By: Melissa Santos
When Honors Student and Management major Amanda Regalado desired to enhance her skills and resume through an internship, her Program Chair had the perfect match to do so. In June, Amanda interviewed and was offered an intern position with The Next Street.
Amanda was extremely excited to join the Next Street’s team not only to build her resume; she was joining an organization named as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States by Inc. magazine, one of the Top Work Places in Connecticut, and Small Business of the Year honored by the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce. Last semester, Amanda completed a project in her MGT435 Independent Study class that focused on diversity and culture and the Next Street is a “real world case analysis” for her to further explore these management concepts.
What makes this growing Connecticut company so unique and an ideal setting for Amanda to learn and grow? The answer starts with The Next Street’s history. As a family owned, family operated driving school, the Next Street’s CEO, Brandon Dufour, built his business by focusing on fanatical customer service and making the process of getting a driver’s license in Connecticut fun, easy and stress free. Durfor’s workforce all live and work in Connecticut and as a family owned and operated driving school Dufour built his business by focusing on fanatical customer service and making the process of getting a driver’s license in Connecticut fun, easy and stress free. Durfor’s workforce all live and work in Connecticut and love supporting the local communities where they work and live. Dufour expressed, “Our employees and outstanding work culture is our greatest and most important asset, and we couldn’t be happier.” In fact, the Next Street was named “One of the Happiest Companies in the USA!”
The Next Street was awarded the 2017 “Happiest Company” Award from TINYPulse in the competitive Education category. At The Next Street, “we understand that employee happiness and exceptional work culture is pivotal, and we couldn’t be more proud to receive such a commemoration.”
As Amanda continues on her path to earning her Bachlor’s of Science in Management, she reflected, “I am not only glad I am building my resume, but also to be working with such a great group of people. This company doesn’t make me feel like ‘just an intern.’ They brought me on their team and immediately made me feel part of the organization. I am excited to begin this journey at The Next Street and be able to learn and carry these skills from an organization that has such an outstanding work culture.” “I am not only glad to be building my resume, but to also be working with such a great group of people”