Shana Lenard

As I have neared the end of my undergraduate college career, I had one more task to complete; my TSTM 448 Summer Internship. My Technology Support and Training Management course work, in such classes as TSTM 301 and 342, prepared me for résumé and cover letter writing, job searches, types of attitudes and characteristics of others already in the professional world, and the interviewing process. Upon sending my cover letter and résumé to Ms. Bradelynn Dendy at Nelson-Mullins and a reply phone call, I was very excited to potentially work for the law firm. This would allow me to gain experience in the technical field and also help me gain valuable life experiences in a law firm, which is another life goal, to become a lawyer. Ms. Dendy has given me the opportunity of a life time and I am greatly appreciative to her.

My responsibilities at the law firm were to answer phones, troubleshoot over 900 staff members from all of the nine Nelson-Mullins’ offices on the East Coast, answer e-mails, and complete work order tickets and send them to the correct IT team or simply add them to the Support Site Knowledge Base website. I have learned during my internship that not all users are friendly and not all tasks that are presented to me for troubleshooting are easily answered. I had to learn to bite my tongue to create a better customer service environment for each end-user that may have caused a slight gain in my moodiness.

The TSTM program at USC gave me the basic essentials to join a work environment. However, when I joined an environment where I would gain practical experience, I had many questions. I was comfortable with most of the Microsoft applications. There were a couple of trouble spots, though. For example, I somehow did not think that MS Outlook was so involved. There are many, many functions that MS Outlook performs. I also had to learn the various legal software applications such as Vision SQL, Concordance, Live Note, etc… I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough as their Summer Help Desk Intern. I would not trade this opportunity for the world. My sincere thanks goes to the University of South Carolina for giving me the opportunity of education and preparation for the rest of my life and to the Nelson-Mullins family for making me feel welcomed and appreciated.