Internship done!

The summer is finally over, and what a great experience it has been. I got a chance to explore the world of consulting, work with some very smart people and learn a fantastic amount of information within a very short period of time. Since the project was ending the same week as my internship was, the last two weeks were critical. This was when we made the final push for our client deliverables. The model that I initially developed was used extensively by the team to nail down the quantitative aspects of our recommendations. Also, the principal on my project thought that this model would be a great tool for the client as they went ahead with the implementation in the coming months. So I had to spend some time cleaning up the model, making last minute changes and including the relevant background information so that the model was easily usable by the client. It’s one thing when you develop a model for your analysis. It’s something completely different when you are developing a model that someone else will use – this was a key learning for me. Always develop the model as if someone else were going to use it. I also had to do my final presentation at the Chicago office last week. My manager was extremely understanding about the criticality of that, and gave me some time off so that I could work on my deck. The team pitched in to review my deck and gave some great feedback on how to make the presentation stronger.

I just want to finish with another observation from my experience. There is one key skill that I have noticed is common among the senior folks. With any problem, they have a laser-like focus on the fundamental question we are trying to answer, and are always asking “how does this piece of work answer that question?”. This enables them to break down even the most complex problems into simple relevant blocks. And this is a skill I definitely want to develop over the next few years.

Well, to summarize I had a fantastic summer experience. I couldn’t have asked for more. Now, three weeks of down time before the next year at school. Thanks for reading, and take care!

The final word from Sears…

This has been the most exciting, eventful and somewhat dramatic two weeks of the internship. I am almost done with my time at Sears and it is time to wrap up and say goodbye, atleast for now.

I had my final internship presentation scheduled for the middle of last week, almost a week and a half before the end of the internship. I wasn’t certain that I would be able to work right up to the end, since my baby’s due date and my internship end date almost coincided at the end of this week, and therefore planned ahead. This foresight was invaluable! My presentation was at 3 pm on the 7th of July and three hours later, right after I got home, I went into labor!!! That was the end of completing the internship on the planned schedule. I am home recovering and going back to work for a few short days to wrap things up and complete a final performance review. It has been very rewarding to take on two very differently challenging projects at the same time and complete them both successfully.

Regarding the presentation itself, I started working on the power point at almost the six-week mark, making notes and draft power points of what I wanted to communicate. My bosses were very accommodating of the need to make a well-crafted deck and supported me in many ways such as creating a rough outline, providing detailed reviews and feedback on my analysis, setting up schedules with my audience of CFO’s and VP’s and providing overall feedback on the slide deck. I was very happy with and confident of my slide deck for the presentation and took a couple of hours going over every detail in the slides and preparing for possible questions, while rehearsing the script for my presentation.

The presentation was attended by business unit CFO’s and VP’s and also included other Finance interns for the summer. Both my managers were present. I presented my findings and left time for questions. The presentation was well-received by the audience. My manager told me I had done a good job of the presentation and of handling follow-up questions.

Working at Sears has been a great learning experience in terms of Corporate Finance, the Retail industry, good management practices and self-discovery. I am hoping that I will get an offer before the summer is up.

Week 7 of finance at Sears

I have completed week 7 on my internship and am almost at the last stretch.

I have been making progress with my second big project. I am analyzing financial and marketing data from 2009 and 2010 in the first and second quarters to assess if there has been a significant impact on sales during this period due to shifting the release of new promotions in the circular from Sundays to Fridays. I am comparing sales and promotional markdown data against circular metrics such as page count, length of promotions in days, frequency of promotions in days/week and circulation volume (number of households reached through the circular). I am using graphical trending, segmentation criteria, statistical correlation and regression analysis to determine the strength of relationships between metrics and their ultimate relative impact on sales. So far, I have been making progress with refining my methodology. It remains to be seen if the data will be conclusive enough for me to make strong recommendations for or against current policy.

The project has provided me with plenty of intellectual stimulation, analytical learning opportunities and brainstorming opportunities with my immediate managers and SVP. I am hoping to have made concrete progress on the project by the end of the internship (in 3 weeks), so that it is ready to handover to other staff for follow up analysis on data that comes in through the rest of the year.

I have developed an outline for my final presentation and am working on getting feedback on the first draft this week. I am due to present to the business unit CFO’s in 10 days time, so I have to keep pushing forward on this piece on a regular basis.

I have been attending many internship activities as well; networking with other interns throughout the company at breakfasts and lunches; and attending skills training classes available through an internal educational program called Sears Holdings University. I just attended a Project Management class last week and will be attending one on Pursuing Creativity next week.

This internship has proven to be a well-rounded experience, as the management at Sears really believes in doing everything possible to enhance and retain the human capital they have. Anyone considering an internship at Sears will find themselves in a position where attention is paid to what they want and action is taken to ensure a good experience for the intern.