What is the most important…………?
What are the most important skills (business/technical) and people that you have discovered in your internship? Is there a skill that you didn’t have before but realize that you absolutely need? Is there a person that you discovered that you definitely want on your side (besides your boss of course)?
Laurel Miller
Luckily, I was already adept enough in the most useful technical skill of the business here at Sunoco: Microsoft Office. Honestly, there are a lot of things that the suite of programs can do that I still don’t know how to do. Everyone considers themselves proficient at Word, PowerPoint and Excel. But, when I’ve looked at how my older, experienced co-workers use some softwares (in particular, Visio, Access and Excel) I consider myself a newbie. People here take loads and loads of data and can manipulate it to their needs in moments. To anyone who says they know all those programs 100%, I’d challenge them to do the same tasks as skillfully. In terms of more soft, business skills, communication is the biggest thing — you need to know the exact questions to ask, especially to SMEs, to get what you actually need. It’s hard to get people out of their closed views of their daily work. It takes true skill to get the “big picture” from a person who deals with the nitty-gritty.
On that note, the best person to have on your side will be the SMEs. They are the ones who you absolutely NEED to get your job done. And, most of the time, you’ll be bugging them often enough and tearing them away from their own work. If you treat them correctly, they’ll make your job 100x easier and that much more satisfactory,
We use an intranet here at Flip Media to send emails to colleagues, as well as the clients. Although in the training sessions every option seemed easy to follow, I had to spend some time to find my way around it. Especially, each email we send has to have a very certain format for its subject. It has to include the name of the project and task (as well as the status of this task). Sending these emails can be a pain using our work email service, but it can be so much easier through our intranet. That is if you know your way around it.
Writing emails–I always thought writing very informative emails is key to good communication. Therefore my emails would be unnecessarily long which sent a very short message. For instance, if my supervisor wants to know whether I’m done with a task or not, I can easily sent him a quick sentence followed by the link to my finished task.
I met one of my colleagues randomly when he needed an intern to do massive content population for one of his websites. I volunteered and, although prior to that day I never had a conversation with him, today I always go to him for my questions. He’s really skilled and has been with the company for quite some time. Best part about it all–He sits right behind me so I’ve been visiting him quite often and I’m learning a lot from him. He’s been extremely welcoming and helpful!
For Aetna I would say listening and remembering all the steps and procedures. There are so many things that have to be done a certain way like installing a program. I have to use a program that is on their server and log in with my admin ID to install things in a given list. I can’t install anything I want or as easily compared to my own computer because of security reasons.
I have been shadowing Eric, a contractor who is working as a desktop support specialist, and he is very helpful. He is only a couple years older than me so I feel more comfortable talking to him and asking questions. He also started working here at Aetna about a year ago so he knows how it feels to be new and knows what is important to remember. He explains things nice and clear and understands that sometimes he occasianally throws a lot at me but I can always ask him anything if I run into any problems.
Proscape being a technology company, it is essential to understand the code which powers its services. C#, PHP, HTML and CSS are important to know in an MIS/IT position. Though I am not studying at Temple to become a programmer, as a future Fox MIS graduate, I must be able to look at lines of code and make sense of it.
Entering my fourth year at the Fox School in the MIS major, I have not taken any programming courses (I plan to take MIS 3501 in the fall semester). My knowledge of programming languages comes from high school classes, and my own self-teaching. As I will be soon graduating and seeking full-time employment, I must continue to develop my knowledge of programming languages, even if it is not offered in the MIS department. This may include enrolling in programming classes in other Temple departments, learning through online lessons, and taking certification exams.
An MIS/IT person is expected to understand the coding that powers the company’s services. I must continue to learn the syntax and logic of programming languages to be marketable after college.
Apart from having a good grasp of technical skills and the ability to learn new technical skilly quickly, I found that communication skills have been very important during my time here. Asking the right questions to the right people not only helps you with your tasks it also helps build credibility amongst co workers and my manager. Not to undermine technical skills, I have worked a lot of with databases during my time here and going through a whole course on sql and database in the MIS program has really helped me quickly adapt to the tasks I have to execute here. However, after talking to several QAs here about a career in QA, it is clear that knowing several programming languages makes a QA even more valuable to a company.
