I did my internship with the Indianapolis Indians baseball ticket office. It was one of the best experiences I could have asked for. I was able to learn the ins and outs of the ticket office. On a day-to day basis the employees make sales calls, reserve seats online, and work with businesses to offer large amounts of tickets at a discounted price. I was given the opportunity to use the online system, Glitnir, to reserve tickets for large groups. It was one of my most favorite things to do. I enjoy working on the computer and knowing that I get to place where people sit and try to do so in the best possible way for them. I enjoy being able to help the customer in the best way possible.
In addition, I got to sit in with Bryan on some interviews for prospective interns for this year. It was interesting getting to evaluate and score the interviewees’ resumes and interviews. Bryan even helped me create my own resume so I would be prepared for any future interviews I may have. I was also able to help organize t-shirts, which is a common job for interns, and file tickets away. Those two tasks were not my favorite, however they are necessary for a smooth running ticket office. I also got the opportunity to take various tours of the basement where they have a very large storage room where they store promotional items and also the dressing room for the Rowdy mascot. The tour of the upper deck with the party balconies was also very enjoyable minus the cold weather. It was very cool to see the amount of people that they can fit into the various suites and decks.
I was also given the great opportunity to go up to the second floors and spend a few hours with Kylie. She showed me the almost 15 step process to inputting a marketing contract into the system and fulfilling the requirements of that contract. I had no clue that so much work went into writing and preparing one contract. I didn’t enjoy all the steps that went to putting it together, but the final product was nice to see. I didn’t enjoy checking the accounting spread sheets either. It’s not my favorite job to go over finances and check spread sheets for errors. I would rather be doing something more hands on. I also got to do donation inputs which was very enjoyable to me. I got to go in and approve or deny donation requests for tickets and determine what kind of tickets the organization would receive, rather it be box seats, reserved seats, or seats for 2 or 4 people. It was also incredible to see how many different sponsors that the Indians get every single year. I got the opportunity to see the sponsorship list and there was close to 75 or more sponsors.
I feel like being a Christian in this field would make a difference. People would know that you are a person of integrity, and you would also be able to be a good witness. You would be able to let people know what you believe through your actions and speech in the work place and also over the phone on sales calls or interviews. You could also make a difference by going out of your way to help a fellow coworker out or even a customer. Being generous with donations would also show a good witness to those who might not be a Christian.
The training required for this job would not be too much more than what I already have. After obtaining my business degree, I would be fully qualified for a full-time position with them. Luckily, I have received some great experience with customer service through my two jobs, which will help me greatly in this field of work. I was actually already told that if I wanted a paid internship with them that I would just need to apply and they would accept me without even interviewing. I, however, attribute my customer service skills to my parents’ great teaching and a gift that God has blessed me with. The significance of this internship was that it showed me that I really do want to pursue a career in the sports field and that I enjoy the customer service aspects of it. The experience also added some work experience for me, because I was able to learn certain things on the computer that I had never done before. I am very glad that I was given the opportunity for this internship, because it really finalized my idea of what exactly I wanted to do with my life and career choice.
