The Career Center caught up with junior Adult and Organizational Development major Shayne Carson this past week to learn more about how she landed her internship with Target. Shayne first heard about the internship opportunity at the Fall University-Wide Job and Internship Fair. Read on to learn more about how she landed her internship.
What is your major and year?
Adult and Organizational Development, Junior graduating May 2019
What will be your internship experience for Summer 2018?
Store Executive Team Leader (Assistant Manager) Internship at Target Corporation. It’s a paid 10 week rotation during the summer to provide a realistic full-time job preview and leadership development by providing the opportunity to learn the business, core roles of an ETL. The first 5 weeks is training through shadowing other Executive Team Leaders, and the next 5 weeks I will be responsible as the store’s “Lead on Duty” and run operations of the store.
How did you learn about the internship at Target?
I attended Temple’s Job and Internship Fair in October 2017 where I met a Store Team Leader (General Manager) and learned more about the role of the internship.
From the time you submitted your application, how long was it until you were called for an interview and informed that you were hired?
I had left my resume with the recruiters from Target at the internship fair in early October. By mid-November I received an email inviting me to officially apply for the position, and had my first interview in the beginning of December. I had three rounds of interviews that took place between December and first week of January. I was informed I was hired the second week of January.
Tell us more about the interview, how was it formatted?
I had an initial phone screening, two phone interviews, and one FaceTime interview.
All of my interview rounds consisted of behavioral-based questions, where they were looking for me to describe the situation, then the behavior or action I took within the situation, and finally, the outcome. It consisted of questions such as, “Tell me about a time you recognized a process that wasn’t working, and what did you do to change it?” The questions they ask are trying to pull out situations where you show your leadership ability. Even if you don’t have an extensive work history, you can pull from classwork situations.
Did anything happen in your interview that you didn’t expect?
I was surprised at how short my interviews were. None of the conversations lasted more than a half hour. My last interview, which was my first ever FaceTime interview, lasted 14 minutes. Because they were so short, I doubted my performance in the interviews. Target is just very straight forward and to the point in their interviews in order to streamline the process.
What piece of advice would you give to current students embarking on an internship search?
My first piece of advice would be to start with the Career Center and prepare. Secondly, you don’t have to take the first internship you get an interview for. Before Target, I had an interview with a company that handled the process unprofessionally, and I considered taking it just so I could put the experience on my resume. You need to find an internship that is right for you, because the experience is meant to help you grow professionally and personally.
Did the Career Center assist you in any way, whether it was identifying the opportunity, applying to it, interviewing for it, or preparing for it?
I took full advantage of the Career Center before I attended the Job and Internship Fair in October. I started by making an appointment with Laura Craig, the Associate Director of Career Development. I brought a copy of my resume to be reviewed, as well as talked about how to prepare for the Fair in terms of professionalism, dress code, what employers are looking for, etc. After making improvements on my resume, I then went to a Rapid Resume Review that took place on campus during Career Week. I wanted to be as prepared as possible, and it definitely paid off.