Working as a product support intern at Railinc seemed like a perfect fit for Nicole Kyne. The Wake Technical Community College student is enrolled in the school’s Transportation Distribution and Logistics program and spent the summer as part of the company’s Central Services team, which manages mission-critical internal applications.
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Product Support Intern Nicole Kyne, standing, and Human Resources Intern Jennifer Collins |
"I've learned a lot about messaging, EDI, queries,” Kyne said. “These are things I never thought I’d be learning about first-hand.”
Kyne is one of nearly a dozen high school, college and graduate students who worked as interns at Railinc this summer. Railinc offers paid internships in departments across the company, from IT to Product and Customer Support to Business Operations. Summer internships typically begin after the school year ends and run until shortly before the fall semester starts. Internships are often available during other times of the year.
“Interns are usually here for eight to 12 weeks but sometimes longer,” said Melissa Scott, senior corporate recruiter and coordinator of the program. “They get valuable experience interacting with our employees, and they contribute in important ways.”
Railinc Internships Offer Opportunities to Learn, Grow, Contribute
Railinc interns are involved in a range of activities. For example, two high school interns who were part of the company’s Infrastructure Support and Services team this summer completed a company-wide physical inventory of all Railinc hardware.
“Having our interns focused on a single task was a great benefit because they were able to complete an important project in a short time period,” said Richie Stewart, IT manager. “I was impressed by their ability to take direction and work independently. They got a lot out of it, and we were able to complete our inventory.”
Jennifer Collins had heard good things about Railinc and reached out when she saw an ad for a human resources internship. The Liberty University MBA student, who has concentrations in HR and project management, had experience in sales and management. She worked with the Railinc HR team on the company’s wellness program, was involved in processes around candidate interviews and hiring, and produced reports in areas like affirmative action and employee leave.
“There was nothing on my resume that said, ‘HR,’” said Collins, who is scheduled to stay on until March 2017. “I think having specific exposure to HR will make a huge difference in my job search.”
Dileep Badvali, a sophomore electrical engineering student at N.C. State University, worked as part of the company’s Asset Health group. He didn’t know much about the company before he started, just that it worked with railroads. Among his projects during the summer was quality assurance testing of Railinc’s Early Warning and Tank Car applications.
“I have learned technologies like Selenium, and improved my Java knowledge,” Badvali said. “And seeing how an industry operates from this perspective will help me in the future.”
Prabhu Kompella, a Railinc project development manager, supervised two summer interns and one long-term intern, including Badvali. He was impressed, he said, by the interns’ attitude and the work they accomplished.
“Our interns were eager to learn new technologies and keen to demonstrate their usefulness to the team,” he said. “They seemed to love a challenge and, when confronted with an interesting problem, showed dedication and motivation to complete it on time.”
Railinc Internships Available Year-Round
Railinc hires interns year-round and plans to grow its summer program in 2017. Openings are posted on the Railinc Open Positions page, Glassdoor and other job search websites.
As for Kyne, she’ll continue at Railinc this fall as a customer support intern while she attends Wake Tech. One of her upcoming courses will focus on analytics. “I know there are a lot of people in the building I’ll be able to go to for help if I have any questions,” she said.
—Railinc Corporate Communications