Category Archives: Internship Spotlights

Internship Spotlight: Catherine King, Aarayaman Singhal & Erin Sun – Shell Oil Company

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From the left: Catherine King, Erin Sun and Aarayaman Singhal

From the left: Catherine King, Erin Sun and Aarayaman Singhal

Over the summer, three BHP students interned with Shell Oil Company in Houston. Catherine King, BHP & MIS ’15, and Aarayaman Singhal, BHP, MIS & Plan II ’15, were IT Analyst Interns and Erin Sun, BHP & MIS ’15, was a Data Management Intern under the Shell Exploration & Production Company. We asked the trio about their experience at Shell.

What steps did you take to secure your internship?

Catherine: I applied through OCR by submitting a cover letter and resume.  The next step was to complete a two part assessment: a Competency Based Questionnaire and a Cognitive assessment with a decision making task and a problem solving task.  Once those assessments were completed, a phone interview was required to complete the application process.

Erin: I was studying abroad when I applied to this position in the fall semester through OCR. It was one of the few positions that I was interested in and didn’t require an on-campus interview. I dropped my resume for a Shell IT internship through OCR and submitted an application on their website as well.

 

What were the responsibilities for this role?

Aaryaman: I was mostly creating a SharePoint website for my team. I also helped with other tasks around the office like updating our training materials and thinking about how to capture organizational knowledge.

Catherine: I had two deliverables for the summer. The first was to create a spreadsheet that summarized the contents of 5 databases and highlighted the gaps between the overlapping records.  The second deliverable was to run a pilot with Shell’s Trading department to create action items with the focal points and work to resolve the data gaps.

 

Describe the culture within the organization.

Aaryaman: Shell has a very networking-oriented culture. If you want a specific job or role, you contact the person in that role and talk to them. Everyone is willing to take 30 minutes out of their day to meet with someone.

Catherine: The people at Shell are unbelievably nice. As a result the culture is honestly pretty laid back, granting its employees a lot of freedom and flexibility.  Shell is such a huge, global company, that many of the teams, including mine, are virtual.  The virtual nature of the company invites late night and early morning calls that can be taken from home if necessary.  Work / life balance is a high priority at Shell.  The company offers a 9/80 schedule—employees work 9 hours a day, so every other Friday is off!

 

What was most surprising or unexpected during your experience?

Catherine: The most surprising part of interning at Shell was realizing how much trust they put in the interns.  Specifically, I had a supervisor who sits in London, and the rest of the team was virtual and did not sit in the Houston office.  The team not only gave me full responsibility of the project with very little direction, they also never once asked how many hours I worked or questioned if I came in late because of an early morning call to India or Malaysia.

Erin: The most surprising part of my internship was experiencing office politics. Besides group projects, most of the work I’ve done at UT is managed by me and only affects me. However, my project at Shell concerned and would most likely affect the entire department. During my internship I saw how important communication skills were. Being able to ask the right questions and listen to conflicting opinions was an important part of my project. The biggest challenge was being able to convince people who have more experience and different opinions my point of view.

 

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?

Aaryaman: Don’t settle for assignments and tasks you’re given if you don’t find them interesting. Keep asking for and finding ways to do the work you want to do.

Catherine: Network, network, network.  It really is worth it to have a 30-minute conversation with employees!  I was able to set up a chat with Shell’s CIO and VP of Projects & Technology department to discuss my final presentation.  At the end of the talk she offered to look over my slides and give me feedback!

 

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program at the university to be applicable during your internship?

Catherine: The most applicable courses to my internship this summer were BA 324H, MIS 301H, and OM 335H.  My project required communication with six stakeholders in five different countries. I am very glad to have taken BA 324, a class that gave me the foundation to tailor conversations and emails to employees who embrace varying cultures.  Secondly, I used excel for all of the summer, so the effort put into all the MIS 304 homeworks paid off!  Lastly, OM was a huge help in understanding the processes and applications required to transport the oil up from the ground to the refineries, through factories, and ultimately to the retailers as efficiently as possible.

