Announcing My Summer Internship

Two weeks from today I will be starting my summer internship! I have been meaning to sit down and write this post for a while, but for some reason I've been putting it off. This will be my third and likely, (if I'm lucky enough to get a job offer at the end of my senior year!) last summer internship. I am going to be a Business Analyst intern at Kohl's Corporate Headquarters in Milwaukee!

I have been strongly considering an internship at Kohl's for the last couple of years. It's fairly common to have older friends who've interned with Kohl's, especially being from Wisconsin and also being interested in the retail industry. That was really helpful in gaining some insight on the program and getting me interested in applying.

Kohl's' internship program is one of the highest ranked, educational internship programs in the country. The program is very well organized and quite large, with over 100 interns in Milwaukee, and a handful of design interns in the New York office. I'm especially looking forward to this after having only one co-intern the last two summers. There are also a multitude of different internship positions, and I think I am going to be very happy with mine!

I attended the Kohl's "Sophomore Career Expo" last spring, which was essentially a tour of the corporate headquarters and a walk-through of the specific position you'd specified interested in. I had found out about the career expo through Student Retail Association at school (the club I was on exec for this past year!) as well as one of my friends from high school who is a year older than me and had already secured her internship for last summer. Going on the expo guarantees you a first-round interview, so I knew it was a no-brainer to at least sign up and attend!

sorry for a such a horrible photo, but this is Caroline, myself, and Elizabeth at the Sophomore Expo!

I chose "Product Development" as the internship I wanted to pursue when I attended the expo. I went to the expo with my roommate Elizabeth, as well as Caroline (who you guys might know if you follow her blog, Citrus & Style!), both of whom also chose Product Development. Funny enough, the two of them ended up loving the position, interviewing, and receiving offers to be Product Development interns. I, on the other hand, (in typical fashion) was freaking out the whole day because I could not see myself doing Product Development at all. I was reviewing all of the information they'd given us about the different positions and just feeling like doing something creative was so not my speed. By the time I left the expo, I was pretty certain I would either not apply, or opt for a more technology-based position. 

So... in the fall when it came time to apply for the internship, I applied for Business Analyst without really having any idea what I was getting myself into. I had secured a first round interview because I had attended the expo, but by the time I had made it to the last round, I was still so unsure what I was really going to be doing as a BA! The last round interview was pretty intimidating because it required an overnight hotel stay in Milwaukee and multiple rounds of interviews at Kohl's headquarters.

As soon as my interviews began, however, I was so comfortable with everyone I talked to. I think I talked to four different women and each of them couldn't have been friendlier! It was honestly one of the best interviewing experiences I've ever had, and I left feeling much more informed about the role, as well as confident that Kohl's would be a great fit for me.

I think that last round of interviews took place in October, so I found out roughly around the first week of November that I had been offered the internship. 

One of the biggest perks about interning at Kohl's is that they offer an apartment downtown Milwaukee to all of their interns! My roommate Elizabeth (as I mentioned) is also doing the internship with me, so we will be roommates again this summer living downtown! The apartment is technically a dorm suite (I think?) and it's literally less than 2 miles from my house! This is so convenient as I plan to come home for dinner, etc. often and will still be able to spend nights/weekends with my high school friends who are home too for the summer.

Overall, I am very, very excited about this opportunity! As I learned more about the role, I began to feel more confident that it's a great fit for what I hope to pursue in my career. I also am so excited to make a ton of friends with all of the other interns, and spend another summer in Milwaukee! I have some other ideas of cities I'd like to live in after graduation, but for now I love summers in Milwaukee and I'm so excited to spend (at least!) one more here!

Are you interning anywhere this summer?!
xoxo