Megan Singleton’s Post

Transcript

Hi, my name is Brenda Logan and I'm a rising junior majoring in accounting at New Jersey City University. I recently finished my internship at Ex Machina Strategies based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. There are a remote company so I was able to work out of Queens, NY. I learned about the internship opportunity through job placement platform called Career Spring which also caters to 1st generation students and I was connected to them through the TRIO program on my campus and so fortunately they were looking for an accounting and finance intern so all I had to do was send over my resume. And I did one interview and the internship paid $17.00 an hour. My teammates and I were working on case studies and we had to conduct research into the industry that we were working in just to make sure that we're incorporating accurate information. And we also created presentations on Canvas. We also interviewed some executives in the company. But I enjoyed most about my internship experience was the camaraderie and the mentorship. Not only did we work with Ex Machina. Capital Strategies. We have the career spring team as well that showed lots of support and helped guide us do the interactive experience. We would have national speakers come like who are professionals in the industry. They would come and speak to us and have us next questions. We would meet with their executives and different people from the team and ask them questions about their journey, how they got to where they were and just to see how successful they were coming from similar backgrounds as my team and I. I think that's surprised me throughout my internship experience or prior to interning was the amount of access that we can have to professionals through the Careers Spring platform. There are, let's say, hundreds of advisors there to help students from different backgrounds. I was fortunate enough to have multiple of their advisors working in the same office as needed during the summer working in an internship. As a person of color, I did not experience any microaggression or any challenges. This internship has definitely helped me grow professionally and personally. I was able to connect with professionals from several industries and meet people through their network and personally. I was able to connect with my fellow interns and people who I probably would have never have met if it wasn't for the internship opportunity I. Totally recommend interning to other students because you get to network with other like minded people, gain insight into the industry that you would like to go in and figure out if it's really something you'd like to do. And so it gives you more experience and that is something you can also add on your resume. And when you're in tune, you eventually get to figure out what you do and don't like, what your strengths and weaknesses are. Colleges and businesses and better prepare students of color by assisting them with their. Resonate you mark Interview with students. When students are confidently able to answer and are expecting these questions, it's easier for them to ace that interview. Knowing how to dress business casual, that's another part of the job. Knowing how to adjust to your workplace is also letting students know what resources are out there for them. For me, it's the TRIO program, It's career spring, it's America Needs You. Being able to find programs that are catering to students of color who also help in the internship process. I'm truly grateful for the mentors that were able to port into me and the enter into also showed support.