By: Renee Radzom, DePaul University graduate, former University Internship Program (UIP) assistant
DePaul Diaries is a day-in-the-life blog series written by DePaul students. The series unveils DePaulians’ experiences as interns in their field of choice. Students share their honest thoughts about their experiences, what they learned as an intern and advice for students who are interested in the same field.
Jordan Krpan, a DePaul finance student, spent his last quarter at DePaul interning at Alexander J. Wayne & Associates Inc. as an administrative and marketing intern. Jordan found this opportunity through DePaul’s Handshake platform, which is a robust database students can use to find jobs, internships, career events and more. I sat down with Jordan to get the scoop about his internship experience, what it was like working in administration and marketing, and how he made the most of what he learned.
Originally, Jordan’s role at A.J. Wayne was working on administrative tasks, specifically dabbling in compliance and assisting with new customer submissions. However, after he settled into his role, Jordan began to inquire about more responsibilities and how he could be an asset to the team—leading to him taking on marketing projects and developing content for the company website.
Jordan’s experience at A.J. Wayne was an enlightening one. He said his favorite part was the people because they made the environment a great place to learn and grow. He also enjoyed the ability to step outside of his comfort zone and dive into new projects.
“I didn’t take many classes in marketing or coding, so it was a refreshing challenge tackling those projects,” Jordan said.
In addition to this internship experience, Jordan took a University Internship Program (UIP) course to fulfill his Experiential Learning requirement before graduation, and to get the most out of his internship experience. He took UIP 252: Creativity as a Change Agent in the Workplace. The class encourages students to reflect upon the history of creative innovations in the workplace and how they relate to leadership, communication, ethics and more. Jordan said his biggest takeaway from UIP 252 was that it helped him find “creative answers to complex problems.”
Jordan said his biggest takeaway from UIP 252 was that it helped him find creative answers to complex problems.
Overall, Jordan said he really enjoyed everything his internship and UIP course offered. His one piece of advice for future interns: “Pick up special projects when you can. It can make your day a whole lot more interesting in the short term and give you an opportunity to make a good impression in the long term.”
Learn more about the University Internship Program or send inquiries to UIP@depaul.edu. Need help finding an internship? Visit depaul.joinhandshake.com, or come into the Career Center to meet with your advisor.