Madison Hennessey

Describe the steps you took to obtain your internship.

When I heard about a potential internship opportunity with Baldwin Risk Partners through a mutual connection, I submitted my resume to the recruiter. Luckily, I had just had a class that required I go to the Career Center to get my resume checked over. Shortly after I went through a phone interview and was contacted later that I had been accepted into this opportunity. For the months leading up to the internship, I stayed in contact with the recruiter.

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

I got help with my resume at the Career Center in the fall of 2022 with no idea that I would be applying to an internship opportunity for the summer of 2023. In February, I began researching internship opportunities on Nole Network all the way through March.

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

The Career Center helped me to spruce up my resume which made my application more competitive.

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

Everyday was full of different experiences and meeting new people. I was able to shadow industry colleagues, and have meetings to learn further from them. There was some busy work, but the intern program was mainly projects that I had to prepare for throughout the duration of the internship. This meant attending meetings with industry experts, taking time to prepare my own material, and practicing my presentation skills.

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

Part of this internship was to teach that there are major components that one will experience everyday, as well as opportunities and events that will differ every day. Usually my mornings were booked with meetings and shadowing opportunities. That meant getting to the office early to be able to see my schedule for the day and prepare my own tasks. Following the meetings, all of the interns would have our lunch break together and then would dive into more meetings until around 3 or 4. The last couple hours of our day consisted in reaching out to colleagues, finishing up individual tasks, and further advancing our professional skills.

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

This experience taught me the importance of creating professional relationships and finding multiple mentors to help guide one through their beginning years. I learned so much information about the insurance industry, and was able to enhance my public speaking skills. I was able to experience the long hours of hard work and the mindset of doing more than what is asked of you. Through all of this I was able to improve my time management skills and my ability to work on a team.