Interview with an Intern: Alice in Marketing

Meet Alice, our Marketing Intern extraordinaire. Alice just graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in Marketing and a minor in Human Resources. She was active with the Honors College at Rutgers and spent the last two years as a client liaison for the Small Business Development Center of New Jersey at Rutgers Camden. When she's not writing killer blog posts, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time in nature.

What is it like working for a start-up during COVID?
A lot easier than I thought it would be! What really made working from home during a pandemic easy was the fantastic Malbek team. Everyone that I have had the pleasure to work with has been flexible, forward-thinking, and understanding. I think that attitude, even through computer hiccups and Zoom issues, makes all the difference in my productivity and mood. The only downside to working for a startup during a pandemic is that I’ve only had the opportunity to meet the people I work closest with in person once. Never meeting face to face isn’t cool when I work with such interesting and helpful people.

Can you share one thing that has really surprised you during your internship?
The thing that wowed me the most is the HUGE reach of contract management within business. No other area of business I have ever heard of touches so many departments. From sales to legal to procurement, everything must have some sort of contract management solution to be the best they can be. Especially coming straight out of school, the fact that one thing can impact so many parts is mind blowing and (in my opinion) so interesting!

Tell us about a project that you’ve worked on and really enjoyed.
If you haven’t checked out our eBook on shelfware, you should because that was my favorite project. I did much of the research and writing and I am very proud of it. The process of editing and critiquing it as a team was a great learning experience (and learning is fun!).  I think I loved the project so much because it’s a culmination of my work for Malbek. After completing the eBook, I understood the landscape of the industry and what we do more than ever before. Also, it’s my first big project and seeing it go live was an amazing feeling.

Share something you’ve learned during your time at Malbek that you think you will always carry with you.
As a marketing student, I knew that Sales is Marketing’s best friend. But working with the Malbek team, I learned how critical the communication and teamwork is between the two. If things are done right, like they are here, Sales and Marketing become the engine that drives the success of a company.

What is your best piece of advice to someone looking to get into tech?
Run.
Just kidding :P
Remember how broad "tech" is. It's not just smartphones and electric cars. Everything from agriculture to legal to theatre has some sort of tech aspect to it. Make sure to not limit yourself and keep an open mind. I mean, I now find Contract Management software interesting so you never know what part of tech will appeal to you! Also, you don’t need to have an engineering degree to get into tech. As my mentor often said, even NASA needs accountants (and by that logic, tech companies will too!).