Welcome to the 2017 Dwellworks Intern blog! Each week until mid-August, our summer interns will be blogging about their Dwellworks Experience and musings from the Internship Program.
Below are their thoughts from week ten.
Read their blogs from week nine here.
Anna Zschuppe | How I’ve Had Fun at Work This Week
This week, I attended a human resources (HR) conference called HR Star with my team and 600+ other professionals. Here, I learned from various speakers and company executives the power of our field and what we can do to innovate within it.
One of my favorite speakers was Dr. Earl Suttle who talked about the importance of being successful both personally and professionally. Here are a few quotes that I wrote down to give a little glimpse of his speech:
Although I could keep writing about all the things I learned from the conference, this motivational speech was sort of that final push for me to stay on top of the ball rolling. As a rising senior, I not only need to be looking for jobs but also to grow throughout the process. Between attending workshops/seminars and listening to podcasts in the car, I need to take advantage of every ounce of learning that I can to better market myself as a young professional who is ready to excel in the real world.
That being said, I’m excited to keep creating opportunities for myself to develop as a businesswoman and a dynamic leader in the field of HR, and I can’t wait to attend more conferences like these. Thanks to Dwellworks and my team for giving me this incredible, fun learning experience!
Alex Leszcz | Something I Learned Through the Group Project
As others have mentioned, working with people all over the world was a really unique experience during the intern group project. Coordinating with the nine other interns here in Cleveland, the two in Detroit, one in the UK, and one in Germany was no simple task. I teamed up with Raphaela from Germany on one of the smaller teams, and we faced a communication challenge. Our workday only overlapped for two hours, so all of our communication had to be efficient. Although it was a little inconvenient at the beginning, I really learned a lot about effectively breaking up work and collaborating with people when not in person. Since we had to have some of our meetings in the afternoon, while Raphaela was not in the office, I would begin our task and send her an email outlining what we talked about and what action items we came up with then begin working on whatever it was. This ended up working quite well because she could finish what I started, and then we could discuss anything we disagreed on or any questions we had the next morning when I got in. This system we had going worked very well and enhanced our productivity greatly.
A major takeaway from this experience is learning to work efficiently when we were together and independently when we weren’t in the office together. I learned a lot from this and will use this experience, along with the entire intern project experience, to effectively complete group tasks in the future.
Aruni Prakash | Interview with My Leader: Polina Mineva
Where did you attend college?
Polly attended George Mason University just outside of Washington, DC. She double-majored in global affairs, with a concentration in international development, and art history.
How did you get interested in global affairs and art history?
She has always been interested in sustainability and international relations, so global affairs was her primary choice as a major. With art history, however, Polly took a Greek mythology class as an elective and loved it! She then took more art history classes and had enough credits to attain a double major.
Did you have any internships during college?
Polly interned at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC during college; however, her first job was as a coordinator for Dwellworks 5 years ago.
Why did you come to Dwellworks?
Polly’s brother and friend both relocated using clients that Dwellworks works with, so she was already familiar with the relocation industry. She then loved it and chose to stay.
What is your favorite part of Dwellworks?
Polly said that the company culture and people are the best part of the job. Dwellworks has a relaxed and laid-back environment mixed with very understanding people, making for a great place to work!
Leslie Flynn | Something I Learned Through the Group Project
Our group presentation for the intern project is next week, and I know that we are all excited to share what we learned with the associates here. As our presentation date gets closer, I can tell how much the interns' input is valued based on the interest that associates are showing. It has been very meaningful to contribute something useful to the company with the other interns throughout the summer. Everyone was willing to contribute in different ways to the project. It was helpful to know our different personalities and talents from the personality test we took, as we were certainly more conscious of how best to interact with one another.
Emily Llewelyn | Something I Learned During Intercultural Training
Last week we had a presentation on Intercultural Communication from Nicole Barile where we learned about the ways that people can have different ways of communicating depending on their culture. There are so many different aspects of communication that I had never heard about, even down to the way that people view time. Some cultures see time as non-sequential, and that the clock is secondary to determining action, and others see time as sequential, relying on the clock which determines action. It explains why some cultures are more flexible when it comes to deadlines, while others hold more emphasis on being very prompt. The presentation was very interesting for introducing aspects of culture that I’d never known about, and things that I’ll definitely keep in mind in the future.
