Career Conversations - Internship Edition at Talbots

At Talbots, we look forward to the summer and the arrival of our interns. We know our job is two-fold, to help them prepare for their first job and to help them determine if they're moving towards a career path that they'll love. To ensure they get the full Talbots experience within their department and organization, we build a lot of activities into the program. One part of the program that gets a lot of attention is the summer challenge project. Our interns work in teams with mentors to build a business case they then present to the Senior Executive Team. We admire their creativity & innovation as we watch their confidence grow over the weeks. At the end of the summer, we always feel honored they chose to spend the summer with us and and we're excited to watch their careers develop.

Our interns reflect on their summer experience:

"I got to use knowledge from my coursework and apply it to many tasks at work. For example, I have done mock competitor analysis's in school, and got to do one here in my first week. I also was able to do an into depth cash flow estimation analysis for the internship project that I had just learned this past semester in one of my Finance classes."

- Kate Cummings, Finance & Accounting Intern

"I loved having my time split between Recruiting and Learning & Development. I had so many different interesting projects to work on. I also loved the intern project - it was hard work, but overall a really great experience. I learned how to schedule meetings with those who are remote, balance my time between my HR work and the project, reach out to various departments for advice/help with the project, present in front of the executive team, etc."

- Lauren Maroney, HR Intern

"I got the opportunity to help some intern groups send out surveys and create reports for them with the help of my buddy Danielle. Also, I got to contribute to my department through different responsibilities."

- Madison Buckland, Consumer Insights Intern

Each summer, our interns get the chance to meet and ask questions with full-time Talbots employees who participated in the Internship Program. This year, the conversation kept coming back to how important networking and building relationships are when looking for a full-time job after college.

Laura Barrett, who is now our Online Marketing Coordinator, interned in 2016 as our Brand Marketing intern. Lauren shares how relationships helped her get a full time job at Talbots:

"Through my conversations, experiences and opportunities to discuss my career path with not only my direct managers but also others on the marketing floor, I landed my first full time job at Talbots on a different team within Online Marketing. Three years later and I am still growing and learning new things every day within my evolving position. I am so grateful for my internship with this brand and the doors it has opened for me in the early stages of my career."

We strive constantly - and consistently - to do things, not just do things better.

To hear more from our interns, follow us on LinkedIn.