All by myself.....(kind of)

So at the beginning of week 9: Although I was pretty much done with taping the testimonials for the career site and editing them on Windows Movie Maker, the recruiter and I have decided to go back and re-tape some of them. Knowing that I may have to redo everything is a bit daunting, but re-working projects is business! Also, Amanda (Equity Trust’s corporate recruiter) and I have finally put the Taleo Applicant Tracking System live! It’s really exciting for us, since candidates are beginning to apply online. Once they do that, they are automatically put into our system instead of being emailed straight into Amanda’s inbox – a HUGE plus for her! I’ll be monitoring the system over the next few weeks and putting the finishing touches on it.

However, the biggest thing going on last week was the intern’s final presentations. Max and I will go in 2 weeks nearer to the end of our internships, so we didn’t present with the other 5 interns last week. As you may have read in the other intern's blogs, a few of the interns left last week, while a few more are leaving this week, and I’m very sad to see them go. They’ve become my friends and it’s odd to think we’ll be going our own separate ways after this. However, I know we’ll try to stay in touch (yay Facebook and LinkedIn!) and that they’ll all end up successful in whatever they choose to do.

After watching their final presentations last week, I realized how much work we have all contributed to this company, whether through a sales call, brochure, accounting process or new database. They all did a great job with their projects and assignments and I know they’ve got only good things ahead. Congratulations to Lauren, Josh, Jeff, Ryan and Emily. Good luck in the future!

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

For that past 12 weeks I have had the greatest experience of my life. I have always wanted to get into an internship where I can prove myself with the knowledge that I have gained in school. Here at Equity Trust Company I was able to do just that. As mentioned in my past blogs and interns blogs we all have had certain projects that pertain to our "expertise". I have done three projects that I feel that have made an impact with Equity Trust. My first project was a Channel Analysis through Database Consolidation, where I took two databases and consolidated them into one relational databases. The purpose of this project was to gain a historical prospective on how to maintain customers. My second project was to create a incoming call profile over a four month span. The purpose of this project was to use this data as a staffing model and a tool to plan meeting times. My last and final project was to complete a fee analysis to better understand the types of programs that our customers are a part of.

Other than working on projects being an intern has improved some other skills such as project management, time management, teamwork, and communication.

If your looking to be apart of a family and enjoy a small business like atmosphere then working for Equity Trust Company is the right place for you!

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.

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!

The Start of Something New

It's already the beginning of my third week here at Equity Trust, and I can’t believe how quickly time flies! This is going to be the first post about the internship experience at Equity Trust Company, and I’m so excited to get it up and going. This blog is actually a part of my project, so bear with me as the other interns and I figure out all the secrets to blogging. To quickly introduce myself, I'm Lauren Romance, the HR intern here at Equity Trust. To put something worthwhile in this blog post, here’s the blog I wrote last week to sum up my past two weeks:

“So it’s the end of my second week here at Equity Trust. On Wednesday, our CEO, Vice President, and Director of HR took us all out to lunch at the Elyria Country Club. It was a really great opportunity to ask them about their jobs, how they got to where they were, and their advice for us. Not every company gives you the chance to chat with the CEO about his college days and where all the Vice President has traveled in his work career. The best part was, yes, the delicious lunch, and the fact that they were all great people who were really interested in what we were doing.

Besides going out to lunch with the executives, I’m working on my three large projects for the summer: enhancing the Equity Trust career site, learning about and writing a manual for Taleo – the new applicant tracking system, and creating Facebook/Twitter career pages to use in the future as a recruiting tool. It’s a lot on my plate now, but Equity Trust is a really supportive environment. Our webmaster has already met with Ryan, the marketing intern, and me about Facebook and Twitter and showed us a lot of great info about how the company uses those sites already.

The one thing that’s truly great about working as the HR intern here is that my effort and work is really valued in the company. I meet with my supervisor a great deal and update her all the time with what I’m doing for the project. Also, I get to see how some of the functional, day-to-day HR work is done. In the past two weeks, I’ve reviewed resumes, done reference calls, and helped enter in payroll information for newly acquired employees.

Another thing everyone should know is that Equity Trust is notorious for the fun activities it puts on for all its employees. Tonight we all get to go to the Indian’s game. Although our team isn’t doing so hot right now, we’re going to have an Equity Trust dinner on the house, meet Slider, and get free tickets to the game! And we get out of work at 4:30 today to get ready….very nice.”