem solver and help the company. As long as the tech people from this certain company call me back, we’re good to go. If not…someone is definitely going to be leaving a lot of messages on their phone lines. Respectful, professional messages…but still.

To keep me busy while waiting for the company to call back, the HR team and I are sitting in on 3-4 hour training sessions on the system. It can get long, but here and there I find some really helpful information about the system. We’ve also started to upload resumes into the system and although it doesn’t sound that exciting, it’s a recruiter’s dream come true. And if you’re worried about the earth, be happy, because this computerized system is going to be saving some trees too.

On another note, once again Equity Trust is putting on another fun event for the intern and leadership trainees tonight. This time, we’re going to enjoy a happy hour with the Leadership team at Champ’s bar and grill. Although I won’t be partaking in the “happy” part of happy hour, I’m still looking forward to networking with the leaders and a nice, refreshing Diet Coke (or maybe a virgin piña colada….I haven’t decided yet).

I Am Not Your Average Joe - Week 7

To cap off an amazing week 7, our marketing intern, Ryan D’Arcy orchestrated the Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich Eat-A-Thon during our lunch hour, the highlight of the week. If you read Ryan’s post below, you can see that I am not just your average Joe. (Also, not a poet. Just coincidence.) I came into the eat-a-thon knowing that I was neither the biggest person, nor the most aggressive eater, but arguably the most competitive person you will find, and I had to pull some strings in order to compete. When the referee, Max Weber, initiated the start everyone scrambled for their sandwiches except for me. I grabbed my second sandwich, took off the top bun and combined it with the first. I ended up finishing four sandwiches and took second place. Brilliant strategy on my part? Yes. Out of the ordinary? Not at all.

The scene for week 7 in sales has been pretty upbeat. Could it be to the arrival of future hall-of-famer Shaquille O’Neal? Probably about 2% of it. The first two days of the week were the last days in the month and the sales team needed to open up a lot of accounts to meet their monthly goals. I was assisting all the sales representatives with whatever they needed as they scrambled to open accounts like chickens with their heads cut off. Even though they were moving a mile per minute, they never had any doubt or showed any disrespect towards me.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I continued to work on my Universal Training project and the Real Estate Agent project, which I am about 75% done with. Our Universal Training presentation is coming up fast! I am excited for fireworks and lots food this weekend for the fourth of July, as long as it is not roast beef sandwiches.

"Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war." ~Al McGuire

In order to take our minds off of a busy work week, some of us in the marketing and sales departments decided to have a fun contest during our lunch break. We just finished the first annual "Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich Eat-A-Thon", and to my dismay, I finished last. There were five competitors, Brendan Hughes, Ken Barhoover, Josh Schinagle, Jeff Tippy, and myself. We each invested in the "5 for $5" deal from Arby's, and had a contest. The rules were simple, whoever eats 5 roast beef sandwiches first wins, and if no one finishes 5 sandwiches, whoever eats the most wins.

As the contest started, Josh and I dug into our first sandwiches neck and neck, while Brendan and Ken started slowly with the intent to pace themselves. Jeff, however, took a different, maybe smarter approach. He combined his first two sandwiches into one, and began to inhale. After the first sandwich, Josh had a slight lead, while I was staying close behind. However, this was the beginning of my downfall. I unwrapped my second sandwich and started to eat. By the time I looked over at Josh, he was finishing his second, I knew I would have to keep up. I scarfed my second sandwich down. While unwrapping the third sandwich, I realized I should have paced myself like Ken and Brendan. I slowed down big time. Ken had no trouble catching and passing me at this point. In only a few minutes, Josh finished his fifth, and final roast beef sandwich. He is crowned as the official "Equity Trust Arby's Roast Beef 5 for $5 Eat-A-Thon Champion". Jeff's creative eating style was enough for him to earn second, followed closely by Ken. They both finished 4 sandwiches. Brendan was able to take 2 bites out of his fourth sandwich, totalling 3.25 roast beef sandwiches, which was enough for him not to be tied for last with me, at 3 sandwiches.

Other than the horrible feeling we felt after overindulging on roast beef sandwiches and Arby's sauce, I would say the contest went well. We had a great turn out this year, and I hope everyone can make it next year. Congratulations to all the competitors, who all gave their best effort in this year's contest.

"Setting the P.A.C.E"...