Erin: The classes I found that helped me the most were my MIS classes for the technical part when I used SQL and OM because I was looking at process improvement and some project management. I had to build many process flows during my project. Every class project I did at UT also helped to build time management skills, people skills, and helped me to become more detail-oriented, making sure that I have everything I need to reach my goal.

 

How did this organization ensure you got the most out of your internship experience?

Catherine: The Shell internship program is very developed, and gives interns many opportunities to see other parts of the business, outside of where the interns worked each day.  For example, the IT interns were given the opportunity to see the Trading floor, hear presentations on the manufacturing processes, and a trip was scheduled to tour the Deer Park refinery!

Erin: My supervisor and mentor during my internship made sure that I was interested in my project. They made me feel comfortable speaking out and giving my opinion. I mainly used passive skills during my project to interview co-workers to get details about the data management process, but since I also wanted to use my technical skills, I was also given the task to develop reports using SQL. I got to experience both the functional and technical side of the department.

 

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?

Aaryaman: There are too many to list but if I had to choose one: Find ways to do the type of work you want to do so that you enjoy your work. No amount of money is worth spending 8-10 hours/day doing something you don’t enjoy.

Catherine: The most important part of an internship, I have found out, is to determine who you are and what you like as an employee. This could be anything from a startup company in a small town to realizing you like a larger company in a metropolitan city.  Ultimately, my most valuable lesson was determining my own personal strengths and how they can benefit my future employer and myself.

Internship Spotlight: Rachel Solomon – The Neiman Marcus Group

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Internship Spotlight: Rachel Solomon – The Neiman Marcus Group

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BHP Senior, Rachel Solomon, has always wanted to work in high-end retail and when the opportunity presented itself for her to work at Neiman Marcus she jumped on it. She is very happy to announce the internship resulted in a full-time offer, which she just recently accepted.

Company: The Neiman Marcus Group

Intern Position: Buying/Planning Intern

Full-Time Position: Executive Development Program (to become an Assistant Buyer)

What steps did you take to secure your internship?

I used the Neiman Marcus Careers page to find the opportunity for the internship, and then met with HR representatives at the Fall McCombs Career Expo. I applied online in October, then took a retail math test and went through two rounds of interviews before eventually receiving an offer.

What were the responsibilities for this role?
I was a rotational planning intern, so I worked in the Home & Gifts and Men’s divisions with the Senior Merchandise Planners and Assistant Buyers. I helped recap sales history, forecast and project sales for future seasons, and allocate merchandise across stores. I also worked on a team project with the other interns to suggest the ways in which Neiman Marcus could leverage big data. We were lucky enough to present our findings to the senior executives in their boardroom at the end of the internship.

Describe the culture within the organization.
The culture at Neiman Marcus was one of my favorite things about the company. Going into luxury retail, I was expecting more of a cutthroat atmosphere, but what I experienced was just the opposite. Everyone was so warm and willing to help me with everything from my daily tasks to where I should take my visiting friends out to dinner. I cannot wait to go back to the office next fall and work with some of the most caring and creative people I have ever met.

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?
I think the most important part of any job is the people you surround yourself with. I would make an effort to get to know as many people within the company as you can, because it’ll tell you a lot about what the company stands for and what the culture is like. And as an intern, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people were not only willing, but excited, to tell me about what they do on a daily basis and even let me help. Sometimes I ended up doing work for people who weren’t my direct supervisors, which made for an exciting and well-rounded experience. So, I would say don’t be afraid to reach out to those around you because you never know what you’ll get to learn or do.

What was your favorite part about this internship?
I’ve always been interested in a career that would let me actively use both the right and left sides of my brain, so I loved the fact that I could spend hours in a database analyzing sales history and margins, then open a binder full of swatches and images to see exactly what the products I was analyzing looked and felt like. And at the end of my internship, I got to attend a weeklong event where many of our vendors came to present their products, oftentimes in the form of a fashion show. That was probably one of the most exciting weeks of my life.

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program at the university to be applicable during your internship?
I think the communication skills taught in BA 324 helped me to secure the internship, while MIS 301 provided me with a good foundation of technical skills that I needed while working in the buying offices. Sometimes I was even able to show other employees Excel tricks I learned in MIS, which was a good feeling over two years after having taken the class.

