Landing an internship with an international company is quite a feat. Finding out that you've been awarded a scholarship for your work at that internship is remarkable.
Senior marketing student, Joseph Wolff of Eagan, MN, did both of those things this past summer at Eagan's Enterprise Rent-A-Car. His strong work ethic, customer service skills, sales skills, and overall business acumen, garnered him a scholarship to help with college expenses. He learned of the scholarship availability from the second round of internship interviews.
Wolff was drawn to applying for the Enterprise internship last spring due to its fast paced and unique environment. While most of his time was spent interacting with individual customers and implementing their rental contracts, he also went on marketing calls with the branch manager to insurance agents, auto body shops, and dealerships to ensure the satisfaction of these corporate clients.
Some of Wolff's successes that his boss took note of were
- Ranking first out of 22 interns from the upper Midwest in July for personal sales.
- Overseeing an additional 100 vehicles to the branch offices fleets in June and July. This meant there were more cars to rent and more expenses on the books.
- Helping to increase his branch office's customer service score throughout June and July by 4 points each month based on random customer service calls in the St. Paul area.
- Assisting with landing the largest auto body shop in the state as a client of his branch.
"My internship taught me a lot about the field of sales as well as the confidence needed to be an effective salesperson," said Wolff. "I also learned how to effectively manage accounts and make sure they are fully satisfied."
These skills will undoubtedly assist him on his career path as he pursues a future in the commercial insurance field. "My dream would be to one day purchase my own independent commercial insurance brokerage," he said.
"It is great to see companies offering scholarships to reward interns," said Angie Soderberg, LSBE's Internship Program Director. "Money helps, but offering incentives such as scholarships provides students an opportunity to market their work accomplishments to employers in a different way."
Enterprise, like many employers, advertises and recruits through GoldPASS, the University of Minnesota’s premiere web-based recruiting system. Students can search and apply for internships, career events, and on-campus interviews. GoldPASS can also be searched and subsequently used for applying for fulltime positions.