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How AMEND equips bright talent to succeed in business
After I wrote about our Analyst program a few weeks ago, a lot of people asked me about how, specifically, the interns experience professional growth while at AMEND. I want to give more insight into our vision for investing in students that want to develop themselves.
Day 1: Bootcamp
Because of the nature of our business, we don’t have time to spend waiting around. We welcome the Analysts to AMEND right away with a day-long crash course. We talk about AMEND’s mission, our values, and why we’re really here. If you haven’t checked out Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on the importance of knowing your why, watch it below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
The idea that we get to be a Trusted Advisor for our clients and solve their problems is the reason we show up to work every day. THAT is what drives us. Our Bootcamp inspires the new Analysts with our mission and gives them the empowerment they need to drive change at our clients.
We ignite in them the same passion that fuels us to wake up at 6am every morning and go to our client sites, roll up our sleeves, and make businesses better.
Analyst Calls
Aside from the great experience the Analysts get at their client site on a daily basis, we wanted to be able to teach them things that they can apply to the rest of their career. Think of Analyst Calls as an accelerated MBA… but they actually can retain and utilize the material they’re learning. Forget the Accounting I or Intro to Marketing classes you took freshman year. We practice executive reporting, analytics case studies, lessons on business topics, and even group projects.
Collaboration is everything at AMEND and the group projects give Analysts an opportunity to work together on solving a problem—without a teacher looking over their shoulder telling them the way it has to be done.
In the project updates, the Analysts get to share what they’re working on with their fellow Analysts. This gives them the confidence to speak up and show what value they’re driving through their work. These are also another chance to learn more about AMEND’s current projects and cross pollinate best practices.
Some of my favorite Analyst Calls are when people from the AMEND team get to share their expertise. We have lessons on different topics like networking, sales, and personal finance. The personal finance session has been hailed time and time again as being a game changer for our squad. Keep in mind these are the best and the brightest students coming out of top business programs… and without exception they gain insights that they didn’t know prior.
Mark Blankenbuehler, AMEND’s controller and a proud former Marine, heads up the personal finance Analyst Session and teaches them all about budgeting, saving, and investing for the long term. In this session, the Analysts learn how if they start investing just $5,000 per year at 22 and retire at 62, with a 6% compounding interest, that’ll be worth $820,238.42 when they retire. Mark even brings in Buffalo Wild Wings’ sauce chart to illustrate how some investments are riskier than others:
Real-World Experience
I keep coming back to the fact that what our Analysts work on has real impact. They get such a unique opportunity here that it’s hard not to talk about. When we send the Analysts out to our clients we have faith that they’re representing the AMEND brand and putting the clients’ needs first. They fulfill those expectations.
Spencer Niehaus, AMEND Analyst and student at University of Cincinnati, has been working side-by-side with the CEO of a client on a business turnaround. Spencer has been crushing it and has gotten nothing but amazingly positive reviews. Recently, the CEO said:
“All I want to do is just hire Spencer… Can’t I do that?! He has the perfect mix of hard and soft skills.”
Hearing things like this on a daily basis just reinforces the notion that continually investing resources in our people is the right thing to do — both from a “paying it forward” and a business perspective. While some people see college kids as some cost-effective summer work. We’re playing the long game. We believe, and hope, that everyone we put through our Analyst program can be a valuable member of our full-time team in the future.
While some people may think it’s a “waste of time and energy” to have interns and give them meaningful work we know it’s the exact opposite.
What are you doing to leverage this incredible pool of talent to better your business and pay it forward to the next generation?
