6:30 am… the coffee pot goes off, my blinds open, and that signals it is time for another day at the (home) office. Prior to Covid-19, my mornings would have been a bit different, including a Starbucks stop for coffee and breakfast on my walk to CDW’s Chicago office on Adams Street in the Loop. However, until September 2021, my mornings are spent all within the walls of my 900 sq ft apartment.
CDW is a Fortune 200 company that employs more than 10,000 coworkers throughout its 28 different locations. I work for the Chicago corporate office. CDW is known for having great office space culture. Pre-Covid times, CDW always has in person events, meetings, and gatherings to get coworkers united and together. With Covid-19, many events have been shifted online to keep company morale present and CDW as a united force.
Each day at CDW starts the same for me. I am logged into my computer by 7:30 am, sifting through any emails that came in while I was away, checking in with my coworkers and manager via Microsoft Teams, and checking my calendar for the current day’s meetings. Once all my administrative work is set up, I dive into new and on-going projects.
CDW’s sales internship program is 10 weeks long. I started on June 1st, 2021. Since my first day, I have been given the opportunity to work on solo projects, group projects, shadow account managers, interview my team about their recent deals, meet with managers throughout the company, practice cold calling customers, and learn extensive information about the IT industry and CDW as a company.
The first four days of my internship consisted solely of sales training. Within those four days, I was educated about CDW, what it takes to be a great sales person, and what the most important first steps are in becoming an account manager at CDW. The sales training I received helped me feel confident as an intern. Prior to this internship, I had no past experience working in sales, especially inside sales. Throughout my first eight weeks at CDW, it is clear that this company heavily invests in their coworkers to make sure that each person is set up for success.
After training concluded, I jumped right into projects with my team. My favorite solo project, to date, has been interviewing account managers on my team about recent deals they have done. I find this to be a great way to meet my coworkers and learn about what and how CDW sells within the IT industry. Currently, I am working on a group project about personal branding as part of CDW’s community service day, which is July 23rd, 2021. I have also enjoyed and taken benefit from practicing cold calling and shadowing cold calls within my team. Each call I practice and hear provides me the opportunity to improve my technique and skill set.
Throughout my time at CDW, I am learning about the IT industry and sales; however, I am also uncovering more each day about what I want to do when I graduate and how I plan to execute that. This internship has taught me that, if given the opportunity, I would love to become a CDW account manager. This internship elevated my level of excitement for the sales industry, especially the IT sales industry. I always knew that post-graduation I wanted to enter the sales industry. Being a CDW sales intern sealed the deal for me due to the great atmosphere, training, and daily work tasks that I experience. CDW excites me to wake up and go to work each day!