Julianne Montijo-Cheno pivoted from her job in healthcare to gain experience in HR administration.
Why did you choose this internship?
I chose this internship because I really wanted to gain experience working in an office setting since I already had experience working in healthcare. I decided to pursue internships related to human resources (HR) because it was something that interested me and I would be able to see if I really want to pursue opportunities in that field or if I wanted to explore other options. Overall, I really enjoyed it and the experience confirmed that HR work is something that I can do in the future.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
I did various types of work for the department. I worked at the front desk and helped give people directions to their appointments or let the recruiters in our department know that they had someone waiting for them for their appointment. I organized files and renamed them to be consistent and easier to find and also input paper documents into the computer system to make them easier to access. I created job postings to be available on websites like Handshake. Another part of my job was doing background checks on people who applied to the posted positions that the recruiters wanted to move forward with. In some cases this was hard because it was your job to get more information on the candidates and your findings can lead someone to either move forward with a job or not, but that is a part of the type of work an HR department does.
What new skills did you practice in this internship?
I am a good communicator, but in this job I had to be able to be more proactive and let people know any updates I had from my work and when I needed help. Another transferable skill that I was able to practice was paying close attention to detail. There are so many things that we have to take in consideration when making a job posting, so I was scared that I would input something wrong and affect the applicant pool. But the thing that made me somewhat more comfortable was knowing that the recruiters would take another look at what I completed and make sure it was done correctly.
What was your favorite or most satisfying part of your internship?
My favorite part of this experience was being able to see how something can be scary, but if it is something that you really enjoy doing then you get to learn a lot from it. That’s exactly what happened to me. I was scared that I was going to get something wrong or completely fail, but I noticed that there was plenty of help to support me, even if I did make a mistake. I was able to get closer with my coworkers and help them as they helped me. They made me feel like it was a safe place and I really enjoyed it.
What did you find challenging about your internship and what did you learn from it?
The most challenging thing was when I thought that I had a bit of work overload because I was given a task that I thought I had to finish in a short amount of time. However, after clarifying the project timeline with one of the recruiters, I learned that this was something that I could do when I had time. I initially thought that I needed to complete that work during that day, but that wasn’t the case, and it was such a relief. I learned that if I didn’t communicate with my coworkers I would have continued to feel overwhelmed. The key was to communicate with my coworkers so they can understand what is going on and see how they can help me.