Apart from my manager, I have built a good relationship with some developers as they have been very helpful whenever I have hit a roadblock. They are not obligated to put their own tasks aside and help but so far they have been very gracious whenever I have gone to them for assistance. Some of the analysts on my team have gone through the internship program at JPMC hence they understand what its like being in an intern here so are always willing to share their experiences and give any advice they may have.
So far the most important skills is the ability to multi-task in Microsoft Office. I understand how the applications inside of MSoffice work but not like the people at the office do. We use it everyday to complete the nesscery task at hand. Having the basic skills of this program gives you an edge when it comes to being assigned a task that needs to be complete using MSoffice. Campbell’s just switched to the Microsoft 365 cloud and Outlook so that people can easily adapt to the same look and feel like the MSoffice applications. The team I have been working with on the NA Sales Portal has been the most important to me thus far. They understand the business model and company functions that are going on everyday. They are not afraid of listening to my suggestions and helping me with the internship. I am picking up in their skill sets to help me expand my knowledge and skill set. The two most important skills that I real didn’t have before are listening to everything and Microsoft SharePoint. Listening becomes the main factor when working in a corporate setting. There are a lot of meetings with important information that needs to be recorded. I carry my padfoilio with me everywhere I go because you never know what is going to be ask of you. SharePoint is an application that all corporations are starting to impliment. This tool helps colliborate documents from one part of the company to another without having to worry about ten different versions of the same doc. This lets one document be changed by multilple people so that one document is being updated. This skill is a great one to have on your resume. The team I work with are the people I want on my side beside my boss. They have the ability to get resources at a snap. Both know how each division of the company operates and the people in charge. They have been the most important so far to me and helpful in everyway.
An important skill to have is being able to balance all your projects and responsibilities. I have three projects going on right now and each project has its own difficulties and deadlines. My group project needs coordination among the other interns- we must meet at least three times a week to accomplish our goals. My two individual projects require a lot of time to process information or attend meetings. If I don’t prioritize accordingly, I will be completely overwhelmed and miss a lot of deadlines. Another important skill is knowing the right thing to say at the right time. One of the benefits of being an intern is that there are a lot of networking opportunities. We have lunches scheduled with all the executive officers (currently on site) as well as senior leaders who are well respected. A lot of the times, we are asked to talk about our ideal future, our passions, our accomplishments. We are also encouraged to ask for their background and achievements. However, if I ask a question that is not completely appropriate, I may leave a terrible impression. Other times, when I have to sit through meetings or conference calls, I am expected to contribute. If I have nothing to say, then I look unprepared and unprofessional. If I say something I don’t really mean, I will embarrass myself as well as anybody that is associated. Even though I have never encountered a situation when I really needed both skills, I have found that they extremely critical during my internship.
Some technical skills that I need are the applications and systems I use on a day to day basis. The Microsoft Suite is huge- Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, PowerPoint, InfoPath, etc. My individual project involves using an application called iMANY. It is an internet-based application that processes claims and settlements. I need to be very familiar with it to get any of my work done. With the help of Microsoft Excel, I can keep my individual projects very organized. My group project is restructuring a SharePoint site for the IS department. Without knowing how to use that system, I will be getting nowhere with my project.
Besides my manager, I realized that I am incredibly grateful for all my colleagues and peers. Everyone is very supportive and encouraging when I have questions or problems. It is very important to have everyone that you work with to be on your side. It makes work more enjoyable, but more so, it is a way more easier and comfortable environment to spend 8-9 hours a day in. With more encouragement, there comes more motivation to complete tasks doing the best that you can.
At my internship at Penske, a lot of the tasks and procedures at hand can only be correctly carried out if detailed step-by-step directions are carried out. One minor error could essentially screw up the whole process so one thing that I am definitely becoming more aware of is attention to detail. As far as skills go, business communication and just communication has been a strong point for me throughout my internship so far. So much of what we do at Penske revolves around hitting estimated production and delivery dates for expensive truck units that communicating with various vendors, both through email and phone, is essential to make sure each process is being completing and reported in the correct order. That is one skill I would say I have handled fairly well. Some skills that I know I can further develop with time are my technical ones. A lot of the occurrences I deal with on a daily basis are completed through the companies intranet system and detailed workflow processes, which is something I have picked up rather quickly. That being said, I am beginning to add more experience to myself through the new use of Microsoft Access to create queries for the companies needs and do various other new tasks with other similar programs. I think with some more application experience my technical skills will be greatly enhanced, which will help me further down the road.
