National Post - Financial Post Magazine
GET TO WORK
INTERNSHIPS ARE OFTEN CRITICIZED AS MERE MAKE-WORK PROJECTS, BUT THESE STUDENTS ARE MAKING HIGH-IMPACT CONTRIBUTIONS
Internships are often criticized as mere make-work projects, but these students are making highimpact contributions.
Kate Hyde wasn’ t quite sure what to expect when she took an internship at Kit and Ace. But it certainly wasn’ t weekly meetings with the CEO, or an opportunity to bea key part of the fashion retailer’ s global expansion planning strategy .“One of the greatest things for me with this job was that I was brought on board and treated like an equal right off the bat,” says the 27- year-old, who worked with the Vancouver-based company for three months as part of her MBA training.
Charged with figuring out where the company should put its future distribution centres, the University of British Columbia’ s S au der School of Business student created a framework that ranked locations based on specific criteria. She then put together a financial model to determine what the costs would be on a per-unit basis. “I gave them recommendations on where to locate based on these models and they ended up going with at least one ,” she says .“I was given a big
task and the best part was that I got to spend quality time with senior management .”
Long gone are the days where interns should be photo copying, fetching coffee and getting make shift projects to keep them occupied. That is, if you’ re an MBA candidate at least. Employers are recognizing just how valuable MBAs- in-training can be to their businesses — and the students are rising to the challenge, relishing the chance to get their hands dirty before graduating.
“Kate developed research and a framework to support our decision-making… several of our teams benefited from her work ,” says Rob Adam ov sky, head of strategy and integrity at Kit and Ace, noting that this was the first time the company offered an internship to an MBA student. “Kate has a great attitude, is driven to succeed, is a self-starter and builds great relationships —she proved this in the three months she spent with our team.”
Hyde went back to complete her degree, which she did in December, but some interns such as Vikas Poni end up landing full-time employment. A former teacher and entrepreneur from Ontario, Poni was pursuing his MBA at the University of Alberta’ s School of Business when he took an internship with the City of Edmonton. He was given the opportunity to secure a major grant for the city and help develop training workshops to drive efficiencies among staff.
“This experience connected the dots: it allowed me to bring in the teachings from my MBA and take advantage of my skills ,” says Po ni, who was hire do na full-time basis in January as a corporate planning advisor with the city’ s Corporate Strategic Services section. “It’s a 100% result of my internship that I’ m working here now .”
The secret to internships as successful as these is to make sure the job is “real,” says Alan Middleton, executive director, Schu li ch Executive Education Centre at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto .“It has to be a serious job that is relevant to the operation to give it some heft and clout,” he says. “It has to be a function that requires some strategic or operational thinking .” Unfortunately, Middleton says, not all companies have learned to embrace the full value of an MBA intern just yet. “There is still a tendency to say this is a temporary job without investigating what kind of learning the intern will be exposed to ,” he says.
Perhaps the remedy is to provide more guidance to employers prior to placing MBA candidates, Middleton says, and making sure there is a supervisor dedicated to verifying that interns are given enough opportunities to use the skills they’ve been trained to use. He says interns will obviously earn the trust of their employers if they’ re good and will hopefully, therefore, get more serious work. But it would be better if the company was already used to doing that and was planning for the students to get engaged in substantial tasks. “Companies have to think of themselves as a kind of organizational mentoring program,” he says.
Some of the onus, of course, has to rest on the student as well, says Regina Muggenburg Esteinou, an international MBA student at Schulich originally from Mexico. She interned at a small medical devices company in Toronto called Drive Medical Canada. “You have to be proactive, and with the right attitude, you can make the best of anything ,” she says. “If you show them you can do more than they’ ve offered you, it enhances the experience and can give you access to other departments so you can meet more people .”
Case in point, Muggenburg Esteinou landed her internship after Drive Medical Canada’s CEO did a presentation at Schu li ch .“I approached her after her speech and told her what I was looking for; we were in contact for about a month before it turned into an internship offer,” she says. “It was me being proactive .” Although a job in the financial sector post-graduation is in the works, Muggenburg Esteinou says she is grateful to have had the chance to intern in an entirely different industry. “Internships area good trial period for both the company
CUSO DOESN’T SEND INTERNS IN TO PUT A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS, BUT REALLY HELPS THEM UNDERSTAND HOW TO COMMUNICATE AND JIVE IN THAT CULTURE
and student to see if you’ re compatible and if this is an industry you want to pursue after you graduate ,” she adds.
Although landing a starring role at a wellknown company maybe the goal—and will look good on a résumé— Muggen burg Esteinou says students shouldn’t discount internships at smaller employers or even start ups .“I’ ve heard from people who have gone into full-fledged startup sand are really appreciated for their talent, and given more flexibility to be innovative ,” she says .“These are key aspects to a really good internship .”
For students it ching to test their resilience even more, there are global internships such as the one MBA candidate Alys Richards pursued through a first-time pilot program between the University of Toronto’ s Rot man School of Management, Boston Consulting Group and non-profit Cuso International .“I actually turned down a job at RBC for this opportunity ,” says Richards, who spent two months in Nigeria with three other colleagues to find solutions for high unemployment levels among local youth. One of her reasons was that she was really intrigued by the chance to completely immerse herself in a different culture — an experience that resulted in a surprising level of interest from would-be employers upon her return.
“In every single one of my interviews, they asked me about my internship ,” Richards says .“In such a competitive work environment, I really think it sets you apart in terms of being adaptable and curious .” Indeed, she credits her time in Nigeria for playing a factor in securing her a spot in W al mart Canada Corp .’ sm an age men trot at ion pro- gram called Developing Accelerated Retail Experience—commonly known internally as DARE—when she graduate sin April.
“Classroom learning is one thing, but there really is nothing like getting to test what you’ ve learned in a real situation— especially in an entirely different culture ,” says Ne el J os hi, director of Student Life& International Experience at Rot man. He points out that although most major Canadian cities and MBA programs are comprised of people from various ethnic and religious groups, that doesn’ t mean students are being trained to work in a diverse environment. J os hi says Rot man partnered with Cu so because of its rigorous vetting of intern sand placement locations, and its attention to cultural norms .“They don’ t send intern sin top uta Western perspective on things, but really help them understand how to communicate and jive in that culture,” he says. “On the flip side, these countries are getting thoughtful, intelligent talent they couldn’t afford otherwise.”
Rot man MBA candidate and law student Shu he Li says the opportunity to do an internship in Myanmar was a game-changer for her. “Based on my background, I had only ever considered the corporate world, but here I was being exposed to entrepreneurs who were ambitious and driven ,” she says .“It changed my perspective entirely .”
Li chose Myanmar for her internship because she wanted to do meaningful work in a country she says is now rife with opportunity. “This wasn’t a traditional volunteer project helping the community at large,” she says. “We came in with a specific job and because we knew we were only there for a set time, we had ago alto leave a legacy .” Part of that job en tailed targeting unemployment, so she and her team developed a manual to help locals create low-investment businesses .“As a result, we helped them develop their business ideas into small business pursuits ,” she says .“I think it was a very big learning for us too .”
Regardless of location, however, Li points to a sure-fire way to make any internship meaningful .“You have to have passion and an innate desire to do really well,” she says .“That’ s what leads to a high-impact experience .”
A business design map created by Rot man students with community members in Myanmar at a local organization call Point B