Online Opportunities: Lowe’s pivots to offer virtual internships

Jul 29, 2020

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. 

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.