Through my 10-week internship at Elevance Health, I helped support the Administrative Finance team in their daily tasks while also developing myself through training and leadership discussions. I had the opportunity to meet with countless executives, newly hired employees, and members of different finance teams at the company to learn about the various roles in the company.

One of the impacts that this internship had on me was it allowed me to discover the career that I want to pursue following completing my degree. Going into this internship, I felt kind of lost as to what career I wanted for myself. I was torn between a role in finance and operations, as well as, what specific role I would want in these fields. When selecting finance, I still felt lost about what specific aspects of the financial realm were of interest to me. Elevance Health provided me with an excellent structure that allowed me to make self-exploration. Through this structure, I was able to discover the world of Corporate FP&A. Along with this self-discovery, I felt more confident in the work I was doing and sharing that with mentors, peers, and even executives at the company. I have become a stronger speaker, leader, and worker because of the setup of this incredible internship program.

As previously mentioned, Elevance Health gave a very flexible schedule for the internship program that allowed me to make some self-discovery, while also leading us through specific trainings to develop strong work skills. Specific events allowed me to make this discovery, but the biggest one was getting to meet with other full-time professionals at the company to talk about their roles in the company. In these discussions, I was able to pick the minds of some very successful professionals at the company. I was able to talk with younger professionals who provided advice for my future career and gave me insight into what a full-time role would look like. I was also able to meet with individuals who had been with the company for a while and held powerful roles in the day-to-day decisions of the large company. These allowed me to discover what my interests are and led me in the direction of finding a role in the company.

Along with these 1 on 1 discussions, we got to attend small seminars to hear advice from many of our executives. The two that stuck out to me were the discussions with our CFO and CEO at the company. The CFO gave us great input on the financial outlook of the company and described how to make an impact on the company. He also allowed us to ask questions which was a unique opportunity to hear from a successful Ohio State Graduate. The meeting with the CEO gave more insight into the company’s outlook and goals for the foreseeable future. She also described various leadership styles that we could use in our future careers. Overall, both of these discussions, along with those by other executives, gave the interns a good understanding of the company, and how to make an impact as a leader and worker.

Lastly, the internship had a full schedule of trainings called “Lunch and Learns”. These “Lunch and Learns” were often talks with employees in different aspects of business at the company. They often entailed interactive sections where we would learn more about different applications or skills. This was super helpful in growing as a professional in the field. Being able to hear from successful individuals and learning directly from them allowed me to grow as a professional and start making an immediate impact on my team’s day-to-day tasks.

The transformation that I saw over the course of a 10-week internship was truly remarkable. Going into the internship with minimal experience, I felt as if I was lost on my career path. However, the events mentioned above allowed me to discover my passion for finance and the direction that I want to go with my life. This has allowed me to focus on new goals to allow myself to have a successful future career. I now know what classes I want to take to best prepare me to make an impact in corporate FP&A at Elevance Health. By seeing a goal in the future, I feel more motivated to learn more about the career, and also explore various certifications that can allow me to be very helpful to my team. This change was truly life-changing, and with the help of this internship program, I now see the impact that I can make with a role in finance.