Internship #16: Final Boss

Internship at a drain cleaning company is definitely a lot more interesting than it sounds. I learned a lot about working with a tight-knit group of people who are more than happy to welcome someone like me into their environment without a second thought. I learned a lot about working with people who could care less about my reasons for contacting them as an intern. I learned that a desk job is not what I want to be stuck doing for the rest of my life, but I definitely don't want to have to deal with toilets like that one pictured above. As you can see, I learned a lot. It really feels like I've grown through doing an internship outside of my comfort zone—in fact, in the complete opposite of my comfort zone.

Internship #14

Cara Johnson
Office Manager, Michigan Power Rodding
Ann Arbor Michigan

Interview Highlights:
Kyle: "What is different about working at a regular job as opposed to being a college student?"

Cara: "I think you feel a lot more responsibility...when you're in college, you might not want to get up and go to class and you could probably get away with that. But, as an adult with a family, you have people that rely on you. Even if you feel like you need that snooze bar, you can't do that because no one's going to do the work for you. You have to take the responsibility to come every day and do your job and do it to the best of your capability. Prove yourself, because in the long run the more you work, the more chances there are for advancement in your career."

K: "You said you were married...what does your husband do?"

C: "He is an airline pilot for U.S. airways, but he's currently furloughed so right now he's working for my brother's contracting company. He has a background in computers, and before he got his pilot license he was a computer programmer."

K: "So how would you say the recession has affected your job and work life in general?"

C: "My job here has been very steady (thankfully!), but Michigan Power Rodding has continued to do very well even though there's a sort of slowing down from what they were five years ago, which was just kind of the beginning of the economic slide. So my job hasn't been directly affected, but people around me have. If my husband had stayed with the company he was working for previous to flying, he would be out of a job because they are pretty close to being completely closed. A lot of the decline in customers here is directly related to the automotive decline, because most of Michigan's residents work in the auto industry, so when [these companies] leave people out of jobs, [the people] aren't calling us as much."

K: "So what are some of the day-to-day challenges you face when working with your colleagues?"

C: "Well, being a manager, one of the biggest challenges is keeping people motivated. Some of the tasks that the other girls do here are reptitive and can be pretty boring and if they're not motivated to do the work doesn't get done. And when you have to talk to someone about the work not getting done it's hard to do it in a manner that isn't angry with them to the point where they're not going to want to do it, but you still need to be firm enough to let them know that this does need to get done. I think dealing with the attitudes of people that just don't care can be really hard because you can tell them five times to do something, and then they don't so you have to write them up. When you use disciplinary action against them they get angry with you and I think that's one of the hardest things to deal with."

Internship #13

This is where the ideas happen. Each person brings something to the table that will be considered in the final product. This is exactly how my project was decided. The only difference is that I was with my mentor and the boss wasn't on the phone. But this is just one example of how things get done around here.

Here is the encouragement board. It's where the employees go to get a pick-me-up if they aren't feeling up to a task. This is also where my project will go when it is finished. I will post my findings up here for review and as a constant reminder of the work that I did for the company.

Here is my sanctuary*. This is where I work on everything. I make calls from here, enter data from here, collaborate from here and sometimes even eat lunch from here. It gets kind of lonesome, but there's plenty of energy and excitement in the office so it's never boring.

*desk

Internship #12

Personally, I only work with a couple of people: myself and my mentor. Most of what I do is self-directed so I don't need a lot of outside input on the project, which means I'm left to work how I see fit. However, I am constantly on the phone with people outside of the workplace to try and get information that I can use for my project. In this way, the entire company is indirectly affected by my work! Advertising brings mucho dinero, and I'm the one who makes it happen. I'm calling people to get their business, they're sending me information and I'm putting it all together in one cohesive and coherent project. The employees here can then use this project to get an idea of where to go next. They will design relevant ads and release them to companies that seem lucrative. This affects the community as well as the company. The community sees the ads and calls Michigan Power Rodding, which leads to more business, and, ultimately, more money. Since these people are not working for or with the company, it's an indirect relationship.

Internship #11

My week was very productive. I'm about halfway through my project and have a great basis for an interview (as in, there are plenty of other follow-up questions I can ask this coming week). There weren't many challenges this week. Everything went very smoothly, and I next week should gothe same way if I continue to work hard like I have been.

Internship #9

My mentor is the dispatch manager for the company, and works with all of the accounting aspects of management. Her name is Cara Johnson, and she graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2003. She grew up in Hudson, Michigan, which is a very small town south of Ann Arbor and east of bigger town Adrian. Cara worked at a department store previously, before taking her second job at Michigan Power Rodding, where she's been working since 2007. At her current position, Cara has been working for one year.

Her husband was an airline pilot before the recession, and she has one 6-year old daughter.

Internship #8

Many of the people in this company are very self-disciplined and determined. I say determined because they try to do their best job at all times, no matter what happens. Part of this organization's commitment is to giving the customer the best experience possible for a reasonable price. Because Michigan Power Rodding charges more for their service, they put more effort into it. I really admire the fact that the employees are hard-working and motivated to perform well because sometimes I feel like I don't work hard enough or fall short of other peoples' standards and that I just get lazy for no reason. Working with these self-motivated individuals will hopefully be beneficial to my own outlook on work and responsibility.

Internship #7

Internship site: Michigan Power Rodding
Department: Advertising (this company doesn't really have designated departments)

Project title: An Adventure through Advertising: The Cost of Reppin' Your Company (original title from me. It's great, I know.)

