Name: Noorain Kareem

Position: eCommerce Online Operations Intern at Office Depot

Industry: eCommerce

Graduate Degree & Year: MBA, 2022

Concentration: Analytics

What excites you about this internships/company/job?

I have always been interested in working in the eCommerce industry. When I lived in India, I had an import business named Oleon, where I sold imported cosmetics on various national eCommerce sites. I found the idea of selling to customers in places that I had never been to without a substantial amount of local footprint intriguing and exciting.

Working in eCommerce exposes you to all aspects of running a business such as financing, supply chain management, marketing, and customer acquisition. The year 2020 propelled eCommerce thanks to massive shifts in consumer behaviour; McKinsey reported that eCommerce market penetration jumped forward by ten years in the first quarter of 2020 alone. B2B (Business to Business) eCommerce sales are predicted to grow to $6.6 trillion this year. Its ever-varying landscape also makes it an exciting industry to work in.

How did you strategize landing this internship/job?

I used the LinkedIn Easy Apply feature to apply to internships on the LinkedIn app on my phone when I was on the go. I also used auto-fill to apply to internships that require profile creation on the company’s website; I was able to apply to approximately 30 internships a day thanks to Easy Apply and autofill.

While I applied to the internship myself, I don’t deserve all the credit. I had a tremendous amount of help from the Chapman Argyros Career Center; Liz Harbour sent me eCommerce internship opportunities whenever she saw them on Handshake and LinkedIn – she sent me the Office Depot Internship posting that I applied to and eventually accepted. Sudeshna Fragomeni encouraged me to network with people in the industry. Jolene Haley helped me tailor my resume to shine a spotlight on my past eCommerce experiences and Stacey Moynahan scouted eCommerce companies in the Chapman network. I credit my success to their help and hard work.

Can you give students some career advice for anyone looking for an internship/job in this market?

Get laser focused by identifying the industry that you want to work in, get as specific as possible; The Career Center team was assisted by the “My Dream eCommerce Internship” Google Folder that I had created and shared with them. The folder helped them narrow down roles that would be pertinent to my career goals.

Begin networking and applying to internships as early in the semester as possible. Applying early also prevents end of semester stress. Apply for summer internships in the fall and fall internships in the summer. Using the Easy Apply feature on LinkedIn makes it easy to apply to many internships in a short span of time.

When applying for jobs, reach out to both employees and recruiters on LinkedIn as employees are often given an incentive in the form of a referral bonus to recruit candidates from within their networks.