I spent the third day of the work experience program learning about marketing and sales and SAS. I arrived at building C at around 9:00, and started off the day by getting a tour around the building. After an hour and a half of walking around and having the opportunity for a Q&A, we met Holton Ramoin, a worker in sales at SAS. We shadowed him for the rest of the day, and he got to teach us the ropes, and really put us through a day in the life of a SAS salesperson. Most of the day we were in his office, and he made phone calls, sent emails, and reached out to different people that may have had an interest in using SAS analytics in their company. He also showed us how they try to expand their presence within a company, and everything that they do to try and expand their brand. Tomorrow, I am excited to see a different aspect of SAS, as I will be in building Q learning about human resources.
Tag: justint
Day 2
My second day at the state legislative building was a very busy one. We started off the day by attending a Board of Education meeting so that we could watch the implementation of legislation that Ms. DeVivo had gotten passed a few weeks prior to my arrival. Following the meeting, we went down to the quad and helped Ms. Sams (DeVivo’s partner) set up for a lunch catered by the pit for 500 people. The lunch invited all senators, reps, and optometrist to join so that they could generate discussion about the optometrist bill that we lobbied for the day prior. And following lunch, we met with a client from Riskcor to talk about upcoming legislation involving immigrants. We took the client to a couple of senators and reps (including the president pro-tempore and the majority leader) so that he could express his concerns with the legislation, and try to win their support.
One thing that I learned during my day is the importance of making connections. While shadowing Ms. DeVivo, I noticed that she had very good relationships with pretty much all of the officials. She knew pretty much everyone in the buildings, and was genuine friends with them. By developing these friendships, it became a lot easier to do her job because they knew that they could trust her. And while she was fairly liberal, most of her really good friends were conservative. While I assumed that there would be conflict because of party, there really was not because she said that she has a long history of being fair, and that goes a long way. As she said, people remember everything. If you mess with someone, they will fight back. Making friends is a whole lot more effective than burning bridges.
Day 1
For the first day of my work experience, I spent the day walking around the NC State Legislative building with two lobbyists – Ms. Laura DeVivo and Ms. Angel Sams. They are partners at their firm, DeVivo and Sams, and I got to spend the day walking around with them and watching them meet with reps and senators to pitch their upcoming legislation. The first day, we focused a lot on a specific bill regarding Optometrists. We were fighting on behalf of their clients to allow Optometrists to complete level 1 (very simple) surgeries without needing to go to years of medical school. We started off the day meeting with two senators who were in charge of drafting the bill to help clarify language in it, and then we started meeting senators and reps that were on the fence so that we could gain their support. Throughout the day, I probably met about 15 senators and reps, and it was very interesting to see their different opinions and personalities. Ms. DeVivo said that the building was like a high school: you have many of the cliques, a few popular people, the a couple bullies, and the few that keep to themselves. After doing her job for so long, she really has learned how to get to each, and change her lobbying strategy depending on the person that she was meeting with.
Day Two
My second day at the state legislative building was a very busy one. We started off the day by attending a Board of Education meeting so that we could watch the implementation of legislation that Ms. DeVivo had gotten passed a few weeks prior to my arrival. Following the meeting, we went down to the quad and helped Ms. Sams (DeVivo’s partner) set up for a lunch catered by the pit for 500 people. The lunch invited all senators, reps, and optometrist to join so that they could generate discussion about the optometrist bill that we lobbied for the day prior. And following lunch, we met with a client from Riskcor to talk about upcoming legislation involving immigrants. We took the client to a couple of senators and reps (including the president pro-tempore and the majority leader) so that he could express his concerns with the legislation, and try to win their support.
One thing that I learned during my day is the importance of making connections. While shadowing Ms. DeVivo, I noticed that she had very good relationships with pretty much all of the officials. She knew pretty much everyone in the buildings, and was genuine friends with them. By developing these friendships, it became a lot easier to do her job because they knew that they could trust her. And while she was fairly liberal, most of her really good friends were conservative. While I assumed that there would be conflict because of party, there really was not because she said that she has a long history of being fair, and that goes a long way. As she said, people remember everything. If you mess with someone, they will fight back. Making friends is a whole lot more effective than burning bridges.