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Jeff: Welcome to Blind abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. For students, the transition from high school to college to the workplace is a journey of preparations and achievements. As a student sets course for the career that they want. And one key component of this journey is internships. And student internships are making a huge difference for these four college students Joshua, Qi, Jackson, and Josh. And to introduce us to student internships is State Services for the Blind’s transition work opportunities. Navigator Randi Lasher.
Randi: Well, I’m Randy Lasher. I’m one of our transition work opportunity navigators with SSB. Internships are a time limited or short term learning opportunity that can help give students hands on experience in a job that aligns well with their long term career goals. Internships are a great way for students to significantly enhance their skill development, gain relevant work experience, and can help provide a streamline future opportunities for that student in their particular career field. Internships are great for folks that are just starting out with little to no formal work experience, as well as those who are actively enrolled in a post-secondary training program, as it’s often a requirement. SSB helps students and identifying employers that offer internships, or who would be willing to partner with us in providing what we call a paid, work based learning experience for the student. It’s essentially an internship. We can assist with the application process and any onboarding paperwork, as well as discussions around accommodation needs. SSB is also available to assist with job coaching during an internship, as well as providing any other supports that a student or employer might need for it to be a successful learning experience for all.
Jeff: Thanks, Randi. And now let’s hear from our four college students currently involved in internships Joshua, Qi, Jackson, and Josh. Take it away. Joshua.
Joshua: Thanks, Jeff. My name is Joshua Olukanni. I was born and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, but I currently attend the University of Minnesota, where I major in Human Resource development. I am currently working for a company called Unilever, where I work as a human resource business partner intern. So I got involved in working at Unilever through this program called Lime Connect. Lime connect is this program that helps connect people with disabilities to corporate America, specifically fortune 500 companies in corporate America. So I applied to that and was able to get in. That was during my sophomore year and there are multiple rounds. So I was able to get through those rounds. And once you’re in it, they provide you with connections at these companies, one of them being Unilever. And I was able to network with one of the people that currently works in the HR department that I work with and build there and get into the company. The people at Unilever are very accommodating, very friendly. So I haven’t had any inaccessibility issues, and I feel like the work has been very representative of what I would be doing if I were to be working full time at Unilever, so that is always a good indication of the quality of an internship. So I’ve enjoyed the experience so far and I look forward to see what comes of it. And for those interested in getting an internship, first and foremost I would say figure out what type of internship you want to get into, because there’s a lot of different internships out there, and if you don’t have an idea of what you’re looking for, you could be looking for ever honestly.
. So getting an idea of what you want. The second thing I would say is, once you have an idea of what you want, try to leverage your connections and see what opportunities there are in those fields. Like there are different programs that I’ve gone into for corporate America. I mentioned one earlier, Lime Connect. There’s another one that’s for people who are going into law. And corporate America had foundation. So there’s a lot of different programs out there for people with disabilities and people who are blind that you can leverage to kind of get into these spaces, because ultimately, it’s not necessarily the most easy for us as blind individuals to get into these spaces. So being able to leverage and utilize the connections that you do have is very salient and getting into where you want to get into. Finally, I would say knowing what you want and connections cannot get you fully to where you want to be. Knowing your story and being able to convey that in an interview, and being able to have the skills needed to convince the interviewer that you are the person for the internship is also very important.
So just keeping that in mind as well as for SSB, they have helped me throughout my journey in a number of ways. A couple of them just being helping me through college, right. Like college is a key component in getting internships, because people who are interviewing potential interns want to know that you are going to an institution that’s providing you with skills and the knowledge to perform well at this internship. So point number two, I would say the people and connections that I can draw upon at SBS. So I used to work at SBS as a peer educator, and my supervisor at the time was Sheila Koenig. So being able to have her write recommendations for me or be able to put her down as somebody who, like, has managed me, has been something that has come in handy. Like, I know I keep mentioning Lime Connect, but what the Lime connect process, they ask you to write down people that they can reach out to that can confirm like x, Y and z. So I was able to put down her name and when they reach out to her, like, I know good things were said. So just having the connection with SSB has been very impactful for me, and now I will pass it over to Qi.
