LATL Podcast #2

Dr. Dana Hebriard and representatives from Acreshore discuss their experiences and lessons learned from the Laker Accelerated Talent Link Program. Jenna and Cecilia share their experiences as recent graduates and interns at Acreshore, emphasizing the importance of taking initiative, networking, and showcasing relevant skills and experiences. Chris highlights the value of diverse backgrounds and experiences in the corporate setting. They also discuss how Jenna and Cecilia helped improve the internship program at Acreshore and the positive response they received. Hi, my name is Dr. Dana Hebriard, and I work in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Center for Experiential Learning at Grand Valley State University. I'm joined today by my friends from Acreshore, one of the founding partners of the Laker Accelerated Talent Link Program. We're going to spend a few minutes learning about lessons learned from HR and student perspectives in our inaugural year. Hi, everyone. My name is Jenna Derzma, and I'm from Allegan, Michigan. I just graduated from Grand Valley back in April of 2024, so that was an awesome experience. I graduated with a finance and marketing major, as well as certificates in real estate and project management. And after my internship, I've also continued my career at Acreshore as my first full-time position in HR as an HR associate. Hi, I'm Cecilia. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I just graduated with Jenna in April of 2024 from Grand Valley State University. I ended my college, my undergraduate, with a major in English and a minor in writing, and then also a certificate in project management. So I interned at Acreshore for project management, but currently I'm prepping to go and do a year with the Orthodox Volunteer Corps, which is a similar version of AmeriCorps or Peace Corps, to be doing a year of service out there with refugees, possibly. So it's exciting. Hi, my name is Chris Holka. I grew up in Heartland, Michigan, then went to Saginaw Valley, where I graduated with a degree in communications in 2016. From there, I've moved out to the west side of the state in 2020 and have since joined Acreshore in 2022. I'm now currently one of the associate managers of Home Office Talent Acquisition. One of the reasons I wanted Jenna and Cecilia to be here is because you two sort of took some initiative on your own, and I wanted to get your perspective on what you would recommend to students who are entering their first internship or full-time position. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for myself, being in the same boat, kind of, you know, really getting into my first real job, I guess, after my internship is just, you kind of have to dive headfirst into your career. At first, it was a little scary. I initially was, you know, kind of questioning if I should join a talent link program to begin with. I thought it was definitely an interesting, you know, way to get into work and start an internship, especially at a company such as Acreshore that's just moving at such a fast pace, and they're growing at an enormous and fast rate. So I really thought it would be a good idea to join the program. So my first move really was just to immerse myself in the experience. I mean, Cecilia and I, we kind of jumped on board, and it was great to have such an awesome first cohort as well. But yeah, just my bit of advice is just kind of take the chance and really put yourself out there and make all the connections that you can to start out. Yeah, no, I agree with Jenna. Networking is very important with this kind of stuff, but to answer your question of like being into and going into your first internship, or for me, transitioning from like liberal arts, English, English education to corporate America was very, very different. And the question in my head was, how do I be useful? And that was kind of what prompted me for TalentLink is because I had this English degree. I did not know who was going to hire me or what I was going to do with that. I said no to the teaching world. I was like, how do I become useful? And they offered that program or project management certificate like, oh, that's a way to become useful. And then when I actually started my internship with Acreshore, you know, being an intern, bottom of the totem pole, and you have to be like, okay, how do I be useful? And how do I show that like, I can offer value to a company because the goal of it is to get a job at the end. So and that really was kind of, I think, what led Jenna and I both to kind of look and invest into like helping redevelop the internship layout and program for Acreshore is partly, right, does how do we help future interns become useful and helpful and like gain that experience? And then also, how do we prove ourselves as assets to the company? Yeah. Absolutely. And just thinking about both of your experience, too, going back and even reflecting on the initial phone screens that I performed for both of you, I think it's like a year and a half ago now, thinking back and looking at some of the different calendar invites. A lot of the students, they came in without a real clear direction on where they really wanted to take their degree or some of their different studies or coursework. And I think that even both of you during your phone screens, you were able to come into that conversation and say, hey, these are some of the classes that I've taken. Here's some of the different projects that I've worked on and some of my specific responsibilities inside of that project. Here's where I'm hoping that I can transfer over into that corporate setting. But not really knowing what that end destination looks like, but