This Fall, I worked as a financial analyst intern for a fashion website owned by Amazon called MyHabit.com. In my position, I reported to the finance department with what they call “data analysis.” In other words, I periodically reported what profits the company had made, allowing the company to cater to what most customers were buying.
This Fall, I worked as a financial analyst intern for a fashion website owned by Amazon called Some background: The typical route of an accounting major is to work as a summer intern for one of the big four accounting firms. When that didn’t go as planned, it was time for me to look into other options. Summer was soon approaching and I exhausted many of my options. Knowing that every company needs an accountant, I asked my sister to send in my resume to Amazon, thinking that it would probably be a really cool place to work. Little did I know, she had sent my resume to a six month internship at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington. When I received an offer for the internship, I spent many days deciding whether or not to move to Seattle for six months. Thankfully, after some negotiation, Amazon offered me their one intern position in NYC.
One of the most amazing parts of my internship was being able to come back and live at Stern. Although I was living a completely different life than my fellow classmates, coming back to the dorm was always refreshing. I was able to be involved in student activities, eat in the caf and see friends on a regular basis. Having these familiar routines from my “pre-job” days really helped me adjust to a totally different environment.
Still living in the dorms while working full-time posed some interesting moments between me and my roommates. I would come back and see my roommates studying and would talk to them about their classes, but there was this disconnect between the two of us as what I was doing at work was so different than anything I have learned in school; “work-work” and “school-work” were as opposite as could be. My work schedule was much harder than I thought it would be, but, looking back I’m glad that I got a taste of it now as an undergrad so that I know that I can better prepare myself for the challenges of post-graduation life. It was terrific to be part of something greater than myself. It was also a really valuable experience to see the back-end of retail and the amount of work that goes on in companies like Amazon. When I shop online, I don’t think about all the people sitting on the other end of the screen but with my job, that demographic was all I could think about.
Taking a semester off in order to have a full-time job taught me life lessons that I couldn’t learn in a classroom. I don’t know that I would recommend taking a semester off to work to everyone but for me it was invaluable. It taught me about communication in the workplace and how to have professional interaction in an office setting. The internship also helped me understand aspects of myself that needed improvement, and helped me become aware of skills that I had developed, such as Microsoft Excel. The internship gave me confidence in myself and my business experience. I now go to interviews and feel confident that I can contribute to the team.
After spending six months experiencing the “real world”, I have come to realize that having the flexibility of choosing my own class schedule and being in a Jewish environment (where I don’t have to explain Kashrut and Shabbat), are aspects of attending Stern that I should be more grateful for. I also realized that most people don’t realize how much social life is inherent to school. As I return to school this semester I definitely want to take advantage of student life activities and clubs since this will be my last opportunity to participate in this kind of setting. The internship showed me that in the beginning you’re going to be slow and you’re going to make mistakes, but you can’t lose motivation. Eventually you will get the hang of it and you’ll learn the ropes of your work place. It also made me realize this: don’t rush through college. Take it one day at a time — really live in the moment and appreciate the resources and stage you’re in now.