As my time at the Business Expo Center winds down it is easy to reflect and see how much I have grown both personally and academically throughout this summer. Over the course of the summer internship, I learned many things about myself, the real world, and how to handle life after school. To begin, I have learned that I do not believe Human Resources is something that I would like to do in my future. Although I do not believe that HR is for me, I still truly enjoyed my internship and the challenges I faced along the way. I think it was very important for me to have found out that this field is not up my alley because I still have time to learn more and be able to obtain a job in something I am more passionate about once I graduate.

A photo from one of the many events we hosted this summer

For me, the best moment during my internship came towards the end when I was able to see all of the work I had put in over the summer pay off through the hiring of all the new fall 2019 interns. My number one learning objective for this summer was to learn the recruiting process from start to finish in order to successfully hire the best and most qualified new interns for the fall semester. I believe that I, without a doubt, successfully completed this learning objective and it feels great to know I am satisfied with one of my main goals for the summer. Preparing and conducting orientation for these new hires showed me that my team and I did a great job learning the recruiting process and were able to hire a great new slate of interns for the next semester. Of course, thinking Chapman first during the hiring process!

The summer intern team

The School of Communication did a great job not only preparing me for this internship but setting me up for the opportunity to obtain this internship. As a Strategic and Corporate Communication major, I have always felt my major has given me an advantage while trying to find a job or internship. We have a very diverse curriculum enabling students to strive for different positions in many fields. The professors are very encouraging to try many different fields of work until you end up with one that you love, something I plan on continuing to do.

Overall, this internship has greatly helped me advance my skills in a professional workplace, knowledge and overall ability to operate in situations that I am not as familiar with. The internship has granted me an experience that I had not had prior which was working in a professional environment. It was very exciting to see how workplace communication, culture and different sectors of a business can all affect the company as a whole.

What I would recommend to other Chapman students who are pursuing an internship is to not be afraid to try new things. Although you may not be at the biggest company or in the exact role that you want to be in, you will still learn a ton of new skills and gain new knowledge that you would not gain declining the position. The main goal of an internship is to learn and I think that it is important to try new things in order to see where you truly want to be after graduation.