General Description: In this project, I will be making an Excel spreadsheet of all the different ways to advertise and the cost of each. I will also be adding the length of the ad, the amount of people it will reach, where it will be placed and what the target demographic is.

Learning Objectives: My main goal for this project is to get a feel for how much it really costs to run a company. Other goals include learning to manage money, make wise decisions and deal with a wide variety of people from all over.

Organization/Company Objectives and Benefits: The company benefits because I am basically free labor that they can us to get some info on advertising costs. I will be saving them money by working as an intern to find the easiest and cheapest ways to get their name to people.

Schedule: I'm not really sure how I can make a schedule for this since it's an ongoing project that involves research only. The schedule would just say "research (1/8-1/28)".

Academic Skills: Through this project, I will learn how to use the phone to contact people and organizations to accomplish what I want. I will also have to crunch numbers on the fly to make sure what they are saying to me makes sense with our budget.

Technical Skills: I will need to learn how to organize my research into one spreadsheet and I will learn to search the Internet for potential advertising avenues.

Collaboration Skills and Opportunities: I have already worked closely with the service manager to meet with a couple of representatives from different companies and discuss our plans for advertising. These typed of collaborative meetings should come up more often as I get farther in my research.

Exhibition Plans: Most of this will be just for the office. I will exhibit my research and explain my spreadsheets to the main players in the advertising branch 0f the organization, which includes my mentor, the service manager and my uncle, the proprietor. I will also e-mail this compilation of data to Randy, Robert and Darren as my final product.

Schedule and Timelines: I will finish this project about midway through the final week of internship. That means all of my research has been compiled by the 27th at the latest. After that, I will talk with my mentor and discuss how to present the information professionally and in a way that makes sense. Then on the final day I will present my information to the three people mentioned above.

A Summary of My Week
The highlights of my week were the same every day. The people here are really friendly and work hard to make it a positive environment. There weren't too many challenges because it was easy to adapt to the way things work here. Everyone was easy to get along with and I worked well with them. Unfortunately, a lot of what I saw was to be expected. It's just a typical office, with delivery guys coming and going every other day and people leaving to go work on jobs. As for how I would describe this to someone who's never had an internship, I'm not really sure. It's just like a job, only you don't get paid and you can get kicked out of the school for not doing one. It isn't overtly difficult or new if you've been in school your whole life. Just do your work, do a good job and go home--that seems to be the basic pattern.

All in all, week one was a success. However, I miss school and want to come back as soon as possible.

Internship #6

For my interview, I can interview either my uncle (as he owns the company and started it from scratch) or the head service manager (because he's the 2nd in command). I would love to know how he got his start building a company that runs like the well-oiled machine that it is. The service manager would be a good interview because he is an integral part of the company. Without him, there's no one to settle all the disputes between customer and corporation.

I'm sure that I could get a time during lunch (probably 12-130 PM) to interview the person of my choice. This could be any day, really. The schedule is super flexible because the company is on call 24/7--literally. Even Christmas.

I will bring a video camera to record. I brought two with me to Michigan.

Internship #5

Project title: Untitled as of 1/13

Project description: Find the amount of money for each advertising avenue and compile it in one easy-t0-read spreadsheet, complete with demographic, cost etc.

Project schedule:

-Begin work (1/8)

-Ann Arbor Radio Research (due 1/14)

-Project approval (due 1/15)

-Benefit Concert (begin research and planning 1/18-end 1/29)

-Adopt-a-Highway Research (due 1/19)

-Club Perks (due 1/22)

-Contact Bands (ongoing)

-A lot of these details need to be worked out. Most of this is just a skeleton.

Materials/Equipment Needed: A computer w/ Internet; a cell phone; people skills

Project documentation: All research will be documented on an Excel spreadsheet. All benefit concert research will be kept in a Word document.At the end, I will hopefully at least have a date for the concert, even if I don't get to attend (i.e. if the earliest time is March).

The concert idea is probably not going to come through. I still need to find out the actual cost of using land, hiring bands etc. just to get an estimate on how expensive it is. It is probably going to cost way too much. My sole project is just to get all the advertising possibilities together.

Internship #4

1. Just today I had to use math skills to find out what the best option for radio advertising is. What I'm learning/have learned in school is helpgin me make better decisions in the work place.

2. I've been collaborating with the service manager of the company to do research.

3. One of my goals is to use Adobe Illustrator to create some ad ideas. That's technical skill I think.

4. I can learn how to deal with businesses and their representatives, which can sometimes be a hassle.

5. Easily, through our website and by the ads I'll be helping with.

6. I can bring in some revenue through the strengths/skills I addressed above.

Internship #3

My project is pretty much already set in stone. I will be making a document that lists all possible advertising opportunities and compares them to one another. Through this project, I will learn how to talk on the phone to professionals and also how to research prices. I will be designing advertisements (or at least brainstorming ideas) and pitching them to my mentor. The company needs to branch out in the advertising department and I'm helping them meet that goal.

Internship #2

1. Since my job is to call and find out about advertising options, I've called many different people. I've also tried to assimilate myself into the environment that has already been established in the workplace.

2. As far as I can tell, there won't be creative opportunities for a while. For now I've just been brainstorming and asking questions of my mentor and other employees.

3. Like I said in question 1, I've been calling and gathering info on advertising. This is the interest of my mentor.

4. I need to get more involved. Right now i sit at my desk, do some research and then make some calls. I tend to keep to myself. What I can do is offer to take on creative jobs or just other jobs in general.

Internship #1

http://kylebrayhumanities.blogspot.com/2010/01/internship-1.html

I flailed it and put the post on the wrong blog...there's the link. Sorry 'bout dat.