My name is Jonathan Munoz and I graduated from the University of Central Florida (UCF) with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. For a long time while in school, I was very unsure of my future. I did not know where I wanted to go with psychology, but I knew that whatever I decided to do my degree would be applicable. I eventually decided that human resources would be the career path I wanted to pursue, and was set on, completing the Human Resources Certificate that is offered by UCF. Despite deciding on my career path later than most, I knew what I had to do: gain experience through an internship. That’s where Intern Pursuit comes in.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to gain skills and learn more about a career in HR as an intern with Intern Pursuit. I was selected as a Human Resources Intern by Isabella Johnston, who I would work with directly. In my role, I oversaw many aspects of HR for the company, including onboarding, intern relations and satisfaction, and maintaining sensitive documentation of the interns. I was able to work directly with interns to ensure they knew how to properly utilize our work folders and documents, such as their timesheet and their individual development plan.
At Intern Pursuit, the company looks for interns who want to develop their skills in their respective career path choices. There are 6 key skills that are highlighted during the internship process: communication, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, time management, and research. These skills are in use by every intern employed through Intern Pursuit, and in my case that was no different.
One of the key aspects of my internship was being able to communicate and work with my team. I got to participate in weekly team meetings, where we would discuss and brainstorm many different ways that we could improve the life of the interns. This is one of the main cornerstones of HR: ensuring employees are safe and efficient. We made sure our communications were consistent among all members of the team to ensure company synergy and made sure things were handled in a timely manner. I worked on researching different methods of improvement for our workflows, while coming up with solutions creatively and organically as a team.
A big focus for me with this internship was becoming familiar with industry technology platforms that are used at the professional level. Along with Google Suite, Zoom, and Skype, I was introduced to Asana, HubSpot, and Canva.
Asana is a project management management application that allows employees to streamline communication and workflow while keeping your day organized. I got the opportunity to work with this closely, and even became an Asana Ambassador which means I am certified with Asana.
Moving forward, HubSpot is a customer relation management (CRM) tool that documents all interactions with others. It was very important for me to become familiar with this kind of software, as keeping engagement and interactions documented is an important part of a person in HR.
With Canva, I was able to see how to create community/advertising posts were made and was able to look at the different ways a flyer can be made for the company.
My success manager, Isabella, made sure to give me helpful pieces of advice throughout my tenure. She reminded me that it is important to be authoritative in my dialogue to interns and why that is important. She also taught me to be patient when working with the interns, as having patience is very valuable for someone in HR. Most importantly, we talked about how valuable an internship can be to someone when they put in a lot of effort. That you will get more out of life if you care about the things you set out to do. You’ll become more appreciative of the feedback you receive and realize the value in getting that experience, be it volunteer work or an internship.
In conclusion, what I learned at Intern Pursuit is how important skill development and continuous improvement is in my future. Communication, time management, research, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity are all going to be used in whichever career path you choose. The platform is designed to help employers provide an amazing intern experience that benefits both the intern employee while developing a mentor mindset and skills. At Intern Pursuit these skills are valued, and the organization's mission to ensure the employer mentor and intern are working towards honing them.
Overall, my time with Intern Pursuit is one I will always remember fondly, as I was provided the opportunity to gain experience in HR and build relationships with Isabella and Michelle Imperial who both mentored me. This is a company I would absolutely recommend to employers that want to develop their own skills, have tools and resources that guide them and their interns gain experience.