APEX has personally given me the opportunity that has expanded my abilities to be greater than I thought possible.
I was a part of APEX’s annual meeting that led me to step outside my comfort zone and speak to a diverse group of colleagues, professionals, and investor members that are also supporting the growth, expansion, and retention initiatives that APEX has for northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. This internship thus far has opened my eyes to the potential a small company has on a large community and has been a huge inspiration for motivating me to try and promote business development in this particular area.
Along with their annual meeting, I partook in monthly project staff and administrative meetings. These helped me collaborate my ideas with the immediate APEX member team and gave me an in depth of what is involved in attracting to and retaining businesses to this specific region. Having to go from start to finish with the steel study (creating survey questions, piecing the survey together, sending out surveys, collecting and aggravating data, and following up with companies) I was able to learn the importance that research plays when determining the right industries to focus on when attracting to a region.
In addition to their business development research initiative, since I was not only interested in business and economic growth but also human resources, APEX allowed me to be a part of their hiring processes to get an idea of how they scan and interview candidates for internship positions.
To say the least, it has been a huge honor to work for APEX and I learned so much in regards to the importance of economic development. The experience and knowledge they supplied me with is only going to help further me in my career. Thank you for supporting this internship through the Minnesota Economic Development Foundation Scholarship.
