Week 1

June 10th 2013 - Monday
7:00am - 5:30 pm

The first day of work all interns (500+) on this particular day attended orientation. At Quicken Loans, everything is exciting. Orientation was no exception. QL goes above and beyond to make sure that even information-heavy days are still fun and enjoyable. Orientation day was called Jump Start. It was held at the Marriot in the Renaissance Building on the Riverfront. We attended tech trainings, learned company policies, and got a tour of all the buildings Quicken Loans has offices in downtown - First National Building, The Qube, Compuware, Chryslerhouse (Dime Building), 1001 Woodward, One Detroit, and One Woodward.  Every floor in each Quicken building has an unique theme. After orientation was over one of my co-workers, Howard, came to pick up all of the new interns that would be starting with me. I met Elizabeth, America, Annie, and Gena. We went over to the Chrysler House building and learned out desk would be located on the 20th floor. We did a minor meet-and-greet with some other co-workers, but most of our team was out of town at a conference. We were told we would be receiving laptops but they would not be available for a few days so when we came in in the morning we were to report to Howard and go from there.

This is an example of a floor in one of the Quicken Loans buildings. 

June 11th 2013 - Tuesday

8:30am - 5:15pm

This was my first day driving myself Downtown. The first day I got a ride to avoid confusion and be sure I was there on time. After sitting in some lousy traffic on i94 I made it to the Joe Louis parking garage, found the shuttle, and eventually made it to my desk. We were supposed to conference call my supervisor so he could meet all the new interns, but the technology wasn't working correctly and we decided to wait to meet him in person on Thursday. We went on a more in-depth tour of the buildings we work with and saw a little bit of the city first-hand from some co-workers who live down there. When we returned to the office we set up our voicemail greetings, out-of-the-office messages and email signatures. For lunch, we went to Taco Tuesday, which is a Locos (A mexican restaurant in Greektown) for $1 tacos. We spent the afternoon doing tutorials and security trainings. Being that Quicken is a banking/mortgage company, you have to go through lots of these trainings such as Anti-money laundering and anti-theft. We spent the remainder of the afternoon getting to know each other and getting a feel for how things worked. We were still unsure of what the team we worked for actually did and what types of tasks we'd be working on over the course of the summer. 

June 12th 2013 - Wednesday

8:30am - 5pm

This particular day was an extremely exciting part of the first week of work. Zupdate!, a company-wide event, was being held. Zupdate! is a broadcast (sort of a TV show) that is done once a month. It is mandatory that all employees tune in from their computer screens. A handful of teams will get selected to be in the studio audience. My team was also in studio, as we were helping to run it! It was a great way for me to meet a lot more people, learn my way down to the M@dison building, and learn a lot more about Quicken Loans. I spent the afternoon writing email templates and starting the initial social media content plan. I also met my team leader, Andrew. I think he is going to be a great guy to work with. He seems pretty laid back but also like he really knows what he is talking about.

June 13th 2013 - Thursday

7:45am - 5:15pm

Today we had orientation day #2! It is referred to as "Full Throttle." We listened to the CEOs, VPs, and other leaders in the Quicken family talk to us about opportunities that interns can be a part of, ways they plan on rebuilding Detroit, and what each department (team) of the company does. My favorite speaker was the Marketing VP, Jay Farner.  He spoke of all their plans to revitalize the "core" of downtown to bring more people down. The Midtown of Detroit was such a rough area at one time that it was amazing to hear how many people care to better the community and turn Midtown around. Midtown now it full of restaurants, bars, shops and boutiques.  After today,  I am looking forward to see what I will be assigned and what kinds of projects I will get to work on. All day we sat in one room in the same spot, which made me lose my focus and by the end it was very challenging for anyone to keep their eyes open. It became hard to follow after hours of power-points, but the speakers kept us entertained with videos, pictures, and overall attitudes they had. 

June 14th 2013 - Friday

7:45am - 6:30pm 

Today was the second day of our seminar training days. Today was called "ISM's in Action Day." The ISMs are the 19 motto's our company is based on and operates around.  The importance of client satisfaction to this company is something I am extremely proud to hear about. Everyone has worked with a company that has bad customer service. One of our rules is if you get a client phone call, you have to return it within one business day. (ISM: Every client, every time. No Exceptions, no excuses.) The main speaker of the day was Dan Gilbert, THE man who is leading the revolution of Detroit and the founder of Quicken Loans. He spoke for about 9 hours and touched on topics such as revitalization of Detroit, success and expansion of Quicken Loans and touched on each ISMs individually to thoroughly explain them.  I found it interesting that such an important face of the company spent this much time speaking with interns. He gave up a whole day of basketball-team and building buying to hangout with us and teach us his ways.  The highlight of the day was having crayons on the tables and drawable tablecloths. They understand people need something to keep their attention rather than just lecturing, which I think is vital information. It made focusing so much easier. Also, there was a moment of Scot pride when they asked for all Alma students to raise their hands and knowing there is a good handful of us. From such a small school, that is pretty great.  Figuring out the city of Detroit information: Don't drive on Jefferson in heavy traffic. Nick got into an accident trying to come pick me up from ISMs in Action day. I knew I should've driven myself, but I was running late and roads were all flooded from strong storms.

Some co-workers and I, showing off our badges after Taco Tuesdays. 

The first week at Quicken Loans was all I could've asked for and more! I cannot wait for the rest of the summer. I know there is so much to learn in such a fast moving company. Also, Monday morning we have a "unicorn jamboree" which I am told means we are going to learn more about our department and what exactly we will be doing. Up until now, everything has been pretty secretive.

Total hours worked: 43.8