Lara Meyerfreund Saade

Describe the steps you took to obtain your internship.

Not sure what I wanted to do with my life, I applied to at least 100 internships that seemed like a good fit for me, company and role-wise. At the beginning of this application period, I was writing okay cover letters and had an okay resume. Throughout those weeks, they slowly got better and better, and so did my confidence that I would do great in the corporate world. As I got rejection after rejection, I started to ask for help, do a lot of research, and build my resume and LinkedIn accordingly, landing my 3 internship offers in a week!

How far in advance did you prepare and begin applying for your experiential learning opportunity?

I began applying for summer internships in December of 2022.

If you used any Career Center services, resources, or events to obtain your internship, what were they? How did they support your application process?

I used the Career Center resume help services and they gave me tips on the best ways to format my resume and how/why to change my resume for each job opportunity I apply for.

Describe some of your responsibilities or duties during your experiential learning opportunity.

I was tasked with coordinating a 500+ employee corporate event, where I planned catering (food trucks), decoration, scheduling, activities, and budget. I made all corporate monitor graphics for the Largo site and created templates of them to be used in years to come since they were really well received. I created a culture of respect training to be rolled out for CONMEDLearn, CONMED's training website, globally.

What was a typical day like "on the job?"

Every day was different since HR is mostly project based. In the mornings, however, I would usually work on day-to-day things that were assigned to me by my coworkers, while afternoons I kept for my major projects assigned to me by my manager.

What are some major takeaways from your experience? How will these help prepare you for the next step after graduation?

I realized that I am a lot more valuable than I thought in the corporate world. I believed that I was going to be behind everyone else since I am not a business major, but I realized that great companies value diversity of thought and education!

Did this experience help clarify your career path? If yes, how so?

Yes, it did. My career path feels a lot clearer now, since I realized I truly have a passion for HR and DEI.