THERE IS NO BETTER “GOOD MORNING” THAN THE ONE YOU GET FROM A KINDERGARTEN CLASROOM

I’ve completed a number of task while working alongside BI, bouncing from department to department since the start of my internship. From picking out photos from the most recent Festival of Science and Engineering to be placed in the sponsorship catalog, a booklet for next year’s event that shows potential brand exposure for sponsors (The Biocom Institute throws San Diego’s very own science festival that draws crowd of thousands in to Petco Park every year). To visiting a kindergarten class room where BI set up an in class science visit with a scientist from Pfizer, one of Biocom’s member companies (There is no better good morning than the one you get from a chorus of kindergarten voices). However, the most consistent and constant work I have taken part in is in fact, a complete crap shoot. For Brandon, the grant writer and development specialist, and Silvana, the director of philanthropy of corporate giving, I have completed a number– in the hundreds– of task in Salesforce. The task consist of contacting anyone, any organization, anything in the greater San Diego area to explore potential funding and, or volunteering opportunities. And I mean literally anyone. Most notably, I’ve contacted employees from TD Ameritrade, Nickelodeon, Fitbit. Luckily, they do have some established contacts with many of their member companies, festival donors, or previous outreach collaborators. But every now and then– often– I’m assigned to find a new contact for company x. Along with it are one or two names. The names are of employees who have been emailed before by Brandon or Silvana. With ZoomInfo, you can get the contact info from employees at pretty much any company on record (this suddenly became an ad). I simply search company x, narrow the search by location, and boom, the emails of all the employees that work there. I email an employee with a prompt for what BI does and how company x can become involved and a little info about the charity golf tournament that’s taking place later on in the year. After 100 emails, I have streamlined this process. It is a total shot in the dark. I usually email someone in HR, they’re nice. In the beginning I thought this was just busy work but… this Friday we’re sitting down with Bachem, a life-science company that pays Biocom a hefty sum for membership but has not yet become involved with BI. Next week, an exploratory conference call with PCL Cconstruction. And so on. All a result of crap shoot emails from an intern behind a computer screen.