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?
Since I rotated in so many offices, I had the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of different people in the company. Oftentimes, I only worked in a particular office for two to three days. So I had to learn to adjust to new working styles and quickly prove that I had the skills necessary to help with whatever tasks my supervisors would assign. Since they hadn’t seen my previous work, sometimes that was challenging. But I learned how to briefly summarize other projects I had done and systems I had worked with over the course of the summer so they could figure out what I could complete without training, and what they would need to help me with.

What parts of your internship convinced you to sign on full-time?
I have always wanted to go into luxury retail, and have had my sights set on Neiman Marcus for years. I walk into the Austin store to find inspiration on a bad day, and I really can’t imagine anything better than working to fill the stores with the products I find so inspiring. Combine that with the fact that everyone I worked with this summer was so kind, helpful, bright, and driven, and there is no place I would rather be. I am so excited to begin this journey after graduation.

Internship Spotlight: Trina Bui – Southwest Airlines

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Internship Spotlight: Trina Bui – Southwest Airlines

Trina BuiCompany:  Southwest Airlines

Position:  Technology Analyst

What steps did you take to secure your internship? 

I applied on the Southwest Airlines NoLimits internship page.  Following that, I kept up with the company’s progress in reviewing resumes and applications through their NoLimits Facebook page.  The first interview I had with them was over the phone. I then had an in-person interview with two hiring managers and an individual from HR.  The internship offer came approximately two weeks later.

What were the responsibilities for this role?

My responsibilities were to manage the changes that my team made to our production and QA environments while also helping monitor the quality of code delivered to us through our third-party vendor for the revenue-accounting application Southwest uses.   I also had a separate set of responsibilities within the technology intern team I was assigned to. In that analyst role, I was in charge of creating the budget reports and outlining the phasing strategy for the solution we came up with to a current problem they were facing.

Describe the culture within the organization.

The culture is extremely welcoming.  Every person I met at Southwest, even if it was a random person who walked by, always wore a smile and said “hello!”  The people I worked with were always willing to help me, no matter how busy they are.  The leaders at SWA showed me that they were truly invested in me and my development as an intern (and a possible future employee).  All the employees worked so hard, no matter how large or small their roles were. And of course, the people at Southwest love to have fun!  Weekly parties brought all us together to be a family of employees who enjoyed each other’s presence.  I’ve never seen a company more dedicated to customer service; it’s a wonderful thing to experience on a daily basis.

What was most surprising or unexpected during your experience?

The complexity of Southwest’s booking and revenue-managing system was extremely surprising to me.  In order to provide their customers’ the easiest and simplest booking process, there are many different applications and software that must interact with one another seamlessly.  Learning about this system was overwhelming in the first few days of the internship, but luckily I was able to catch on quickly.

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?

My advice would be to ask questions!  There really are no dumb questions.  Each company has their own complexities and with Southwest, there were a multitude of acronyms for applications, software, and systems which I had no clue how to decipher.  By asking all the questions that I did, it helped me to fully understand what everything is and how it all ties together.  Additionally, you’ll have really smart people you work with who can give you remarkable advice for your future.  Never be afraid to ask.

What was your favorite part about this internship?

My favorite part about the internship would definitely have to be the people I worked with and having the chance to get to know each and every one of them.  I had a fully-functioning team that showed me that we could accomplish so much as one unit.  I met other interns who I’m sure will be my friends for the rest of my life.

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program at the university to be applicable during your internship?

It was great to see the different aspects of what we learn in our BHP classes shown in the real-world.  Given that I just finished my management class which talked quite extensively about a company’s culture, it was a unique experience to walk into one of the most well-known company cultures in the corporate realm.

How did this organization ensure you got the most out of your internship experience?

I was learning all the time.  I was always picking up something new – either about the company, a new skill, or about the industry as a whole.  They have workshops that even interns can participate in.  The people at Southwest encourage questions and educate you on different topics even when you don’t ask.  The culture pushes the development of its employees, and I got to benefit from it all!

