The Intern Diaries (Week 6): America’s Next Top Intern

Another week, another five business days of unforgettable moments. Tragically, there wasn’t any brown bag lunches this week to bring some noon-time pizazz to the team. Notes one hungry gal-on-the-go: “My PB&Js were nowhere near as good as the brown bag lunches.” Truly a girl after my own heart. Thoughts and prayers to our weary college students.

Week Six was truly for the people. HR people, that is! This week we’re diving into the world of human resources with Sarah Welch and Paola Gonzalez. Running HR programs for a large company is no easy feat, and it’s exciting to see what kinds of projects these two are facing head on – the good, the bad and the ugly. JK we’re all beautiful here!

But First, Let’s Take a Selfie

One very fabulous thing that happened this week was a photoshoot! Our very own Nigel Barker (Hightower Graphic Designer Jocelyn Gilbertson) gave the interns an amazing opportunity to get their professional headshots taken. The interns/models received some dazzling pics that they can use for LinkedIn, future presentations, new jobs or go-sees with fashion designers. (I don’t make the rules.) One key difference between Top Model and Top Intern though is that, in our game, nobody gets eliminated. We are all rooting for you!

In all seriousness, having an actual, nice photo of yourself is a game-changer for work-related events. It’s one of the many tools Hightower can provide when it comes to career development!

525,600 Staples (Ok, not THAT Many)  

Sarah Welch and Paola Gonzalez were selected as this summer’s HR interns! So far they’ve been able to work on a decent amount of real-life projects, although some are admittedly more glamorous than others…

What is this, you may ask? It’s the staples that these two go-getters removed from a stack of I9s. After this, they had to scan, digitize and rename all of these files. It’s truly a labor of love at this point. I’m sure the rest of the HR team is super thankful for all your hard work! TBH, I think you’ve both earned a manicure after this. Dear readers, don’t fret – they’ve also been doing less menial, more meaningful tasks too like contributing to discussions on how to revamp first-day orientation for new hires!

Only Human (Resources)

The good news is there have been other projects that have really helped the interns not only home in their HR skills, but also in their ability to make edits and changes! Says Sarah, “I’ve been working on creating an exit survey, and I had a meeting to go over feedback on what I came up with. It was really encouraging to see that what I’d created was received well and got awesome advice on how to improve it.” My feedback is that you are perfect.

Another benefit? Face time with other teams. She adds, “I had a few solo meetings with people within and outside of Hightower to ask them questions about things like tuition reimbursement programs, which is a big proposal I’ve been working on.” We are once again asking (and appreciative) for great programs like this!

Paola Gonzalez Enters the Chat

This week, America’s Next Top Intern is Paola Gonzalez! Virtual “gold star” coming to your inbox soon. Paola comes to us from Purdue University and she will graduate in 2023! Wondering what project has sparked the most joy? She states, “Hands down, my favorite project that I have worked on so far has been creating a three-phase Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategic plan for Hightower. It was really cool to take a closer look at Hightower through a DE&I lens, as well as create and brainstorm new efforts to improve our overall work environment. I am very passionate about DE&I so getting to design a plan that could potentially be implemented and come to life here at Hightower has been very exciting!” We can’t wait to see your efforts come to life!

We also wanted to know what major lessons and inspiration Paola has gotten so far from this internship. Here’s her top three:

1. My first takeaway from this internship has been the importance of reaching out for help. Especially while creating my DE&I plan, I learned that speaking to people who have different perspectives is the greatest way to learn. I realized that everyone has something valuable to teach me, I just need to be willing to ask for their help.
2. The brown bag lunches have been my favorite part of the internship so far! The main takeaway I’ve had from them is that it is okay to be unsure of what the future holds, and there is no rush to have my entire career planned out. I learned that it is okay to make mistakes and fail, but as long as I follow my passions and do what I love, work won’t really feel like work, and everything will eventually sort itself out.
3. My last takeaway has been to approach unfamiliar tasks with an open mind. This is an incredible way to learn first what I liked and disliked as well as acquire new skills!

But that’s not all, folks! In the spirit of getting to know Paola, we also asked for some majorly fun facts to balance out all the work talk. Paola tells us:

• I’ve caddied for seven years, but I’m probably the worst golfer you’ll ever meet (you don’t have to be good at golf to be a good caddie:) )
• My favorite book is Verity by Colleen Hoover
• I have 40 cousins on my dad’s side of the family

Good to know you don’t need skills to caddie – Comforting words for someone like me who can’t swing a club without hurting passersby.

Thanks for the Memories

Thanks for joining us on this MTV Cribs-esque tour of another Hightower department! Special thanks to Sarah and Paola for providing so many five-star quotes and content.

Week Six was for the chicks! Come back later to see what the interns are circling back to and following up on.