Farewell, Interns!

Nigel Edward (Rice University, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering), Meher Vallabhaneni (The University of Texas at Dallas, Finance & Economics), Kennedy Porter (Texas A&M University, Management-Entrepreneurial Leadership), Ashlan Hockersmith (Baylor University, Management & MIS), Matthew Mirka (The University of Texas at Austin, MIS), Annette Mayne (Texas Tech University, Finance)

Every academic year, Sendero engages in campus recruiting to find universities’ top talent. In addition to interviewing graduating seniors for full time positions, Sendero also seeks undergraduates for our 10-week summer internship program.

As part of Sendero’s internship experience, interns are placed on a project team and are staffed on a client engagement Monday—Thursday. On Fridays, interns work on internal projects, “Brown Bag” lunch presentations on engaging topics, and developmental round table discussions with Senior Managers. They also get to join the rest of the office in a Sendero cultural ritual—Pizza Friday.

This summer, Sendero offered internships to six rising seniors from all different universities and majors. From rocket science, to entrepreneurship, and treasury, this group of interns offers a variety of experiences and skills. We sat down to ask them a few questions about their experiences through the recruitment process and the summer.

What interested you in Sendero?

MEHER: As I was coming into my senior year of college, I wanted to gain a better understanding of what I would like to do as a full-time career. After my last internship as a Treasury Analyst, I didn’t know if a financial role still interested me, but the strong, supportive culture I experienced left a strong impression. I knew moving forward that I wanted to work for a company that had a similarly strong culture. Moreover, after considering consulting careers, I believed consulting might be a good fit for me. Since Sendero offered both consulting experience and a strong culture, it was an easy decision to want to intern with them.

What stuck out to you the most about the recruiting and interview process?

MATTHEW: The first thing that stuck out about Sendero was that Sendero was not trying to collect the largest number of resumes/applications possible like other companies, but was more focused on meeting the candidates first and collecting the right resumes/applications. Moving through the recruiting process, it was obvious how much the core values of the company were embedded in the day-to-day lives of Sendero employees, while recruiters from other companies simply could regurgitate the information about values on their company websites and not much more.

What kind of work are you doing at your client and what are you learning?

KENNEDY: My client found themselves in an unusual predicament. After years of working with their current CRM system, they found that they were paying way too much for a system that not only didn’t have the functionality they wanted, but none of their employees were using. Sendero was brought in to oversee project management and coordination for a development of a new employee dashboard and CRM system.  Since being placed on the project, I have had the ability to be a part of the PMO team and work on User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Training Development. I have been pushed outside of my comfort zone and have had the opportunity to develop project management skills that will last me through my career.

So far, what has been your most important take away from the internship experience?

NIGEL: Throughout the internship, my most important take away is embracing the unknown. In a project environment, you don’t have the privilege to wait for full solution to emerge. You have to engage the unknown and rely on your current toolset to achieve the solution. In a meeting, no one knows everything. The job of the consultant is to work with others to minimize the unknown by pooling the known.

What has been your most fun experience so far?

ASHLAN: My favorite thing so far has simply been getting to know everyone around the office. I think our intern group is close, and I always enjoy catching up at the end of the week and hearing about their experiences at all the different client sites. We’ve also started a ping pong bracket. I am terrible at ping pong, but I’m super competitive, so I always look forward to playing during lunch on Friday.

If you could tell anyone interested in this internship in the future one thing, what would it be?

ANNETTE: I would tell anyone interested in this internship to take advantage of everything Sendero offers throughout the summer!  Sendero’s community feel, commitment to core values, and dedication to delivery are aspects that make interning at Sendero unique and enjoyable.

Are you a college student interested in opportunities at Sendero? Learn more in the links below.