Allow me to reintroduce myself: my name is Sara Pion and I am the summer intern for DAVIS this year. I know what you are thinking but no, reintroduce is not a typo; I have been involved in the DAVIS culture since I was born. My mother has worked at this company for longer than I have been alive, and when my sisters and I were younger, she would bring home “projects” and most of these projects included labeling, stuffing and sealing envelopes. Basically, I have been trained to be a marketing intern since day 1 and I could not have chosen a better company to start my professional debut as a business student. Internships seem scary, a student working with “real people” in a real work environment, but that intimidation soon melted away when I stepped into the DAVIS office.
The first step of my training was being introduced to each and every staff member personally, and I can say that I was warmly welcomed by all of them. The office is set up with single offices on the exterior with cubicles filling the interior. Although a sea of cubicles looks foreboding and lonesome, the setup of the office is welcoming and surprisingly open. I am even assigned my own cubicle where I can picture myself doing important projects for important clients with my new important title “Marketing and Content Coordinator”. Given the infamy of the office intern who has to fetch coffee every morning and is constantly in distress, the reality of this position was exciting and legitimate. The simple fact that my job title did not include the words “intern” or “assistant” immediately put this position into a new perspective. This company has trusted me to complete the tasks and duties relevant to a marketing professional, rather than simply being an observer who is not allowed to perform any accredited task.
The training process is a lot of information, but it does not feel like exotic ideas and practices are being thrown at me. The training staff is patient, knowledgeable and wants, even encourages, questions because they have the expertise to share. The “work hard play hard” mentality is not just a ruse The DAVIS Companies throws around, it is a mindset held by the entirety of the staff. During the work days, each member of the DAVIS team is hard at work, but that does not mean that shenanigans are uncommon. There are work sports teams’ including softball and corn-hole, the famous Summerfest is in the process of being planned for the 30th anniversary of DAVIS and occasionally, a dog or two are seen strutting around the office.
As a new employee, entering any new work space is intimidating, but the feel of a family owned business is in the air at DAVIS.
