Internship Review - Intern Associated Renewable Employee Review

Working closely with the executive team is perhaps the most rewarding, and provides good opportunities for mentorship and is a source for networking with industry leaders. This company was able to provide me with valuable experience in working through the grants acquisition process and I got to interact with not only the Engineering & executive teams at the company, but was also able to communicate externally with utilities, clients and large property management companies. While working here, I performed spreadsheet-based financial analysis of the renewable & energy efficiency sectors, extensive report writing to summarize financials, projections of revenue and growth, P&L statements, some book-keeping and accounting work, as well as, presented to the executives on new areas for expansion. I also get to coordinate with our global offices in Europe and Asia, which provides me with a fair understanding of the financial markets abroad. As a Grants Specialist, I was able to attend initial meetings with clients, go on site visits occasionally and co-manage projects with department heads at utilities. They also provide equity in their compensation package, which is a great incentive for me personally because not many companies are willing to offer a piece of the ownership pie to their employees.

The only con of working here would be the unpredictability of work - some days you have more work and the hours are longer. But once you get settled in, you learn to manage the schedule.

Intro to energy auditing..... that's it

They never knew how to train us on the ins and outs of energy auditing. They kept scamming the only skilled engineer on staff, and when he left we had no one. Both the president and CEO are scam artists who capitalized on LL87 energy auditing and retro-commissioning services by preying on recent grads looking to work in a young and energy services market. And here's the thing, they never trained us on retro-commissioning!!! They keep you hired as an energy intern on paper but make you work full-time so as to squeeze every ounce of labor from you without anything compensation. That should be illegal!!! And when you get paid, it's in commissions, which comes few and far between but they hang above you to try and dissuade you from leaving. And furthermore, since the work conditions are as toxic as they come, they hold you hostage with a non-compete agreement and keep your mouth shut to prevent whistleblowing with a non-disclosure agreement. I knew someone who got hired by a firm working on the same services but WITH PAY, and the president and/or CEO held him back with threats to sue the engineer and the other firm for "breeching" the non-compete agreement!! Thankfully, they caved and that engineer went off to do bigger and better things. But still... what kind of start up would do this?!?! Being a start-up firm does not give you the right to take advantage of your employees. At least, this "firm" is no more. Ignore the "last year I was employed", it's important to keep this info confidential but as a cautionary tale for anyone who works at a place like this.