As I walked into Suite 508 of 665 3rd St. this morning, I had no idea what my first summer internship was going to entail. I’ve heard rumors of interns being stuck in small cubicles, overloaded with boring busy-work, or being ordered to make the coffee runs. But how often are rumors true, right? So far, my new internship at GroupSwim is nothing like that.
This is the first of hopefully many posts from me: Katie, the GroupSwim Intern, about my experiences at this young company.
My first day has been anything but a bore. I was asked to make my own GroupSwim site – which basically meant playing around on a website, something which my generation loves to do everyday, (for example, in the form of the ever-popular Facebook). After two short form pages asking for site name, account name, and email preferences and the like, I had created my own trial GroupSwim site: “Katie’s Internship”. The set-up process was very straightforward and made even easier by the abundance of how-to posts by Jason. The only difficulties I faced were conceptual – I was confused about the difference (and significance of) the GroupSwim site, my user account, and the individual groups. But I believe this confusion stemmed from the fact that I was setting up a personal trial site for myself, instead of a business, for which I would have had a need for multiple groups and different log-in names. (And after experimenting with my site, I now understand the differences and role each label plays.)
After setting up my own GroupSwim site and exploring there for some time, I was introduced to some online tools the team uses for various purposes. I set up accounts with LinkedIn, SalesForce, ZoomInfo, and Jigsaw – all foreign territory for me, but websites which I’m sure will not be so strange and unfamiliar after a few weeks of working here. And all it took was a few minutes of browsing to begin to see why they use these websites. For example, an “Advanced Answers Search” in LinkedIn Answers taught me more about the concept of social networking and how businesses that utilize social networking can greatly benefit.
I am thrilled to have been offered this great opportunity to work with, and hopefully help, the guys here at GroupSwim. I am especially anxious to watch the pieces of the puzzle come together as this company—having completed their product—connects to businesses and other potential customers who can gain value with GroupSwim.
Tags: internship, tools
