Now that my internship at HTI is coming to a close, I’m looking back to see what exactly I’ve learned.

I’ve really enjoyed working here, and I’ve learned a lot. As I said in my last post, the benefits of having an internship in high school are numerous. Having an 8-5 job at 17 years old has 2 main advantages. First, it boosts my college resume. Secondly, it allows me to gain experience in many different areas. I feel more prepared for the transition to university now.

As a split intern between the professional recruiting department and the marketing department, I learned to manage my time effectively.

Monday and Tuesday I might be calling references and researching the job market, while Thursday and Friday I was trying to think of witty tweets and I am fiddling in our automated marketing software. Finding the balance took some time. The challenges of each project added to the complexity of finding that balance.

One of the first projects I had was to call previous candidates and ask them if they were still looking for a job. I wasn’t great on the phone and calling professional engineers and sales personnel was a little daunting. The first few calls were a little rough, but only lasted five minutes or less and I became more and more comfortable with them. By the end, I can confidently do a thirty minute phone interview. An offer was even made to the candidate I most recently interviewed.

Something I noticed while working at HTI was how strong the leadership team was, and how they were mostly female.

I’ve worked under multiple leaders, all with different styles and I’ve learned something different from all of them. They put a sort of trust in me that made me want to exceed their expectations and prove that I was able to handle whatever they handed me to do. They’ve modeled the kind of leader I want to grow into.

To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure how much I would get out of working at a staffing company.

But, even after the first week I could tell I was learning skills that I would need throughout my career. I’ve even altered my career path. I now want to study engineering, and with the connections I’ve made, finding a job is going to be a lot easier after college. Because of my internship at HTI, I feel better prepared for my future, confident I have the skills to grow my connections and be successful in whatever position I end up in after college.