When looking to start your career, you consider the type of work involved, but do you consider the greater impact of the work itself?

The American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, and the organization is now in its 100th year. Working with over 35 million volunteers and supporters, the non-profit Association makes a real impact with its focus on cardiovascular and overall health, saving millions of lives.

Heart disease and stroke are the two leading causes of death worldwide, and for survivors, they can diminish the quality of life. The Association’s mission is to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives, by funding innovative research (more than $5 billion to date), advocating for the public’s health, and sharing lifesaving resources, with a focus on ensuring equitable health in all communities.

The American Heart Association has strong tailored early career programs for people to pursue their goals, such as their internship program, the Scholars program, and HeartCorps, the Association’s public health AmeriCorps program.

Employees at the Association join the organization from varied backgrounds. Some bring experience from major corporations, some recently finished their education, and some are transitioning from the military. No matter your entry point, the Association is a strong and meaningful place to start, build, or grow your career.

The Internship Program

The American Heart Association’s structured internship program offers interns opportunities within many departments. The organization is committed to provide students with real-time, meaningful experiences to learn about and assist with the work done there.

The internships span across different disciplines, such as Operations, Fundraising, Marketing, Health Strategies, and Science and Research. Dion Bart, a Communications Intern who later joined the American Heart Association full-time, talked about his experience as an intern, touching on the structure, supportive environment, opportunities for growth, inclusive company culture and the importance of voicing opinions and asking for help in order to succeed.

Dion’s work as an intern included creating and implementing a communications and social media plan for a major event (Heart Walk). He gained firsthand experience of what a communications director does, which helped position himself for a full-time job at the American Heart Association.

Another intern, Sha’Dasia Reynolds, began as an intern in Community Impact and extended her internship in Human Resources with University Relations. Through her work in two different departments, she gained even more valuable experience and understanding of what it is like to work at the Association. Now, she is taking what she learned as an intern and providing feedback to make the internship experience even better.

Darjé Bennett talked about her experience transitioning from the military and into the American Heart Association. She expressed her gratitude for how the organization –– and especially the mentors –– helped her re-enter the civilian workforce. As she began her internship, she discovered how her military experience translated into real-life work experience.

Darjé was another intern who was able to transition into a full-time position at the Association. She also shared how supportive the Association has been for her as a working mom, providing her with flexibility. For more information about The American Heart Association’s careers, look here.

WayUp also spoke with Christen Lawrence, an HBCU graduate from Miles College, who interned with the American Heart Association following her participation as an HBCU Scholar. As part of its comprehensive work toward building equitable health, the American Heart Association has partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), and other accredited colleges to help students earn professional degrees in the biomedical and health sciences. These scholar programs at the organization provide an experience over an academic year that focuses on research methodologies as well as the social impact caused by health disparities and inequities.

Being a scholar gave Christen valuable research opportunities, addressed representation in the workplace, and emphasized the value of mental well-being and career development all of which helped her build confidence as a young professional. She spoke highly of that opportunity and how it provided her with valuable networking opportunities and sparked her interest in becoming an intern with the Association.

The exposure to leadership at company events helped increase networking skills, which paid off for Christen as she accepted a full-time role after completing her internship.

HeartCorps Program

Beyond the standard internship program, the Association has the HeartCorps program, launched in partnership with AmeriCorps. HeartCorps is a public health AmeriCorps service program where members gain valuable professional public health experience while advancing more equitable health outcomes for rural communities.

WayUp spoke with Janninah Miller, a current HeartCorps member, about her experience. Janninah serves with a Health Center and works on community health assessment projects and helped address food insecurity and transportation issues. She shared how the HeartCorps program gave her valuable experience toward her long-term career goals.

For students interested in public health, the HeartCorps program is a great one to explore during your early career development. For information about HeartCorps, contact them at HeartCorps@heart.org.

Career Development Opportunities

As shown above, many interns are given opportunities to extend their internship or join the organization full-time, and praised the program for how well it was structured to provide them with a meaningful experience.

Tips for the internship interview process? Former interns noted the interviews are conversational and suggest being true to yourself and asking questions, so candidates show their authentic selves. Many interns also discussed why they wanted to work in the non-profit sector.

The American Heart Association fosters career opportunities for early career professionals who are looking to start or continue their career. Whether you’re looking for a full-time, part-time, or internship role, there are various roles at the American Heart Association that you can explore.

