An Overview of my Summer at General Mills

Reflection

As I reflect on the past 10 weeks of my summer sales internship, I am so thankful for the incredible experience and insights I have gained. The opportunity to utilize my supply chain background in the sales department has been crucial to my understanding of the business as a whole, and truly developed a strong understanding of how these two functions are related. I realized that an effective supply chain plays a large role in meeting customer demand and optimizing sales performance. The experience of working with both sales and supply chain teams taught me the importance of effective communication and collaboration across different departments. I learned how essential it is for sales teams to provide accurate and timely information about market trends and customer demands to the supply chain team, enabling them to plan production and distribution effectively.

Project Overview

During my summer sales internship at General Mills, I had the opportunity to work on a project that involved developing a refreshable tool to analyze promotional effectiveness at Dollar General, one of our key retail partners. The tool can be used by the Dollar General team for future promotional planning and help save a significant amount of time on a weekly basis. This project allowed me to dive deeper into the sales data and understand the impact of various promotions on both product performance, and consumer behavior. I could recognize which products performed well during promotional windows and identify others that might require adjustments in their promotional strategies. Overall, the project provided me with a hands-on experience in data analysis, problem-solving, and strategic thinking. I learned the importance of data-driven decision-making in sales and supply chain management. This project further fueled my curiosity about the impact of promotional activity on sales results.

Culture Oriented

While I am incredibly thankful for all of the knowledge that I soaked up this summer, it truly is the people here at Mills that made my experience so impactful. I have never seen so many Type-A individuals get into heated debates about Annie's mac n cheese just to turn around and battle it out in a game of ping pong! Some of my best memories this summer were made outside of the workday, spending quality time with the employees that make this organization what it is.?There has been no shortage of fun with this intern class and this summer wouldn't have been the same without each of them. While there is no formula for a perfect company culture, I am convinced that Mills has it down to a T. Some of the activities I participated in this summer were an intern cookoff, field day, fundraising events, and much more! I am so thankful that General Mills invested so much in our experience this summer and I am so proud to work for a company that is a force for good! Beyond the technical skills, this internship has also provided me with a strong glimpse into the corporate culture and values of a bigger organization. I worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds who each brought different and unique perspectives to the table! I observed how the company prioritizes community involvement, diversity, and sustainability! These are now three things that I find extremely valuable and essential to any company culture.