Tag: EmmaG- Business

Today was my 8th and unfortunately last day at SAS 🙁 ! I was located in the legal department, where I was greeted by two managers who told me all about their experience at SAS. They had both been working at SAS for over 15 years so it was really interesting to hear about how the company has changed over time, and how their positions have changed as well! For example, one lady told us about how she initially majored in interior design, but then later ended up getting a job at SAS in the legal department as a contract administrator! I thought it was really neat to see how peoples career paths all varied, and she was just one of many people I met today who had big career switches! The legal department overall was much different than expected, and I initially went in thinking it was only going to be about law and what SAS can/cannot do. I ended up being way off, because although the legal department dictates that, there are also many other factions in it!  There is also a finance component to the legal department as well as an IT team! Although I was sad that this was my last day,  it was a great day and ending to the whole work experience program!

Today was my 7th day at SAS! In the morning, I was located back in building Q where I was able to visit with people in internal communications department. I first met with Angelica, who told me all about what internal communications does, who heads the team, and the positions. Going into meeting with her, I did not know much at all about internal communications, so it was really cool to find out about everything. She explained to me that each person in the department is responsible for covering/writing articles for a different group at SAS. For example, she covers marketing and meets with the executives, and then another woman in the department was responsible for covering legal and corporate services. I thought it was not only cool to see all the different things that they promote inside SAS, but also the ways in which they accomplish this. I was able to meet with both writers and video editors/producers inside the internal communications department, and they showed me some of the work they did! Being able to see all the equipment and tools that go into creating SAS ads/webinars/promotional videos was super interesting and I’m super glad I got to do this! I even was able to watch some of the videos they put up on the intranet, and these ranged from tutorials to witty SAS culture videos!

I had a super packed day at SAS today! Today I was with the marketing department at SAS in building C for the morning. I met with Sue Tally in the morning who gave me a thorough grasp of the marketing department and all of the various positions which are in it. I really enjoyed meeting with her because she could tell me all about how the marketing department pairs with corporate creative and web development to help promote SAS, and I found that super intriguing! After meeting with her, I was able to meet with a few more SAS employees and sit in on one of their meetings for an upcoming conference at the Gaylord in Washington, D.C. I thought this meeting was really interesting because all of the different people from the marketing came in and reported on what they were doing to prepare for the conference. Each person had a different list of tasks and questions, and goals that they wanted to accomplish, and it was really cool to see these things all come together. After sitting in on this meeting, I went to lunch and then actually drove over to the other SAS “campus” located off of Cary Parkway!

Today was Day 5 at SAS, and Justin and I were in building U in the morning for corporate creative! When we got there, we were greeted by Beth Hening, who gave us a quick tour of the space! The offices here were a lot different from the ones we had visited previously, because for the most part they were cubes. Ms. Hening explained that the reason behind was so that people were more open and collaborative, but that the plan actually didn’t work out that well and people preferred to have closed offices. After visiting with her, we sat with Evan who is a copy writer for SAS. He told us all about his previous jobs, and how he actually used to do sports journalism for UNC! He also showed us some of his work at SAS, and some of his favorite projects that he had worked on. He seemed really passionate about his job and I enjoyed shadowing him! After meeting with the people from corporate creative, we went over to have lunch in building C with Sean, who worked in both the video department and building C. I really enjoyed meeting with him because not only did he share loads of information about the technology and advertising that SAS does, but he was also extremely personable and gave great advice! 

Today Justin Tunley and I visited the Human Resources department of SAS! We were greeted in the morning by Bethany LeClair, who was able to tell us all about SAS , what they do, and her position. She talked to us about how with her job, she is able to go to different universities, campuses, and career fairs and promote SAS software, as well as try to recruit more people to intern/work at SAS. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Ms. LeClair, and thought she shared a really interesting perspective on how the data can be used! Later on, Justin and I shadowed another woman in the HR department and spent the rest of the day with her. She told us all about college, her life, and provided us with advice for the HR department. I found it interesting because going into the day, I did not really have any grasp of what HR was responsible for, and she clearly explained all of the different departments to us and what they did. One thing I particularly liked that she said was about technology and knowledge in general. She told us that as part of her job, she is always having to teach herself new websites and programs. She said that although this can sometimes be challenging, that in the end it is really interesting and that it can be beneficial to constantly seek out new technology and new knowledge!

Today at SAS, I was located in building C, which holds both the executive offices and the sales department. I was initially greeted by Elizabeth Dove, who works in sales and was able to tell me all about her wonderful experiences at SAS, and her career path. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to her, because we actually shared a lot of the same interests and passions. For example, when discussing colleges and school, I mentioned that I was interested in history but did not want to pursue it in the future. Coincidentally, she shared the same passion and we were able to talk about this for a while! In addition, she told me about how she pursued business in college and ended up working in retail, because of her strong interest in fashion. I as well am super intrigued by the business side of the fashion industry, and she was able to provide me with lots of advice and insight because she herself had gone into it! After meeting with her, I was able to shadow the sales account manager for the rest of the day, and learn a lot about what he does and what a day in his life looks like.

To start off Day 2, I went to building U where I was greeted by Gray Heffner. Gray Heffner is the manager of the web design for SAS, and she told me all about the different branches of the marketing department and how the different divisions all come together. For example, she told me about how when creating a page you have to take into account the coding behind it, the template, the design, the writing/copy, and user interaction. She really opened my eyes to how many different job possibilities there are in the marketing industry, and I was also able to see all of these different jobs interacting in a meeting that morning. During the meeting Gray Heffner set up, the whole design team met in a conference room, and told me about their individual jobs and backgrounds. It was really interesting to hear how people’s career paths changed along the way, and how many different experiences each person had. The staff also kindly answered all of my questions, and gave me lots of beneficial advice for both my academic and career future!

Today was my first day at SAS and I had a really great time shadowing multiple SAS managers and executives. When I arrived at the work site, I was greeted by Susan Tweed, who is the manager of applications and integrations. She spent the morning telling me about technology and her background, and gave me a general overview of the department and its different divisions. After meeting with her, I spent the rest of the morning shadowing Jason Reece and sitting in on different meetings. I was able to get an inside perspective on how meetings run and what it is like to collaborate on such a large scale. After lunch, I visited another building, building R, and was able to meet with three different IT employees, Johnathan Hairr (executive support), Jon Smith (client technology services), and Brian Wilson (IT security and compliance). Visiting with each was person was very interesting and insightful, but I particularly enjoyed shadowing with Johnathan Hairr because I was able to go up into the building with the offices of the executives and see Dr. Goodnight’s office! I was able to see both his conference room and his extremely impressive, extensive rock collection (pictured below). Overall, it was a great day and I already feel like I learned a lot from this experience. 

I can not wait for work experience. It begins on Monday!