As far as people you want on your side go, I’ve taken the approach to just absorb as much as I can and then apply those taught procedures to the task later down the road. That being said, I worked closely with a lot of other members of our team to help carry out task that my boss handed down to me. They have been great and very understanding and I found it very important to pay attention to them as much as possible so that in the event that I need assistance they would be willing to help me out.
As I have interacted with and spoken to various IT professionals here at West, I have found that hard technical skills in IT are an important, experiential process throughout ones career. With that in mind, having a strong working knowledge and understanding of the various function of IT and the overall industry and its direction is imperative. The lesson? Build the aptitude and willingness to be change agents in constantly changing IT environment. Grow with the industry and you can find success. Do not grow and you risk losing competitive advantage and becoming obsolete. Being as green as I am to the industry, I am quickly learning that this is something I must nurture and develop.
I agree with Catherine, communication is key. I will encounter a multitude of problems and issues that arise throughout my daily careers that will require excellent interpersonal communication. Crafting the art of listening and the skill of asking appropriate and relevant questions is crucial for my success. Moreover, actively using the ability to accurately describe what I am analyzing and internalizing is absolutely vital.
In conjunction with communication skills, is the capability to engage, manage, and develop business relationships. The question asks, “Is there a person that you discovered that you definitely want on your side?” My answer is somewhat ambiguous and perhaps unattainable. I would say strive to get anyone and everyone “on your side”. I am specifically speaking of respect. I intend to give respect when necessary, demand respect in return, and have respect for myself and my abilities. I will never be able to get everyone to like me or on my side, but at the end of the day, if people, coworkers, and supervisors respect me, I have a better chance at success. I would also add, that getting my (good) name out in the company is a great thing. The more people hear that I am someone that can tackle tough challenges, present innovative or creative ideas, or analyze problems and create solutions, I better my chances at success.
One of the most important technical skills I found to have and improve on during my internship with Campbell’s was Micosoft Excel. Before working at Campbell’s, I thought I was fairly proficient with Excel, but when I started, I realized there was a lot that I didn’t know. During the course of my internship I learned how to write complex functions in order to retrieve specific data from a spreadsheet with thousands of rows. I also learned how to optimally organize and retrieve data. My mentor was especially knowledgeable with Excel and helped me realize the importance of understanding and being able to use a lot of its different features. In addition to expanding my technical skills, learning Excel’s funtionality also helped improve my problem-solving skills because there was a lot of trial-and-error involved.
So far at J&J, the most important technical skills are Microsoft Office skills. It seems like anything you do, whether it is in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint, MSProject, there seems to be just a generalization that you understand how to use these. In addition to that, it seems like anything and everything that you get assigned to complete, the work can/should be completed in a Microsoft product. I don’t find having a huge technical background in my position here at J&J is as important. Being able to understand general concepts is important, but there is always somebody to ask if you need to clarify something more in depth.
I wish MIS3535 actually taught Microsoft project, or at least a little bit of it. In my position here, I have been given the assignment to create a Project Plan and enter Tasks, Resources, and Durations. Although I have a very strong understanding of Microsoft Office Tools, I think learning Project would be very helpful.
Like most of my classmates have already mentioned, being able to communicate effectively is really important. Sometimes I find it hard to communicate something if I don’t understand the technical jargon around it. However, being able to get to the point quickly and explain the most important and critical facts/points has been very important. People here at J&J are very busy and their time is critical; it is important not to waste time in meetings. Also, time management skills are very critical. When you are juggling 3-4-5-6 tasks/assignments at one time, it can get frustrating and hard. I’ve learned you have to be patient, find out which assignment is most critical, and complete it step by step.
As far as people you want on your side, in my position at J&J I work as part of the Gateway team. Obviously, having the entire Gateway team on your side and being friendly with them really helps. I can ask any person on the team any question at any time.