So far my experience at Equity Trust Company has been a great one. I really enjoy the people I work with (including the other interns). I have felt very welcomed and comfortable being here since the day I started my internship.Lately I have been working on the Universal Training Project with all of the other summer interns. This is a project the summer interns work on every year and they have to come up with a topic to train the staff at ETC during a week in July when the company does training. This year we decided to send out a survey to all of the employees to find out what they think would be a good topic for our training project and what improvements they think are necessary. We came to the conclusion that there were a lot of people saying there needs to be improvement in the following areas: communication, accountability, leadership, and teamwork. Taking that in to account, we decided to divide up the work between the 6 interns and our project is titled “Set the P.A.C.E” and will involve the importance of teamwork, leadership, accountability, and communication within the workplace. In addition to those 4 topics, we have decided to include information on our recent acquisition of Sterling.There were a lot of exciting things going on last week (especially for the interns) because we had the opportunity to have lunch with Jeff and Rich Desich at a local country club to talk about the company, how they became successful, what good advice they can share with us for the future, etc. I feel that was a really great experience and that all of the interns got a lot out of it.The other exciting activity for last week was the entire company went to the Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field this evening. It was a fun experience to hang out outside of the office and meet everyone’s friends and family. The fireworks were fantastic! Another great thing is that were all able to go to an all-you-can-eat dinner inside the park which the company is also providing for us. Yum! We are very fortunate to do these fun things with the company.

Week 6

Hello, my name is Josh Schinagle and I am a senior at the University of Toledo. I will be graduating from the College of Business Administration in December 2009, and my major is Information Systems. I try to stay as active as possible while in school, I am in Alpha Kappa Psi which is the oldest co-ed professional business fraternity. Along with being in AKPsi I am the President of Association of Systems Management, which is an organization which is open to all majors but puts a strong focus on Information Systems, E-Commerce and Computer Science and Engineering majors.

I started here at Equity Trust on May 18th, 2009 and have had the best time since. It is a very upbeat environment and everyone is always willing to help out if need be. The purpose of this blog is to give future interns an insight on how the week-to-week operations work. I hope you enjoy my blogs, lets get started!

The following took place in my 6th week (6-22/6-26)
--This was a pretty busy week but an exciting one as well. The week started off relatively well, I had a few items I need to finish from the previous few weeks which didn’t take very long at all. Wednesday of this week all the interns were given the opportunity to sit down with Rich (Vice President) and Jeff (CEO) Desich for lunch at Elyria Country Club. This lunch was very informative and fun, we all felt very comfortable talk with Jeff and Rich. On Friday Equity Trust set up and all employee fun day event where they got us tickets to the Cleveland Indians game!! There will be food, games and just an over all good time.

"I order the club sandwich all the time, and I'm not even a member."

My name is Ryan D'Arcy, I am the Marketing Intern here at Equity Trust Company. I work at our Berea office, one mile down the road from the glorious and prestigious Baldwin-Wallace College, where I am currently a student. As I approach my final two semesters at BW, I am starting to realize how lucky I am to take part in this internship program. In school, I have a hard time narrowing down the specific area of marketing I want to work in, and this internship has given me the opportunity to experience all of them.

This is not the type of internship where I am getting people coffee, doing my boss's laundry, or surfing the Internet in an attempt to appear busy. At ETC, I get to take part in real projects, most of which will still be around long after I am finished. And the best part is, each of my projects has given me experience in a different area of marketing. I have researched state specifications for lawyers, accountants, and financial ad visors to gain continuing education credit through the classes and webinars we offer. I have created a new HR brochure from scratch using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, and also created a new logo for our Equity Trust Careers page on Adobe Illustrator. I have created marketing reports and analyzed how well each of our marketing efforts have been generating leads for the sales team. Currently I am helping promote and "re-create" our careers page and finding new ways to market it on Facebook and Twitter. I am also currently working with many of our high level managers to put a brand new online tax lien investment process into place. In my time here, I have had the opportunity to meet with all of the channel managers, and even the President and CEO of our company.

It seems my blog has only talked about the "work" I do, I did not even mention the fun. One of the core values of ETC is "We have fun at what we do", and it is no lie. If you work here, be prepared to laugh daily. You'll get to take part in Indians games, cookouts, and happy hours. All in all, this is a great place to work and be an intern.

In the Life of the Sales Intern - Week 6

This week I really got going with this real estate training project. I was approached by one of the sales reps to conduct some research and find agencies for our up-and-coming continuing education program for real estate agents. I received an excel sheet with about 400 potential agencies. I had to do research on them. Some were not even qualified (investor firms, agricultural, etc). Out of the 160 that I have researched, I found about 60 confirmed leads. Next, I had to call those confirmed leads and get the email addresses of the people who are in charge of the continuing education. I sent a list of confirmed email addresses to marketing, and they will be taking it from there. I am going to be finishing that list in the next couple of weeks. I am excited that I got asked to do that. It really shows the respect and confidence interns get here at ETC.

Aside, from the project, Wednesday we went out to lunch with Rich and Jeff Desich at the Elyria Country Club. They are phenomenal individuals. The way they spoke just motivated me and inspired me to succeed in life after college. It is remarkable that someone of their age can be so determined and successful. I really enjoyed lunch and would love to go back to Elyria Country Club and shoot 9 holes with them!

Tonight is the Indians game. I am very excited and since it is warm outside today, employees were allowed to wear shorts and flip-flops with their Indians gear. I cannot wait for the all-you-can-eat buffet!