Internships offer a leg up in the workforce

Brennan Bragg ‘15 and Kevin Sperzel ‘11 saw a golden, yet untapped, opportunity before them at General Electric Appliances.

Following Haier’s recent acquisition of the appliance division of GE, Bragg and Sperzel were given the chance to get involved more directly in the company’s internship recruitment committee.

The two signed up to recruit interns at their alma mater, which hadn’t yet seen much representation in the GE Appliance internship program. They wanted to change that.

“I went to class, I saw the talent pool,” Bragg said. “We have great students in our classes. We have very smart people.”

Or, as Sperzel puts it, recruiting at IU Southeast would “diversify the fanbase” on the Louisville side of the river.

Sperzel, a process improvement specialist, and Bragg, a contract sales analyst, were recently on campus to recruit for GE Appliance’s 12-week Summer Internship Program. They looked for students who went beyond the minimum GPA and degree concentration requirements. They looked for students who showed leadership qualities and who wouldn’t be afraid to voice their opinions.

Bragg started off as an intern at GE Appliances before being hired on full time. He can’t stress enough the importance of the experience for college students.

“Essentially what I was doing here was a year-long interview,” he said. “They’d much rather hire interns than spend the time finding external applicants.”

Bragg also leverages the relationships he fostered with faculty by asking them for personal recommendations of high-potential students.

One of those students was Hien Nguyen ‘16, who secured her own internship with GE Appliances through the IU Southeast Career Development Center.

Nguyen, a native of Saigon, Vietnam, said the internship enabled her to take the lessons she learned in her accounting classes and see how they apply in the bigger picture of the business world.

“When I got my internship, I saw behind the screen of how people can apply accounting policy in business,” she said. “The experience let me know exactly if I picked the right career for myself or not.”

She was chosen for Bragg’s former internship, and the two cross-trained together in her first weeks in the role.

The two chatted about their shared experience in the School of Business and commiserated how tough — and impactful — Dr. Doug Barney’s accounting class was for both of them.

“It was very tough, but it was also fun and he influenced and challenged us both so much,” Nguyen said. “He taught me that you can make mistakes in the classroom and get a poor grade, but when you go into work, you cannot screw up.”

By the time Nguyen earned her degree in May, she had already been offered two full-time openings at GE Appliances. With a degree in hand, she accepted the position of intercompany controller.

Bragg and Nguyen join nearly half of all IU Southeast students whose internships have assisted in securing full-time jobs or another internship rotation.

Alumni like Bragg and Sperzel make more of those internships possible by opening doors for future generations of Grenadiers.

“It’s a great way to give back, to promote the university,” Sperzel said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how great of a school IU Southeast is.”