What I Learned from Our Virtual Summer Interns

With all the events happening in the world today, it’s easy to form a negative view of the future. But there’s much room for optimism. I got a glimpse of this firsthand during a meeting with about 20 of Humana’s summer interns. The original purpose of the meeting was for me to hear about their internship experiences after they had to be moved to remote environments, but I learned so much more.

Humana has a long history of working with colleges to provide opportunities for leaders of the future. We’ve welcomed interns to our campus every year since 1998, and this year was no different. Despite the unprecedented circumstances this year, we moved forward in bringing more than 200 summer interns onboard, only in a virtual environment. That meant working differently and included online courses, long-distance social networking, and remote teamwork with our corporate strategy, marketing, health care delivery, analytics, and operations teams.

While every year I’m impressed by the individuals who spend a semester with Humana, I was especially impressed with the students who joined us this summer. I can only imagine how difficult it was for them to enter the workforce in these circumstances, let alone navigating a company our size, virtually.  And doing all that while successfully tackling complex projects with such determination and creativity. 

One student who worked with our newest care partners told me they were proud to work on a “project that will outlive me.” Another shared how their work in consumer experience helped them develop from being most comfortable in person to being able to build relationships over the phone and in chat. Interns also challenged themselves to learn new skills, such as an actuarial student who learned about coding, and another who is studying information technology and through the course of their internship discovered they don’t want to be a developer.

All of these lessons are valuable, not just for the interns, but for us as a company seeking to support the next generation of leaders and workforce overall in finding meaningful work. The students' ability to grasp and work through complex matters, their digital acumen, and their desire to make a positive impact on the world gives me tremendous hope and encouragement for our next generation of leaders. There are certainly sparks out there and many highly capable individuals who are being readied to take the reins someday.

Naturally, their internships weren’t perfect and there were problems no one could have anticipated. However, keeping the lines of communication open and working as a team made the summer a success. And to our interns’ credit, they eagerly tested out new technology and responded positively and enthusiastically to a variety of challenges.

Perhaps most important, all our summer interns demonstrated incredible senses of purpose, tenacity, and optimism. I cannot wait to see the wonderful contributions they’re going to make to society.