Summer Internship Series: Vanessa, Joseph and Swathi

CPG, IT, Pharma - we've got it all this week! Thank you Vanessa Duvert, Joseph Jao and Swathi Rangan for sharing your internship experiences with us! 

Vanessa, concentrating in Marketing and Marketing Research Insights & Analytics, is working at Campbell Soup Company this summer...

"I was super excited to find out that I was assigned to the Chunky Soup brand this summer. It's a beloved brand that has a unique position in the enterprise. As an Associate Brand Manager Intern, it's a particularly exciting time to be on board. This year, the marketing internship program was revamped to provide a more robust experience. During the first two weeks of the internship we were spilt into two groups of five. One group worked on a recommendation plan to advise the company on corporate transparency efforts. My group worked on advising the company on how to capture millennial consumers. After presenting to the marketing leadership team We each moved on to our brand assignments. My project is to develop a marketing strategy for Chunky to create value and differentiation in the market. To do this I'm considering positioning and promotional tactics to drive demand. It's been a great experience and I look forward to presenting in the next 2 weeks. 

Although the office is in Camden, I've been living in Philadelphia. There's been so many fun activities planned for the intern class like Phillies games, consumer test kitchens, and bowling downtown. What I've enjoyed most are the weekly coffee chats with senior leaders including our president, CMO and several VPs. The level of exposure is outstanding and it's made for a great summer."

Joseph is a Supply Chain Management student spending his summer working in Boise, ID...

"This summer I am interning at Micron Technology, which is the last and only memory chip maker in the US. Micron provides comprehensive memory solutions in four major applications which are PC, mobile device, enterprise storage, and automotive. The company, founded in 1978, is based in Boise, ID and has global operations with manufacturing sites in the US and Asia.

I am working in the mobile business unit, which is the fastest growing segment in the company, as a Product Line Management Intern. One month before starting my internship, my supervisor took on a new role called Program Manager, and is responsible for executing and facilitating cross-functional team efforts to ensure smooth delivery of projects through a product life cycle. It is a new function area in the new organization. The selected projects are critical to the company’s growth and security of market share. So far, I have been working with my manager to get the alignment with all the stakeholders that are responsible for different function areas like marketing, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain management, etc. My job requires me to hold strong product knowledge, process familiarity and good communication skills to succeed. Since Micron has been expanding its operations through acquisition, we need to work with different geographical locations like Asia and Europe. I find it challenging, but very exciting to participate in the process as the program manager plays a key role in the success of the projects. The work culture in the company is good, I feel very comfortable working with my team. People in the company do not treat you differently because you are just an intern. People are so respectful of each other, and this is what the company appreciates and I like it very much.

Micron recruits most of the interns in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science from schools on the West Coast and in the Midwest. As a MBA student from New Jersey, I feel like I am a rare species in the intern groups. But it is very nice to hang out with those engineers after work hours and on the weekends, discovering Boise and its proximity. I am close to some interns who are living in the same complex with me and we have done some fun outdoor activities like mountain hiking and river rafting together in Boise. I still have six weeks to finish my internship and have been enjoying everything here so far. I think Boise is an underrated city in the US and I would love to come back for work!"   

Swathi is pursuing dual concentrations in Pharmaceutical Management and Marketing, as well as an MS in Biomedical Sciences...

"This summer I've been fortunate enough to intern with the US Marketing group at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a (insert surprised reaction here) diagnostics firm based out of Raritan, New Jersey.  Ortho Clinical was initially a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, but mid-last year was acquired by The Carlyle Group- a private equity firm.  This divestiture has actually resulted in immense growth for the company, as it now functions as a stand-alone global firm that is able to specialize on certain product lines.

One of the greatest advantages I've had during this experience was in essence taking over a marketing role rather than an internship- while I do have one major 'intern project' within our clinical chemistry line, I get placed on other tasks as they rise in importance.  I've learned about pricing promotions, marketing communications, developing customer facing content and a vast majority of other marketing functions.  This has been accomplished all while interacting with sales teams, executives, engineers, and scientists proving to be a truly cross functional role.  Another huge benefit is that I've been able to travel to multiple locations- my internship actually started with a week in LA for a product launch within our transfusion medicine line.  I'm currently in Rochester this week for a series of meetings, and next week I will be off to Atlanta for the annual AACC conference (American Association of Clinical Chemistry), which is one of our most important events for the year. 

Since I'm still in New Jersey, I've been able to see some of our Rutgers MBA folk on occasion, and have been heading out to NYC on the weekends.  Next weekend I will actually be traveling out to Chicago for some fun (and I'll be able to meet up with some business school people as well)!  While it will be nice to get out of Jersey for a weekend, my internship has been (and I am certain, will continue to be) a great experience over the three month duration, and I'm excited to see the long term results of my direct work."

That's all for now! I know the summer is almost coming to a close and many people are finishing up the last few weeks of their internships, but have no fear! We'll be back next week to hear from more members of the Class of 2016!