Like many of us, I feel as though being able to use Microsoft extensively is one of the most important skills I have learned at my internship. Whether its Excel, Word, Outlook, SharePoint, etc, being able to use the necessary tools for the job will increase time and efficiency. Before coming to QVC I thought I was fairly proficient in excel, little did I know, that there are so many more things that it can do. Communication skills and listening skills are extremely important as well. Being able to communicate and talk to any coworker no matter their position within the company can help a lot. Besides my manager and mentor, I feel as though it’s definitely important to have all my teammates on my side. Many of times my manager gives me tasks to complete and if he is too busy to assist me with questions or concerns they are the next people to go to for help. Everyone at QVC is very supportive and asking questions is extremely easy.
For my internship I have been operating as a help desk intern. Technically, the skills that were required to do the job would be to have a basic computer literacy, you would be surprised by how many people in the work place who don’t have it, and to have a better understanding of Microsoft Office. I thought I was well versed in Microsoft office, like excel, word, etc. however there was much to be learned. On the other hand, I have encountered more problems that dealt with basic computer issues like how to run a particular program, or even using new features on windows 7, like snap. Otherwise, the skill I feel that is just as important as these is being able to communicate. Whether you are able to address the problem yourself, or need to seek the assistance of someone else, you need to be able to speak and/or write cogently. I am finding out that being able to communicate is an essential tool in the work place.
The company that I internship at is relatively small compared to a lot of the places that other people are interning at on here. Because most of our employees are located outside of the United States, the office I am at is where the most important employees are stationed. Besides my boss, the person that I have been able to get on my side has been Chief Operating Officer(COO). He makes all the decisions. He has an influence on everyone at the company and anytime he needs a task completed it gets done right away, no matter what department. Being able to communicate well and take care of simple tasks has enabled me to get an important person like COO on my side.
The most important skills I have discovered are to be organized and detail oriented. These two characteristics are essential to succeed in your job and definitely to advance further within the company. At work I am bombarded with loads of information each day through email and employees asking me to help them with technical issues. A skill I didn’t have before but realize I need now is to prioritize. I tend to take too much work on at once and try to complete it all, when the time frame I have to do it in is unrealistic. My boss as well as my colleagues have taught me to prioritize my tasks at hand and decipher which ones are most important. The tasks that are most important are those that are to be completed first and put on the forefront. I would not say there is one particular person that I have discovered i want on my side, but rather a few people. I feel it is most important to have the respect and trust of those people who work around you the most. At the end of the day we are all working for the same company and are on the same team regardless our separate divisions and tasks. By having the respect and trust of all those people I am working around I am able to freely ask questions or ask for favors when I become overwhelmed with work.
The most important skill that I have learned while working here at ACE is that I should never be afraid to ask questions when I need to. Everyone here is extremeley nice and helpful plus you can really tell that they want you to succeed as much as themselves. Another important skill I learned is simply the pure pursuit of knowledge. Every project that I have worked on has virtually exceeded what I know about software like Excel and Access. Compared to everybody around me, I really had not even viewed the slightest use of a pivot table until emabrking on some of these projects. This notion has had me studying up on these applications maybe even more than when I took my 2502 class. Added onto this studying I have created a list of aspects and software I plan to learn before I apply for my next job. For the person that I want on my side, I guess it would just be my co-workers around me. I am lucky to have pretty regular check-ins and converstaions with my boss so he understands where I am at and how to help. The person next to me though is really my go to person for questions because he was an intern with ACE as well and had a very similar experience. Also, my supervisor is where I direct all my technology questions as he is a recent MIS graduate of Temple so I am very comfortable asking him anything I need.
The most important skills that I’ve found are how to motivate people and get them to do their best work. Micromanaging was a really hard thing for me to get over through this internship and is definitely my answer for any future “what is your biggest weakness…” questions. I’m a software developer who does programming every day, and that requires mapping every minute action to make everything work properly. In managing people, you need to focus on the result, not the process. When I asked my team for exactly what I needed, but not how to get or make it, I got much better results than when I tried to force them into a specific routine. Giving them heuristic problems instead of algorithmic ones really gave us better results.
The person that has been most helpful to me in my internship so far was a fellow programmer, although he is just an intern too. Whenever I had a problem or a question that I couldn’t answer online, I could always just talk with him for thirty minutes and we would work it out. Nobody else in my team has programming experience, so I was mostly left to myself when I was struggling with a task. But by just asking his advice and talking through the problem with another experienced person, we solved most of the harder problems that we faced. I think finding someone who thinks like you and has similar knowledge is important, because having two people face the harder problems gets them solved quicker.
