Intern to Valued Professional
Pros
I was fortunate enough to get in last minute into their first ever organized internship program in the Summer of 2016. The experience was amazing! It was paid and full-time, so not only did I make good money over the summer, I received College credits and learned so much. I was a Recruiting intern working under the Director of Recruiting as well as the Corporate Recruiter (both were and are amazing mentors!). Once I got settled and understood their systems, I was able to make a BIG IMPACT. By the time the Summer was over, I had compiled data and analytics for our recruiting department as well as helped with organizing our centralized recruiting process. I would have never imagined being able to make such a big impact; especially at a company of this size. The interns were also able to learn about different departments outside of the one they interned in. Every week we would have an intern lunch where a member of a certain department would come in and talk to us about their role. We had the opportunity to ask questions and get valuable insight on the company's operation as a whole, as well as different career paths. I interned in the Summer, but was also able to come back during my Winter break. This was awesome because I was able to make some money for the following semester. The best part though is that whenever I voiced to my supervisors what I enjoyed doing, they would give me projects that catered to what I liked. I loved diving into the numbers and analytics, so they gave me a lot of cool projects where I got to explore my talents and interests. After I graduated college I did not plan on returning to the state of Rhode Island. After getting a job offer from OSJL though, I had to stay. It's been almost 6 months now and I love it! I've already received a promotion, more responsibilities and new challenges. I always feel like my input and ideas are not only valued, but implemented. It's refreshing to work with people who love their career, and want to put in the hard work to make the company better. If someone does an awesome job on a project or meeting, your hard work is recognized. An important aspect of a job right out of college for me, was to work at a place where I can learn and grow from the people around me. Working under a CHRO and Director of Recruiting that are so passionate about the work they do, the people they work with , and hire is such a pleasure. This is longer than I expected so I'll wrap it up. If you are not a part of our company and reading this , you may be thinking "well this person is in recruiting, so obviously this is just another tactic". Of course I hope this helps people make the decision to apply for a position with us, but more importantly this is the truth. Lets keep it up!
Cons
No one would believe my "pros" if I didn't put any cons. I would say that the free lunch could be better, but as my parents said "beggars can't be choosers". Other than that, the room I work in is a little colder than I would like, but nothing an extra layer can't fix.