Student Spotlight: Ben Malisewski, Microsoft

Eller PDC Student Stories

BenMalisewski_Microsoft (2)Ben is working this summer as a Americas Operation Center Commercial Ops intern at Microsoft in Reno, NV.

Tell us a little bit about how you landed the internship:

Microsoft recruited from campus for the first time this year. I was president of the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity at the time, and they wanted to talk to our members so I met them the recruiting team through coordinating their visit to our chapter. I built a great relationship with two of the employees that visited, which was very beneficial. They had a first round phone interview and a second round interview on-site, and after that I was offered the position!

What is a typical day at your internship like?

I get into the office between 8:00 and 8:30 and leave between 5:00 – 5:30. I have meetings with my manager once a week and coach once a week. Meetings are all over the place, but outside of that, it is very much self-paced. My role is project based, and my manager has given me a lot of responsibility to take it on. I check in with him every week, but daily tasks are on me. It is a lot of data analysis in Excel, because I have learned quickly that hypotheses are strong, but data has to validate those hypotheses, which can often be tiresome trying to extract the right data. Aside from data mining and meetings, utilizing the knowledge around me from the full time employees and really picking their mind is something I do frequently.

What has been your favorite part about the internship so far?

The company culture here is amazing. Ever since the interns have arrived, everyone has been extremely welcoming and helpful. Being paired with a manager and coach is really great on a multitude of levels. Additionally, I can see how my project could make a impactful change and being given that much responsibility is really exciting.

What are some things you have learned?

Specific aspects about the company and the business has been what I have learned most, but I think I’ve really learned the importance of data. Numbers tell a story, and trying to find the right data to prove a hypothesis is critical. That is the best way to prove a point. It can be time consuming to use Excel to filter and manipulate the data the right way, but it also (hopefully) verifies what you set out to prove which gives you a level of certainty moving forward.

How has Eller helped you prepare for your internship?

I was talking to another Eller student, who is at a different company, about how awesome it is that what we are learning skills at Eller that directly translate to the workplace. My BCOM class, specifically the communication skills and different writing forms, has been really helpful when trying to get information from different people that I haven’t met before. The presentation skills will undoubtedly be crucial towards the end of my internship, and the Excel knowledge from MIS 304 has been a huge help too.