Nathan Miller is a current Senior graduating May 2024 with a double major in Marketing and an Individualized Major of Humane Technology Design. In order to prepare himself for the professional world, Nathan “made sure to stand out on paper”. Nathan took advantage of his first few semesters at UConn being online and started to develop his resume with various professional experiences. He started small, doing some branding and design work at a local historical society, joining campus organizations, and building an online portfolio.

“I made sure that I wasn’t just joining organizations or doing things to look good but contributing to my interests and growth in a meaningful way,” Nathan recalls.

This past summer, Nathan completed a ten-week Experience Design Internship with Travelers Insurance. During this time, Nathan was able to work with people both internal and external to Travelers; as an intern under an operations manager, he learned all about how design and marketing fits into Travelers’ different business units. Nathan’s days would vary between working on research/design projects, setting up meetings and benchmark evaluations, and sometimes even attending intern-oriented events that Travelers hosted. He even got to spend a whole week at the PGA tour for the marketing team!

“I met so many amazing people during my time at Travelers and learned a lot about corporate operations and culture,” he says.

Nathan’s favorite experience from his internship was being given the opportunity to participate in Travelers’ internal hackathon, InJam.

“This was a spur-of-the-moment project that I developed after a sidebar conversation about AI in a team meeting,” Nathan explains, “For the hackathon, I prototyped an AI-powered web browser tool that would allow users to more easily navigate “terms and conditions” pages for digital products and services. Both the purpose of this project and the nature of its development made it one of the best parts of my internship”.

Nathan originally had applied for a generic marketing position at Travelers but was placed into a more specialized role that aligned more closely with his skills and background in design. Nathan looks back on the Traveler’s interview experience positively, stating “My interview was the shortest I had experienced all season; I felt the hiring manager and I had a strong connection that made us both feel comfortable and ready for more conversation. I received a call back within 24 hours, and accepted the position!”

This experience was vastly different from his application process, which Nathan described as “arduous” and “frustrating”. To other undergraduate students going through this stressful process, Nathan offers the following advice:

1. Don’t mindlessly apply: I applied to maybe one hundred internships last season, and a lot of my applications would consist of sending in a briefly tailored resume and a template-based cover letter. Not only was this a poor reflection of my capabilities as a potential employee, but also the constant stream of rejections I faced was demoralizing. I would suggest applying to each job like it is your dream company–strive to stand out. I’m not referring to the rhetoric you use in your cover letters and resume bullets, but rather the strategies you use to gain connections within your target company. Take advantage of your alumni network, become a LinkedIn personality, and get creative with how you can differentiate yourself!
2. Start early: Get all of your documents and interview preparation ready as soon as possible. Internship applications are opening all the time, both before and after the seasonal surge. Start researching companies on LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. Practice your interviews with Google’s Interview Prep Tool. Have your resume looked over by a writing center resource, your professors or your advisor.
3. Keep learning: If you feel like you aren’t where you would like to be in terms of career competitiveness, there are many resources which can help advance your position. I love keeping up with the School of Business’s events, attending career fairs, and following career-oriented professionals on social media (particularly TikTok). By subscribing to newsletters and signing up for opportunities, you open yourself up to networking and learning potential that can help you get one step closer to a position!

Josephine Kaufman, a Marketing major with a concentration in Digital Marketing and Analytics, is set to graduate in December 2024. Josephine’s academic journey reflects her commitment to success. She actively engages in her courses by asking questions in class and completing assignments thoughtfully. She approaches her coursework as if they were real-life job assignments, enabling her to think more critically and understand the relevance of her studies in the business world. This dedication to her studies helped her develop a strong foundation for her professional career. Josephine also works as a Teaching Assistant for BUSN 3005 and is an Administrative Assistant at UConn Rec.

This past summer break, Josephine secured a Merchandising Internship at the Staples Headquarters in Framingham, MA. When she first began applying to internships, the role at Staples stuck out to her because it would allow her to demonstrate her knowledge from her courses at UConn. She applied via the Staples website and was invited to a phone interview with a recruiter, and then a Zoom interview with her future manager.
“The questions were based on the job qualifications, and I was very pleased that my coursework and previous job opportunities had provided me with experience to discuss in the interview,” Josephine recalls, “When I was offered the role, I was very excited since I connected with my manager and was very confident in my responses to their questions”.

A typical day in her internship involves a diverse range of tasks. At the start of the week, Josephine updates financial reports using tools like Excel and PowerBI to reflect sales volume from the previous week. She then forwards these reports, along with a summary of the data’s insights, to various team members. She also took part in daily meetings with different departments, including Pricing, Marketing (creative), Inventory, Promotions, Planogram (store layout), and more to make sure that all parts of the business are on the same page.

Her favorite professional experience during the internship was the opportunity to present her internship work to her team, fellow interns, and C-Suite members at Staples. During her presentation, Josephine was able to reflect on how she discovered her passion for working with data. “I enjoyed Merchandising because it emphasized collaboration with many different departments and teams across the company,” she states, even though she initially expected to be more drawn to creative and digital marketing work.

For undergraduate students seeking internships or full-time roles, Josephine offers: “My advice is to keep your options open, make connections with as many people as you can, and move at your own pace!”