When you hear the word “intern”, you may think of a bright-eyed student eager to pick up morning coffees for the team and sit in on meetings where content goes over their head and into their notebooks alongside the questions they wrote but aren’t even sure of the meaning behind them. At Flex HR, however, interns are a truly integral part of the team and work towards a greater purpose. Thursday, July 30th is National Intern Day. To celebrate, we want to highlight our interns; the newest members of our team whose fresh perspectives are shaping how we interact with clients and continue to build upwards after 25 years of success.
Why Do Internships in HR Matter?
Internships in most industry fields offer a taste of the work, but internships in HR offer a front-row seat to how a business actually runs. There’s no better training ground for understanding how people operations work than sitting inside the department that touches every employee’s paycheck, benefits, compliance, and career milestones. Our interns are handling real questions, real deadlines, and real business cycles from day one. The stakes are immediate, and so is the learning curve. At Flex HR, hands-on exposure spans everything from client-facing service to the behind-the-scenes systems that keep a business compliant across state lines, giving interns a rare, holistic view of what makes organizations function.
A Quick Look at Current Internship Trends
The stakes of getting internships have never been higher. Gen Z now makes up 18% of the U.S. workforce, and by 2030 they’re projected to account for 30% of the workforce globally. This means today’s interns aren’t just seasonal help, they’re creating the talent pipeline every industry will depend on within the decade. Gen Z is looking for more than a paycheck: Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that learning and development ranks among their top three priorities when choosing an employer. Programs that offer real mentorship and meaningful project ownership, not just busywork, are the ones that will earn this generation’s loyalty and turn a summer internship into a long-term career.
Most internship programs are formulated for students getting ready to graduate or brand-new graduates. These individuals are beginning their professional journeys and bring well-versed classroom knowledge, as well as digital competency and fresh perspectives to the table. Hands-on learning projects from college courses and special programs serve as a foundation for the experience and knowledge that interns provide. Every project, course, and certification helps internship candidates stand out against the masses and brings forth the background for the work they will complete as an intern.
Real Work, Real Impact
Flex HR’s summer interns have been working in two areas: marketing and operations. Despite just beginning their professional experience, our interns have excelled in their respective departments and have taken on projects of real-world relevance.
It’s important to our team that our interns are given tasks that are both applicable and vital, not just busy work to fill their time. These contributions may not be client-facing, but they affect what we do for our clients and are hugely beneficial to our relationship with our valued clients, enhancing the way we interact, and deliver our high touch support on a day-to-day basis.
Straight From the Source
It’s easy to see not only the real impact that our interns have had on us, but just as easy to see their experience with us has had an influence on them. Olivia Christie, one of our operations interns, shares that “all the full-time employees and managers are eager to get interns involved on the team and get to know each of the interns. All of the managers I have gotten to work with have been super helpful, appreciative of my work, and remember little details about me.” Our marketing intern, Mara Little, echoes this sentiment, sharing “from my first meeting, I felt a sense of security and appreciation with Flex HR. The team is full of exceptional individuals who are ready to welcome you to the company with open arms. At no point have I ever felt unappreciated while being part of the team. It can be hard to find that sort of environment, and I’m beyond grateful to be part of it here.” Feeling that hard work matters is a huge part of a positive internship experience, and we’re proud to support that belief.
HR Operations: Cleaning Up From the Inside Out
Our interns working with our operations team have had quite a productive summer. Between the three of them, several important projects have been completed, including a complete audit and redesign of our HR training platform and discovering and implementing new automation efforts with AI tools. These contributions are critical to our continued success as a business, and we couldn’t be more thankful for our interns’ efforts to take us to the next level. Hannah Gorisek, one of our operations interns, shares her experience working with these projects: “My main project has been the Trainual redesign; working to audit our current content, interview department heads to create department-specific content, and build out various new modules. Alongside that, I’ve also been part of the AI group working on our Zero Consulting Hour initiative to help automate key processes, as well as hands-on work in Harvest (a timekeeping tool), conducting research for various teams, and other projects along the way.”
Olivia adds to this, stating “I have worked very closely with Hannah to audit the content we have and have interacted with all the Flex HR departments to make department–specific content. Flex HR has added numerous departments since the last time the company has created training content, so it has been exciting to create engaging content that accommodates the company’s growth.” We’re thrilled to have these amazing interns on our operations team and are so thankful they chose to spend their summer with us!
Marketing: Sharing a Story Worth Hearing
Our marketing team has also had quite the eventful last few weeks since our intern Mara joined. She explains “I had just graduated from Auburn University when I started this role with Flex HR. It’s been amazing to see my classroom education translated into real-world situations with deliverable results.” Some of those deliverable results include organizing client testimonials for marketing purposes, creating graphics and social posts, and learning more about how to leverage Answer Engine Optimization within digital marketing. “AEO is a newly emerging marketing tool, and it has been extremely exciting to get to sit in the driver’s seat for implementation. Taking on the responsibility of being the team member responsible for learning about how we can use this new technology to market differently is very rewarding,” Mara adds.
Since Mara joined our marketing team, we’ve been able to put out significantly more content and experiment with our marketing efforts. Marketing is constantly changing, and we’re thankful to have an intern like Mara to stay on top of all those adjustments and ensure we’re pivoting towards success instead of falling behind.
Building the Next 25 Years of Success
As Flex HR marks 25 years of helping businesses build stronger, more compliant workplaces, our interns are a reminder of why this work matters in the first place. It’s about people and investing in the next generation of them. To our interns who spent these last few weeks as a part of our team: thank you for your curiosity, your questions, and the fresh energy you brought to every department you touched. You didn’t just support our work, you reminded us why we started it 25 years ago. Here’s to the next 25 years, and to the interns who will help shape them for years to come.
Interested in learning more about how Flex HR supports HR teams and the businesses they serve? Contact us today to start building your HR support team.
