What I liked
I had a great experience over the summer interning for C.H. Robinson. Each day I felt as if I was challenged and pushed to be a better business person while bringing value to the company. I believe that I have benefited from my internship in many ways. My general understanding of logistics went from zero to overload in just ten weeks. I never really thought of logistics and transportation before my internship but I now realize it is a huge factor in supply chain and greatly effects the nation as a whole every day. Logistics is basically what keeps the country going by delivering products all over the place. Another benefit I was able to take away was professionalism. The whole office was very professional and I was able to learn how a successful office operates at a professional level. This ranges from dress code, expectations and communication. To explain more on the last point, communication, I really advanced in this area. My email and phone skills before the internship were sub-par and now are well above the level I had started at. I wouldn’t say I had any negative experiences while working at my internship but I would say I was able to get rid of some negative traits I had. A couple negative traits that I had before C.H. Robinson were; being shy and being afraid to ask questions. By the end of my internship I was more than willing to talk to anyone in the office. To go with that, I would be way more comfortable asking questions to my co-workers. I would definitely say that working at C.H. Robinson changed my career goals. It has made me much more interested in working within the logistics industry and has even opened me up to exploring sales more. This internship has strengthened my career goals of working in a business setting and particularly in the supply chain field. I can see that there will always be a need in the logistics industry as we constantly need to move products around the world. If I were to make a suggestion to the College of Business at UWEC I would recommend that the supply chain classes go into more depth on the logistics industry. In a few of my classes we briefly touched base on logistics and general aspects of the industry but never went in depth. Having a segment or even a whole class on logistics would better prepare supply chain/ operation students. Whether a student is going to work for a logistics company or even manufacturer, having a better understanding of the industry would give them a competitive advantage over the students who do not. I really enjoyed the professor visit (Abe Nahm) and felt like it was very constructive and a good review of the internship. My managers also liked this visit and they hope to establish a relationship with UWEC in the future to be a pipeline for new intern prospects. In all, I am very thankful for my opportunity with C.H. Robinson. Each day was a challenge and I was pushed to become a better businessman and I believe I will be more successful in the future because of it.