Learning and Growing at Credera: How Training Transformed Our Summer Interns

Audrey Mirasola, Baylor Watkins, and Sam Abel

Learning and Growing at Credera: How Training Transformed Our Summer Interns

Every summer, Credera brings together students from universities across the country to experience a 10-week, immersive internship program. Credera’s intern class connects a range of students with unique backgrounds, majors, experiences, and skills to contribute to Credera’s mission.

We recognize how intimidating it can be going into an internship and how important it is that a company sets interns up for success, so we asked a few of our interns, Baylor Watkins, Audrey Mirasola, and Samantha Abel to share their onboarding and training experiences from their summer at Credera.

An Interview With Credera Interns

1. What did your first-week training experience entail?

Audrey: Day one of the internship, Credera trained us on the types of questions consultants ask, best research practices, and how to collaborate with a project team to build unique solutions for our clients. I got the chance to ask all my questions to experienced Credera team members and received encouragement and support from my new team.

Before this internship, I had never taken a management class and my understanding of consulting was limited. Nervous I lacked the business acumen needed to be successful at Credera, I quickly learned consulting is not about having a specific background, but instead about having a diverse team solve problems together. By the end of my first week, the nerves I once felt were distant and I was confident and excited to start contributing my newly learned skills to the team.

Baylor: We began our first week with introductions to other interns, company leadership, and people who would guide us through our internship. As we got a better feel for Credera’s environment, it became apparent that employees at all levels were not only willing but excited to connect with interns. Throughout the summer, I set up one-on-one chats with multiple partners to get to know them and learn from their industry expertise. While I may have only been assigned one formal mentor, I felt like I had an army of support.

As a Management Consulting intern, I was quickly immersed in business analysis, project management, agile, and strategy trainings, among other role-specific instruction. While there was a lot of information and guidance provided in week one, my biggest takeaway was that training and development never stops. At Credera, you are constantly encouraged to learn more, to grow, and to exceed client expectations.

2. Were you able to collaborate with other interns during your onboarding and practice specific training?

Audrey: During the first week as Management Consulting interns, we were asked to complete a case study where we worked with three other interns to analyze a client’s business problem. As a team, we brainstormed, researched, prepared, and finally presented a solution to upper-level management, who provided personalized feedback and advice. Not only was this helpful for meeting other interns, but it allowed us to practice communication, data analysis, and teamwork.

Sam: Although the internship was behind a computer screen, building connections, forming relationships, and creating friendships with other Credera interns was natural. Whether it was an intern lunch, a roundtable discussion with Credera leadership, virtual happy hours with our office, or even working on the case study, there was no shortage of ways to get to know fellow interns and current Credera staff.

Being virtual provided me the opportunity to work with interns outside of my assigned location. During my case study, I collaborated with interns in Houston, Dallas, and Denver and gained perspectives from people I would not otherwise have met.

3. What role did your onboarding peer and career coach play throughout your internship?

Baylor: During my first weeks at Credera, people went out of their way to introduce themselves and help me get acclimated to the new work environment. At Credera, a career coach is built into the internship to provide guidance and mentorship throughout the summer.

My career coach, a senior consultant in my local office, promoted my growth by helping me set and attain impactful goals. We were able to bond on both a professional and personal level, and she had my best interest at heart as she coached and supported me during the summer.

Sam: Before the internship even began, I felt supported by the entire Credera family. I was assigned an onboarding peer, who serves as a consultant in my local office, and she became my first close connection, answering any questions I had related to the internship or Credera prior to my first week. Since then, we have met weekly and have become friends outside of work. Whether asking questions about my project or simply catching up, I knew she was available to support me.

Every person I met at Credera affirmed the kind, open culture I read about before my internship. Experienced Credera team members, who were genuinely eager to connect, consistently reached out to encourage and welcome me. I cannot count the number of messages I received during my first week along the lines of, “Excited to meet you, don’t be afraid to reach out.” The warmth of Credera’s culture is clear.

4. How have you continued to grow and learn through our 10-week summer internship program?

Audrey: This summer I was assigned to a project focused on an application development initiative for an internet services company. From practicing small skills like creating a clean client deck, to receiving training in a specialty called product management, I grew immensely throughout the course of my client work. Learning how businesses strategize to add value and implement ideas has been a daily process, not a one-time learning activity.

Throughout the project, my project director and teammates were always there to share their insight and expertise, which helped me develop skills to become a product management expert in the making! I’ve had the opportunity to streamline my communication skills and analyze data to assess the effectiveness of business decisions. More than anything, as an intern, I saw my ideas for application development taken seriously and even implemented.

Baylor: During my internship, I was staffed on a software development project for a telecom company. I served on this project as a business and strategy analyst working on a business-to-business ecommerce solution.

While on this project, I had the unique opportunity to work directly with the manager who interviewed me for my intern position. Every day he coached me on how to be a more effective business analyst, gather insights from data, and understand the true needs of the client. The real-world skills I’ve developed could not have been taught in the classroom and were unique to my Credera internship experience.

Final Thoughts:

Audrey, Baylor and Sam: Throughout the summer, we grew more comfortable in our abilities because Credera empowered us to think creatively about problems and produce solutions through structured problem solving. The training and onboarding process was just the beginning of a rewarding, challenging, and fun Credera internship.

Find Your Fit

Interested in joining Credera as an intern or full time upon graduation? Check out our website to apply! Job applications open on August 25, 2021 and close on September 30, 2021.