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?

I learned that a successful organization relies on its greatest assets, its people; developing your organization’s people to be good to one another while having a high standard for the service you’re providing to your customers is a great business model.

Internship Spotlight: Jay Shah – McKinsey & Company

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Internship Spotlight: Jay Shah – McKinsey & Company

jay_profileCompany:  McKinsey & Company

Position: Summer Business Analyst

What steps did you take to secure your internship?

I think to really maximize your chances at getting an internship; it’s very good to be proactive. Most students begin to think about recruiting over the summer and tend to focus on case prep and networking. I actually think the best thing to do before hand is to evaluate your current commitments/involvements and look for ways to really excel and make an impact. Behavioral and case prep can be mastered in a set amount of time, but you can’t go back and change the results of your previous internship/experience. When the interview comes around, what will you have to say about your last job? Make it a good story and don’t worry about the interviews. That will come later.

 

What were the responsibilities for this role?

The role focused heavily on analysis. Each day, the team would have a discussion on small problems to solve. For example, if our overall goal was to improve our client’s marketing efforts, one week we may focus on the sales funnel (generating leads all the way to closing sales). As a summer business analyst, my responsibilities were two-fold:

1) Contribute to the overall discussion and direction of the project

2) Find data, perform analysis and extract insights based on #1. For example, I would look at what data do we have regarding the sales funnel? How many leads do we generate? What percentage of them do we close? Where are we losing the most people in the process? What does that say about our client’s problem? Most of this involved Excel, industry research and interviews to extract tangible insights regarding the problem.

 

Describe the culture within the organization.

McKinsey’s culture was extremely tangible and was a guiding tool for all members at the firm. McKinsey really focuses on creating exceptional value for clients and attracting/developing exceptional people. Even as an intern, I attended two conferences in Atlanta and Miami which offered not only great team bonding experiences, but the opportunity to learn from people much more senior than me at the firm. McKinsey is constantly investing in people development and I was amazed at how much my own mentor invested in me.

 

What was most surprising or unexpected during your experience?

Building off of my last answer, I was surprised by how much my own mentor cared about my development. In most jobs, feedback happens every 2-6 months. At McKinsey, I sat down with my manager every 2 weeks so he could gauge how I was feeling about the overall project and help provide guidance. Furthermore, feedback always went both ways, and most senior people at the firm were open to feedback. This feedback happened in various channels from anonymous bi-monthly surveys to casual team dinners.

 

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?

The tendency in an internship is to be on cruise control – let the work come your way and be more reactive than proactive. In my first internship, I didn’t set any goals for myself because I assumed that a competitive internship would naturally teach me a lot. If I could go back in time, I would set hard goals for myself because the reality is that everyone is busy (especially in a corporate environment). No one is more responsible for your development than you. Set some tangible goals – it could be excel skills or getting guidance from senior people. What ever it may be, be able to define what a successful summer for you is before school even ends.

 

What was your favorite part about this internship?

Definitely the people. This is very cliché, but the diversity and intellectual horsepower was very refreshing for me. I worked with three PhDs, former entrepreneurs, lawyers, and many more interesting backgrounds. I’ve never had that kind of exposure before and everyone had a good story to tell.

 

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program at the university to be applicable during your internship?

I think the case study approach is really valuable in consulting. So much of the value we (consultants) bring is just industry knowledge and best practices. When I think back to the cases in management, it was very cool to compare and contrast concepts such as org design between my client and the companies we studied in class. The process of learning industry practices was very similar to analyzing cases in class.

 

How did this organization ensure you got the most out of your internship experience?

Constant feedback, frequent conversations about how I was doing, and lots of time outside the office.

 

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?

There is always someone smarter than you and someone who worked harder than you to get here.

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Most recently, Jay has accepted a full-time offer with McKinsey as a Business Analyst. Congratulations, Jay!

