Laurel Miller

I think the experience of combining the class with the internship went well because it clearly informed me on areas my supervisor would like me to focus on improving. I started working for IMS last summer and was full time July and August and I have been part-time since then. I feel that the experience I’m gaining is invaluable for my development and future career. I would definitely take a permanent position if I was offered.

My job experience at Cherry Hill Liquors was definitely one of the most crucial in my career. Even though I had already at places such as Ernst and Young during the summer of 2014, but my duties and role was limited to technology. But at Cherry Hill Liquors I got experience in various sides of running a business i.e. Operations, marketing, finance, inventory management. During my employment I worked as a full time Operations Manager, and I would like to use the invaluable experience from here into my future career.

The experiences was great, as it has been for the past year overall. I will be staying on for the summer and continuing my projects. I will also see an increase in general responsibility. I would say that chances are looking good for a full-time offer. I love the people I work with and I look forward to continuing with them. The projects always offer a challenge and I’m excited to see what I’ll be working on in the coming months.

I had a very good experience. My internship started the summer of 2014 and was extended until the end of this semester, and I will be interning at PwC this upcoming summer. I learned so much that I couldn’t learn from the classroom during my internship. Real world experience is in my opinion the most beneficial learning tool available to anyone in college. You can learn as much as you want in the classroom, but until you actually apply it in a job or internship, it’s tough to grasp the whole idea of what your learning.

I loved my time at Temple Computer Services. I start working here after my sophomore year and it has had a huge impact on my professional development. Working on these types of projects has really influenced what area of IT I want to work in. I learned so much during this experience, and I think my time spent working here will prove really valuable. I think that this job had a huge influence on getting my next internship this summer at AstraZeneca. I’m very excited to start working at this huge company, but I’m also just as excited to return to Computer Services next fall.

Artemid Leskaj
My experience at FIS has been amazing! I’ve really grown throughout my time here. I have met a lot of wonderful people who have helped me grow. They’ve taught me things that I will never forget. I enjoyed every moment of my time at FIS. I learned a great deal about how a company operates and how important our contribution was to the whole system. Having hands-on experience was one of the best things that I gained from this opportunity. Hands-on experience is very important because it allows you to actually experience how the real world operates; this differs from what one gets out of the classroom. The reason why I loved taking this course was because it touched on a lot of important aspects. I feel that a lot of students will benefit from taking such a course!

The year spent at Subaru of America has been a great experience. Working in the Field Operations department, I’ve been able to strengthen my analytical skills using Excel, OBI, and other various programs. I have also met many people who have taught me about the job and the automotive industry. While I have learned a lot at my time at Temple, the hands-on experience that I gained through this internship has been invaluable. I am currently waiting to hear back about 2 full-time positions that I interviewed for last week.

My time at Comcast has been amazing. I’ve learned so much about what it takes to succeed in business, and how to be professional in the “working world.” Over the two years that I’ve spent at Comcast, I’ve learned about talking to customers, exhibiting at tradeshows, building a professional network, working with iPads to move the business forward technologically, etc. It has really given me a holistic view of business, from finance to IT to marketing. I have been offered a full time position and will be continuing with the company upon graduation.

My experience in the Office of Procurement Services at the School District of Philadelphia has been great and extremely educational. I feel as though I have learned as much in my internship in the past 10 months then I have in my almost four years at Temple. I have benefited from Temple University’s amazing business school but the real life experience and application of my skills at my internship has taught me so much.
I first started at SDP last July under a new management team in Procurement and I have since seen the department grow and change. Since I have been here there two new full time employees were hired my direct manager was let go and replace three weeks later, and I have seen three interns come and go and two more stay on with us. I am leaving this May to work another internship at AstraZeneca but, I have accepted the offer to return to SDP this September as I finish up my last two classes at Temple University.

My experience at the school district was great! I absorbed a lot of information about their entire business process. I believe the internship went extremely well. I was offered to stay on part time with a raise, and put into a position that will better groom me to later take on a full time job at the school district. It is quite a big commitment to make at this point, but is definitely something I am seriously considering.

My experience with SAP has been amazing. Through these past few months I have learned more through SAP than I could through school. I was able to polish not only my soft skills, but learn hard skills such as how to up keep the WBS database, and create pre-selections. I will continue to work for SAP through the summer, and hopefully into the next school year. I would love to work for SAP full-time starting next may, but currently we are on a hiring freeze.

My experience with my internship went very well. The biggest takeaway I got from it was definitely the relationships I built with people that I work with. The insurance industry is a very small place, which is why it is important to build good relationships and never burn any bridges. Another thing that made my experience at Trion was that I was working with people from Temple who I am friends with. This made it very easy in the beginning because we were both in the same position and were able to relate to one another. I work at Trion on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester and am staying on board full time when I graduate. I am very excited to graduate so that I can increase responsibility at my job and broaden my knowledge in the insurance industry.

My time at Subaru has been great not only for how much I learned in my time here but also for the number of personal and professional connections I have made. Although I’m still a little nervous about entering the workforce full-time, Subaru has dulled the edge of that anxiety a great deal. I applied to one position at the end of January which I unfortunately lost to another intern, but there are several more opportunities that I might pursue. More likely, however, is that I will contact a recruiter through one of the IT department’s many contractors and find work that way. Because I’m not totally sure what I want to do, I think working a different position at a different company every few months will be very helpful to me.

I have had several assignments requiring the use of the concatenate function in excel reassembling large files that were broken down into workable segments. I did learn about the concatenate function in Data Analytic’s, which was good because it gave me a basic fundamental knowledge of its functionality. However, it took some trial and error maybe some more error to actually get a strong grasp for using it. I had at least two instances that when I first reassembled the files, I had missed the “copy–paste special” step in the process, all the data was there, but risked being compromised if it was resorted.