Qi: My name is Qi Johnson. I just turned 21 last December. I’m an incoming senior at the University of Saint Thomas, specifically on their Saint Paul campus. I majored there is accounting and for the internship. I have a working for KPMG, Salt or state and local tax program there. I got involved with the internship last summer. I began interviews while I was studying abroad for Saint Thomas. It’s not a hard rule, but it’s sort of expected for all business students to have some sort of internship experience during their junior summer, so I chose for mine to be at KPMG. The industry has been going very good so far. I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues and my superiors there, specifically in the realm of state and local taxes. I’ve got some good hands on experience doing things that a full time employee, let’s say a first year associate, would be doing there. So it’s a great experience. Great to meet everyone there at the firm as well. Unfortunately, it will be ending pretty soon after this Friday. I only have about three weeks left of it. Some advice I would give to someone looking for an internship. Unfortunately, I can only speak for a business side since I am a business student.
I don’t have much experience with any other career field. What I can say though, is to start as early as you possibly can. I interviewed for my current internship about a year ago, and nowadays in this hiring environment, firms like to lock down candidates well in advance at the very minimum half a year, preferably within a full year. I would also recommend to use any resources that your current campus might have on it. A career center for me at Saint Thomas there was a bunch of career fairs, a bunch of counselors I could talk to for some introductions. I would also recommend starting learning some skills. A very big one is Excel. In any job possible. You will be using it. I took a Udemy course for Excel. It was nothing too fancy. You didn’t get into macros or VBA, but it taught me the basics of how to use more some more of their data functions. But if you can learn stuff like that and also participate in extracurricular activities, it can really set you above other candidates for a position. SSB has helped me quite a bit across all of college. Right now I’m an incoming senior, so I’ve had about three years of college experience.
They have helped me both financially and on a technical basis. I can rely on them for advice on how I can use technology to sort of remedy any disadvantages I could have with my vision impairment. So this could mean accommodations for any classwork or testing. You can also just include any instructions or recommendations that the workers at SSB have due to their experience as an incumbent senior. I have one year of college ahead of me. It’s going to be a very packed year. I’m planning to fit in 40 credits into that one year because I’m planning to be a CPA. I plan to take the start studying for the test next spring, and that particular path requires you to have 150 credit hours. So it’s a lot more than most people will have to take. But after that, I plan to start studying for the CPA exam. That alone can be a yearlong process to get certified. You also need a years worth of experience to actually be fully certified. So one year of schooling left, then it will be a bunch of studying and then hopefully I get an offer from an accounting firm and now I’ll pass it along to Jackson.
Jackson: Hi, my name is Jackson Matthies. I’m currently a master’s in Urban and Regional Planning student at the University of Minnesota, and specifically at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. And so my specific sub within my major is I’m looking at Transportation Planning. Specifically, I would like to work with that field going into the future.
As somebody with a visual impairment, I think it’s really interesting and want to work at helping people get around and make it as easy as possible for everybody. Right now I am interning with Metro Mobility, which is the like bus service company that helps people with all sorts of disabilities, whether it be vision like a wheelchair or any other for any reason. If you’re not able to ride the normal bus, Metro mobility is who you go through. So I’m working with them. I’ve been doing several different projects so far, and I think it’s been really interesting. I got involved with Metro Mobility through some resources from some of my professors at the University of Minnesota. Whenever there is a new internship or job posting, we have specific websites where everything gets thrown onto like one big sheet. You can click the links and find any position you think might be interesting. And this one stood out to me because I felt like it is relatable to what I want to do. And also it’s something that relates to me personally.
My internship is really fun so far actually. It’s been really cool to see how agencies and stuff like that work from the inside and see kind of what aspects that are a struggle that you wouldn’t really notice otherwise had you not been, you know, seeing the inside of it.
