Work Hard, Play Hard: Reflections from the MBA Internship Experience

Well, 10 weeks FLEW by. I can’t believe the summer is winding down and this is my last week at Lowe’s as a Talent Acquisition – Digital Marketing intern. I had a phenomenal experience learning and growing within the Lowe’s organization. I never imagined that I would get to experience so much (including a CEO transition) during my time here.

I wanted to take some time to reflect on my initial goals for the summer, and share some of the incredible activities that I was a part of on this journey.

First, goal check in. I’ll admit, I didn’t do a great job of checking in on my goals throughout the summer. It was a whirlwind! However, I’m happy to say I accomplished most of the goals I set for myself. My project guidelines changed slightly so I shifted my focus from social media channels to careers pages. I was given the task to create engagement pages that supported Lowe’s hiring efforts focusing on two initiatives for the year, digital and supply chain. In order to do so, I had to be trained on building the pages and gather content/media/etc. to create the pages from scratch!

Take a look at some of my goals I accomplished this summer:

·      Applied classroom knowledge from Digital Marketing and Brand Management courses while I created engagement pages.

·      Met and networked with employees from several departments: Talent Acquisition, Marketing, Digital, etc.

·      Grew the Lowe’s brand as a great place to work by posting my experiences on LinkedIn throughout the summer

·      Engaged with other interns during events and showcased their summer through social media.

·      Learned how to develop HTML skills while working on my project.

·      Created a strategy for Lowe’s engagement pages to attract the best talent for the company.

·      Connected with my manager and mentor regularly to learn and grow as a Lowe’s employee.

·      Nailed my final presentation and enjoyed every step of the experience!

Now, what’s the saying? Work hard play hard, right? Well, I can definitely say that was my motto this summer. Lowe’s was ranked one of the Top 10 Internships by Indeed.com, and thanks to a well-organized and engaged college recruiting team, they lived up to the hype!

We were lucky enough to have intern events planned throughout the summer, which kept up the comradery and interaction within such a big intern group.

Check out some of my favorite memories from the summer:

·      Completed orientation and a team building event on a yacht on Lake Norman.

·      Attended additional team building events: Escape Room Rock Climbing, Bowling, Knights Baseball Game.

·      Participated in bi-weekly Lunch & Learns with VP’s throughout the organization.

·      Scheduled networking chats with various Lowe’s employees to learn more about their function at Lowe’s.

·      Experienced Talent Acquisition team recognition events.

·      Met the former CEO, Robert Niblock, at his retirement party!

·      Organized a boat day for Master’s interns.

·      Led the Lowe’s Cheer for the entire organization.

·      Shadowed a Lowe’s video shoot where Lowe’s donated $500,000 to a local foundation.

Needless to say, I loved my experience at Lowe’s. I can’t wait to get back to NC State and share my internship takeaways with my peers and incoming students. Out of over 10,000 applicants, I am honored that Lowe’s chose me as 1 of 75 interns for this summer. Now, back to that “student” title. Go Pack!

Brittany Stewart is a rising second year student in the Jenkins Full-time MBA program at NC State University.