From Amanda Hill - Target
The final weeks of Target went by in such a blur. The 10-week internship culminated in a 40-minute presentation to the entire Housewares Division on a proposed multichannel strategy and four tactic ideas across four departments. The project was a great way to get exposure across multiple departments in the Housewares Division and across the company. Everyone was extremely willing to provide updates on their project work and Target’s approach to online, mobile, and store retailing to help inform my final project. It was also great practice in selling an idea across different people with different interests and helped me practice some negotiation and persuasion skills with a tight deadline. The presentation ended up really well and seemed to have a great response, so it will be interesting to see if any of the recommendations come to life in Target stores near you!
After the presentation, I spent the final week of the internship in a buying simulation project. We were put in teams of four and assigned one product category – cat accessories. They provided us with the core information we needed—guest insights data, macro category trends, past sales data, competitor information—and we arranged the shelf space for optimal results. We also had the opportunity to do a walkthrough with two VPs, which is comprised of presenting the shelf and walking them through the decisions to include and remove different products and how it all ties together for the category and the store. It was such a great experience to be down in their “planogram” room and be able to set this up as a full-time buyer would for each shelf transition. It really pulled a lot of the internship experiences together for me and helped me understand how all of the pieces fit together and end up on the shelf.
While all of this was going on, my mentor was in the middle of transition planning and he too was in the planogram room working on his new aisles for air purification and tape and glue products. He had been negotiating with vendors over the course of the 10 weeks and now had to piece it all together for launch in the store. I had a great time shadowing him during those negotiations and planning period and was lucky enough to see the strategy come together.
All of these experiences and the intern family that I had this summer really made it an incredible summer internship. I’m also happy to report that I received an offer and now really need to do some thinking about what exactly I’m looking for and if Target and Minneapolis fit long-term.
If anyone is interested in Target, I’m happy to discuss my experience, the buyer role, the culture, etc. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!
From Shirley Lin – Amazon
The last three weeks at Amazon have been such a whirlwind! I have been preparing a six-page white paper (with generous appendices) that outlines the project I tackled this summer, my analysis, actions taken, and recommendations on how the company can improve the business and overall customer experience. You present this white-paper to a panel of evaluators during your final presentation, which involves you bringing copies, handing it out to the panel to read for the first-time during the first 20-30 minutes of your evaluation, and then a Q&A session where they can ask you anything (a bit like defending a thesis).
After 15 iterations with my manager, who was extremely supportive and helpful, I came up with a white-paper that I was happy with. My final presentation involved 8 senior managers from the Books and Media divisions, along with one "bar-raiser," which is a person within Amazon that has been selected to help raise the hiring bar at Amazon. He or she is typically someone at the Senior Vice President level who has rotated through multiple divisions and functions, thus has insights on whether a person has the potential to make contributions at Amazon. Having a bar-raiser is extremely nerve-wracking, as they do not necessarily have insights into your group or project, and thus could ask difficult (and potentially unrelated) questions.
The preparation of a white-paper and being able to defend my summer work during a final evaluation was a very good experience. The process really helped me understand the culture at Amazon. They value people who can work independently, push themselves, and ask questions of themselves and others in order to get creative solutions implemented. The flip-side, however, is that the process can be stressful for those who don't appreciate this kind of environment. I was impressed with the caliber of people at Amazon, and their never-ending quest to improve the customer experience. There are a lot of smart people at Amazon to learn from, and they keep work exciting by constantly improving and reinventing how they do business.
For those that are interested in getting into retail or product management at Amazon, my recommendation would be to talk to people! Each group at Amazon is different, and the beauty of the company is that each group is at a different development stage. Some groups, such as Books, are more mature and focused on optimizing their delivery and margins. Other groups, such as Amazon Mom or Amazon Student, are just beginning and are focused on building out their customer base and growing the top-line. There is a great experience available for everyone, and the keep is to just understand what you will be doing, who your managers (and cheerleaders) will be, and whether that is the right fit for you.
I'm happy to report that I got an offer! I am more than happy to speak with anyone about Amazon or put you in touch with any other interns. Feel free to shoot me an email anytime.
After 15 iterations with my manager, who was extremely supportive and helpful, I came up with a white-paper that I was happy with. My final presentation involved 8 senior managers from the Books and Media divisions, along with one "bar-raiser," which is a person within Amazon that has been selected to help raise the hiring bar at Amazon. He or she is typically someone at the Senior Vice President level who has rotated through multiple divisions and functions, thus has insights on whether a person has the potential to make contributions at Amazon. Having a bar-raiser is extremely nerve-wracking, as they do not necessarily have insights into your group or project, and thus could ask difficult (and potentially unrelated) questions.
The preparation of a white-paper and being able to defend my summer work during a final evaluation was a very good experience. The process really helped me understand the culture at Amazon. They value people who can work independently, push themselves, and ask questions of themselves and others in order to get creative solutions implemented. The flip-side, however, is that the process can be stressful for those who don't appreciate this kind of environment. I was impressed with the caliber of people at Amazon, and their never-ending quest to improve the customer experience. There are a lot of smart people at Amazon to learn from, and they keep work exciting by constantly improving and reinventing how they do business.
For those that are interested in getting into retail or product management at Amazon, my recommendation would be to talk to people! Each group at Amazon is different, and the beauty of the company is that each group is at a different development stage. Some groups, such as Books, are more mature and focused on optimizing their delivery and margins. Other groups, such as Amazon Mom or Amazon Student, are just beginning and are focused on building out their customer base and growing the top-line. There is a great experience available for everyone, and the keep is to just understand what you will be doing, who your managers (and cheerleaders) will be, and whether that is the right fit for you.
I'm happy to report that I got an offer! I am more than happy to speak with anyone about Amazon or put you in touch with any other interns. Feel free to shoot me an email anytime.
From Gayley Woolston – Chase Credit Card
My last few weeks at Chase have been very busy and productive. In addition to our daily projects, the team has been gathering info and preparing slides for the joint Chase and partner quarterly business meeting. In addition, my managers and I presented to Chase’s finance department and received full funding for the loyalty events, and with this approval, I have been working nonstop with the partner and 3rd party vendors on executing the marketing strategy and ironing out the post-events data gathering and communication strategies.
On top of my projects, I have also been helping with the Chase and partner education of a new product feature – our card now offers an annual reward night at the partner hotel for every year customers remain a member. With this change, we have to create new educational information for Chase’s customer service reps (and our partner’s customer service teams) as well as develop new marketing materials (new landing page, emails, and promotional materials). I have really enjoyed getting a better sense of how the customer service works within Chase, as my other projects had been more focused on card customers.
Overall, this summer has been a huge success. The people at Chase are collaborative and friendly, and they are willing to make time for you – whether you have a simple execution question or more complex career queries. I have learned so much from the internship’s weekly lectures on the different business and functional areas. Moreover, being a part of the Chase Leadership Development Program (CLDP) affords you unparalleled access to company executives and a fantastic and tightly knit network. The CLDP starts with the summer internship and then continues (for those who receive offers) full-time where participants are placed in 3 eight month rotations in different product and functional areas over 2 years. This program is incredible because it allows you to build skills in areas as diverse as marketing, risk, operations, and finance and get experience in different product groups ranging from innovation to card rewards to partner cards and main Chase cards. This is a unique opportunity to broaden your skills and experience right out of business school, which is critical for those interested in upper management positions or even starting your own business.
I am very excited by this program and would be happy to speak to anyone interested in Chase/CLDP for summer internships and full-time opportunities.
