Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders: Celebrating Intel’s Interns

Learning is a lifelong journey, and nowhere is this more evident than with our interns. These bright minds, already on the path of growth and development, eagerly seek hands-on experience and exposure to meaningful, challenging work.

I know from personal experience how daunting an internship at a global company can be. I hadn’t planned to work in HR; I initially aspired to be a lawyer. However, an internship with GE’s HR training program during my junior year was transformative. It was like lightning in a bottle—igniting my passion for HR, leading me to gobble up all the advanced-level courses when I returned to Cornell’s ILR School. This is what fuels my mission to help individuals find fulfilling work and enable companies with the right talent strategies. When these objectives align, organizations can achieve new levels of performance.

At Intel, our interns are integral to this vision. We treat them as valued members of our workforce and seek to provide them with great benefits and opportunities. They undertake significant roles, make independent decisions, and lead projects. Each intern is paired with an experienced team member, offering them a trusted mentor for guidance and support.

I’m immensely proud of our intern program and the people who make it possible. Most of all, I’m proud of our interns. So, on National Intern Day, who better to talk about those benefits and opportunities than Intel’s own interns. I reached out to some of them to learn more about their motivations, their experiences, and their advice for future interns, whether at Intel or elsewhere. Here’s what they said.

What made you decide to join Intel’s intern program?

Covid was a huge part of your school years. How will that experience influence your career?

What’s the one thing that really surprised you about your internship?

What’s one thing you learned that you’ll take forward into your future?

What advice do you have for others who want to become interns at Intel or another company?

Conclusion: reflections from our future leaders

I’m truly grateful to these interns for taking the time to share their thoughts. Their answers demonstrate just how immersive an internship can be, even though it is for a finite period. It just goes to show that whenever an opportunity comes your way, you should try to take advantage—but never take it for granted.

It’s one more reason why I love this profession. Not just because of the difference the right talent makes to a company, but also because HR matters to people. Interns rely on opportunities like these as a launchpad for their careers and a lifetime of personal, professional, and emotional satisfaction.

I look forward to seeing our interns of today become the leaders of tomorrow. I hope we’ve been able to play a small part in shaping their futures.