As part of my recruiting, I was able to meet on campus with Conor Walsh, Duolingo PM and HBS ‘18. Conor gave me context on what it was like to work at Duolingo as well as on the role of a PM on a day-to-day basis. This help was particularly useful because I had never worked in tech or in a PM role - I had previously worked in strategy and design consulting, but I really wanted to explore actually applying insights to change a real, live product. Over the summer, I got to do that and much more. [...]

Previous research shows that workplace depression and anxiety can be reduced by coaching employees to increase their resilience, the ability to maintain good mental health despite psychological or physical setbacks. In fact, one study found that over a two-month period, a business-initiated resilience program resulted in a significant reduction in presenteeism (employees working while sick), which led to a company gain of $1,846 per person in terms of greater productivity, the journal article says. [...]

While it may seem counterintuitive to spend time in recruiting talking about opportunities students can pursue after working at your company, this has proven to be a highly effective way for banks to attract top talent and set themselves apart. [...]

I envisioned many scenarios for my summer and often questioned whether or not I would end up picking the ‘right’ thing. But deciding what is right for me can be a selfish way of thinking about where and how you’ll make a difference in the world. For me, the difference is deeply tied to surrounding myself with kind people, creating more good in the world, and protecting our wild and public lands. So much of my experience at Patagonia has shown me how to advocate for change, to live with authenticity, and to build beautiful products customers can appreciate without causing unnecessary harm. [...]

During the recruiting process with Shell, I had the opportunity to interact with senior leaders and learn about the ambitious strategy that Shell has of reshaping the energy landscape by investing in “new energy” technologies (e.g. renewables, electric utilities, low carbon intensity biofuels). This inspired me to join the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) group at Shell, from where I have been able to invest in the types of cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to mitigate the urgent challenges highlighted above. Here are three of my favorite things about my internship. [...]