As interns at Amway, we’re constantly learning things we never knew or thought about before.

This week, we think we’ve discovered the company’s first intern: Dr. Sam Rehnborg, son of Nutrilite founder Carl Rehnborg.

Now president of the Nutrilite Health Institute, Dr. Sam has eaten Nutrilite supplements every day since childhood. “I came to Nutrilite by birth,” he says, “but I have embraced it as my own lifelong passion.”

Growing up, he watched his father persevere against multiple obstacles, blazing his own trail as an entrepreneur to introduce the multivitamin/multimineral and other nutrient-rich food supplements. Today, Nutrilite is a multi-billion dollar brand sold all over the world.

Dr. Sam was determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Carl was proud of his son, and thrilled that he wanted to preserve the Nutrilite legacy.

How do we know all these things? Dr. Sam spent 10 years writing The Nutrilite Story.

He dedicated this 423-page book to his father and Amway distributors, who have carried his father’s message of optimal health to people around the world.

For more aha! moments, check back for future intern adventures at the Amway Insider.

It’s been more than a decade since Amway launched the Executive Speaker Series, where interns can hear and learn from our most senior leaders about what it’s like to work here.

The series is unquestionably the highlight of our summer internship at World Headquarters.

Many of us are attracted to Amway because it’s a great place to work and has a strong global presence. But we also have this incredible access to Amway’s top leaders.

Recently, 100 interns gathered to meet the first of this series’ seven presenters: Amway President Doug DeVos. “We all have special gifts to contribute,” said Doug. “But success is not simple. It’s hard work.”

Not too many interns can say they met the president of their organization. But now we can say we did. Interns left the event feeling inspired and ready to face their internship head-on.

Stay tuned for future blog posts on the Executive Speaker Series. Our next speaker is Dr. Sam Rehnborg, president of the Nutrilite Health Institute.

How can we make the most of our Amway internship – known here as the 12-week interview?

The Talent Acquisition team hosted a panel of past interns who are now full-time Amway employees to welcome the 2012 internship class to Amway World Headquarters. They answered our questions, shared their Amway stories and offered us words of wisdom.

Three common themes emerged:

A friendly, encouraging culture matters. The culture, which drew interns to Amway in the first place, was so engaging that it brought them back for full-time jobs – even after “wow” experiences like an internship at Walt Disney World.

Actions speak louder than words. People who truly live the company’s values create a welcoming workplace.

Connect with other interns and employees. Many interns are hired for positions – but not necessarily in the same area. Having connections with management outside of their department played a large role in being offered those full-time positions.

Thanks to our panel, we left confident and inspired, ready to get the most out of our Amway experience.

Nearly 100 eager interns will be on-site with us for the summer, and started arriving earlier this month.

The interns will work in 16 different internal divisions and 70 departments, in both the Amway World Headquarters and the Nutrilite facility in Buena Park, California. These internal divisions range from supply chain management to marketing to human resources. They come from 33 different colleges and represent 58 majors.

Interns are excited to get started on what Jon Brickner, a recruiter with talent acquisition, refers to as their “12 week interview.”

While we routinely hire interns every summer, our approach was slightly different this time around. Interns were hired based on projected future positions within departments, to help create a pipeline for talent, geared toward converting interns into full-time employees.

I’m one of those interns and will be sharing my experiences – as well as those of other Amway interns – with you here at The Amway Insider.

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Brittany Hill is an intern in Global Procurement this summer.

Unlike many of my fellow interns, I am a graduate student seeking a MBA from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management.

When deciding where to complete my internship, I wanted a company that listened to me, recognized my strengths, and understood my desire to work internationally. I was prepared for all of the horrible things I had heard about graduate level internships such as long hours, mysterious projects, impersonal relationships, impossible deadlines and a fiercely competitive pool of interns.

I was wrong – about Amway, about the people, and about the job.

My projects related to the exact skills I was learning in the classroom and allowed me to work on projects with colleagues from around the world. I have led an international team with members from four continents to complete a project that will have a global impact, even after I am gone.

The company also strives to provide a great balance between work and personal life. Throughout the summer I was able to be challenged professionally, as well as find time to take a canoeing trip, hone my photography skills, and play softball with other interns.

Now, 12 weeks later, I feel much more prepared to finish school, start my career, and be a part of the workforce.

