Applying and ultimately accepting an internship at Spreetail was one of the most enriching and rewarding decisions I have made throughout my time in college – and I’m confident it will be for you as well. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the time I’ve spent here has been life-changing.
I started as an Inventory Analyst Intern in the summer of 2019 and continued that role part-time during the following academic year. In the summer of 2020, I participated in Spreetail’s virtual internship program as a Financial Analyst Intern. Now, I am working part-time as a Refunds Analyst until I graduate in December when I will start full-time.
Thinking back to the first few weeks of my Spreetail journey, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t the training I went through to catch me up to speed with the rest of the company. The first thing is the people I was able to meet and spend time with. The intern cohort of 2019 came to the Lincoln office over a hot week in May to learn and integrate into the company. I was relieved to find the other interns as uncertain as I was. The majority of my initial knowledge of Spreetail came from a few articles I had Googled and my interviews. It turned out not to matter. Any amount of research or training sessions I had gone through on my own would never match the experience gained from simply interacting with the other interns and employees at Spreetail. Learning what other people were doing informed what I would be doing, and vice versa. I was told my position used Spreetail’s in-house software, and then at lunch, out of pure coincidence, I would talk to the people who helped build the tools I would be using. These were individuals who were proud of what they were doing because it mattered to them. The people – both interns and full-timers – were authentic in a way I wasn’t used to.
That authenticity leads to an environment that I thrive in. The care that my coworkers put into their work make it all but impossible not to follow suit. That mindset – constantly pursuing challenges and raising your bar – exists across every team at Spreetail. Problems facing the business are challenges to overcome and lessons to learn, which allows us to grow professionally. Thinking like this led to the work I am most proud of from my time here. I taught myself how to use various programs, collaborated outside my department, and stepped up for roles I never would have seen myself doing otherwise - all to increase the quality of my work.
That feeling of authenticity and genuine care for the work remains true today. During the virtual internship program, the mindset persisted. Once again, the interns and full-timers were putting intention behind everything. It was because of this mindset that was customary at Spreetail that lead me to apply – and ultimately be accepted – for my current role as Refunds Analyst. Being proficient in analytics is a good start, but giving effort and intention to what I commit to has gotten me farther than a skillset alone could have. I look forward to advancing my skills and knowledge base as I develop reporting for Spreetail. Even more so, I look forward to the opportunities I don’t even know exist that will appear at Spreetail as time marches on.
If I was asked to give advice to possible future Spreetail Interns (which I was) it would be this: having the skillset to do your work is the ticket in the door, but that’s not all you’re capable of. Stay curious, stay ambitious, and take pride in what you do.
Refunds Analyst
