Taja Tillman. Courtesy photo
Yrrasha Taylor. Courtesy photo
Omar Sims. Courtesy photo
Internships are a great part of the college experience. They give students the chance to explore their respectful work fields and gain skills.
They also help to make students more competitive in the workforce once they graduate.
Taja Tillman, a junior accounting major from Houston, Texas, had the opportunity to intern with Bank of America in Houston as a Digital Ambassador. Being an accounting major, this internship was very beneficial for her.
“My job description was to help shorten the line by pushing Bank of America clients to use online and mobile banking,’’ Tillman said.
Her position required her to show people that they can handle their financial needs from a cellular device or computer without inconveniencing themselves by coming to the bank.
“I learned a lot about how the banking world works just by observation and asking questions to help better assist clients,” Tillman said.
“I benefited from this experience tremendously because I am also a Bank of America account holder, and I learned a lot of things I didn’t even know myself,” Tillman said.
Tillman believes that the internship was super beneficial to her. It allowed her to get a glimpse of how her future career may look. She also was able to identify things that she enjoyed and didn’t enjoy in the career field.
Yrrasha Taylor, a senior mass communication major, interned at WAFB-TV’s News Department in Baton Rouge.
“My purpose of the internship at WAFB was to gain knowledge from the broadcast industry and learn more as a producer,” Taylor said.
“I learned how to write VOs (voice overs) for the evening newscasts at WAFB, transcribe sound bites and edit videos.”
Taylor was given a variety of assignments in which helped her to acquire more skills and experience.
“I benefited from it by being able to become more eager as a person, become a fast learner, and be more comfortable in the newsroom with people I don’t know and things I never really saw or heard about,” Taylor said.
“Now I feel like I am better at all those things I did at my internship. I overcame so much during my time there, and everything was definitely a breeze once it got close to the end.”
Omar Sims, a senior criminal justice major from Flint, Michigan, interned in human resources at DM Burr Group Headquarters based in his hometown.
“During my internship I was able to learn everything related to researching candidates, hiring them and if necessary firing employees,” Sims said.
“The biggest thing I learned was when conducting criminal justice research…minor arrests and criminal records strongly limit employment opportunities.”
He was offered a full-time position from his work this summer. However he doesn’t plan on returning to Michigan to pursue employment.
“My goal is to go to graduate school and receive a master’s in public administration or criminal justice,” Sims said. “It is my ultimate goal to work within the intelligence community interrogating terrorist as an intelligence officer.”