I think the most important technical skills that can be leveraged at my internship are deep knowledge and understanding of SAP, as well proficient if not advanced excel skills. I have learned that SAP is something that I hear on a daily basis, especially given the fact that many companies eventually decide to switch to this ERP system. Having a firm understanding of SAP will suit anyone well in the work that I am completing with Ernst & Young. Additionally, I have found that excel has become my best friend. I work in excel all day, every day. Many of the information and data that we obtain from our clients is then compiled into excel spreadsheets. Having the deep knowledge of excel, including VLOOKUP functions and pivot tables are good things to have mastered as well. The skill that I learned that I need is specific to Ernst & Young. I definitely need to understand there methodologies and way of doing things. Understanding their approach to testing controls and assisting with business transformation and business continuity allows me to adequately do my job. Additionally, advancing my excel skills would help make my work easier.
In terms of people I would want on my side, there are specifically three people. One is the senior on my team that delegates all of my work and answers all of my questions. The next person would be my recruiter, who will be present in the round tables that will occur when they are extending full time offers at the conclusion of the internship. Finally, the last person I definitely want on my side is my counselor who has counseled me through my first internship with Ernst & Young and is counseling me again. All of those people will have a huge impact into whether or not I will receive a full time offer. Besides being able to get a full time offer, those three people are great resources in terms of help, knowledge and making sure that I am headed towards a path to receive a full time offer.
On the business side I have learned that client relationships are very important. Since PwC often comes back to work with the same clients over and over, you usually engage with many of the same people at the client site. By developing a good relationship with the client, the process can become more streamlined and friendly. A lot of this is accomplished through personal conversation throughout the auditing process. Things like taking the client out to lunch and remembering names and interests help develop stronger relations between the auditor and the client. Along this line, your personal network within PwC is also extremely important to develop. Having relationships among you peers is important in enjoying your work and also creating opportunities for yourself and others. By knowing people across lines of service personally, it is much easier to have mobility within PwC.
On the technical side I did not realize how important Microsoft Excel is to this job. I have found my Excel skills increase very quickly in a short amount of time. Since I am frequently centralizing data from many documents of different formats, sometimes non-excel documents, knowing how to reformat data efficiently is very important. For example I had a column of data that I needed to insert as a row. By realizing there is an Excel shortcut for this function, I cut down a lot of time by not manually entering 30 items.
I have found too many people to name that I would like on my side. I think the key has been taking every chance to meet new people at the office. When I was offered to go to lunch with a couple of people I didn’t know and my coach, I took the opportunity. The interesting part of PwC is how connected the people are, and I think by being open to the network you’ll find whatever you need.
Like many other places, here at ICG you must have an overall knowledge of the e-commerce world and how it operates. I’ve found that the most important skill that I need to know is SQL. I learned it in MIS 2502, but here I went more in depth with it and the things you can do with it are amazing. I am required to write queries to manipulate data in a way that we are able to give it to Amazon because they want it in their specific format. My mentor is the most important person to me because he has been showing me the in’s and out’s of SQL as well as showing me how to work with it more efficiently rather than writing out long, extensive queries. From him, my SQL skills have greatly improved and I am becoming proficient in it.
The most important skill that I discovered is multitasking. Most of my work, and my colleagues’ work, is done either in meetings, or while talking to someone (instant messaging etc.). If everyone only did one thing at a time we would be here all night and waste a lot of time.
A person that I discovered is a senior colleague working in operations. He has worked in all different parts of the company and has introduced me to a wide variety of people. I have used this connection for informational interviews so far, which is what I wanted out of this internship more than anything. I’m learning about a lot of different roles and could possibly use these connections to work in a different department.
I would say the most important skill/characteristic to have at JPMorgan is a good attitude and willingness to learn. Most of the programs I use just deal with Microsoft office. I did however absolutely have to learn Microsoft SharePoint and HP Quality Center. But as long as you have the willingness to learn with a good attitude, learning anything in your career/life/relationship will go much more smoothly. The most important people are my team members. They have helped me learn so much and are so great about helping me when I have a question.
The most important skills that I discovered at Subaru of America is having a variety of technical knowledge. Most, if not all, requires understanding multiple programming languages that are used in various applications within Subaru. I had a basic understanding of how databases and servers worked, but through this internship, I really learned how each database works with a server and how it hosts its applications.
