Keeping Cool With These 2017 Summer Internships

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Michael Hood BSBA Undeclared ’20 recently completed his freshman year at USF and has been interning this summer as a marketing intern at The Habit Burger Grill. As the marketing intern, his tasks include videography, as well as producing a variety of content for social media such as making GIFs for Twitter, posting pictures and videos on Instagram, and posting on the company’s Snapchat story.

“My favorite task was probably taking pictures of the Golden Chicken Hatch Salad,” said Hood. “We were in the restaurant shooting video when our marketing director found out there had been a mistake made during a professional photoshoot and we needed to reshoot these photos because they were due within the week.” Hood explained the video shoot turned into a photoshoot and for the next two days, his priorities were focused on closely editing the picture of the chicken salad, which he said is something he finds enjoyable. He said, “I learned that there isn’t anything wrong with improvising when need be; we were in a need of a picture that displayed this salad correctly and within two days were able to create a viable backup. It was cool to be behind the scenes seeing what happens when we have a deadline.”

A lot of internships are about being able to take direction and communicating in the workplace as if you belong in it, so the interactions I had with professors and people in my community at USF helped to sculpt me from a social angle.

He finds that the internship was helpful as it “opens up doorways for future jobs on and off campus,” and expands his portfolio. His advice to students is to ask questions. “Every company is so different and it’s likely you will have to learn something new wherever you go. So if there are things that you don’t understand--ask. No one who is interested in teaching you will look down on you for doing so.”

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Another student, Giorgia Scelzo BSBA Finance ’18 is a corporate venture capital intern at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in San Francisco. “I have an incredibly dynamic schedule which varies daily,” she explained. She works in a team of seven people and their responsibilities include “[fostering] relationships between startups and corporates.” Typically, Scelzo has at least one meeting a day with potential clients or other teams from Silicon Valley Bank. She completes analytical work such as “analyzing the investments the top 10 venture capital companies completed in the difference quarters;” and she does fun activities outside the office with potential clients, like going to Giant’s games. “Another fun part of my job is that I have the possibility to have lunch with different employees...This is a great chance for me to learn about their journey,” she said.

“One of the roles of my team is to connect corporates with startups,” Scelzo explained. On her first day at SVB, she and her team met a corporate interested in global expansion and investing in startups. “I was given the task to research startups that the corporation would be interested in, then pull together a PowerPoint with all the information,” she said. Now, she and her team are “organizing an event for the corporate to meet with their top startup picks, so I am excited to attend the event and witness words being put into action.”

Scelzo said that her studies and experience at USF has prepared her for success in her internship.

USF has given me the opportunity to relate and work with students and professors from different backgrounds, and now I am prepared to talk and communicate with different individuals, being mindful of the cultural differences there may be. Most importantly, USF has shaped my idea of culture and has helped me understand and realize the key components of what I am looking for in a company’s culture. These components would be diversity, inclusion, and respect; values that are embraced at USF.

“I still have a year before graduating, so I believe that my internship has given me the opportunity to witness the real world,” she said. Scelzo explained that from this internship, she has been able to understand what is expected from those in entry level business jobs. She believes this helps her to be more insightful in her classes, think critically about the learning material, and to be able to project her knowledge into real world situations.

Interning at Silicon Valley Bank allowed Scelzo to realize what she wants her potential career path to be. “Internships are crucial not only to gain experiences for your resume, but also for personal growth. Internships help you realize, while still in college, what you like and don’t like. Even if you end up in an internship that did not exceed expectations, don’t take it as a failure. Consider it a win.”

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Alysa Eva Gonzales BSBA Marketing ’20 is another student who recently finished her first year at USF and had two exciting internships this summer. In April, she began interning as an Information Technology Business Operations Assistant at UCSF; as her internship was ending in June, the Assistant Director and Director of Customer Service promptly offered her a second internship as an Information Technology Identity & Access Management Security Analyst.

During her first internship as an Information Technology Identity & Access Management Security Analyst, she said her daily schedule would vary. “I could be talking to employees and setting up their desks for them, updating floor plans, designing a new emergency kit system, [and] organizing workspaces.” She also was responsible of other tasks such as scheduling, planning, funding, and setting up parties and meetings for the Information Technology department. One of her favorite tasks involved helping her manager direct the transferring of furniture between campuses. Gonzales assisted by measuring the furniture as well as creating spreadsheets as documentation of what pieces of furniture had been taken to Mission Center. “I was able to meet different people from the different campus, which is how I got my second internship in one summer: I met my current manager,” she said. Gonzales said the most valuable thing she learned was in making connections. “My boss always helped me to reach out to different departments, managers, etc. He taught me to always present myself in a professional matter wherever I am in the workplace because there are always new opportunities coming and someone is always observing you.”

But as one opportunity closed, another opened, and after completing her first internship she began her second as an Information Technology Identity & Access Management Security Analyst. She explained her team works on a daily basis with the programming application APeX. “I work on tickets that are submitted to my team and I am in charge of managing employee access on the Medical Center side of UCSF. I handle terminations, creating new accounts for new employees, extensions, name changes, and modifying accounts. I send emails and call customers to ensure the request is completed how wanted.” For her, the most exciting thing about her new internship was learning the ins and outs of APeX as well as other applications. “I have always wanted to learn how these systems work and it has been a very enriching learning experience, especially to work with an amazing team,” she explained.

Her advice to students interested in interning somewhere is: “Don’t just rely on an online application… There are always openings, you just have to put yourself out there, introduce yourself, and give them your resume.”

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Joanne EngracioBSBA Accounting ’19, is an Internal Firm Services intern at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the heart of the Financial District, where she enjoys that her daily schedule is different every day. “After our first day we were sent to Atlanta, Georgia for three days for National training where we met interns from different PwC locations,” she said. The interns were appointed supervisors who then gave them tasks. “In addition, we learned about the firms by formal training and shadowing different associates from the tax practice and assurance,” said Engracio.

“During my internship, I got to shadow different engagements on client sites,” she said. “As a shadow, there’s only a limited number of tasks we can do, so getting to help them out was exciting for me.” Engracio explained that her classes which emphasized Excel use and G Suite helped prepare her for her internship. “As an accounting intern, I was assigned tasks such as manipulating excel sheets and I am thankful I am prepared and somewhat knowledgeable of basic Excel tasks.”

Learning G Suite through my excel classes at USF prepared me for my internship. As an accounting intern, I was assigned tasks such as manipulating excel sheets and I am thankful that I am prepared and somewhat knowledgeable of basic excel tasks.

She said what most excited her about her internship was how it solidified her interest in the Assurance or Audit aspect of accounting. Throughout her time at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Engracio also learned the value of networking. “During the whole internship, they emphasized taking ownership and speaking up, even if I wasn’t being spoken to.” While she admits that this was hard for her at first, she also “learned to communicate even to those who are higher-up, such as the partners in a firm, because they are approachable and they can connect [her] to various people.”

By Lonny Wysard