Week 9: One Week Left

This week will be my last as the market research intern at Addison Whitney. I’m going to miss it! What will I do everyday until classes start?

Anyways, this internship has taught me a bit about leadership. I wouldn’t say I’m a natural born leader, but if I need to, I’ll definitely step up to the plate. For every project the market research team takes on, a team member is assigned to be the lead. This means that particular member will be responsible for all the work throughout the project timeline and responsible for communicating with vendors and the consultants. Thus far, I have gotten to be the lead for two different projects. I was pretty nervous at first because like I said, I’m not a natural leader, and I had just never lead something like that before. I was still learning the entire process. But things went swimmingly, in my opinion. I learned how to check the data daily to make sure the survey is running smoothly and I learned how to communicate with the SERMO team on the progress of the project and what needed to be done. Overall, I learned a lot about leadership through these two projects. I really took the reigns on everything (with some guidance from my supervisor when needed) and successfully gathered all the data. It was a good feeling knowing I successfully lead two projects through the field.

I’ve also learned some things about myself in terms of a working professional, as well. I’ve learned that I like research outside of psychological research and that I could definitely see myself going into the field of market research. I’ve also learned how to carry myself in a working environment. While AW isn’t the ‘wear a suit and tie everyday’ type of environment, I still learned how to respect my superiors and act like a professional. I learned to listen effectively, to ask questions, and to be independent with my work.

I think the highlight of my week would have to be the trivia game the office had during lunch on Wednesday. While I didn’t participate on a team, I was a bystander and had just as much fun. I knew maybe a total of four answers, so I wouldn’t have been a great contribution! But, I learned a ton. The questions were pretty difficult and obscure, but now I can throw some fun facts around. And it was really cool to see the office come together in one room and just collaborate and have fun together.