A skill I didn’t have before which I found out is important is multitasking multiple projects with different project managers. As an intern, the PM’s give us a lot of projects which require talking with other PM’s to assess various reports through SQL queries, data models, and diagrams.
A person I would definitely want on my side is a new hired employee who was the previous intern. He has intensive knowledge about Subaru and understands how it feels to be an intern. He helps us out with everything and I am glad he is on our side. He is always willing to answer questions and I have learned a lot from him.
The most important skill is the ability to communicate effectively. In a company such as SAP, every process consists of multiple workflows; therefore, tickets are created to document each step and then passed on to the next business unit. The ability to write concisely and precisely so that anybody involved in the process can quickly review what was done is critical. A second skill that is closely linked to effective communication is the ability to network with employees, management, and even kitchen and janitorial staff. Everybody works in a team so it is impossible to decide who is most important. It is best to know and get along with as many co-workers as possible. Getting to know as many people as possible not only makes daily work easier (questions, concerns, shadowing others to learn) but also might result in a future job offer or even friendship.
The job in the data center itself does not require rocket science. Basic Microsoft Suite skills and a general understanding about computers are a necessity though. Experience with building computers is also helpful because it increases one’s familiarity with all hardware components, network functions, and trouble shooting in general. Everything else can be learned on-the-job.
The most important skill I have discovered in my internship is the power of Microsoft Excel. It’s gotten to the point where I rarely open a MS-Word document anymore, but constantly use Excel from organizing huge amounts of data, creating graphs, pivot tables, entering in formulas (which I never knew existed), and exporting the graphs and pivot tables neatly into my daily PowerPoint presentations. When you’re running meetings on a daily basis and need to present accurate information regarding the specific project you’re on – it is crucial to understand Excel and PowerPoint. Using these 2 applications on the daily basis has increased my knowledge and respect for them.
Other skills that I discovered are crucial include multitasking on numerous tasks at the same time and prioritizing them from “Utmost importance” to “This is due tomorrow, so I have time.” There are times when certain projects in SAP are assigned the morning of and need to be completed before lunch time or even the end of the business day. That’s when you need to ask yourself “What should be done first?” – Especially if that one project conflicts with another task or meeting.
There are a few people I would like on my side – ranging from the technical team to the non-technical team (who are business analysts). In order to run projects efficiently you need to have a team of both skills. Without such a diverse group the project would fail. My secondary supervisor who is a project engineer for another project is very knowledgeable about various technical tasks, but at the same time can translate the technical aspect of a project in “English,” so the non-programmers of the project can understand it. I believe there is much I can learn from him and understand how to effectively communicate with both types of team members.
The most important skill I’ve learned at the Federal Reserve Bank is the ability to learn and absorb as much information as possible. The Fed takes great pride in knowledge sharing and everyone is very open and approachable. Nobody expects you to know something off the top of your head and even if you do its encouraged to go and do additional research. Luckily Temple does focus on research methods in multiple classes and having this background has enabled me to effectively use the tools available to gain as much insight to any topic as possible. While in school I feel like the idea of becoming an expert in your field is kind of pushed but working at the Fed has brought me to the reality that it’s okay not to know something.
What are the most important skills (business/technical) and people that you have discovered in your internship? Is there a skill that you didn’t have before but realize that you absolutely need? Is there a person that you discovered that you definitely want on your side (besides your boss of course)?
The most important skill I have discovered while in my internship at NAVSUP-WSS is communication. I realized the importance of being able to communicate with my coworkers very quickly, and effectively. Any time I have a question I cannot be afraid to ask. Everyone is extremely willing to help me out, so there is no reason not to ask. Being able to communicate my thoughts and questions concisely has greatly benefitted me at my internship. Another skill that has helped me greatly was working with SAP. SAP is a core component here at NAVSUP-WSS and being able to navigate and perform transactions in SAP has proven to be extremely beneficial.
Someone that has been of great help to me during my internship and whom I have learned a lot from is Jeff Hoffnagel. He has been able to answer any question I have had or at least point me in the right direction. It helps that my cubicle is directly next to Jeff’s. He is a pleasure to work with and I look forward to learning more from him in the future.