You may have noticed a guest writer on several recent Digital Mileage articles. Margaret Kahn, daughter of Cobalt’s Peter Kahn, spent one day a week for five weeks with Cobalt as an intern. When her time with us came to an end, we asked her to share a few thoughts about her experience here. Here’s what she said:
Hi, this is your resident blogger coming out from underneath the shroud of anonymity provided by online writing. During my month-long employment here at Cobalt, I researched, conducted interviews, and inscribed five articles for Digital Mileage, while also helping put together a marketing piece on the Emotional Intelligence class now being offered. While this isn’t unexplored territory for me, as I write for the SPL Teen Blog and am a news editor at my school paper, the experience of working at a place like Cobalt was totally unfamiliar.
I was super jazzed to start work at Cobalt and felt lucky to have such an amazing opportunity. While I wasn’t exactly sure of my job when I got hired, I still didn’t miss a chance to casually slip my windfall into conversations with unemployed friends and update my employment on Facebook. When I arrived for my first day, I was not disappointed. You wouldn’t think anyone would get so happy from sitting at a cubicle and having a laptop, but boy, was I thrilled. When I went home after my first day, which was a whirlwind of meeting what thousands of Cobaltians and remembering none of those names, I was the only smiling commuter on that packed Metro bus – I was a commuter!
Being at Cobalt, I found extreme joy in the little things that jaded office workers simply don’t take the time to appreciate. For example, I had my own work email! I mean, how cool is that? At least twice, I typed ‘Kahn’ into the contact search just to admire the little box that popped up, shouting to the world, “HR Marketing Intern.” When I discovered the storeroom, I realized how Charlie must have felt stepping into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It was every office supply nerd’s dream all at my fingertips, and I readily admit that I took a glue stick for myself.
Of course, work isn’t all fun and games. As a product of the public schools, I found it hard to regulate my own work for so long without a teacher passing out rubrics and collecting assignments. I had to set my own deadlines and motivate myself to focus; and for a sixteen-year-old put in a box with Internet for eight hours, that’s insanely difficult. I also went through a self-inflicted absent-minded week where both my USB and notebook went missing, and I locked myself on the first floor one evening.
From just five days in an office setting, I learned invaluable lessons about professionalism that you can only get on the job. Shaking hands is important. Dress nicely. Always back up your work. Be on time, but understand when others can’t be. Befriend the receptionists so they will buzz you in. Don’t eat the Marketing pizza. And above all, do beyond what is required of you. I will come away from this five-week lesson much better at handling stress, more responsible, much more qualified for my future, and with a better understanding of the important things that go on in an office building. I met so many kind people with stories unique to each of them; I only wish I could have spent more time with everyone.
It is a great feeling to know I have accomplished something this summer; something useful for expanding my opportunities in life and helping the company as well. I have come to feel somewhat part of the family here. Thank you for sharing Cobalt with me.
Thanks for sharing your experience and your time with Cobalt, Margaret! It was a blast, and we know you’ll go far!
Margaret Kahn
Contributing Writer
The Cobalt Group
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive
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Where in the World Is Tyler Poe?
August 10, 2010 — aspeyerAs a technical recruiter, he looks for employees to fill specific openings. Some positions he hires for are a senior Perl programmer, Java developer, and data analysts. To do this, he sets up phone interviews with applicants and candidates that he finds on Monster and Dice.
“They [have to] get through me,” he said. “I decide if they go to the next level.” If the applicant gets through the phone stage, he sends the top five performers an online assessment. After that, he schedules an on-site interview.
If you can’t find Poe at his desk, you might have to look all over the building. Part of his job includes touring potential employees around the company. Four to five times a week, a candidate comes to Cobalt for an intensive, four-hour interview.
“I meet with them first, tour, answer high-level questions, and check in,” he said. Poe works to make the process less intimidating and more comfortable for the understandably nervous interviewee. He often arrives an hour early to make sure they don’t have to wait around and shows them Cobalt life. After the candidate get settled, Poe is on the run again, going to the nearby Jimmy John’s to fuel him or her with a sandwich and water for their long interview, after which, he asks the candidate’s first impressions are and walks the person out.
Poe tries to get to know the new hires, because “the biggest key is building relationships.” He spent the day chatting with someone who had just been hired and was moving from Indiana. “I’m trying to ease his fears; he’s alone, and I did it,” he said, referring to the move he also made from Indiana six and a half years ago.
“I’ll make sure he gets time and try to make him feel welcome. [We] keep in touch a couple times a week,” he shared. “Any question I don’t know, I will find out the answer.”
If all else fails, and you are still looking for Poe, he often spends time in a conference room. Every day, he and the other hiring managers meet at 4:30 to discuss resumes and possible new employees.
“I work closely with hiring managers and find what they must have,” he said. Sometimes he is consulted in the final hiring.
Although Tyler Poe is always on the move, he is one employee that stands out, and he keeps Cobalt looking toward the future.
Margaret Kahn
Contributing Writer
The Cobalt Group
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive