Chelsea Nguyen: Important Lessons My Internships Taught Me
A week after applying to Northrop Grumman’s Business Management internship for Summer 2022, I received an email that I moved on to the interview stage. My heart dropped, and I knew that I had to practice interviewing since I never had an interview before. I practiced common interview questions from Indeed, Harvard Business School, and YouTube. I wrote my answers to the interview questions on a Google Doc and practiced saying them out loud. A day after my interview, I got an email updating me that I got the internship.
On the first day of my internship, I immediately felt imposter syndrome because my co-interns were incoming fourth-year students with previous internship experience, whereas I had just finished my first year and had no prior experience. However, I decided to focus on my own path and keep a growth mindset by learning new programs and software, such as SAP ERP, Cobra, and IBM Cognos Analytics. I learned that in internships, it’s okay to not know anything; no one expects you to. You will continue to learn as you go and you should always have confidence in yourself and your skills. Whenever I didn’t understand something, I always asked my manager for clarification and my co-interns for help when I needed it.
At the end of my internship, I received a return offer from Northrop Grumman for Summer 2023 in the same team, and I accepted the offer. During my second internship, I took on a leadership role in my team because I was the only returning intern, so I had prior knowledge of the tasks and software. Although I enjoyed leading my team and working with new co-interns, I realized that I wasn’t passionate about program control analysis, which was the main focus of my internship. After taking MKTG 181 in Spring 2023, I discovered that I was more interested in marketing, so I voiced my interest in marketing to my manager. She reached out to the marketing department at Northrop Grumman and I worked on two marketing side projects. I learned that job crafting can help you tie your passions into your current job and will improve your overall satisfaction at work. I found myself more excited to go to work every day and more motivated at work.
After my second internship at Northrop Grumman ended, I decided that I wanted to pursue different internship opportunities for Summer 2024. I constantly checked LinkedIn and applied to countless internship applications in event management, marketing, and human resources. I wrote many cover letters and reached out to career professionals at some of my dream companies for career conversations. During my interviewing stage, I discovered that technology companies, such as NVIDIA, Tesla, and CrowdStrike will usually conduct multiple rounds of interviews with different members of the team you will potentially be working with. My interviewers asked me a mix of behavioral and scenario-based questions. Interviewers want to learn about how you think, how you handle pressure, and how you work with others to see if you are a good fit for their team. Another important lesson that I learned when interviewing is to research current news of the company since the interviewer might ask questions about your thoughts on what is currently happening at the company. After doing months of interviews, I landed an offer at CrowdStrike as a Partner Marketing Intern. I was ecstatic but also nervous because I was used to working at Northrop Grumman, but I knew that I wanted a new challenge and experience.
At CrowdStrike, I learned important lessons on the job, such as how to handle stress when juggling multiple projects with tight deadlines, the importance of work-life balance, and that saying “yes” to different opportunities will allow you to grow your skill set. In my role, I interact with internal CrowdStrike employees across different departments and external partners daily. I enjoy meeting new people and collaborating with people on projects since I get to learn from them and their experiences. Whenever a team member asks me to assist them on a project, I always say “yes” despite the other projects I am already working on. I learn new skills when working with different people and on tasks and projects outside of my comfort zone.
Currently, for the 2024-25 school year, I work part-time at CrowdStrike and SCU’s High Tech Law Institute (HTLI). Although balancing two internships can be challenging and stressful at times, I find them both rewarding because I get to focus on partner marketing at CrowdStrike and social media marketing at HTLI. After graduation, I will be returning to CrowdStrike as a full-time Partner Marketing Specialist.