Katharine Zavagno | How I’ve Had Fun at Work This Week
Before our time at Dwellworks comes to an end, the interns and I wanted to plan one last get together. After a group vote, we headed to Sung’s House for lunch, a group favorite right next to our office. Lunch was a great time for us to distribute the intern awards, which were superlative-style accolades we had voted on earlier that week. The awards ranged from “best hair” to “most likely to star in their own reality TV show,” granting each intern obscure bragging rights, along with a fun way to commemorate their time here at Dwellworks. After lunch we headed to Heinen’s for ice cream sandwiches, enjoying one last group dessert run down the street. Our intern group is one of the things I will miss most about Dwellworks, I feel very lucky to have had such a great group to spend my summer with. Whether we were collaborating in group project meetings, going out for frozen yogurt or eating our packed lunches outside in the US Bank Plaza, we always managed to have fun and make each other laugh.
Dan Berghaus | How I’ve Had Fun at Work This Week
Every time the interns get together, whether it is for lunch, a meeting, or to work on projects, we have fun. Our work time is full of laughter, inside jokes, and of course, productivity. We’re certainly a great example of a team who plays hard, but works even harder.
With that said, our internship is coming to an end, and that means it’s time to vote for Intern Superlatives. A few of the interns got together and came up with some fun questions that touch on many of our inside jokes, habits, and little quirks.
When I received the e-mail with the voting link, I opened it up and couldn’t stop laughing. The questions really hit on each of our personalities and reminded me of the many fun memories we’ve created over the last two months.
So thanks, friends, for helping me have fun at work today, and all summer!
Jeff Britton | Why I’d Recommend This Internship to Fellow Classmates
To start, I most definitely will recommend this internship to my fellow classmates and any who inquire about it to me. This internship has given me a great opportunity to experience just what it means to be a part of an office- to be part of the office effort and not simply my individual “To-Do” list. Dwellworks is a place that bases their corporate culture on the pillars of Philanthropy, Green, Wellness, and Fun. Dwellworks is a place that also lives up to these pillars. People come to the office and take an interest both in their work and those around them. It is an atmosphere that you truly want to be a part of.
The internship program as well is something that I highly recommend. There is an interest taken in each intern, not simply for the time spent with Dwellworks, but for their future- whether that's a future with Dwellworks or not. Through trainings, project exposure, and even mock interviews, Dwellworks has taken an interest in me for the betterment of my summer employment and employment beyond this summer. Dwellworks should be looked into by my classmates because of the culture, the people, and work that you are able to take responsibility for.
Hailey Atkins | Something I Learned Through the Group Project
For the past month or so, my fellow interns and I have been collaborating on a group intern project. To say the least, it has been an interesting challenge. Working with the 13 other interns, where we are in different offices and time zones, was a challenge we had to overcome. Through this experience, I learned to remain open-minded and adaptable throughout the process. Although I had the other Detroit intern, Bobby, to work with locally, I was not where the majority of the interns were. It was often difficult to really collaborate as I have never been in a group project where I was not with them in person. I recall a few times when we had technical difficulties and lost connection during a meeting, or when we helped the other remote interns who did not have access to the technology available to record the tutorials. Even with these minor obstacles we had to consider, I have enjoyed working on this project because I got to work with people across the globe. I was amazed to see the workings of how business is becoming more and more global.
Oona Haffey | How I’ve Had Fun at Work This Week
This past Thursday, the Cleveland interns went out to lunch at Sung’s House. It was a great time because we all had the opportunity to eat together and share our favorite memories from the summer. We even created intern superlatives which made the lunch even more fun. At Dwellworks, the culture is very present, which made coming to work every day something to look forward to. Whether I was at my desk, lunch, or in a meeting, I always felt extremely welcomed and valued. I will miss being a Dwellworks intern!
Maggie Lowman | Why I’d Recommend This Internship to Fellow Classmates
There are many reasons I would recommend a Dwellworks internship to a fellow classmate. First and foremost, the professional growth I have experienced while interning at Dwellworks has exceeded my expectations. Not only have I gained technical skills through my work on the Marketing team, but because the internship is supplemented with opportunities such as professional development trainings, mock interviews, and a group project, I feel more prepared to join the professional world next summer.
Furthermore, Dwellworks’ internship program is very immersive. From the very start, my leaders trusted me to complete a number of responsibilities. I attended department meetings and wrote and edited content within my first week. Because of this, working at Dwellworks has given me the opportunity to truly experience the Marketing industry and understand the expectations, routines, and responsibilities of a Marketing professional.
Lastly, Dwellworks’ culture and employees make the job fun. While we definitely work hard, we also find time to have cook-outs, wellness walks, ticket giveaways, and pet photo contests. My fellow interns and our leaders are always there to help or share a laugh, and I love that we get to have fun at work. Beyond offering professional growth, this internship has helped me realize the importance of company culture.
I cannot imagine a more welcoming, developmental work environment, and I would gladly recommend the Dwellworks internship program to my peers!
To browse more posts about Dwellworks Culture, click here!