Notably, the American Heart Association was recognized on the Forbes 2023 list of America’s Best Midsize Employers. The AHA also earned a top spot on DiversityInc’s 2023 lists of Top Hospitals and Health Systems, Top Companies for Board of Directors, and Noteworthy Companies. The organization has also been named a Leading Disability Employer for the fourth consecutive year, by the National Organization on Disability (NOD). Working for an established organization has many benefits, including professional opportunities. Employees have access to HeartU, which offers state-of-the-art online training courses to enhance career development.

WayUp is here to help you navigate your career ambitions. If you are interested in applying for an internship or exploring open positions, you can learn more on WayUp’s page here.

The post Want a Career with Impact? Work at the American Heart Association appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Applying for internships can be a stressful process, especially as the pressure increases for college upperclassmen to determine their plans for life after graduation. Not only are students looking for internships that provide hands-on learning opportunities, but they are also hoping to find a program that fosters their own professional development as they evaluate what to pursue in their first job. 

Many large companies have well established internship programs that act as a pipeline for their early career talent. If you are looking for a purpose-driven company that provides interns with real-world experience, look no further. 

Elevance Health is a health company dedicated to improving lives and communities – and making healthcare simpler. Previously known as Anthem, Inc., Elevance Health is utilized by 1 out of every 8 Americans. The company has over 100,000 employees, 71% of which are women and 44% are minorities. Elevance Health was recently featured on the Forbes Best Employers for New Graduates List. This year’s WayUp’s Intern List received over 400 nominations and recognized the top 100 interns. Two Elevance Health interns, Aashish Balani (Business Analyst Intern) and Katelyn Mueller (Documentation Analyst Intern), made the top 100 intern list. 

Recently, WayUp spoke with four former (and some still current) interns who shared about their internship experience. In our conversations, we learned about Elevance’s inclusive and welcoming culture, the meaningful projects and real work experience gained, and the mentorship opportunities as a part of the program. 

First, it was obvious from our conversations how much the interns genuinely loved their time working at Elevance Health. Not only were they eager to share about their experience, but they also spoke about how grateful they were for the real work opportunities, which helped them determine more of what to pursue in a career. As one of the greatest indicators of the value of an internship, many acknowledged how they would love an opportunity to join the organization full-time after graduation.

A few key takeaways were the value of mentorship as a part of the program and how that helped interns grow professionally and personally. The strong company culture and mentorship equipped them with skills and resources to become hopeful about their own career opportunities and trajectories. Beyond the program itself, interns spoke about the intrinsic value of the work and how the mission aligns with their desire to develop initiatives to help communities. 

Q: What did you like most about working at Elevance Health?

As mentioned previously, Elevance Health provides hands-on learning opportunities to interns as a part of the internship. Whether it was reaching out to providers for data collection or checking for data accuracy and inconsistencies, Allie worked to support the Provider Relations department. Additionally, the Solutions Analytics department incorporated Chris’ interests in automation technology to support larger company goals to ensure Elevance is on the front-end of AI. 

In any given summer, there are 200+ interns working at Elevance Health in offices across the country. Notably, Elevance has a regional presence in all 50 states. The projects the interns worked on throughout the summer varied based upon region needs and department initiatives, but each project was meaningful and applicable to the day-to-day functioning of the organization.

Q: What was your favorite project? What kind of work did you do?

The work itself is integral to any internship program, but the company culture has a significant impact as well, especially as it relates to the interns’ overall experience. It is one thing for a company to say it has a strong culture and it is another to live it out. The former interns at Elevance shared how obvious it was that Elevance really cares for their employees – not just as a buzzword but in how it lives out its company values.

The culture was described as inclusive, welcoming, and a team atmosphere. From sharing constructive criticism and feedback to offering certifications and learning, Elevance invests in the ongoing improvement of their employees. Interns described the warmth of relationships and how colleagues would ask about their projects and offer support for anything they were working on during the internship.

Q: How would you describe the company’s culture?

After reading their experiences, you may be thinking, “I want to work there!” We also spoke with the former interns to understand their own interview process and what helped them stand out. Networking, self-confidence, and passion were the greatest recommendations for landing the internship. 

