Former Chamber interns hired into sales associates roles
WORCESTER – The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce today announces two new staffers as part of the sales team responsible for recruiting new businesses to join the Chamber’s flourishing community.
Two recent graduates from UMass., John M. Quintela of Shrewsbury and Russell Mangsen of West Boylston, began as sales associates just after graduation in May 2016. Quintela holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UMass Amherst and Mangsen earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from UMass Dartmouth.
Both men were hired as full-time membership sales associates and service representatives after having great success during the Chamber’s 6-week summer sales internship program in 2015. During their internship, Quintela and Mangsen promoted the benefits of Chamber membership including member services and programs and events to non-members to encourage them to join. They also worked closely with our current members in order to maintain their awareness of the many benefits that come with their membership.
According to Mangsen, “After my experience as an intern, I fully believe that every local business owner should be a member of the Chamber. I watched it work for many members as they became involved with the Chamber. There is so much that they can take advantage of including dozens of networking events and other benefits such as representing their business interests in government.”
Quintela added, “The Chamber serves as the voice for small businesses in Worcester by providing a tangible link between companies and policy-makers, an essential connection that can support growth of their business and economic development for the region. Every local business owner should support that.”
An important skill that Quintela brings to the Chamber is his bilingual ability in Spanish. The Chamber has reached out to the growing Latino community through a number of initiatives, so the addition of a Spanish speaking sales associate will increase the Chamber’s reach and ability to service this important part of the region’s business community.
In announcing the new hires, Chamber president and CEO Timothy P. Murray stated, “In addition to their work with members, as interns the two staffers also experienced the day-to-day operations of the organization, interacted with all of the departments, and gained a thorough understanding of the Chamber’s mission. This experience has enabled them to hit the ground running right from their first day on the job.”
As part of the Chamber recruit, retain, incubate strategy, the Higher Education-Business Partnership has been working with member businesses to create or grow their internship program. This initiative aims to retain the region’s bright, young graduates filling the workforce pipeline and grooming the next generation of leaders by connecting them with opportunities, employers, and helping them to integrate into the professional community. As the Chamber can now testify, internships are the best recruiting tool; and studies show that intern-to-fulltime hires have much higher retention rates.
“One compelling reason for employers to cultivate active internship programs is just what we were able to do, fully integrate our interns in the organization’s activities, supplement existing staff activities, and cultivate them for future staffing opportunities,” said Murray.
