Business Principles class, Jobs4Hawks profile help student succeed in internship

August 23, 2022 | UHCL Staff

Internships offer college students a critical glimpse into what it’s like to work in the field they are choosing, and it might be the first opportunity to work at something primarily for the sake of learning instead of making money. For Lauren Lowe, a senior marketing student at University of Houston-Clear Lake, her internship at Hewlett Packard Enterprise brought her invaluable hands-on work experience, a path toward employment after graduation, and even a People’s Choice Award. 

Her success began with a Business Principles class taught by UH-Clear Lake’s Director of Career Services Chuck Crocker, who stressed the importance of a well-written resume and showed everyone how to create a profile on Jobs4Hawks, Career Services’ online resource that offers students development opportunities as well as help finding jobs on and off campus.

“That was one of my favorite and most useful classes,” Lowe said. “That class was about actual experiential learning, not just about reading information that might not stay with me very long. His class was real life.”

Her presence on Handshake made her visible to a recruiter at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “They actually came to me,” she said. “A recruiter told me they had a position, had seen my resume, and asked me to apply.”

Interviewing for the internship, Lowe said, was her first ‘real’ job interview. “I have had other, smaller jobs, but this was my first real one. Mr. Crocker went over a lot of things beforehand, so that helped a lot,” she said. “I wasn’t too nervous because I felt prepared.”

She worked this summer as a product-to-market marketing intern, collaborating with numerous teams that put products on the market. “I also worked on social media editorial planning, event planning, and with the sustainability sales team, I researched how the tech industry affects sustainability worldwide,” she said. 

Among the highlights of her three months as an intern was the Houston Project Fair. Lowe said it was similar to a science fair in which all interns had to present their internship projects. “Mine was on how HPE could stand out against Dell in social, digital and paid media,” she said. “We had to present our projects over and over again to employees who passed by and listened. It made my presenting skills more competent. I was really scared when I started.”

Her research and efforts paid off. Lowe was awarded the second place People’s Choice plaque. “My manager picked the topic for me and told me they would actually be using the information I had gathered,” she said. 

Now that her internship is over, Lowe said she has taken away critical experiences. 

“First, I learned to advocate for myself,” she said. “When you’re in a company with thousands of people, you have to put yourself out there. You have to ask questions and not be afraid to ask for help. I found everyone was very kind and helpful, but you won’t get the help unless you ask.”

She said she found that communication skills are very important. “I never had to work with that many people before,” she said. “You really have to communicate with the others about what you’re doing and when you are going to get things done.”

And one more thing: “Always come prepared to meetings,” she said. “I think this is what’s missing. We aren’t taught enough about the importance of good communication.”

Lowe said that after she completes her Bachelor of Science in Marketing in spring 2023, she believes she knows what her future will hold. “It’s likely that as a result of my internship, I’ll be able to get a job at HPE,” she said. “The driving force behind all this was my class with Prof. Crocker, paying attention to the resume and interviewing information we were taught, and getting into Jobs4Hawks,” she said. 

Career Services is available for students needing assistance with resume writing, interviewing, and finding internships or jobs. Visit Career Services for more information.