Intern Insights: My Farewell

Alas, the summer is coming to an end and so is my stint at Murray & MacDonald. Though I may appear in the future as a guest blogger, this will be my final “Intern Insights” post, and it will be insightful. Now that my summer has come and gone, I’m forced to go back to school. As fun as it is, you can’t beat the beach.

This summer was a first for me when it came to blogging. I’ve never been a blogger. As I was scrolling through my Blogger queue and noticed that one of my posts hit 200 views, I was excited. Blogging had to appeal to me six months ago but now social media is a large facet of my job. The bulk of the work I’ve done has been in social media. For someone who’s an active Facebook and Twitter user each day, it only makes sense that social media is part of my job. As a Finance and Accounting major, I didn’t think I would ever be this heavily invested in marketing. It’s actually a running joke that Marketing majors have it easy at Bentley, so I’m surprised to find social media optimization as difficult as it is. It’s hard to get people to interact with an insurance agency, because said agency is part of a "boring" to others industry.

While my social media presence has been a great learning experience, forming relationships with those around me has been even more so. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s my boyish charm or classic good looks, but it’s been very easy to make friends here. I never thought I would call a group of women that could be my grandmothers my friends, but their impact on me has been profound.

Today, I went to lunch with the group. Rita and I took my Mustang, top down and all, to lunch. She said in the car that my departure felt like she was seeing one of her grandkids off to school. I responded that I felt like I had three grandmothers now. She’s a real straight shooter, she tells it like it is and is not afraid to voice her opinion. I’ve eaten many a lunch with just her, talking about anything and everything under the sun. For me, it was a great compliment to hear someone consider me that close.

The other two, Julie and Sandi, are quite the talkers. Our conversations generally consist of them talking and me nodding. Sandi is light-hearted; she loves to laugh and sometimes she talks so fast it makes my head spin. Yet, she’s incredibly wise and can offer truly insightful guidance if called upon. She’s a true businesswoman. Julie and I are similar in three ways; we like numbers, country music, and absolutely love candy. Every once and a while, I forget that debits are on the left and credits are on the right, but Julie is there to help me out. The other day, we both fell asleep in the lawn chairs on our lunch break (whoops)!

Everyone has been great to me at the agency. I would mention everyone else, but I have to adhere to a strict 700-word limit (so I don’t put anyone to sleep). All of my colleagues have been truly helpful in every regard. They are quick to offer insights when I have a big project and are reliable for advice whenever I might need it. I’ve learned many life lessons just from listening to people talk. To me, the experience has been far more valuable than any work I could have done. At small business, I never expected to do the kind of work I do in class. I don’t think anyone is going to let me factor receivables or prepare a loan amortization schedule, at least until I have a degree. To have an opportunity to understand an office environment, the way people act and communicate will be my biggest take-away from this experience.

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