My Summer Global People Internship Experience at Walmart

This summer, I had the pleasure of interning with Walmart’s Global People Division, working with the People for People Center of Excellence (COE). People for People is HR for HR of the business. The team advises people partners throughout Walmart US (WMUS) on how to best fulfill the business strategy and provide tangible actions. I was excited about this opportunity as I could apply my graduate studies and my SHRM-CP Certification learnings to a corporate environment.

My project this summer was on people partner competencies. The goal of my project was to analyze what competencies make a successful business partner and make recommendations to upskill current and future people partners. To support my research, I connected with people partners across different segments of Walmart at various leadership levels.

What impressed me during my conversations was the diverse backgrounds of people partners. A good portion of the people partners I connected with started their journeys as hourly Walmart associates, while others began in finance, accounting, and engineering. Meeting people partners who made such a transition was inspiring, as their skills working in different segments allowed them to view their responsibilities through a different lens.

One of my primary internship takeaways was the importance of pitching an idea that isn’t fully developed. By waiting to develop ideas fully, you also risk sacrificing time collaborating with your team to develop ideas together. My team collaborates daily, voicing their thoughts in real-time inside and outside meetings.

Communication is vital for any role, but it is even more crucial in a people partner role as work constantly evolves. A core part of Walmart’s mission was to curb duplicated efforts across segments and have people partners become thought leaders by identifying potential problems with a proposed idea. People partners communicating regularly with the leaders they support allows them to recognize problems before they arise.

Beyond my internship project, I enjoyed exploring Northwest Arkansas and connecting with the local community and domestic and international interns. Social and networking events allowed me to meet interns from multiple segments of Walmart. I often discovered a segment of the business that I was unaware of during my first few weeks, which was a testament to Walmart’s size. The internship program also provided unique opportunities to interact with Walmart Leadership through the Intern Executive Speaker Q&A series. Witnessing Walmart leaders interact with interns underscored Walmart’s relationship-building culture.

I want to thank my P4P team, our internship program manager, Matt Meyers, Ph.D. , and my direct supervisors, Joe Campbell and Jon Koss , for all their support this summer. I enjoyed working with you all! Thank you for advocating for my success. I am looking forward to staying connected and leveraging what I have learned this summer throughout my career.

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