Happy Wednesday, Hounds! This week on Highlighting Hounds, we are featuring Kassandra Carpentier ’25, and her summer sales internship experience at the software and payroll company, ADP. Read more to learn about Kassandra’s accomplishments, and what advice she has to offer to others!
Give a brief overview of the company that you interned with, as well as what your position was.
I interned with a company called ADP. ADP is a software and payroll sales company and my role as an intern was sitting alongside a top sales leader to help with her daily tasks and making cold calls to prospects in order to help her reach her sales number to hit president’s club.
Describe a typical day as an intern. What were your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities?
Not each day was the same, however, a typical day would look like this:
At 8 am I would meet the District Manager at one of his bank locations for a bank huddle. This was about an hour-long meeting to discuss with all the head bankers, in-depth, how we could be useful and draw prospects and business for them, and vice versa. We emphasize that we want to work together in order to benefit from this partnership. We then head over to the second bank huddle at a separate location for the same conversation. Once our bank huddles are complete, we then head out on the field for prospecting. This entails using past collected data about small businesses in our area. We then dropped into these small businesses, seeking out the business owner, in order to have a friendly conversation to get to know them and their business a bit further. Throughout the conversation, we would debrief a couple of ways that our services could help the owner and their business with all of their struggles. We would then set up a future time to come back and show them a demo of our product and how they will be able to utilize our services. After hours of prospecting in the field, we would then head back to the office in order to attend meetings and complete cold calls for the rest of the day.
Were you involved in any major projects or accomplishments as an intern?
During this internship, I had the opportunity to compete in a contest called the RUN Demo. This was a 5-minute video of myself as the salesperson showing a prospect how our model is used and how our services can cater to their needs, assuring them it will be a beneficial service for themselves and their company. I competed against over 100 elite interns across the country and am proud to say that I was able to represent Southern New England as the Northeast Division Winner.
What are your career goals? How will this internship help you reach those goals?
This internship has provided me with hands-on experience in a real-world work environment, which I believe will help me make informed decisions and enhance my career prospects. I believe that this internship has kick-started my career, and therefore when I graduate, I will be able to jump full force into a sales career knowing that it is something I love and the career I am most passionate about. My career aspirations are to be the best salesperson that I can be and to make President’s Club within the first couple of years.
What are your key takeaways from your experience? What skills did you gain from this internship?
One of the most important things that I learned throughout the internship was that hard work goes a long way. The harder you work for your craft, the more reward comes out of it. It is known that sales are an incredibly tough job that faces frequent rejection. Hard work and perseverance help you stay motivated, push forward, and maintain a positive attitude. One thing our VP always reminds us of is the fact that there are many uncontrollable factors in sales, but one thing you can control is your attitude and maintaining a positive outlook. Another valuable skill I will carry with me is how important it is to build relationships. Hard work helps you understand clients’ needs, follow up with clients, and build trust over time. I learned so much from my internship, but these are definitely some of the top takeaways from my experience.
Why did you apply to this internship? What aspects of the position/company interested you?
One of my marketing professors, Professor Bailey, held a class where he invited the Vice President of SBS Sales into class to discuss what being a salesperson at ADP is all about. After hearing what ADP was all about, I was extremely excited as I could really see this being the place for me to grow my sales skills. Through this class, I created connections and got into contact with the VP. After a brief phone call interview, we then set up a formal Zoom interview and I was able to obtain the summer internship. I am beyond grateful to have had this opportunity through class and couldn’t thank Professor Bailey enough.
How has your Assumption career prepared you for this internship?
My marketing classes had a large impact on how I conducted my work with ADP in my summer internship. But I believe there was one class in particular that gave me a bit of a leg up. This class was my Professional Selling class. In this course, we participated in making cold calls with one another in class, at the front of class, and with our professor. This can be a very intimidating task, but having a whole semester of practice definitely made me more comfortable when it came to cold calling on day 2 of the internship. Overall, my Assumption Career has played a huge role in my preparation for my first internship.
What advice would you give to a student who wants to participate in an internship?
I would tell any student who is interested to most definitely partake in an internship. Internships will not only provide you with valuable lessons and real-world work experience, but they will also allow you to find connections and passion within your job. Sometimes at a young age, we have an idea of what we want to do or be when we grow up, but in reality, it ends up not being something we love. I think one of the most important aspects of entering the workforce is having the ability to be passionate about your work and excited to go to work each morning. Doing something you love is extremely important in this life, and internships are such a great way to dive in and learn more about yourself and what you love to do.
How did your skills as a student-athlete translate into this position?
Being a student-athlete has always taught me how hard you need to work for what you want. There’s so much that goes into success, such as discipline, organization, hard work, and determination. These are all valuable life skills that have been instilled in me at such a young age and have prepared me for the workforce. While being a student-athlete, I have also learned how to overcome challenges and setbacks. Those experiences have built resilience and adaptability, which I believe will help me handle workplace challenges and changes more effectively. Overall, the experience and skills gained from being a student-athlete will showcase your ability to handle responsibilities, work effectively with others, and demonstrate the focus to achieve your goals, giving you a competitive edge in the workforce.
If you are interested in being featured on Highlighting Hounds, please email us at careerdevelopment@assumption.edu!
