Article From Intern to Full-time Teammate: An Interview With Shae-Lynn Whitaker
By Laila Hachem / 11 Jan 2024 / Topics: Culture & careers
Hear Shae-Lynn’s experience as a project management intern, which steered her to a successful career in HR.
Now two years into her career at Insight, Shae-Lynn began as a Summer 360 Intern on the project management team. She graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Shae-Lynn is a mom to a beautiful, spunky little boy who keeps her on her toes. But that doesn’t hold her back from setting ambitious goals, personally or professionally. She completed her SHRM-CP certification, graduated from Insight’s internal leadership program, Aspiring Leadership, and is pursuing a master’s degree.
How was your journey through Insight from intern to now?
During the internship program, I was a project management intern, and now I’m in HR. My career path has changed a lot. After the internship program, I knew I would be back. But I still had some college to finish. My internship solidified my interest in HR. I lived in California for a bit and started my career there. I moved back to Arizona and reached out to some connections at Insight. Now I’m here.
“After the internship program, I knew I would be back.”
What advice would you give to someone early in their career?
Allow yourself the flexibility to learn and grow into anything that might pique your interest. I feel like as interns or college students, we are put into a niche or one avenue. I love that here at Insight we’re able to explore all kinds of options. Allow yourself that flexibility to discover your passion.
Be open to trying new things. Ask where you can participate and reach out for mentorship. Everyone is willing to mentor. When you are early in your career, their expertise can help you find out where you want to go.
What initially attracted you to the intern program?
I was interested in the 360 program and mentioned it to a family friend who worked in IT at Insight. He encouraged me to apply as they had just begun the Summer 360 Intern Program. I applied and went through the various rounds of interviews. I was very excited to start as this was, in my mind, a legit internship.
What should future interns keep in mind over the summer?
Know our values of hunger, heart and harmony. It’s huge — everyone here at Insight lives by them. Keep an open mind. Be up front about what you want out of your career. Everyone here wants to be a mentor and help interns grow. Make sure you’re speaking up and telling people what you’re looking for.
How do teammates live Insight’s values?
We live all three of our values all the time, specifically, hunger. We are always developing our careers. Our Diversity, Leadership and Organizational Development (DLOD) team is constantly putting out new seminars so our teammates can learn new things. Learn about career growth and opportunities and how to get there.
For our value of harmony, we all work interdependently with people different from ourselves.
Our Recognize! platform is an amazing way that we recognize each other.
For heart, we are always working on helping our community. We have partnered with some amazing institutions that help our communities not just in the United States but across the globe.
How do we reward our exceptional teammates?
Recognize! is a platform where teammates can recognize each other by putting a little blurb, a thank you, a “great job.” We give each other points and then those points can be used to purchase items or gift cards. The biggest thing to me is the values award nominations. Those are an opportunity for teammates who really go above and beyond to be recognized for that. If you’re nominated as a monthly Values winner, you’re considered for the annual reward trip.
Are there any philanthropic efforts that reflect Insight’s values?
At Insight, we partner specifically with Valley of the Sun United Way and United Ways across the country. I have been a manager or co-manager for the last two years. We do a two-week campaign every year where we raise money and ask teammates to show their heart by participating in little activities or fundraising events. We donate the money raised to United Way Foundations across the country. They’re really focused on hunger, homelessness, housing and then also childhood education. United Way is really good at helping underprivileged areas and children gain access to technology.
What are the characteristics of a person who would thrive at Insight?
Somebody who would love working at Insight is someone who lives our values. I will constantly put that in there: hunger, heart and harmony. If a teammate doesn’t want to live those values, they won’t succeed. It’s important that someone wants to grow, wants to better the community, somebody who will put their best foot forward and help the team. We’re a very large company, and we’re only getting bigger and doing more things. Having that ambitious attitude is huge and that’s always what we’re looking for.
What learning and development opportunities are available to teammates?
We offer a multitude of opportunities to develop your career. We have a free, online learning platform called Percipio, where you have access to hundreds if not thousands of courses in all kinds of topics.
We also have our DLOD team that puts out monthly seminars that you can attend when it suits you. For example, I’m taking one next month, “Death by PowerPoint.” I’m taking this course to learn how to be a better presenter and create a better PowerPoint presentation. It seems so simple, but little things like that will continuously grow our teammates. Our leaders constantly push us to learn and develop. My appetite for learning has only gotten bigger.
“Our leaders constantly push us to learn and develop. My appetite for learning has only gotten bigger.”
Insight is about encouraging teammates and clients to ‘be ambitious.’ What’s the most ambitious thing you’ve accomplished?
I love that we’re all ambitious. I have felt that, and it’s an energy here at Insight recently. I took my SHRM-CP, which is the Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional. I passed that exam and was able to put the letters next to my name. That was a huge accomplishment for me because I want to continue to grow and further my career. I am also pursuing a master’s degree this fall.
Let ambition grow. Discover roles at Insight.
Laila Hachem
Summer Marketing Content Intern 2023, Insight