having some of that different direction and some of that kind of defined interest going into those conversations. Honestly, from my point of view, those were the most productive conversations. People that can come in, be able to articulate a little bit about their experience, some of their different college studies, and how it can hopefully translate over into that next step post-graduation or even internship. Oh, for sure. I mean, when I remember our phone interview, and I brought up the English degree I have, technically English Ed, right? So the metrics of teaching and everything. But what you wanted to talk about a lot was like, oh, well, I've helped out with this club and I facilitated this workshop and I've done this. I was like, what are those things? The extracurriculars that showed a lot of initiative and organization was much more interesting to you as a recruiter than probably like, I've read Shakespeare and I know how to analyze that. You're spot on. You're spot on. And that's a really interesting perspective, too, because it's, again, coming in and being able to have that diverse background of different experiences that you're bringing to the table. I mean, we realize as an employer, a global employer, that these entry-level positions, internship-level positions, people aren't joining in with proven experience most of the time. So it's how can some of these different past experiences or affiliations be relevant or, again, translate over into kind of that corporate setting that you both mentioned already. Yeah, absolutely. I think I remember one of the questions you asked me, Chris, was, you know, tell me about a project that you've worked on. And I was like, oh, man, like, I'm just starting out in my project management, like, workload right now. I haven't joined any classes yet. And I was kind of, like, thrown back for a bit. But then, you know, once you really start to think about your experiences, and especially when you're trying to promote yourself to a recruiter and really sell why you would be a good individual for the position, you know, it's not necessarily always about your classes. I mean, that is obviously such a huge component of your learning and your education. But you also have to look outside and see what you've done as an individual and, you know, maybe in your past experiences or your past internships, your past jobs. I mean, I talked a lot about my time as a server when, you know, I'm connecting with different recruiters or hiring managers, because I feel like that experience is, you know, kind of huge and shows who I am as an individual and what skills I can bring to the table rather than, you know, oh, I did take this class. But maybe that doesn't necessarily connect on that level that my past experiences and skills would have. Right. You hit the nail on the head, in my mind. So, again, someone that can come in with those diverse backgrounds and experiences and be able to understand that, hey, I'm going to be able to come in, I'm going to have to learn a lot, but I'm excited to do that. So being able to be adaptable, I'm sure you both know how, you know, how crazy Akershaw environment is, you know, on any given week. So both of you coming in to a team that was going through a little bit of change with the retirement at the leadership level. Yeah. Again, getting some stability from that standpoint. But I know both of you and a few other of our interns came in and really just took ownership of the internship as kind of the reality of what it came down to, found some of the different pain points that we needed to address as an organization and kind of made that your internship project. And I know we, us three, along with one of the other project managers, we sat down and we went over that project afterwards. And I know it's something that we're going to be using in the coming years as well for the internship program. So I mean, looking back on it, it's just an incredible document that I'm really thankful to be able to leverage, to be completely honest. So it's just a great experience. But again, being able to bring in that perspective and being able to be willing to jump in and be a part of an ever-changing landscape, you know, being able to highlight that in a phone screen, I think is pretty important. I will say, and Chris, you'll have to tell me if this is like more so specific to Akershare because my corporate experience is very limited, but I was surprised when we, when Jenna and I kind of took on like, okay, like let's map out and like put some more details into like this internship program and things like that, just because it hadn't really been done at Akershare before. I was so surprised at how many yeses we got. We're like, hey, we like want to do this. We have this idea. And they're like, sounds amazing. And I was like, oh, I thought I was going to have to prove, you know, this and this. And like, it was just so much support for the creativity and like, you know, and also that open-minded adaptability to go, oh, maybe we are missing something or maybe we didn't quite think of something like that. But the go-aheads we got was just, that's a great idea. You should, okay, spend some time on that. What? No, I appreciate you bringing that up because it kind of reminds me back to some of the core things that I always look for in almost every candidate I talk to, especially for roles over here at Akershare. People with that, people that have that sense of ownership as well as not being completely task-dependent. People that can see the bigger picture of a project, of an initiative, process, something that can be improved. That's ultimately what both of you did. You kind of came in, took it, you know, had complete ownership of it and then made it a lot better as well. So again, being able to highlight some of those different opportunities, Jenna, like you said, through some of the different projects when you're a server, different experiences as well. Those are all great things that I think translate to any environment, not just Akershare too. