Living Credera's core values: Insights from summer interns

Dhruv Saoji, Claire Kintzley, and Charlotte Hackney

Living Credera's core values: Insights from summer interns

As an intern at Credera, you are treated like a full-time consultant and immersed in a culture that is incredibly values oriented. For us, (Charlotte Hackney, Claire Kintzley, and Dhruv Saoji), the Credera core values of people first, integrity, excellence, humility, and tenacity paved the way for an atmosphere of support, belonging, and growth throughout our summer internship.

Here is how we saw these core values lived out during our summer at Credera:

People first

The people first value means prioritizing the wellbeing, growth, and success of Credera’s clients, people, and community through service activities, social events, client-facing opportunities, and feedback.

One way we noticed how Credera puts people first is through celebrating their people. Each office has a culture committee that organizes various events and opportunities for their people to foster meaningful relationships, celebrate each other, and cultivate a sense of belonging.

“I had the unique opportunity to join CASE, the Houston culture planning committee, and host a flower arranging event for the whole office,” said Charlotte Hackney with the Management Consulting Practice in the Houston office.

Additionally, the last Thursday in July marks National Intern Day (NID) and, boy, we celebrated at Credera! Each office location had its own unique celebration to conclude the workday. For example, the Houston office celebrated with a fun dinner and unlimited ice-cream, while the Atlanta office went to an interactive gaming facility.

We also witnessed Credera’s intentionality through personalized letters from our mentors and intern gifts for NID. It was encouraging and motivating to be recognized for our positive impact on our clients, and it highlighted Credera’s commitment to celebrating and developing their people, especially their interns!

Charlotte Hackney (far right) and fellow Houston intern class at NID

Integrity

Integrity is the foundation of how Credera interacts with our clients, community, and each other. It’s not just about doing the right thing; it’s about creating an environment where honesty and accountability are celebrated.

During our internship, we realized integrity was about adopting an ownership mentality, committing to deadlines, and proactively communicating when there were delays and roadblocks.

“Despite a tight project schedule, I witnessed my team work above and beyond to deliver on our promises to the client,” said Hackney. However, when there are issues, Credera is always quick to communicate proactively, which builds trust with the client.

Mentorship at Credera further cultivates a culture of transparency and integrity.

“My project mentor arranged several onboarding sessions with various team members to provide clarity to the major components of the project,” said Claire Kintzley with the Technology Solutions Practice in the Denver office. “Despite my initial lack of experience with the project technologies, these meetings boosted my confidence and helped me understand who to reach out to for support.”

This proactive approach to mentorship fosters a supportive learning environment and ensures we are well equipped to embody integrity in all we do. By promoting transparency and open communication, mentorship builds a culture of trust, reliability, and integrity within our teams and with our clients.

Excellence

From partner to intern, the people at Credera prioritize delivering high quality work, and Credera does everything they can to foster an environment for their people to thrive.

All interns traveled to Dallas for the first three days of onboarding and training, and it was a jam-packed experience that set a positive tone for the rest of the summer. Professional development sessions such as “Communicating as a Consultant” supported our ability to be excellent communicators throughout the internship using strategies like clarity, transparency, and active listening.

During onboarding, the Technology Solutions interns were specifically tasked with creating a web application for a made-up hot sauce company. Though challenging, this project provided a great opportunity to learn unfamiliar technologies quickly and collaborate with a team, which equipped us to deliver with confidence and excellence on our client projects.

Credera’s culture of feedback and vulnerability further demonstrated excellence this summer. Being receptive to feedback acknowledges your areas for growth and demonstrates you are willing to work hard to improve. It was evident Credera celebrated this facet of excellence through their investment in mentorship. Each intern was paired with two mentors who provided personalized guidance, aided in effective application of feedback, and ultimately enhanced intern growth and development.

Dhruv Saoji (third from the right) and a few fellow Technology Solutions interns at onboarding

Humility

Whether in client interactions, internal communications, or community engagements, it is evident everyone at Credera genuinely operates with humility and cares for one another.

One memorable example of this was our intern service day event, where we had the opportunity to give back to the community and experience Credera’s commitment to making a positive impact.

Across the six U.S. offices with interns, we each participated in two service opportunities with schools, museums, food banks, and more. Denver’s service day event supported a local nonprofit called PCs for People. They provide devices, internet access, digital skills training, electronic recycling, and tech support to those suffering from the digital divide. After touring the facility, the “CreDenver” team got to work sorting, taking apart, and recycling bins upon bins of donated technology.

By encouraging interns and employees to participate in community service, Credera demonstrated that success is not solely measured by business achievements, but also by the positive impact we can make by caring for others.

Claire Kintzley (back right) and Denver intern class at PCs for People

Tenacity

At Credera, tenacity represents our commitment to push through challenges and strive for excellence. Tenacity fosters a culture of resilience, which helps us navigate the dynamic nature of consulting to deliver exceptional results for our clients.

“Personally, embracing tenacity meant tackling challenges head-on, finding new opportunities, and making a tangible impact on my team,” said Dhruv Saoji with the Technology Solutions Practice in the Chicago office. “Each day brings something brand new and challenges our level of comfort. We’ve realized that powering through problems with determination while balancing the need to ask for help will support a summer marked by grit.”

Credera fostered tenacity and resilience in us by offering a variety of development resources to leverage when navigating the challenging consulting environment, including structured learning programs, robust mentorship, internal tools like CrederaAI, and comprehensive project-specific documentation.

Looking back

Credera’s core values are deeply ingrained in the day-to-day experience as interns, professionally and personally. Our whole intern class would agree when we say we encourage all candidates and future interns to embrace these values to maximize your growth. Doing so will equip you with invaluable skills for the longevity of your career that extend far beyond your summer at Credera.

Want to learn more about internships at Credera? Email us at campus_recruiting@credera.com.