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Jack Gray is an intern in the Business Innovations department.

Innovation.

This has become quite the fashionable term in the past few years with companies like Apple and Google launching products and services that are effectively blowing our minds (currently checking Google+ on my iPhone 4). These products or processes can sometimes be so groundbreaking, that as an intern I sometimes sit back and wonder how I could possibly be that innovative. After some observations with my team, I was able to come up with five things that I use to think big.

Communicate

• Speak your mind
• Keep an O P E N mind
• Spark thoughts in team-mates for overall success
• Think > Listen > Contribute

Know what they mean

• People don’t always express exactly what they mean
• Ask deeper questions around experiences to get the truth
• Position the conversation to get to the root of the problem

Build some empathy

• View the world though the other person’s eyes
• Make an effort to really understand their position
• Respect their position and learn from it
• Use tactics like “walk-a-mile” and “fly-on-the-wall” in combination with contextual inquiries

Make it visual

• Experiment with sticky-notes
• Write down thoughts (good & bad) throughout the day
• Post thoughts on the wall to start discussion
• Organize thoughts into common themes
• Information gathered on computers is tough to digest
• Open visuals encourage group participation and discussion

Have fun!

• Its all about finding the right “head-space”
  • Sit on the ground
  • Listen to music
  • Skateboard around the office
  • Play with toys
• Don’t let convention tell you how to work best
• Five or ten minutes every few hours of a fun mental break can really increase your overall productivity

So take these tips and make your job something more.  If anybody gives you grief about these things, just tell them that you are “innovating” and that they should try it sometime!  It might just bring a smile to their face…

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Kendra Peterson is an intern in the Documents & Design department. She shares her recent experience at an Intern Lunch & Learn.

I walked through the Durables Department with a sponge-like mind, learning all the company had to offer with items such as cook ware, air filtration systems, and water purification. The presenters did an excellent job in the description of their projects. Such a good job, that when a raffle was announced, I knew I just HAD to win.

I entered the room with a smile on my face as I eyed all of the glorious products just waiting to be raffled off.

My eyes opened wide as they announced the first winner. I looked across the table at an elated winner, but still had hope.

However, the next three names were not mine either. The next item was a set of cookware: the apple of my eye, my one greatest desire.

Didn’t win that either. As the last name was called, and the bragging intern to my right stood up, it was then that I realized I would leave empty handed.

But thanks to the Durables team, I now know why I want those items!

Check out the video to see how they convinced me!

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Over 250 interns from eight different West Michigan companies skipped work to hang out in downtown Grand Rapids.

Why?  To battle for the title of West Michigan Intern Olympic Champion.

Check out the video to see what happened!

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

As an intern in Personal Care Formulation, Rebecca Hyatt spends most of her days in the lab.

She plans, researches and runs different experiments to test the mildness of surfactants (the foamy part) in sulfate-free shampoos and how they’ll interact with human skin cells.

But last week, her research took her to an unexpected location: the beauty salon.

In order to perfect our products, Amway brings in hairstylists and volunteers to test different hair care products and gain feedback. During this process, she was able to watch Scottish stylist, John Gillespie, who trained the hair stylist used by Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, test and give his opinion on some recently developed hair care products from her own lab.

Volunteers were receptive of John’s expertise and gave honest consumer feedback on our products. The volunteers interacted with John, turning what seemed to be a simple experiment into an entertaining, and memorable morning.

 And it reminded her that science can be found in the most common of places.

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Kaelie Middleton is an intern in the Human Resources department and shares her experience at a recent Lunch and Learn.

Draw a pig.

It must be a side view, have four legs, two ears, one eye, and a curly tail. Oh, and you only have one minute. Go.

Now have a friend do the same thing. Are your pigs identical? Probably not. No worries, the interns in the Operational Excellence department can help.

This past Wednesday, Amway interns lunched and learned while members of the Operational Excellence team described their summer projects. They discussed how they take a current process, such as a production line, and turn it into a more efficient procedure that saves time and money.

By analyzing each procedure, they are able to find where time and energy are wasted and propose ways to change the process. Reducing waste saves time and energy. One intern saved the company 46 minutes of productivity time and $1.8 million.

This time they helped a bunch of interns draw a pig.

Check out what our pigs looked like the first run, and then check out how the OpX team  standarized the instructions to allow us all to become master pig artists!