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think for me, and I mean, I'm sure Cecilia as well, is just having the initiative to be curious and to really get your hands on as much as you possibly can and want to learn. That's the biggest thing that I think really made me successful in my role as an intern was just the fact that I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could and soak up as much information about the organization, about the job, about the career path that it really could take me on. And yeah, that's just my biggest piece of advice really is just go out there and get your hands on as much as you can. You know, maybe sometimes you might be playing in the dirt a little bit, but you have an opportunity to make something, you know, great and really just, you know, excel in your role. And don't be afraid because you're speaking to, you know, okay, maybe someone like Chris who's a recruiter. Now I've gotten to know Chris and, you know, I'm pretty good friends with him and I just really appreciate that component of being able to expand my network and go out there and talk to different people and these are the experiences and where they've taken me. So yeah, just don't be afraid and be willing to reach out and talk to new people and get your hands dirty. And I love what you said, Jenna, about curiosity because I'm seeing some trends, right? Curiosity, adaptability, innovation, that willingness to get your hands dirty. And a lot of that also aligns with the mission of, you know, if you looked at AccreSure's mission, if you looked at other organizational missions, they're looking for that curious mindset. And so Chris, as a recruiter, how would you articulate or encourage someone who is in that exploration phase sort of align their goals with the work of an organization? Absolutely. And with this internship program, I think that's going to be the first step. A lot of the students that I speak to are at an incredible spot with just starting their careers and being able to have some of these, you know, first steps professionally going into a corporate organization. So being able to come in and say, hey, this is the schooling that I've done. Here's some of the classes that I've completed or even some of the specific projects that I've managed and saw through to completion. Here's the end result. Being able to translate some of that core experience over into the position that you're applying to. So I'm sure all of us sitting here know job descriptions. A lot of them are just laundry list of items of different bullet points of key responsibilities and requirements. A lot of that are pretty broad. There's a few very specific things that we generally look for in every description. But a lot of them are going to be focused on those soft skills. So someone coming in that is looking to get their toes into a couple different areas or doesn't really know where they want to begin but understand that that's the next stage after school. They don't want to go towards a graduate program or continued education from there. So being able to come in to some of these different phone screens and explain what you're looking to do and how you're looking to apply some of these skills that you've gained throughout higher education over into the corporate environment, I think that's exactly it. Yeah. No. And if I can add to that, Dana, it's interesting because we're talking about curiosity. Talent Link really sets up its students and participants. You kind of are forced to be curious a little bit, right? I mean, predominantly going for liberal arts majors and things like that. You have to admit you don't know something to be curious. And I was very adamant with my supervisor going into one project management and corporate America like, okay, maybe I know project management in essence, but I don't know how it's done here. I don't know necessarily all the vocabulary. I don't know FinTech or IT or insurance. And so I had to be curious about everything. And because of that, it forced me to, I was thinking of things in not necessarily the routine way. That was green. But no, I was just thinking about that. If you're in Talent Link and you're kind of taking that leap, which is a challenging leap, you're kind of forced to be curious, which is great. Any funny stories? Any stories that you ... Oh, gosh. I'm just thinking about the one internship activity that Akersher hosted. It was the Funky Buddha hot yoga. Oh, I still go to Funky Buddha. I love it. So I think our office is right next door to that yoga studio. Yeah. Is that the one that you all went to? Yeah. We got free passes for a yoga class, and we wanted to bond with each other as interns, which was funny. And so we all decided to do a hot yoga class together, which was ... Granted, some of us knew each other from school. I've known Jenna before Talent Link from just dorms and classes and stuff, but it was very interesting. And then we did another one a couple months later for Employee Appreciation Month, and I was so nervous because I was like, what co-worker am I going to see in their yoga house? I was really ... I was like, my supervisor hopefully is not going to show up. But it was great. That was fun. Yeah. I'm just also reflecting back about the Griffins game that we went to as well. That was a really good experience being able to go into the ... That