Final Reflection

What aspect of the internship experience added to your personal development?

A couple of the aspects that I can add to my personal development would be increased software platform knowledge, negotiation skills, and communication. Within the software platform knowledge, I am referring to the utilization of Monday.com something that I have not utilized before. After working with the platform for a couple months I am now able to flow through the system and create an organizational structure for my information that allows for increased efficiency. For the negotiation skillset this would be referencing contracts as I have not had much experience with contract negotiations on a business-to-business scale. I now have a little more knowledge into the process and what key aspects hint at moving forward with a successful negotiation and those businesses that would be a nonstarter. As well as an enhanced level of communication through continuously making phone calls and email interactions. In these interactions I was able to understand more of what they are looking for and obtaining all the beneficial information possible while tuning out unnecessary aspects.

What experiences on the job have related to your academic studies?

A few experiences that relate to academic studies include contract negotiations, human resources, and contract negotiators plan of action. I am currently finishing a course named Negotiations and Conflict Resolution. So, all these negotiations that I conducted to get contracts sent out relate entirely to the course. Within the human resources aspect, it related to the course Management of Human Resources as I dealt with some unpleasant individuals within the HJGT organization. One of them being in a Human Resources role, displaying how this unpleasant individual was able to relate to the course. For the plan of action, it relates to the academic course of Strategic Management.

What was the quality of supervision and communication with your supervisor?

It was extremely high quality between me and Mike Malo for supervision and communication. He was one of the few bright spots of this mentorship experience. I personally believe that he should have more responsibilities within organization as other leadership is severely lacking in comparison to him in quality.

How has the internship influenced your career objectives?

The experience has solidified my standing that I want to be around contract negotiations. Whether that is as a sports agent or one of the other opportunities within the sports world. Especially being able to conduct business negotiations which can be beneficial for sponsorship negotiations at either the business-to-business or business-to-athlete level.

If other students were considering this job, what advice would you pass on to them about this position?

I would recommend not doing this mentorship opportunity unless they would be working directly under Mike Malo. Mike seems to be one of the few people within the organization that has a strong since of direction and leadership. He will provide you with all the necessary training and information to be successful within the contract negotiation and course scheduling role. If you were to accept the contract negotiation and course scheduling role, be ready to be rejected a lot. It takes time to establish relationships with these courses and do not take the rejection personally. As well as having a student mindset and view each day as an opportunity to learn something new that can help you later in your career. However, if the opportunity were to be with another role within the organization, I would be very cautious before agreeing to the role.