DEEP PLANET Lusya Manukyan, St Peter’s College, BA Biological Sciences, Final year undergraduate, Remote working Work Projects As part of the Summer Internship Programme I joined the business development team at Deep Planet, a global AgriTech start-up, for a 4-week Sales Internship. The goal of my internship was to run a series of sales experiments and to make strategic recommendations for the company's sales process based on the insights from these experiments. Over the four weeks of my internship, I completed 5 outbound sales experiments, researched over 100 companies and organisations, helped set up the company's CRM (customer relationship management software) and participated in 2 discovery calls. Although I had some prior experience in business development roles, this was my first experience in sales. I was able to quickly assimilate into my new role due to the continuous support and mentorship from my supervisors at Deep Planet. They helped me learn about the technicalities of business development through one-on-one meetings and by being available to answer my questions any time. This swift learning experience meant that I was also able to adjust quickly and contribute to the growth of my host organisation. Daily Life This was my first internship completed remotely, so I had to make sure to create a working environment where I could fully immerse myself into work while enjoying the process. Despite a big time-zone difference, my supervisor and I were able to have daily one-to-one meetings during which I updated him on my progress, asked any questions I had and planned the work for the next day and beyond. Working from home may seem liberating as you get more control of your time and are not confined to strict office hours. However, it also has its challenges as you have to coordinate your work with the people living with you and make compromises. To ensure smooth working process, I had to find the quietest room in the house where I could also get a stable wifi connection, ask my family members to be quiet and not use much broadband when I had my Zoom calls. It was a bit strange initially but after a couple of
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