Internship Spotlight: Daniel Novotny – BHP Senior

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Daniel Novotny, BHP senior, spent his summer at Ford Motor Company as a Marketing, Sales and Service Intern where he worked on the construction of a computer update to replace current paper forms and analyzed the Hispanic Market in California. During his internship, Daniel learned a lot about the automotive industry as well as entering the workforce in general.

What steps did you take to secure your internship?

I used OCR where I found an internship opportunity posted by Ford Motor Company. Since I was abroad, I was unable to apply through OCR and emailed my resume directly to the recruiter asking what I would need to do in the current situation. Within a week, he set up a Skype interview that included behavioral and industry questions lasting approximately 45 minutes. I was then offered the internship within a month of the interview.

What were the responsibilities for this role?

I was the Marketing, Sales and Service intern for the West Market Area housed in Irvine, CA and was tasked two main projects. The first project was the construction of a computer-based update that will eventually replace the current paper forms being used. With this information being located on an Excel spreadsheet we were able to analyze key aspects of a dealership facility in comparison to a forecasted guide to figure out if any correlations with customer satisfaction can be obtained.

The second and most interesting project was the analysis of the Hispanic market within California. With this task, I had free rein to analyze sales data collected in the last ten years within the automotive industry in order to figure out trends in the market and understand what opportunities can be found to help increase Ford’s market share within the population.

Describe the culture within the organization.

There was an amazing sense of teamwork. Everyone that was in my office is the expert in a certain area of the industry and I was always able to find someone willing to help. In turn, I was able to understand each piece of the automotive industry including how sales, service, Ford Credit, and marketing combine to create a successful organization. My coworkers respected each other’s expertise and create a fun and enjoyable atmosphere, while producing top-notch results. The “work-hard, play-hard” attitude was apparent and I was glad to go to work knowing I would have good laughs throughout the day.

What was the most surprising or unexpected during your experience?

Going into the automotive industry and Ford specifically, I did not know the complexities that come with selling a car. The studies that go on within this industry surprise me and I was excited by the amount of data collected to study the market for decision-making. From financing, to the color of a car, it was amazing to see how many little things becomes part of the package. When someone purchases a vehicle, a warranty is given, with a specific financing package, and service plan. Each of these aspects has intense studies so the right combination is produced to provide the best overall car package. The policies and industry norms at each of these steps creates even more complexities that I never understood until I began my internship.

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?

Ask questions! Although you will be assigned a supervisor and working in a certain department, it is important to understand how your piece is a part of the overall puzzle. I believe the most important things I learned this summer did not come from the task I was assigned, but from the 30-minute one-on-one sessions I had with individuals in my office. I was able to pick their brain and they, in turn, asked me questions that reinforced what I wanted to gain from the internship. By establishing relationships early on, I was able to create a welcoming environment and gained a lot of wisdom from those who have been in the business their whole career.

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program to be applicable during your internship?

The Business Honors classes I have taken were definitely applicable during my internship. I am glad that I paid attention during my statistics classes and Dr. Konana’s Intro to Information Technology class because the amount of Excel I used during this internship was amazing. I feel like 50 percent of my time was spent in Excel creating reports with Pivot Tables and VLookups for my bosses. I’m glad I enjoyed working with spreadsheets and data as much as I do. The Business Honors Program has done an amazing job overall in preparing me to overcome challenges independently and think creatively when given tasks. I felt well prepared when I began my internship and believe I impressed my colleagues during my experience.

How Ford Motor Company ensure you got the most out of your internship experience?

The Ford Motor Company did a good job of asking me what I wanted to gain from my experience working with them. They understood that I was interviewing them just as much as they were interviewing me over the course of the 10-weeks and allowed me to share my short-term and long-term goals. They then found someone in the office that might be able to share their experiences and give me tips on how to help achieve these goals. For example, I am interested in working abroad and was given the opportunity to speak with the West Market Area General Manager who has worked in Brazil and Thailand over the course of his time at Ford.

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?

This internship taught me to have fun with what I do, whom I interact with and the environment I create for myself. I have realized the importance of asking questions and understand you can accomplish more when you get involved in a team that has clearly defined tasks. The collaboration I saw throughout my organization opened my eyes to the potential a group of people hold when tackling a task.