One former intern shared about their own goals and how they could bring diverse ideas into a space. Their interests aligned with Elevance’s mission, which helped fuel a sense of mutual purpose into the internship experience. Others mentioned taking advantage of all the professional opportunities and networking engagements throughout the internship. For some, they were even offered to extend their internship past the summer and are still working there today. 

Beyond the strong company culture, a theme that emerged from the interns was how much they felt supported and valued even as interns. The internship program hosts an Intern Summit where interns from all over the country travel to meet and network with other interns and professionals. A few of the former interns highlighted that trip as a memorable experience to meet with the recruiting team, executives, and engage with others in the office. Not many companies offer an experience like that for their interns.

Elevance Health offers a rich experience for interns across a variety of practices and departments. If you’re wondering how to apply, you can learn more about Elevance Health’s internship program and work opportunities on their WayUp profile!

The post Discover Why Students Love Interning with Elevance Health appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Until she accepted an internship at EMC (which later integrated with Dell), Meg Evangelista’s background was all about higher education. Dell was her first business internship, and before she started, she was worried that she’d be just another intern at the world’s largest IT company.

Today, Meg is Dell’s College Program Manager, focusing on university relations. As part of her job, she leads her company’s summer intern program, making sure hundreds of interns a year have the same (or an even better) experience she had as a Dell intern. She also leads Dell’s campus ambassador program and diversity program initiatives.

Here’s how Meg made a big impact at a company of over 100,000 employees.

Making Connections and Changing Perceptions

“During my internship, I knew security desk team members, executives, and teammates outside of my immediate organization,” says Meg. “It’s important to me to not be ‘just another number.” And even though Dell is a big company, she knows she can make a name for herself by supporting managers, interns, leaders, and teammates. In fact, seeing how easy it was to build those relationships made her hesitations about a big company disappear and helped her see herself at Dell long-term.

Growing Responsibilities

When Meg started as an EMC intern, she spent most of her time focusing on the company’s summer internship program. She organized networking opportunities for the interns, helped them with professional development, and arranged speaking sessions so they had a chance to meet with company executives.

At the end of her internship, Meg received a full-time offer from EMC, where her responsibilities grew to include overseeing initiatives like the company’s campus ambassador program and diversity programs. But the real change happened in the fall of last year, when the two companies merged to form Dell EMC. When that happened, the internship program that Meg oversaw nearly doubled in size.

That shift presented an amazing opportunity for Meg, who dove head-first into merging the two programs, working to create an amazing experience for all interns, regardless of their functional area or location.

The Secret to Standing Out

Meg didn’t just share her experience with us. She also shared advice for standing out at a company as big as Dell. “Adaptability is key,” she says. “My role requires me to wear many different hats. Some days, I come into the office and check off each item on my to-do list. Other days, I know by 9:15 in the morning that my day is going to look very different than I planned.”

She’s also worked hard to become the go-to resource on Dell’s internship program and has taken on more responsibilities to keep growing at the company. Working on Dell’s diversity program and collaborating with the brand team to promote opportunities and programs for college students are just two of the things she’s taken on since joining Dell as an intern.  

Supporting Future Interns

“It’s intimidating to enter a new company for 12 weeks and onboard quickly enough to produce meaningful work,” she says. Since Meg was an intern herself, she knows that feeling well and uses it to her advantage when welcoming each new intern class. “I want to give interns the tools and resources to determine if Dell is the right fit for them—whether they return to Dell full-time or pursue other opportunities.”

But she couldn’t do it alone. Dell has a global internship program and Meg’s team spans the United States and Canada. To make sure every intern her team works with has a great experience (whether they work in her office or not) she partners with team members in other locations who serve as local contacts for each intern. For Meg, there’s nothing like getting a note from an intern or manager that mentions their positive experience.

Coming Full-Circle

Most of us, like Meg, had (or have) certain ideas about what it would mean to work  for a big company. Now, Meg has made it her mission to show others that a big team can also mean a big impact. “On their first day, I tell interns that they’re extremely fortunate to be a part of the world’s largest IT company,” she says. “They have the resources and support of a large business, and the personal touch of a small startup.”

Ready to make your mark at Dell? Head over to WayUp to learn more and explore their open positions!

The post “I Thought Big Companies Didn’t Have a Sense of Community”—How Meg Evangelista Found Her Dream Job in an Unexpected Place appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.