was my first time inside of the Acresure suite, so I'm glad that we were able to get that for the event as well. But the mascot came in, we were all able to get some pictures and enjoy a game. I think it was an Overtime Thriller, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't it? So again, just being able to be a part of some of these different experiences as well. It's been a lot of fun to be a part of the program. I can add in my kind of funny experience. Acresure has a lot of acronyms, and they use Acra for a lot of things. So they basically created a Monopoly game called AcroWorld, or is it AcroLand? It's AcroLand. So we played AcroLand at one of our cohort meetings with all of the interns, and that was always so fun just to see what naming Acresure could come up with to make it their own. So that was always a fun experience. Well, and you're getting at the internal ethos of an organization too. And so as a new employee, whether it's an internship or a young professional, or even a seasoned professional coming into a new environment, you're having to adapt and understand that culture and that ethos and identity of the organization. And to kind of dig into, well, how do I show up at work? And you want to show up as your authentic self, but you also want to understand everyone around you and how they function as well. And that's not just like Microsoft Teams or a different platform showing up, but it's showing up as your person too. Like, how do you present at a meeting, or how do you come into a project, and what initiatives do you take? That's a great point, Dana. And I think at these early stages of a lot of the students that you and I are working with at their point in their career, being able to come onsite to an organization, have that onsite presence, be a part of some of these different groups, some of these after work events, it might not seem like a lot, and maybe some days it might be a little bit cumbersome, but the reality is being able to be a part of an actual culture, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. And to be involved, it's, you know, as I've gotten older and older and more involved inside of the, I guess, kind of the professional world here, I'm starting to realize it's like work events like that is where you make some really good friends, and, you know, it turns out that they're just your peers that are sitting on the other side of the floor too. So it's opportunities like that that are a lot of fun. Yeah. I totally forgot. Jenna and I, Akashar did like Volunteer Week, and so Jenna and I went and volunteered for Special Olympics because they were doing mock interviews for, like, teens and young 20-year-olds who were trying to, like, practice their interview skills. Really fun. Very weird to be on the other side of, like, an interview and interviewing people. But it was really cool because there was a whole room of Akashar employees who you got to see, you know, as employees in the hallway, but, oh, wait, these are, like, real people who really care about, like, you know, their community around them and everything like that. That was the big draw for me with Akashar over other companies was how much they invested in, like, the Grand Rapids community and, like, you know, donating to the Children's Hospital or building an amphitheater or just how they take care of their employees and all this. Like, oh, this is a company that has a spirit and a culture, you know? Absolutely. And I think that's one of the reasons why Akashar was so excited to partner with Grand Valley for this program, be able to, you know, kind of foster and build a local pipeline of students that are already going to school here, a lot of whom are from the area but might not be familiar with the types of local opportunities that are around here. So this program, I know Akashar is one of just a handful of organizations that were a part of it, but I know the program is continuing to grow. There's more organizations joining from what I've heard. So it's just a great opportunity for students to come in, just kind of understand what's really out there as well. Well, thank you all for being here and for chatting. Is there any final thoughts that you would want to leave? It'll seem really hard in the beginning. The gap, at least for me, from going from, like, school and then also, you know, a major that wasn't kind of parallel to corporate to working and doing that was really hard. But by the end of my internship, I felt very valued and needed in the company, you know? The learning curve is pretty sharp, but it does end. You do get to know what you're doing towards the end of it, so keep going with it. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with that. And I think kind of in my continuation from a role as an intern and now continuing on with Akashar in HR, it's just been a really awesome experience to meet and connect with my new teammates and, you know, really get involved deeper into a corporate position. And it was really hard at first, as Cecilia said, you know, you kind of have to take that dive of the unknowingness and, you know, at first, I was like, oh, man, I don't know how this is going to end up. Am I going to have a job after all of this? How hard am I going to have to work? And, you know, you have to put in the work for it, but it will indeed pay off in the end. And I am so happy to be where I'm at right now with Akashar. That's awesome. Well, thank you to my guests for being here and to the listeners for taking the time to be with us. And if you're interested in learning more about Talent Link or experiential learning at Grand Valley State University, please check out our website at gvsu.edu slash ccel. Thanks.