Also, I had a task that required me to take a vertical column of data from one excel spreadsheet and manually enter into a horizontal row of data. The spreadsheet was large and would require at least a couple hours of transferring data manually. So, I researched(Googled how to copy and paste horizontal rows in excel and paste vertically), which is “transposing” data from one sheet to another. I ended up watching some YouTube videos to learn how it works. Being able to learn the transpose function from YouTube was extremely helpful and I was able to complete the assignment quickly.

One thing that I learned during my internship that I would be unable to learn in the classroom is the ability to communicate with co workers effectively. Having good relationships with co workers is a key aspect of having success at your job, and it is very difficult to learn this skill in the classroom. Another lesson that I learned during my internship is the ability to be business professional. For example, my team and I went to a lunch this summer with representatives from an insurance company. This was my first business lunch that I have every been to, and I definitely learned what to do and what not to do in situations like that. I feel like this skill along with having good relationships with co workers is a key aspect of having success at your job. This is why I think it is important for every student to try to get an internship before they graduate because there are so many things that you learn on the job that you can’t learn in the classroom.

I think that time management is a big skill that you learn once you’re working 40 hours a week that you need during your internship. Depending on how far you have to travel, you might spend 7-6 at work or traveling, and then spend the rest of the time catching up on things outside of work. It may be difficult to find a work/life balance at first because I was so used to having a bunch of free time when all I had was 15 credits with no internship. It is something that you figure out, though, as you spend more time at your internship. You figure out when you need to do things and how to do them fast and efficiently.

Without a doubt, it would have to be dealing with other business professionals face to face. While classes at Temple taught me to write in a business matter I never really learned how to convey myself in meetings, or when meeting other professionals whether they people heads from other departments, or potential future vendors. First impressions can be very important, and if you can not show your professionalism when meeting someone for the first time it could very will be the siding factor on landing a job in the real world.

Artemid Leskaj
An internship provides experience that you simply can’t get in the classroom. My internship experience has helped me feel more confident about my choice of major; I know that I will enjoy doing similar work after I graduate. When entering the real world I will be more confident because of the great experience that I’ve gained. When you open yourself up to try new things you’ll find it is very worthwhile. I feel that in the classroom we only touch upon the fact. An internship gives you the opportunity to get a feel of how the real world runs, it’s good to take advantage of that opportunity. Interns should do their best to get the most form their place of work. You should ask questions, provide opinions, do whatever you can to learn. It can be intimidating at first because you’re new, but you’ll soon find out that people are always willing to help. You have to remember that they too were in you’re shoes at one point. An internship is a great opportunity to gain real world experience and create long lasting relationships. I’ve learned things that one could never learn in a classroom. Remember, always be open to opportunities and have fun along the way.

Although I learned a lot from the Excel course at Temple it was not until I was using excel at work on a daily bases that I became good at it. The course opened my eyes to the power of Excel and its capabilities but actually using it to produce results for work made me fluent in operating it. A large part of my daily duties include using the ERP systems Advantage and Avantis. Classes taught me what ERP systems were and what they do but I could not learn how to use them until I actually was able to sit down and play with it.

One thing that I learned during my internship that I couldn’t learn from class or a textbook was office etiquette and time management. This internship was the first time during any job that I had that I didn’t have a lot of supervision for the majority of my work. I had to adjust to the fact that I could come in, perform my work on whatever project I had, and leave at 5pm, sometimes without ever talking to my manager. She trusted that I will complete my work in a timely fashion, and I have to respect that. That took some getting used to. When I first started, I would constantly check with my manager before stepping out of the office or leaving for the day. Now I now that she trusts I will leave at my agreed upon time, and I don’t have to constantly make sure it is okay with her. I love working in this type of environment, and I hope my future positions are as relaxed as my current internship.

The most important skill that I have learned through my internship is time management. This is something that can not be learned in textbook because it is different for every person. I learned quickly that balancing work and school would be difficult. I found that the best way to balance both school and work is to make a to-do list at the beginning of the week with the most important or urgent things at the top of the list and check them off as they are completed. I complete a list for both school assignments and work assignments. Another skill I have learned is Excel. I have taken courses at Temple where we used Excel but working in Excel at work everyday has taught me even more than I could have learned from a textbook or in a class.

I’d say the most important thing that I’ve learned at my internship is how to really master Excel in applications where data, graphs, charts, etc. are important. For example, when pulling sales data and pivoting it in a way that is easy to understand and provides “fast glance” stats for executives, I had to work really hard to sort out the intricacies of pivot tables. After a bit of practice, I can now say that I feel comfortable with pivot tables and use them regularly. Additionally, general conduct in the workplace is something that can be talked about in class, but is really difficult to grasp until you’re actually in a business environment. How to address executives, what to wear, email composition, etc. were all things that I picked up early on in my internship and are of vital importance even today.

One thing I found interesting about my workplace is how different groups and teams interact. Behavior within the DBA team is very different from that of the desktop or infrastructure team, and I was surprised that company culture is not a blanket sentiment. Instead, it seems to dictate how different groups interact rather than how individuals act within their team. Being part of several teams has not only taught me many different hard skills, but it has shown me how personalities shape the way a company gets things done.

One can learn many skills from school, but due to academic limitations it is hard to measure the results of these learned skills. Internship experience was something that gave me an opportunity to put the skills learnt from school to acton and see if the results are positive. I used my analytical and leadership skills to get results for the company. My MIS background helped me bring new point of view to the corporation that was hesitant to use technology for its operation. This internship was a to test my learnt skills, had it not been the internship I would have never been able to test myself in real life situation which is vital going forward and working as a full time employee at a big corporation. Other experience that were vital were leadership skills, management skill and ability stay calm in all situations.

