On Nov. 8, the Women in Business club invited students to the Orange Campus Atrium for a SheWorks! presentation.
Hannah Jean-Pierre, a SheWorks! program manager who facilitated the program, reviewed her organization’s mission and emphasized the importance of, as she said, “creating a world that is free from gender and racial inequality.”
SheWorks! has had 330 women participate in the program since 2020 with 74% of them being women of color; 50% of them being first-generation college students.
She also said that while men and women participate in internships at the same rate, women participate in 20% more unpaid internships.
Jean-Pierre stressed the importance of connections. She referenced a recent Forbes survey that said 91% of college interns said their connections helped them land an internship; 43% were family connections. Something like this affects women of color and first-generation students negatively, said Jean-Pierre.
“There are talented and brilliant students out there, but because the company for so long has just been hiring their family members, that’s an internship discrepancy,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re here to be that connection.”
She said SheWorks! connects applicants to intern at companies such as Boeing, Northwestern Mutual, Stone Point Capital, among many more, during this program.
Internship applications open on Dec. 1 and close on Jan. 5. Interviews are held by March 5 and are announced March 31.
Jean-Pierre said all interns are assigned a mentor whom they can contact, especially when microaggressions occur.
“If you feel like you’re experiencing microaggressions in the workplace, unpack that with your mentor,” said Jean-Pierre. “They are equipped to help you in those areas.”
Jean-Pierre said that mentors are trained and able to help interns with anything related to the SheWorks! program because they want to ensure that the interns are thriving throughout their internship, which last from June 1 to July 31.