James Daly ’23–This summer, I had the great privilege of serving behind the scenes as a research consultant while interning remotely for Isaac Wynne ‘19 at background check/security solutions company Safe Hiring Solutions LLC beside four other Wabash students. During this time, our short-term goal focused on reaching out to nationwide affiliates, informing them of a state-of-the-art innovation for ensuring the safety of every visitor and employee giventhe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although this provided me invaluable first-hand exposure to the world of marketing, my primary experiences centered around compiling information about Safe Hiring Solutions’s clients. Because of this necessary research, I gained the opportunity to build from my high school-acquired skills in Microsoft Excel to create countless individually formatted spreadsheets specifically tailored to each client. Furthermore, it unexpectedly honed my soft skills in communication by requiring me to touch base with multiple business owners and government officials to retrieve any obscured contact information.
Also, my experience at Safe Hiring Solutions received supplementation through my engagement with Wabash’s Business Innovation Program. This program instilled in me an array of applicable approaches of problem-solving and analytical thinking via discussion-oriented meetings concerning a wide range of topics: effectively using Excel, understanding emotional intelligence, implementing A3 thinking, etc. Moreover, the program placed me in the shoes of a business manager through rigorous Harvard Business School case studies and challenged me to consider, debate, and concede upon solutions among my peers at a postgraduate level. All in all, the BIP broadened my comprehension of the day-to-day workings in business management which applied to my main internship by introducing to me the operational rationale of Safe Hiring Solutions as a company. Through this novel outlook, I recognized the true significance of my work for them, promptly responding by garnering responsibility in setting deadlines for myself and even discovering unconventionally efficient ways of locating information.