Communication and problem solving are skills i have learned and polished through my internship. Communication is key when trying to successfully accomplish a team project. Problem solving is also critical. When in a school environment, you can always find the answers you need in your text books, or from your teachers. However, when in a work environment, you must be able to work with different people, and utilize different resources to find the answer you need. It also means you can not be afraid to mess up. You must understand most things you mess up, you can probably fix. Don’t be scared to make a decision, be independent and confident with the answer you find; there is no need to go to your manager with every little problem or question.

I learned about enterprise data modeling in a way that class never could have taught me. Every industry has its own data regulations and needs, and even more specifically, each organization uses data differently. A strong data model is very important, and must be tailored to the needs of the business. I also learned a lot of networking skills that school never taught me. I’m better prepared than ever to make contacts within and outside of an organization as well as document the resources those contacts provide.

In a way, the short papers written in 2101 have helped me in my internship. My team is frequently tasked with evaluating potential new products as part of a technology solution, and we need to be able to summarize them succinctly, firstly such that people who are less technical might understand, and secondly because there might be ten products being evaluated and our deliverable would be illegible if we didn’t only include the most pertinent information.

Also, I suppose the programming in 3501 has helped me. I don’t do any PHP in my internship, but the fundamentals of programming I learned in class have helped me more quickly understand Java and JS in practice.

One class that has really benefitted me when starting my internship was data analytics. We learned how to do a lot in excel such as pivot tables, conditional formatting and lookup functions. I use all of these excel functions almost everyday in my internship was analyzing sales data. The class also taught me different ways to analyze a large amount of data. Another class that I have leveraged in my internship is Business Communications. I learned to write concisely which is beneficial when explaining my findings after performing analysis on specific sales data because many of people I work with do not have time to read through pages and pages of data. It also taught me to write for a particular audience so those who you are writing to understand which is useful when writing to different departments in the company n

I have acquired various technical and soft skills from my classes, and I have been able to use these skills at my internship. Data Analysis class has helped me better understand and manage the customer data. I efficiently use advanced Microsoft Excel and other data analysis tools. MIS 3504 (Digital Design and innovation) class helped me better comprehend a business problem, as well have given me the tools to discover and implement solutions. I have been able to discover the issues with the current business process that led to a decreased market share for the business. Business communication class has helped to communicate efficiently with various stakeholders. In conclusion, most of my classes at the Temple University have helped me perform at the highest level at my internship.

Artemid Leskaj
Teamwork is one of the most important things that I have learned in the classroom and have leveraged it in my internship. Before college I didn’t have much knowledge on in class teamwork. While in college I have been involved with a variety of teams, those including projects, activities etc. Many of the courses that I’ve taken have placed me in some type of a team. I’ve taken courses that involved me being in a team throughout the semester (courses such as Intro to Marketing and MIS 3504). When I say teamwork I mean everything that one can achieve from it. While being in a team i learned how to communicate more effectively and take charge whenever necessary. I’ve also dealt with a variety of people; this helped me learn how to communicate with those people. All of the skills I’ve gained through teamwork have helped me in my internship. I’ve worked with a team; we all had to cooperate with one another to get our work done. During my internship I dealt with a variety of customers. In such situations I used my communication skills to sort out the problem. I am glad that Temple University makes us work in teams. It really shows in the workplace whether or not you have the skills to work with one another. Teamwork will benefit not only the employees, but also show a positive impact on your customers. Having such a skill can be very beneficial.

Learning PHP from 3501 was really helpful in one of my projects at my internship. For one project, we needed to get images for over 400 books for an application we were working on. When it was first assigned to me, I first thought that I would have to manually google each book and save the images one by one. That would have taken a long time, and would be super monotonous to do. Instead, using PHP, I manipulated a script I found online that would help me with this project. The script took a URL that went to an image, and then automatically saved it. I used this so that it could automatically save images for each of the books in the list. I would have never known to use PHP if it wasn’t for 3501. Using that skill saved me a lot of time and effort. Another class that benefited me a lot was Business Communications. Although writing email and project updates seems pretty straightforward, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. That class was really beneficial for me because I learned so much about proper communication and etiquette in a professional environment.

The flash research papers in 2501 and the skills taught in 3504 about being an analyst were beneficial to me during my internship. I had to be able to quickly and directly communicate what I was trying to say to others, and I used a lot of the skills taught in 2501 in order to create short emails and notes that got a lot of information across quickly. My internship consisted of a lot of BA roles, so 3504 taught me a lot about things I did every day, including process flows and desk level procedures. Furthermore, the skills I learned about interviewing were extremely beneficial because it taught me how to gather the requirements I needed for a project without wasting someone’s time.

I agree with Stephen that the flash research papers from 2501 have been extremely helpful in the office. They built the framework for me to write powerful, concise documents that get my point across quickly and are appropriate for business executives. Additionally, the teamwork and team-centric environments of both 3504 and 3535 have given me the ability to work well with all types of peers and leaders. By engaging in the right way, as discussed in the Heart of Change, I am able to get more done than if I didn’t have this team experience. Last, I agree with many of the others that Business Communications is really helpful in the office. While 2501 focused more on projects and IT, Business Communications taught general principles that can be applied to a variety of situations, which comes in handy often!

I would say that the excel tools that I learned in Data Analytics as well as the 1 credit Excel course have really helped me out during my internship. Not all of the other interns used Excel too much before the start of the job so I think that it enabled me to learn and adjust to the position more easily. In some cases, I am even able to teach some of my co workers certain tricks in Excel that they did not know beforehand. I also believe that the tools I learned in Professional Development Strategies allowed me to know what is right and wrong in certain professional circumstances such as business dinners, happy hours, etc.. Overall, there were multiple things I learned in the classroom that enabled me to better do my job.

