Summer – a time when flowers are blooming, and college students are heading out for summer vacation or internship and job opportunities.
This year, however, was different. The country watched as COVID-19 spread throughout the world, eventually making its way to the United States. With the virus came fear, uncertainty, challenges and a lot of change.
Lowe’s also had to make changes to its internship program. The company pivoted from the traditional in-office internship experiences it once offered to high-quality, virtual experiences packed with learning opportunities, insightful discussion, projects and networking opportunities.
“We monitored the spread of COVID-19 and quickly came to the conclusion that we were going to have to transform our program to fit the situation,” said Lowe’s University Recruiting Manager Toria Weltz. “Like many companies, we started doing research to learn alternate options and what we found allowed us to give students a meaningful and fun experience.”
Lowe’s decided to create a virtual internship experience for students who were scheduled to participate in opportunities at a company store support center and its store and regional distribution center internships were postponed until the winter.
“Essentially, my team rewrote our program to fit an online or virtual setting while providing a rigorous and real-world experience for students, all in a matter of a couple of weeks,” Weltz said.
More than 12,000 students applied for 227 internship opportunities throughout the company. Interns are undergraduate- and graduate-level students who represent more than 60 universities and 20 states. About 128 students participated in the summer internship program, dedicating almost 60,000 hours to their summer projects and supporting various departments including, human resources, technology, merchandising, supply chain and operations, finance and store support. They participated in focus groups, panel discussions, a community service project, the executive speaker series and more.
Like other interns, Nicole Dawson, a second-year Drucker School of Management MBA student at Claremont Graduate University, was unable to participate in an in-person experience. Despite the distance, Nicole was able to see company leaders work through difficult situations, including the COVID-19 pandemic and recent racial inequality and political issues throughout the country.
“The most interesting part of my internship at Lowe’s has been learning about the business of retail from an essential retailer standpoint,” Dawson said. “The other really interesting and inspirational part of my internship has been observing how Lowe’s has responded to COVID-19 and the racial tension going on in the U.S. Lowe’s has handled these issues in the most graceful, powerful and inspirational ways with both customers and associates. Lowe’s has really shown a great deal of leadership during these very uncertain times.”
Likewise, Trey Corriher, a senior business administration undergraduate student at North Carolina State University, wasn’t sure what the virtual internship experience would be like.
“Coming into the internship, I was unsure if I would get to network much with other interns due to us all working remotely,” Corriher said. “However, Lowe’s has provided us with many opportunities to connect with each other. One example of this was our “Dinner and a Movie” event. Every intern was given DoorDash and Fandango coupons and had time scheduled during the day to eat and watch a movie. While we were enjoying the films, we were asked movie trivia questions on Microsoft Teams. This was one of my favorite activities the whole summer!”
With the success of its virtual summer internships, Lowe’s will prepare for the remaining 149 students to participate in “winternships”, an intensive program that condenses the information and experiences of a 10-week internship into five weeks beginning in December.
Click here for more information about Lowe’s internship opportunities.