An Intern’s Perspective: How Polycom’s Internship Program Shapes Leaders

[Jamie Passantino (Jamie_Passantino)]

This summer 29 students and future leaders are working alongside Polycom staff as part of our internship program, learning from every experience and providing their unique perspectives along the way. Get an inside look at the program straight from Polycom intern and guest blogger Shelby Whitzel.

Shelby: As one of many Polycom interns working out of headquarters in San Jose, I have experienced first-hand the helpfulness of the Polycom team and have been given the opportunity to provide input on my experience here. I’ve been given real projects across the vast spectrum of communications work, including internal, external, social media and public relations. You name it, and I’m doing it. Having held previous intern positions at other companies, it’s apparent that the intern program at Polycom is a highly coordinated system built to provide the most useful and enriched learning experience possible.

The Polycom internship program has provided the building blocks for the careers of dozens of young leaders across the globe. This year we have 29 interns—13 in the Unites States, four in China and 12 in India—working in engineering, marketing, IT and services.

Part of the summer program includes meeting with some of Polycom’s executives and senior leaders. I was star struck when, on day one, I got to meet with President and CEO Peter Leav, and again on day two, when I sat in on a video conference between high-level executives in San Jose, Singapore and China. We also met with Polycom’s Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist Jeff Rodman.

Being new to the idea of real-time collaboration over video, I was unsure and nervous for my first few video conferences. After just three days of sitting in Huddle rooms talking to people all over the world, I see the value of this innovative solution and how it connects cultures and people without the hassles of airports and jetlag.

I’m not the only intern this summer loving the Polycom experience. Marketing intern Rachel Yankey, had nothing but good things to say about her time at headquarters, even after accidently forgetting her security badge and locking herself in a stairwell on her third day here.

“The thing I really appreciate about the intern program is that Polycom really cares about us. How many interns get to meet with both the CEO of the company and the founder?! They do not only care about the things we can produce for them, but they care about developing us and training us for our future.”

This experience is one that I know will follow all Polycom interns as we move on from this to other internships and entry-level positions, and the lessons we learn from Polycom will shape the professionals we are becoming.

Many full-time and long-standing employees of Polycom even got their start as Polycom interns, including Social Media Specialist and Polycom blogger Billy Conlon.

Are you interested in an internship with Polycom? Click here for more details: http://careers.polycom.com/new-grads.php