The most obviously transferred skills from school to workplace were from MIS3501 because a significant portion of my time at my internship required knowledge of HTML and PHP (in addition to one or two other languages). Additionally, Data Analytics provided me baseline SQL knowledge and the analytic skills for dissecting data and garnering useful information from it. The business analysis and project management courses taught me the most about what to expect when working on a project. Although I do not use all the practical skills I learned in those classes, I knew what kind of documentation and lexicon to expect when discussing the project, so I could talk about it in their terms.

Data Analytic’s has been very beneficial for me at work. Learning different functions in Excel like Concatenate and Transpose are something I use quite often. I work as a data verification specialist and the majority of my work is either already in Excel or is in Access and will be converted back into Excel. Knowing what I learned in Data Analytic’s has been invaluable for not only performing my job but also being able to communicate about it has helped.

Probably the most useful thing that I’ve learned in class that has carried over to the work place would be writing in a business format. I am contact with tons of people through out the day, and it is important to convey myself in a formal matter that reflects well on myself and the school district. Another class that has helped me is the 1 credit excel for business class. While it didn’t seem important at the time, it taught me a bunch of useful tricks and methods that I use almost everyday in the work place. My job would be a lot more tedious without it.

The biggest things that I have learned in the classroom that I have applied to my internship is excel skills, short effective writing, and creativity and analysis. I took the Excel online course last semester and it really has helped me out in my internship as excel is used almost every day by everyone. I have even earned a bit of a reputation as the “excel guy” and it is not uncommon that someone fulltime or interns will ask me for help in excel. On non-contracted services I have several times sent out RFP and condensed proposals into shorter means to be presented to the Director of Procurement. Short effective writing is something that I learned in Business Communications and Enterprise IT Architecture. In Digital Design and Innovation we were encouraged to think outside of the average ways of business and its process. I often find this method of thinking to impress my manager and help find solutions to problems or projects such as mass textbook purchasing and entering information into the Avantis system.

At first it was a little bit of a struggle finding the perfect balance between school work and my internship, but after the first couple weeks everything started smoothing itself out. You start to find a rhythm between the two and get yourself on a schedule whether you’re aware of it or not. Probably the best tip I have to offer is that if you know that you’re going to be in for a busy week you just have to bite the bullet and sacrifice a day of your weekend to make sure you can stay ahead of the game.

This semester balancing schoolwork, my internship, and school organizations is proving to be pretty difficult. Since I am working more hours this semester than last, it is tough juggling work projects and school projects at the same time. I’m usually fine when it comes to completing assignments by myself, but this semester I am having trouble finding times to meet for group projects. Since everyone has very different schedules, finding time to meet can be tough. I am lucky my manager is lenient about leaving early if I have to meet for a group project.
In terms of keeping up with schoolwork, the best tactic I have found is front loading your week with work, and getting as much done as possible on the weekend. Its very easy to lay around and do nothing on the weekend after a long week, but quickly taking care of some short assignments on a Saturday can be very helpful for upcoming classes. Finishing assignments ahead of time gives you a buffer period to deal with any additional work added on during the week, and it minimizes the amount of stress you have to deal with.

Balancing work and school is very difficult especially to do well. I actually work two jobs, as a waiter four/five nights per week and the other for IMS. My work schedules are pretty much set, so I really just need to determine when I will have time to study in between classes and work. I like to keep printed copies of all my class schedules in a folder so I can always utilize them as a reference to determine what time will be best for me to work on school. I bought a planner and would like to fill that out so I will have all my class schedules and work schedules in one place, but I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet. I’m sure having a place with all your school, work, and personal obligations in one place would be helpful for managing your time.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t been too much of a challenge for me to balance my school work with my job. I think the biggest reason for this is that my course load is a lot lighter this semester because I am graduating. However, it was much harder last semester when I had my job while also having a full course load. I would say the most important thing that I did to keep on top of everything was going to the library in between and/or after classes. I would also always plan ahead and try to complete my school work as soon as possible even if it wasn’t due for a few weeks. Another thing that allowed me to balance school work with my job was the leniency of my boss. She would always be very willing to let me leave early if I had a test to study for the next day.Overall, I feel as if it is important to plan ahead and not procrastinate and you will find yourself balancing school work with a job just fine.

Artemid Leskaj
At first it may seem hard to balance what seems like a lot of work on your hands. After such experience my advice is time management! It was hard, at first, for me to balance anything. It all seemed impossible to complete with only 24 hours in a day. After a lot of practice and advice from my colleagues, I finally managed to learn how to balance my time efficiently. When I didn’t know how to separate my personal life from my work life I was all over the place. It seemed like everything was due on the same day. I didn’t know what to accomplish first. After a lot of practice with time management I started to see that 24 hours was plenty enough. I was practically on a routine; the routine involved work, school and some relaxation time. If there was a time when school work was too much I would cut off some of my relaxation time. I couldn’t cut off work time because I was on a schedule. Let’s face it to get anywhere in life we have to cut off a little of our own enjoyment. If you learn how to manage your time efficiently and not procrastinate you’ll find it’s not that hard to balance your work life with everything else.

Last semester was the first time that I had to balance an internship with a full course load of school work and I had a bit of a difficult time with it at first. I found I had much less time than I used to which meant less time to study and complete my homework on time. One of the biggest differences I made that made it easier to balance was planning things out ahead of time. I bought a planner and would schedule out my weeks in advance and my due dates so that I knew what had to be completed and when, with not surprises. This semester I’m much more used to balancing school work with my internship, and I have found a good school-work balance where I can get everything done as long as I use good time management and plan things out in advance.

Time is commodity that slips out of the hands like grains of sand. Managing a full time internship and school is quite difficult, but like other things in life one can easily balance by creating a master plan and consistently following it. In my case I manage my time very wisely, I plan my days and weeks ahead of time, and run my priorities around them. I personally make a list of five things overnight that need to happen the next day for it to be an awesome day. This plan has done wonders for my academic and professional career.