I guess if I was to be giving advice to somebody who’s looking to gain an internship, I’d really recommend trying to start as early as you can. I know my internship. I applied in December and it started in June, so some of them can take a while. But also it’s never too late. And don’t be super discouraged if you don’t hear back or get the first 1 or 2 that you apply to. There’s a lot of people applying for a lot of these, so the best thing you can do is to apply for as many as you can. SSB has been very helpful for me throughout my journey in the internship, and a lot of different ways through just support when I have questions. I know years ago when I first enrolled in undergrad, they helped me do a tour of campus, and so then I knew where I was going and I felt like I was prepared and way less nervous, like going into it. There’s been all kinds of resources that they have links to within the universities that help you if you want, if you have accommodations that you need, and it just makes it a lot less stressful. So SSB has been great. After my internship is over, I have one more year left in my grad program, and then after that, I hope to work with either a city or a county agency at some level. And I want to work with the transportation industry, like with planning, with roads and public transportation type of things specifically is my goal. I’m going to pass it over to Josh.
Josh: Hello, my name is Josh Subhan. I am a rising senior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities studying computer science, and this summer I’m doing a summer internship with the Metropolitan Council here in Minneapolis for their Metro Transit Division. I am working for the Bus Systems Technology Operations team, and the kind of work I do is I make a lot of reports, do a lot of SQL querying, database querying, use applications such as power BI to create visualizations to sort of visualize transit data and make sure things are working like they’re supposed to be, like the buses and sort of the technology on the buses, making sure they’re working. If they’re not working, which ones aren’t working. I found out about this internship through a friend who had worked at the council previous years ago, and he recommended that I apply. And also my sort of my want to be in the public sector is also what kind of drove me to finding this position as well. When it comes to finding internship, I think now for a lot of people, it’s definitely gotten a lot more difficult to sort of get that interview, to sort of then even get an interview, frankly, before even getting an internship. And so honestly, like the advice that I would give for students looking for internships is just like, apply to as many places as you possibly can, and someone will reach out to you from some company eventually. Until then, getting that interview is the first step. And then of course, being interested in what the company does, asking questions, inquiring, having a conversation with your interviewer is a really great way, I think, to make a really good impression. You know, when you’re a student looking for an internship because you become more memorable for a future plans. Like I mentioned, I am going to be a senior this year at the University of Minnesota in Computer science. I actually got into their integrated master’s program, so I will be going to grad school after I am done, also for computer science. And at that point I hopefully will still be with be with the council. I like being in the public sector. It’s really fulfilling. It’s a way for me to see how my actions can, you know, help the people around me and my community. So hopefully I’m still with the council in some capacity after graduation, after my master’s degree. And yeah, the support that I received from SSB has been really great. Um, in terms of like, not to have to worry about the financial aspect and having these opportunities, I can just enjoy my internship without having to worry about sort of how much I’m making. Focus more on the experience itself as a way to sort of learn more skills regardless of, you know, maybe how much I’m getting paid. And also, SSB is really great with helping finding these opportunities as well. In the past, I worked with my counselor. They have done internship searches with me. I worked with someone in career services here at SSB, done interview prep with me, which has been really great. Also like resume reviews, stuff like that. So that’s been my experience with SSB. It’s really been really great for me. It’s a lot of good opportunities here. So if you’re interested, definitely reach out to your counselor or any other contacts.
Randi: During an internship. Students can expect that they’ll have more formal oversight and mentoring available, often directly from their supervisor or from their employer. Just the nature of an internship is really about learning, and about making sure that a particular position is the right fit for the student and for the employer and for the team as a whole. So it’s a really supported way to approach employment and can be just a really comfortable means of gaining that relevant work experience in a student’s expressed career field. If you’re interested in learning more about what internship possibilities might be right for you, you can feel free to talk to your SSB counselor. Or, if you’re connected with a Transition Work Opportunities Navigator through SSB. Really, any of our staff here are more than happy to help you explore options and see what might be right for you.
Jeff: Be sure to contact your State Services for the blind, your VOC Rehab and find out what they can do for you. Live. Work. Read. Succeed.
To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the blind, contact Shane DeSantis at state.MN.US. That’s Shane dot D e s a n t i s @state.MNUS.
I want to thank you for listening. And until next time, Bye Bye.
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When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
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…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities