October 2021 Feature: Making Internships Meaningful

At Genesys Works Twin Cities, a year-long business and technology internship is more than just a job. It is an opportunity for our young professionals and corporate partners to engage in creating a truly meaningful work experience and form lifelong connections. 

We are excited to kick off our 2021-2022 internship year with our October Featured Intern and Featured Supervisor! Learn about what makes their internship experiences great and what they do to grow and invest in their relationships. Check out some best practices and tips inspired by their advice and experiences at the end of the article, as well as an update on what our interns are working on as they explore college and career opportunities.

Featured Intern: Asiya Abdi, Minnetronix Medical

Our October Featured Intern is Asiya Abdi, an IT Helpdesk High School intern at Minnetronix Medical. Her supervisor, Tiffany Erdall, nominated Asiya for her ability to ask great questions and add value to their team right away.

Here’s what Tiffany had to say about her experience with Asiya so far:

“Asiya is already proving to be a valued member of our helpdesk team! She asks great questions and has assisted us with multiple helpdesk projects. Asiya has helped us get through several projects that we have had on the back-burner but been too short staffed to make progress on, [including] a large stack of computers that needed to be prepped for donation. She learned how to remove hard drives in both laptops and desktops. She has also helped us install wifi cards into new thin client machines, been introduced to our badge security system (and helped us with a related labeling project), learned to install software on our manufacturing computers, and has helped apply the company image to laptops and thin clients. We are so happy to have her on the team and appreciate all her hard work!”

When we asked Asiya to tell us more about how she’s been so successful this early on in her internship, she shared: 

“My supervisor Tiffany and my team at the IT help desk help me succeed by always letting me know that they are here to help. Knowing that eases any stress and or confusion that could occur. I enjoy working with my team and I get a lot of support and guidance from Tiffany and my teammates Andy, Joe, and John.”

Asiya has also learned the importance of advocating for herself and speaking up, sharing this advice with other interns:

“I would advise other interns to self-advocate daily! Make it a routine!! Speak up for yourself when things get confusing, or something is just not working for you. If you don’t speak up, no one will know what you are going through and you might not get any help.”

Asiya is a great example of what our interns are capable of when they have a positive attitude, demonstrate curiosity, and advocate for themselves. Congrats again Asiya, keep up the amazing work!

Featured Supervisor: Nikhila Joseph, Best Buy

Our Featured Supervisor this October is Nikhila Joseph, an Associate Product Manager and first time Genesys Works supervisor at Best Buy. Nikhila’s intern Serenity nominated her for her patience, dedication to making her feel welcome, and for ensuring that they prioritize learning together!

Serenity shared this with us when she nominated Nikhila: 

“My supervisor had the most absolute patience when I first started out. She went into depth [on all my questions] so I could understand better. She assured me that it is expected for me to not know everything at once, and creates time out of her busy schedule to meet one-on-one with me.”

We asked Nikhila to tell us more about the time and energy she dedicated to the beginning of her internship experience with Serenity:

“First, I want to acknowledge that welcoming and on-boarding an intern in a remote setting is challenging. I wanted to provide Serenity with the best internship experience possible without making her feel overwhelmed… I wanted to make her feel part of the team and introduced her to other team members during mini meet and greet sessions. Another part of making her feel welcomed was making myself available when she had any questions and constantly checking in with her during the first couple of weeks. 

It was also important to set expectations and goals for the internship in order to provide Serenity with a roadmap for upcoming months. This led us to creating a development plan for her that included career goals which she translated into yearly and quarterly goals and corresponding 30-day, 60-day and 90-day tactics to achieve the goals she has set.”

Nikhila also let us know what she’s found most enjoyable and impactful about the experience: 

“I think helping her network, not just with team members but with other people in the organization from whom she can learn and understand opportunities and challenges, is my favorite part so far. Networking with leaders and peers is a great way to gather information about the industry, and I hope I can set my intern up for success by helping her network as much as possible.”

We are grateful for Nikhila’s thoughtful and robust approach to the start of the internship experience, but we couldn’t say it any better than Serenity herself: 

“Nikhila, even though it is my first month on your team, I have little words to express how grateful I am to feel so welcome on the first day. You were so patient and understanding that I didn’t get everything in the first week. While I was feeling overwhelmed, you assured me that everything will take time and I will get the gist of it in no time. Thank You!”

Congratulations on being featured, Nikhila! We are thankful to have you in our supervisor network.