I’ve found that the most important way to handle all of the work to be done is to stick to a schedule, and build in as much free time as possible to relax and destress. I usually try to schedule classes on only T/Th so I can work MWF. This gives me a break from school one day and a break from work the other, which helps me start each day and task with a clear mind. I like to come home from work or school and relax for an hour and then start getting work done. I also try to get a lot of homework done on weekends (usually Sunday) so I have a slower start to each week.

Personally, it isn’t a question of having too much work as much as it is a question of what is able to motivate me enough to get my best efforts. With the work that I do at my internship feeling like real and meaningful work, a lot of school assignments have started to seem really silly to me. However, concrete scheduling has helped me keep my schoolwork up to par. I block off certain parts of the week to take care of my assignments, and typically I take care of them all at once depending on their due dates. That way schoolwork is out of the way and I can focus on my internship assignments for the rest of the week. Dedication to strong schoolwork will help me enter the working world all the more smoothly, and that motivation helps me balance work and school together so that I can be successful in both.

I have always been the kind of person that works better when I’m busy. Since starting my internship in May 2014, I’ve been busier than I have ever been before. Last semester it was hard to adjust to taking 5 classes and working 25 to 30 hours a week. I quickly learned how to manage my time which I thought I had already mastered. I learned to take advantage of the weekends as a time to relax but also catch up on homework for the following week. If I didn’t relax during the weekend, I would not be able to stay focused throughout the week.

I have always been something of a procrastinator, so since starting my internship I have really had to reassess how I get work done and manage my time. This semester I am taking 19 credits on top of working three days out of the week, so the problem further exacerbated in January. I have had to rely on the weekends to get a lot of school work done, where I had otherwise used the weekends just to decompress. But by getting the work out of the way early in the week, it doesn’t weigh on my mind during work and class. I’ve found that if you let it get out of hand, you cannot focus on either side of the workload with 100% accuity and end up producing mediocre results for both.

I never had a problem getting all my school work done freshman through junior year when I was not working during the semester. The first semester of senior year I continued my summer internship at the School District into the semester for 24 hours a week. I quickly found out that it was going to be very hard to produce quality work at my internship and succeed in all my classes. I learned that unlike previous years of school I could not put school work off or “do it tomorrow.” I managed to pass all my classes and perform well at my internship by utilizing my lunch break for class readings and completing school work as I was assigned it, not letting it pile up. This semester is a breeze compared to last as I am only working 16 hours a week and my course load is not as vigorous as last semester.

Artemid Leskaj
To work in a business environment one has to know how to communicate with a variety of people. One of the most important skills to have in business is communication skills. When I worked at FIS I had conversations with a variety of employees and customers. They ranged from a regular employee all the way up to the executives. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with senior directors at FIS and it’s wonderful employees/customers. Working in a building occupied by one of our customers gave me the opportunity to speak with that companies CEO and CFO. Having a conversation with an everyday employee is different then speaking with an executive officer. Networking with executives is also very beneficial. My network grew tremendously after working at FIS.
A technical skill that I found out to be really important was knowing your way around a printer. I never knew how complex some printers could be. It was difficult at first, but I got the hang of it. Getting acquainted with IT specialists helped me in the process of learning my way around those complex printers.

I find that one of the most important skills is the ability to take a specific technology and describe it in business terms to people who don’t use it. Being able to bridge the gap between technology and the business allows both sides to be on the same terms and make decisions that work with each other, rather than making decisions that won’t necessarily work because they don’t understand how the business or the technology works. I personally try to have anyone who specializes in something on my side. For example, I needed help many times from a SharePoint architect a few months ago so it was helpful to be able to call up someone who specializes in SharePoint to get answers and help regarding a project I’m working on.

While working at IMS, I realized the most important skill I need to improve is communication. The majority of the projects I work on for IMS are done remotely, so any questions from internal or external stakeholders of the project need to be communicated expertly and effectively through email. One issue I encountered while working for IMS is that from an emotions viewpoint written communication can be interpreted differently. If I was speaking to whomever in person the tone of my voice and the matter of which I was speaking would be a clear indicator of my emotion, however when communicating through email emotions can be misinterpreted. I want to improve my communication skills by increasing my industry knowledge and use of business verbiage and try to communicate like a subject matter expert while not having emotions misinterpreted.

Working on different projects it’s important to have internal stakeholders or team members on my side. Any questions or concerns about a problem can usually be addressed and solved without interrupting my supervisor.

One of the most important skills I have learned at Computer Services is the importance of constant communication. Whenever I’m having trouble with a project, or even if I’m finished a project, I have to be sure I keep in communication with my managers about it. Sometimes I struggle with being comfortable approaching the rest of my team, especially if they seem busy. However, it is important to keep in contact, so that projects can continue to move forward. I’m glad that I work in a casual work environment where I feel comfortable talking to my higher-ups about struggles I have with my work.
One skill that I didn’t have that my internship helped me acquire is the importance of reading errors and error messages. Before I started at Computer Services, I would quickly disregard errors almost as quickly as I closed pop-up messages. The management team has taught me how to read errors, and find solutions easily through what they say. This is a huge skill that really help me think more analytically. Delving deep into error messages in an essential step in building working solutions.
Someone I want on my side during my internship is my coworker Nick. He has a longer history of development than I do, and is always willing to shed some insight on any issue I have. His knowledge has been very helpful.

I would say the most important skill that I need for my job is computer skills (specifically Excel). I am basically on Excel the entire workday, and it is absolutely necessary to be able to complete my job. People always told me how important Excel was in the business world, but I didn’t realize it would be this important until now. Another skill that I developed and that I think is necessary is being able to communicate with co workers via email. Email is the main form of communication for my job and it is vital to be able to properly use and also speak correctly when writing an email.

