Ferris State University students gain valuable work experience through internships. Internships also can confirm or redirect career decision-making, provide marketability, develop people skills and enhance classroom learning. Many academic programs require one, but the experience is encouraged regardless to provide students with a better understanding of what will be expected of them in the workplace.
Many students are participating in myriad internships this summer. Meet: Farah Al-Ahmed
She is: A senior from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, majoring in Human Resource Management
Internship: Farah is completing a 10-week internship with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. at its Long Beach, Calif. location. Jacobs Engineering is one of the world’s largest providers of technical, professional and construction services.
What she’s learning: Farah’s responsibilities include working with new hires to help them complete proper paperwork; creating and sending promotion, termination, relocation and assignment letters; scanning and faxing paperwork to Jacobs’ main human resources office; completing invoices for the accounting department; and working on various reports.
“I enjoy that I am capable of handling the responsibilities that are given to me,” she said. “I am glad that I am being helpful to the company and that I am able to complete the work assigned to me.
The internship has “strongly confirmed” her career choice, Farah said, and the experience she’s gaining “will help me when I get placed into my future job … and help me in completing the remaining courses with a better understanding of HR nature and regulations.”
Favorite experience: Farah said she particularly enjoys working with newly hired employees and handling their information and paperwork.
On campus: Farah is involved with Ferris’ International Student Organization, Muslim Student Organization and other international organizations on campus. Her coursework and campus involvement made Farah feel well-prepared for her internship, she said.
“It helped me a lot with dealing with new people and communicating with others,” she said. “It is very helpful to see how the things we learned in class are applied in the workplace. You have a better understanding and a clearer picture when you are able to see how things are applied in the real world.”
Her plan: After she graduates in May, Farah will return home to Dhahran and work at Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company headquartered there. Farah was accepted into its scholarship program for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
“Aramco is the company that gave me the scholarship and the opportunity to study abroad,” she said.