Others had internships canceled Kohl’s internship program goes virtual
Jocelyn Reynolds thought she would be waking up in Milwaukee for the first day of her internship with Kohl’s Corp.
Reynolds would ride the bus with the rest of the 280 interns in the 2020 class from Milwaukee to the Kohl’s headquarters in Menomonee Falls. She would get a tour of the corporate campus and shake hands with her new coworkers in the product management department.
Then coronavirus happened. Instead on Monday morning, she set up a workstation in her bedroom in Atlanta, made a cup of coffee and signed online.
Kohl’s brought 280 corporate interns onto its team Monday. None of the interns will go into the Menomonee Falls headquarters during the seven-week internship. Another 220 interns are on-site at stores, distribution centers and other facilities.
“I was really looking forward to going to Milwaukee,” Reynolds said. She has never visited the city before. She accepted the internship this winter before concerns about the coronavirus pandemic sent employees at offices across the country to work from home. The internship offer, she said, was “just a dream.”
Reynolds, a rising senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, expected to spend the summer in Milwaukee living with other interns and exploring a new city. Friends and classmates of Reynolds had internships canceled this summer because of the pandemic and economic downturn.
“I’m just honestly appreciative,”
Reynolds said.
The internship did start later than usual because of the pandemic and planning needed to shift to a virtual experience. It was also shortened from 10 to seven weeks this year. The hourly pay for interns remained the same.
Internship programs at companies across the country were canceled. Internship hiring was cut in half across the U.S. this summer, according to research from the career website Glassdoor.
Like Kohl’s, many other companies have shifted to virtual internships.
About 100 interns started working remotely for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. at the beginning of June. Equipment was mailed to interns who were onboarded through a virtual orientation.
On Monday, Reynolds met her new team on video chat, describing them as “funny and laid back.
“I like them already,” she said.
Canceling was never a consideration
Kohl’s decided to take its internship virtual in early May.
“It was never on the table that we would cancel the internship,” said Shanan Lesselyoung, vice president of human resources.
The goal of the program each year is to start training the next full-time associates and sell them on living in Milwaukee, Lesselyoung said.
Kohl’s makes full-time job offers to around 70% of its summer interns each year, Lesselyoung said. About 75% of the offers are accepted, she said. Many of the interns visited the corporate campus for their final interview.
Kohl’s has functioned as a remote office for months since the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Wisconsin. Kohl’s has started to phase employees back to its Menomonee Falls headquarters. But many meetings among associates in the office remain on video chat.
For the interns, it’s an especially interesting time to get a peek into Kohl’s, as the retailer navigates a pandemic that closed stores and cut sales by 43.5% in the third quarter.
The Kohl’s internship experience is usually much more than nine to five. The interns are housed together in Milwaukee and take a bus to Menomonee Falls each day. The group experiences the city with dinners at Milwaukee favorites like the Public Market and Pizza Man.
Instead of roommates, interns are assigned zoommates for video chats this summer. The groups of about five interns will connect regularly to build those connections that would be formed living in dorms, commuting to work and exploring Milwaukee on weekends.
“Not living with each other, we won’t get as close as we had anticipated but over time we will be able to form those relationships with interns across the country,” said Brooke Lynn Tickler, a rising senior at Marquette University.
The 280 corporate interns this summer are from 26 different states across the country. The majority of interns accepted the summer positions in Fall 2019. Tickler, who grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, started her internship Monday from Florida.
Some aspects are easier to recreate virtually. The Kohl’s Speaker Series where interns hear from all the c-level executives would be held in the auditorium is now moved online. Tours of the corporate office will be recorded. A “Shark Tank” style competition called “Innovation Tank” will be held virtually. Yoga and other classes typically offered at the corporate wellness center will be offered online for interns at 5 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“I went through a little bit of sadness,” Tickler said. “Kohl’s still putting together a whole program for us — I’m really grateful.”
Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com /bemke.