I would say that the person that I discovered that I want on my side is the IT department. Considering we have relatively older computers, employees are constantly contacting the IT department for assistance. This is why it is very important to have them on your side because if you submit a claim then they will not hesitate to fix your problem as soon as they can. I actually sit very close to one of the IT analysts and we have a good relationship so he always comes and helps me as soon as I have a problem with my computer.

I believe the most important skill for that I have gotten from this job, and life in general is good communication skills. Without clear and precise communication it doesn’t matter what your line of work is, you will most likely fail. I have seen too many of my fellow interns at school district be assigned a project, have it explained to them, and then still be unclear on what exactly they are supposed to do. They then are afraid to sound stupid by going back up to their superior and asking for them to clarify, and instead they will do the work how they interpret as they go along and more often than not it is wrong, and that entire time spent working on the project has gone to waste. Seeing others fail in the communication department has made me aware, and now I’m not afraid to go to my boss, and ask for a second of his time just so he can clarify with me exactly what it is I need to do. Even if it is a stupid question, I would much rather ask a stupid question now and fix the problem than eventually have him ask me for a completed project, and all I have to offer him is an excel or access sheet made at my own discretion not fitting any of the criteria he needed.

I think the most important technical skill I’ve learned is how to navigate and pull data from Salesforce.com. I haven’t even scratched the surface of the Salesforce capabilities, but mastering data collection and analysis has been key to my success on a variety of projects. Without the help of a Drexel co-op who I worked closely with, I would’ve never figured it out on my own. There are so many intricacies to Salesforce that it was nice to have someone who had my back and could teach me each step of the way. That was a skill I never even thought about needing, yet I absolutely need it and continue to learn and grow my knowledge on the platform. From a personal standpoint, I learned that it is important to be easy to work with and helpful when someone on the team comes knocking. Even if the person doesn’t report to your same boss, but is still loosely connected to the team, it’s important to fulfill their requests, pending supervisor approval of course. If you make it easy for people to come get quick answers, resources, shipping info, etc., they’ll make it easy for you when you have a request from them, and day to day tasks will get more efficient. Finally, I’ve found that it’s vital to have someone, or a few people, on your side from Finance for when the SOWs and SLAs come in and you need approvals. If you don’t have a friendly face to go to in Finance, getting signatures, approvals, payment info, etc. can be difficult and intimidating.

During my internship I have learned that the most important skill is communication. Because my internship is part-time there is a lot of work or projects that I may start or work on but will be finished by someone else when I am not there. Because of this I always keep notes and update my manager at the end of every day so that we are on the same page with progress.

My internship has not only allowed me to use my analytical and technical skills to perform at my best level, but also develop strong business acumen. Coming from MIS background I am quite comfortable in using the technological and analytical tools, but the most important skill that I have received is my ability to communicate with different stakeholders of the business. I regularly communicate with our suppliers, contractors, and financial institutions. During the past month I have actively involved in executing multiple projects that would not only increase the revenue, but also increase the brand awareness of the business. I have had the opportunity of meeting representatives from financial institutions such as: Chase Bank, Unity Bank, Wells Fargo, and TD bank. In addition I have had lunch with officials from Cherry Hill county office. In conclusion, I am enjoying my role of a non-traditional operations analyst which has given me more than just punching numbers in the computer.

The most important skill that I have developed in my internship is choosing the appropriate tool for sales analysis. This is something that I have gotten much better at with time. Our department has access to a large amount of data in many different databases so much of my job consists of figuring out what data to use and where to find it. This skill is invaluable and can be transferred in other position within and outside of the company. My skills in excel are also very important and are much stronger than when I first started at Subaru. When starting at my internship, I was assigned a “mentor”. My mentor has been very helpful throughout the internship so far. She has taught me a lot about the job as well as about people within the organization. She knows many people in the organization and is someone I want on my side.

I began my internship this past summer before the Fall ’15 semester. Over that time, my supervisor assigned me a project where I would build a web page from scratch using HTML, CSS, jQuery, and PHP with the understanding that I had no coding experience. By the end of the summer I had a firm foundation in each, which not only prepared me for the MIS 3501 course but has been very useful in my job. A former intern who now works full time at Subaru with me has a very strong coding background, and I often go to him for hands-on help. He has been a fantastic point of reference for my most recent (and so far, most involved) project.

PowerPoint is an incredibly important and useful skill that I have been able to hone over the past few months at Cigna. I’ve done a lot of important work, and typically work is showcased at meetings via some time of presentation. Being able to convey information about a project succinctly in a way that is aesthetically pleasing is a skill that takes time to practice and perfect. If there’s one skill that I’m going to absolutely need in the coming months, it’s the ability to code my own applications. I’ve already written a few applications for Cigna, but having more exposure to writing code and developing that skill will help me greatly. I have a single manager, but I work on a team of 9 individuals (including myself). Having all of them on my side would be extremely helpful, because these 8 other individuals together touch every single area of IT at Cigna. Having strong relationships with these people will help me to network around the organization and learn everything I need to learn.

It took me three weeks to get hooked up to a printer. Typically at Cigna you get assigned a “routing” which which describes where your desk is located, and you automatically get set your account set up with a printer that corresponds to that routing. However, I was given the same routing as my manager, which seems sensible, but my manager actually works in Bloomfield, CT, so for a while I was printing things and they were appearing in Connecticut. It took several weeks for me to get the approvals to use Philadelphia printers.

