Response 7

Graduating Year: 2008
Major: Marketing & Finance

What company did you intern with?
Forrester Research, Inc.

Where were you located?
Cambridge, MA

What was your position?
IT Sales Intern

What were your basic responsibilities?
Working with Siebel to enter and extract needed data, reading research, researching potential clients, emailing and calling potential clients, creating hard copy mail campaigns

How many hours did you work per week?
35–40 hours

Describe a typical day of work.
Arrive around 8:30am and put my things at my desk, turn on the computer and spend the next half hour getting coffee, checking emails and talking to the other interns; the next three hours were usually spent "name developing" which consists of researching companies, calling companies or working off of Fortune lists to find IT executives that fit into Forrester's predefined roles. At 12 we would break for lunch until 1, come back and sit around and talk until 2 at which point either more name developing or BASHO–ing, which is writing emails personally tailored to a specific person based on research you have done on that person. Around 3 we would take a half hour ping pong break. Forrester is very interested in the idea of a corporate athlete and encourages work breaks for either using the gym or the ping pong room. The rest of the day was spent on the phone making calls to either try and set up a meeting or try and learn who the executive in charge of IT was (IT New Business was my specific department). Out of the office promptly at 5.

What did you like best about your internship?
Being able to research companies and having access to interesting research reports was awesome – and we were encouraged to read for our own personal growth. Working along with full time account executives to learn how to organize and manage customers was interesting and a good learning experience in terms of relationship building and people skills.

What did you like least about your internship?
I enjoyed the atmosphere at Forrester. Everyone was upbeat, energetic, literally running around the office to get things done. Also, the idea of a corporate athlete which I mentioned before was strong. The company encouraged vacations, days off, hours off, for employees to pursue other interests and it was acknowledged that not everyone can be productive for 8 straight hours.

What did you think of the company as a whole?
I think Forrester as a whole is an exciting company with a lot of future growth potential. The internship was very sales based which was interesting to have a background in, however, I am not personally looking to work in sales. Forrester offers other internships in their finance and marketing areas as well as research analysts so that is an option for others.

Can you offer any tips for interviewing with this particular company?
I had two phone interviews because I was studying abroad in Hong Kong but they were very informal and based on my work experience and personality.

Considering your experience, would you recommend this internship to other students?
I would recommend this internship to exiting freshmen and sophomores who are looking for interesting work experience early on in their educational careers. I would not recommend this internship to a rising senior unless he or she was specifically interested in working in sales.