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!

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

Dale Schipper is an intern in the Reasearch and Development department and shares his experience about a recent Amway intern event. Photos provided by Jon Brickner and Kendra Peterson.

Last Wednesday, close to 100 Amway interns and their mentors watched the minor-league baseball team, the West Michigan Whitecaps, take on the Quad Cities River Bandits at Fifth Third Ballpark.  .  

The whole evening was a great opportunity to network and do some “intern bonding.” The baseball game took a back seat as everyone took advantage of the opportunity to chat in an informal setting.  In the office environment, conversations between interns tend to be limited to school affiliation, what department you’re in, and your project topic.  While those topics were covered, being outside the office allowed many to feel free to discuss the best places to hang out downtown, personal interests and hobbies, and share random interesting things about people (such as playing the ukulele). 100 interns quickly became more than just colleagues and summer plans for softball, dinners and city adventures were planned.

 While the Whitecaps may have lost 3-2, it was clear that the interns saw the night as a win.

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

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

You think it’s hard finding an internship while in college? Try being 15.

Visiting from Germany, Hannah Beiderwieden spent last week completing her tenth-grade internship at Amway.

In Germany, students enter elementary school and are then separated into three high schools based on their grades. Those with the highest grades, such as Hannah, finish through twelfth-grade. In tenth-grade, students are required to spend 10 days completing an internship to help narrow their focus, and Hannah decided to spend her 10 days visiting over eight different departments at Amway’s world headquarters.

Back when I was Hannah’s age, my main focus was passing my drivers test, the cute boy that just walked by and the latest gossip. My career path changed weekly, and I was not perfecting my resume. Hannah, however, is way ahead of me.

Fluent in four languages, Hannah is better spoken than many 15-year-olds that I know. Her visit was packed with presentations from departments, lunches with managers, and tours that my time with her was much shorter than I would have liked it to be.

Human resources, research and development, corporate citizenship, digital marketing, global brands, and sales were just a few of the departments she visited. With her experience in languages, Hannah found a fit in marketing and sales.

“During my visit with digital marketing, they involved me in discussions and showed me how they are communicating with people and how knowing different languages can be helpful,” said Hannah.

Just as I began to think our teenage years would never relate, Hannah revealed her plans to turn sixteen – visit Chicago, and see Lady Gaga in concert before returning to Germany.

Looks like 15-year-old me can relate after all.

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

What was the most important skill Jordan Barber learned during his time as an intern at Amway?

The finer points of research? Nope.

How to develop a department wide SharePoint site? Nada.

During his six months at Amway, Jordan Barber’s most valuable lesson was time management.

Jordan said that learning how to organize, prioritize and be proactive were among the best lessons he took away from his internship. Planning an entire project from start to finish takes plenty of organization and Jordan had to learn how to be reliable to himself and to his team.

A Ferris State University alumnus, Jordan began his internship at Amway in the Consumer Market Insights department. He conducted hours and hours of research for reports, projects and general data. His main project included creating a “Competitive Intelligence Knowledge Management SharePoint site.”

It’s ok. I said “Huh” too.

This site was used to compile and organize reports, data, and presentations for the entire CMI department.

After three months in CMI, Jordan began working with the Digital Marketing team and was able to learn from others in a different field. One of his projects in Digital Marketing was to run a support team for a global Amway management conference and managed the conference’s Facebook page.

Because of his work in Digital Marketing, an internship quickly became a full-time job at Amway. Now a Digital Marketing Associate, Jordan is working on projects such as mobile tagging platform strategies and digital touchpoint analysis for various countries.

So, Jordan’s lesson to all? Buy a calendar and make some friends.