One of the most important things i had to find out on my own during my internship was contacting our IT department. During the summer, one of my network drives wasn’t appearing on my computer. I noticed that on my work phone there was a number to call IT, so i called that number and had to go through a process to place a ticket with the IT department. This is not something that they showed us in orientation, but it is definitely a useful tool that I found out about on my own. Another important thing I found out on my own was how to use the printer/scanner/fax. It was one of those very large and confusing printers, so it took a week or two to figure it out completely on my own. There was also printer etiquette that I had to quickly pick up on, so I did not slow up or annoy any of my colleagues if they were in the middle of printing something.

I’ve been very lucky during my time at Comcast to be surrounded by people who are always willing to help answer questions, offer guidance and mentoring, and reset me in the right direction when I’m “lost” in finding out how the business world really works. When I first started, I couldn’t figure out how the elevators worked for at least a week. There are 4 elevator banks, each only servicing certain floors in the building. Luckily, with some trial and error and some help from other interns, I found my way. After I was with the company for a few months, a new intern was hired and I got to teach her how they worked too. As far as company culture goes, I learned that it is customary to call everyone by first name, and it is acceptable to reach out to VP level employees and below with questions. SVP and above should be contacted through their assistant. That was a big change for me! I still don’t know everything, however, and recently I was in need of cleaning supplies while I was reorganizing and cleaning the storage closet on our floor that we use for computer/iPad storage, marketing materials, etc. I used our employee portal to find the facilities request and was taken care of quickly. Learning new things every day!

I am fortunate to have a boss who is very friendly and willing to introduce us to many different people at Subaru headquarters. Since the summer, I have had the opportunity to meet many people in every department of the company. The company culture at Subaru is relaxed especially compared to other car manufacturers (from what I’ve heard). Generally, everyone is friendly and willing to lend a hand in any way possible. My department, Field Operations, works closely with requests from the executives so we are on a first name basis with these individuals. The COO of Subaru, Tom Doll, is very down-to-earth and embodies the company’s culture in his role. I enjoy the work environment at Subaru very much.

Artemid Leskaj
When I started working at FIS I was so pleased to see how welcoming everyone was. I was immediately introduced to the team and taken around the company to see where things were. I liked how FIS had their own Keurig 3000 coffee machines (I remember the name because I used it quite frequently), lounge, cafeteria etc. for people to go to during their free time. At FIS i was provided with a login account to access the computers. I worked on learning how to use it on my own. I was also provided with an access card to the building. To go anywhere you would need one of these cards. I used the card to travel around and about. If there was a problem somewhere in the building the card would grant me access to that area. You always had to scan to enter anywhere. FIS also had these high tech printers that were pretty complicated at first. If there was a problem with them I had to go and fix it. I quickly learned how to work with these printers because I wanted to be ready in case something were to occur.

Most departments at IBC held multiple interns in each department when I started, but I was the first intern my department had ever had at IBC. This meant that for the first few days I was busy trying to figure out most things on my own or asking people how to do things. For example, I believe there are a total of 20 or so elevators at IBC and each set goes to a specific set of floors, so you might have to go to a specific elevator to get to the 23rd floor, and then find the next elevator shaft to get to the 44th floor. Furthermore, in health care there is a huge amount of acronyms used on a daily basis. For most people working there, they understood all of them because that is what they were used to, but I had no idea what any of them meant when I first got there so I was constantly looking up new acronyms. Luckily I caught on pretty quick and everyone around me was willing to help me find whatever I needed.

Day one things got rolling quickly, I was set up with a computer, log in information, designated phone and assigned number, email information, and lots of paper work to fill out. USI Affinity wasted no time in getting me set up but I quickly learned that there was no formal internship training since I was the first intern that USI Affinity had hired. Being the youngest individual in the office and lacking a structural program I asked many questions, learned quickly, and made an attempt to be involved in every project I could be. That meant I had to request to shadow other staff members in different departments and joining up on projects that were outside my comfort zone. The most important value I learned is that everyone who assigns you a task will state it is important and needs to be completed immediately. Then you have to prioritize based on the position title of the individual assigning the task.

While working at IMS, I can do a majority of the work remotely from where ever there’s internet access. So most of the time I don’t need to go into the office unless it’s a new assignment and my boss wants to sit down and explain the objectives. While working at home my account password notified me, that my account was going to expire unless I updated and changed my account. So I went and changed my password and didn’t realize or know I needed to be on-site to change the password. Not sure why but I guess for security purposes. When I changed my password off site it locked me out of my computer and I ended up having to go in and call tech support. Which was very helpful and fixed the issue very quickly. As far as finding the bathrooms or other company culture during initial training everyone was very helpful in explaining where the bathrooms, break-rooms, lunch-rooms are and what the policies are for how long or when you can take lunch or a break etc…

Firstly, being a family owned business the culture at the store is highly personal, and involves building relationships and trust. My first week at the store included making the owners comfortable with me. Secondly, the computer systems used for inventory management and making purchase order did not require any password, anyone was able to login to the system. I convinced the owners to allow me to install security features that would help the secure the store’s privacy in the long run. Lastly, the locations of the office, bathroom, and break room were some of the important things that I had to find on my own as an operations analyst.

One of the more important things that I’ve had to learn on my own, and never really put much thought into before starting my internship was where to go for my one hour lunch break. The Food Services Department usually provides a small cart of new foods they are trying out in multiple schools, but that always runs out fast. Luckily, being located on Broad Street right near Spring Garden there are quite a few locations that are with in walking distance to the School District Headquarters that have good eats! There are many small pizza places and Chinese restaurants, but so far my favorite spot I’ve found to go would have to be Bain’s Deli. Nothing beats a good hoagie at a 10% discount for showing your student ID!

