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What Sets Mailchimp’s Internship Program Apart

Students come from across the country for real world experience, skills, and friendships that will last.

Mailchimp's 2019 summer interns pose for a funny picture.

Walk through the hallways of Mailchimp during the summer, and you’re likely to notice employees gathering in common spaces, decked out in company swag, talking excitedly about their work. The projects they describe are significant—whether they’re building new products, assessing old processes, or developing innovative strategies all their own.

But don’t let the magnitude of their work fool you—these bright people are our interns.

Mailchimp's internship program has grown quickly since it launched in 2013. The first class had 2 interns, and this summer, we are thrilled to host 39 college students from across the country.

“They're not coming here to make copies,” says Senior Talent Scout Jasmine Haugabrook. “They're coming here to work on real-life projects. They're getting tangible experience.”

When Jasmine began at Mailchimp in 2017, she was the first person whose sole focus was the internship program. Her efforts have allowed the program to flourish as an intentional, holistic experience for the students.

“As the program has grown, the sense of community with the students has made it really, really impactful,” she says.

“They’re not coming here to make copies. They’re coming here to work on real-life projects. They’re getting tangible experience.”

Alongside Talent Programs Associate Mitch Cave, our University Relations team has cultivated opportunities for interns that go beyond professional development. They attend a specially curated version of Mailchimp University, or MCU, our in-house leadership program. In each session, they learn about things like personal branding, effective communication, networking, and even emotional intelligence in the workplace.

Great care is also given to making our interns feel at home in Atlanta, where Mailchimp is headquartered. Mitch and Jasmine take interns on excursions around the city; they provide guidance for things to see and do, and they provide opportunities to volunteer within the community.

“Atlanta's a booming tech hub. There's so much diversity. There are so many things to do. You can really have a great life here,” Jasmine says. “We want them to see the full picture of what it could be like to work and live in Atlanta.”

Thought behind each intern role begins long before the job is listed. Mailchimp recruiters visit job fairs and festivals across the country, making a concerted effort to reach a diverse pool of candidates. Teams create a project for their future intern. Hiring managers review an Internship Commitment, which documents Mailchimp's promise to be conscientious stewards of each intern’s experience.

Methembe Moyo is a Marketing Analytics Intern from Le Moyne Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee. He was recruited directly from OHUB’s HBCU@SXSW in Austin, Texas, which provides curated experiences for select college students from underrepresented communities with a focus on creating access to internships and full-time employment at major tech companies.

As a Computer Science major, Methembe knows technology. But as an intern at Mailchimp, he gets to see what it means for a tool to be in use, and that inspires him.

“In school you just make a program—you don't really know if people are going to use it. So you don't really have empathy,” he says. “But my role at Mailchimp gave me a view to actually see that wow—this tool is being used by thousands of people all over the world, every second. That's been the best part of my role as an intern here at Mailchimp.”

Methembe has also loved getting plugged into real community, both inside and outside of the office, and that’s made it easy for him to thrive.

“I feel so comfortable and included, I feel empowered to just be the best version of myself.”

Similarly inspired by her own experiences as a Mailchimp intern when she began in 2018, Ashley Huynh created an intern ambassadors program to help her peers succeed at Mailchimp.

Ashley Huynh

“I think the intern program is special in that it's a network of people that share similar experiences. I know it'd be a waste to not share them amongst each other,” she says.

She’s created a wealth of resources for interns, preempting questions that she knows they might hesitate to ask someone else in the organization. She also hosts talks featuring former interns who are now in full-time positions on subjects like personal finance and "finding a career path that sparks joy." She even offers office hours as a time to coach fellow interns through any hurdles they may face.

“I just thought of conversations that I personally would want to be a part of and ways to empower people,” she says. “I wanted to find environments that would allow even the most introverted or reserved person to contribute.”

Ashley is one of many interns who has worked through multiple semesters and returned for a consecutive summer. The opportunities to stay are highly coveted, especially for full-time jobs.

Muhammed Ahmed worked as a Data Science Intern last year and was offered a full-time position in the spring. He was thrilled to find that the 2 roles were largely the same. In both, he’s been given the tools and the freedom to do well.

Muhammed Ahmed

“You're placed in an environment where you just have all the resources to do the best work that you can. You're given a lot of freedom, a lot of bandwidth,” Muhammed says. “Mailchimp and my team trust that I'll do good work and that I'll do what I'm supposed to do. My integrity is really important to me, and Mailchimp immediately gave me that trust.”

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