Associate Reflection | A Career Changing Internship
By Kevin Dulion
When looking for a job in my senior year of college, I stumbled on a Google job posting for an Integration intern position with The Resource Group that would come to change my whole career trajectory.
Even though I was actively looking for a regular full-time job as I approached my graduation date, the internship looked like a great opportunity and I was naturally drawn to this role given my familiarity with Ascension (my mom has been a nurse at Ascension Sacred Heart for over 30 years). So, I applied for the position and was blessed to receive an offer.
Before the internship even began, we had the intern connection calls which were fun, informative, and stood out against my previous internships. At this point, I had not even started working at The Resource Group but was already loving it! Then, a week before the internship started, my intern manager contacted me to let me know they had accepted a position at another organization. This was hard news to hear as I was very excited to work with them over the course of my internship; however, Megan Schultz, Chris Tolan, Cory Hogue, and John Stacey were flexible and gracious enough to step in and coach me (and they all played a huge part in increasing my interest in The Resource Group).
While it was sad to know my original intern manager was leaving, I was happy for them and the silver lining was that an Associate Integration Manager role was opening up in the Pensacola office. A door was opening! Additionally, about a month into my internship, Chris accepted a Community Support Consultant position and informed me that he would be working from home in that new role. (At this point, I started wondering if I was driving people away!)
Jokes aside, while I was also sad I wouldn't get to see Chris as much, I was excited for him, and this meant that there were now two roles opening up in the Pensacola office. While I certainly did not feel like I was entitled to either of those positions, I did have my hopes up that I could occupy one of those roles and remain with The Resource Group. Once the positions were officially posted, I applied and began the interview process. I even remember having an interview on my birthday and thinking “It would be a great birthday present to get this job.” Yet, I received news at the end of the week that they were going to be moving in a different direction. This was a very hard pill to swallow, especially at the time. It had been my goal since starting the internship to land a job at The Resource Group and there I was having to come to terms with the reality that I would be parting ways with an organization I had come to love. Of course, I was still grateful for the opportunity and experience I had gained throughout my internship and wanted to finish strong.
Fast forward to the last week of the internship, there was a topic on the Weekly Update Call recapping the internship program that summer. We had time budgeted to recap the internship and we had multiple people thanking us (the interns) for the work we did that summer. There was an opportunity for anyone on the call to ask questions or give any comments, so I raised my virtual hand, spoke, and thanked the people who invested their time and energy in us to help us be successful. I probably took only a minute to speak, concluded my thoughts, and went back on mute.
The next morning, I got a chat message from Abby Lanza, VP Strategic Alignment. She and I had not spoken before, but she reached out asking if I would be interested in a PRN Community Support Consultant position serving the Pharmaceutical Support Services Team, which would likely become full-time in the near future. I did not hesitate to say YES and meet with her and April Stefanell…and the rest is history. As I reflect on this story, Abby has mentioned to me it was because I spoke at that moment on the Update Call that she decided to reach out. The 12 weeks of my internship would have been very fruitful regardless of what happened, but it was because of a small, one-minute thank you that I had the opportunity to achieve my goal.
My takeaway from this could be: “Make sure you always express gratitude because you’ll be rewarded for it.” But when I spoke up, I wasn’t thinking at all about getting a job or even being noticed. As far as I knew, I was not going to be continuing employment with The Resource Group.
So, what did I take away from this? I think the easy thing to do would have been staying silent on the call. After all, the idea of speaking up as an intern on a call with over 400 people was terribly frightening. Yet, multiple people who played crucial roles in the internship program were thanking us and so it only seemed fitting that someone should thank them for their hard work as well. Ultimately, I hope this story serves as encouragement for others to speak up, to do what seems right even when it is daunting, and to never underestimate the power of small moments.