I had to learn and adjust to the culture at SAP on my own. The culture of the company has been one of the most pleasant surprises. SAP is a German company, like most european companies, they have a great work/life balance. The work environment gives off a completely different vibe than the America based companies I have interned before. At SAP, almost everyone enjoys their job and buys into the company goal; most importantly, everyone has a life outside of work. At SAP, everyone is on a first name bases, and seem to have a more personal relationship with those they work with. This was something I was not use to at first, since then it has turned into one of the highlights of my SAP experience.

I was surprised by the level of camaraderie among among employees and their bosses. Although I didn’t expect attitudes to be standoffish, I thought that the hierarchy of roles within the department would matter more in personal relationships. At first, I was very guarded with my supervisors because that’s what I assumed the relationship to be, but now I have a much more direct line of communication with them.

I currently work at Independence Blue Cross as an Operations and Support Government Markets Intern. I began in June of 2014 where I started as a Business Process Improvement Intern. I was responsible for designing and creating a SharePoint site through the use of HTML, CSS, and PHP for the department, and when complete I transitioned to Operations and Government Markets to design a new SharePoint site based on the needs of the department. Currently I am in charge of the maintenance and addition of new features on the site, ensuring that items are easy to access and that the design is easy to follow for new users.

I am working for the Imaging and Workflow team at Temple University’s Computer Services department. I have been working here since July 2014. Currently, I am responsible for modifying existing programs that automatically import documents for different departments across Temple. This involves mostly working in Visual Basic to help automate the process of getting the documents to where they need to go. This week I’ve been working on a program for the Admissions department, and it is almost good to go.

I currently work at Yoh Services as a contract Data Steward for IMS Health. I starting working as a Data Steward July of 2014 on a three month contract, and after the contract expired I was brought on part-time to work during school. While working at IMS, I have contributed to a number of Master Data Management(MDM) projects for various Pharmaceutical clients. Projects I’ve worked on have mostly been using Excel and researching IMS internal databases for quality check/data governance efforts to provide the client with a best match resolution. I started work a few month’s ago on another MDM project in which my manager and I are developing the standard operating procedures and would eventually have me as the project lead for this portion of the project. I look forward to continuing to improve and learn from the Data Steward position at Yoh Services.

Artemid Leskaj
My place of work was at FIS, one of the fortune 500. It’s quite an honor working for such a large company. I gained a lot of experience of how the corporate world worked. During my time at FIS I worked as an infrastructure engineer. I dealt with a lot of everyday problems, those including fixing and/or upgrading or working directly with FIS’s clients. Here is where I gained a lot of customer service skills as well. The building where FIS was located was also occupied by one of its clients. Whenever there was a problem I would personally go and fix it. I dealt with clients who had hardware and software problems, considering my major it made it a great experience.

I am currently employed as an operation analyst at Cherry Hill Liquors located in Cherry Hill NJ. I have been working here for a year now. My job responsibilities include analyzing unstructured data to forecast customer-buying trends. I use advance Microsoft Excel functionality such data analysis tool pack, pivot tables, v-lookup etc. to perform detailed analysis of customer behaviors of various demographics such as age, ethnicity and physical location. I prepare a biweekly analysis report of customer buying patterns, and use it to establish the price-point for the products. I am also responsible for reconciling expenditure on inventory and perform routine maintenance on store as well as updated Point of Sale System Systems.

Pushpinder Multani

I am currently working at Comcast in the Comcast Business division in Philadelphia, PA. I began working for Comcast Business in May of 2013 and will continue working as an intern until graduation this May. I have been given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, including sales and marketing effectiveness analysis using Salesforce.com and a variety of Excel-based analytics. I also provide weekly reports with Excel graphs and tables to senior management outlining sales growth broken down by region, division, etc. I look forward to the possibility of staying onboard with Comcast Business upon graduation.

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I am currently working at Trion Group, an employee benefits brokerage firm that is a subsidiary of Marsh and McLennan Agencies. I started working at Trion this past summer as an underwriting intern in the Life and Disability department. I am currently working part time there during the school year and am working there full-time after I graduate in May. As an underwriter, it is my job to price insurance rates based on previous experience of a group. The average day for me at my job revolves mostly around Excel. I am constantly using Pivot Tables to help me better understand and analyze data. I also have been using SharePoint a lot recently. When a client’s plan is up for renewal, insurance carriers will try to bid for our clients business. Insurance carriers will place all the necessary documents onto SharePoint and we will go in there and grab them. I am excited to graduate so I can concentrate more on my career and gain more responsibility within my position.

I’m currently working at Cigna on the Enterprise Architecture Infrastructure Architecture team. My work is project based, and currently I’m working on a project that aims to consolidate all of Cigna’s data from disparate systems into one searchable repository. There’s some development work, a lot of networking work, and a lot of business analysis-style work. I’m the owner of the user interface aspect of the project, which means I am in charge of managing the resources for this portion of the project. As the Spring continues, I will also begin work on some other projects that are scheduled to run through this Summer and Fall.

I am currently working at Subaru of America, Inc. in Cherry Hill, NJ. I began working at Subaru in May 2014 as a Field Operations Intern. The internships lasts for a full year so I will end the position in May 2015. Since starting at Subaru, I have had the opportunity of working on a wide variety of projects that involved many different departments in the company. The Field Operations department deals with sales on a national level. Much of the work I do involved sales analysis and reporting using Excel, JD Power Pin Explorer, and Polk Insight. On a weekly basis, I study the retailer purchase and service satisfaction survey results as well as the traffic that took place within the retailers on a national basis. I am hoping to secure a position with Subaru of America after graduating in May.

Hi everyone, I am currently interning at SAP America as a Global Services Delivery intern. I have been and will continue to work on the SAP Global ONE Service Implementation Methodology. ONE Service is essentially the roadmap for implementation used by our sales and support team. My duties include updating the WBS database, enhancing the SAP Jam site and updating our PMI implementation courses. I will also be taking on other responsibilities and projects throughout the semester.