Four Reasons to Intern at One of New York’s Fastest-Growing Fintech Start-Ups
Over the summer of 2020, I interned at Policygenius as a Strategy & Operations Training Intern on the Life Strategy & Operations Team. In my role, I helped create onboarding training lessons for new hires, build data dashboards, and assist in developing lessons for the sales team. Prior to joining Pg, I had no experience in life insurance or the start-up realm, but the supportive nature of Pg made my transition into this industry extremely smooth. My experience at Pg was one of the best internship experiences, and I can boil it down to four reasons why.
1. There’s exciting growth
One of the most exciting aspects of interning at Pg was experiencing the exponential growth of the company and the positive employee energy that came with this growth. I was lucky enough to be present during Pg’s launch anniversary. During the commemorative meeting, I was able to hear employees speak to Pg’s rapid success. One of the quotes that really stood out to me was Pg CEO Jen Fitzgerald’s use of the phrase “Up and to the right.” It was amazing to see so many employees echo this phrase and speak to their own surprise at the growth of Pg.
For example, during one of the company-wide all-hands meetings, Jen announced an extensive list of promotions within the company. Alongside promotions, I worked with the growing classes of new hires on the Operations side. I was continually surprised by both the number of promotions and hires within the company just in my 8 weeks I was there.
However, It wasn’t just the employees who saw this growth. Every so often, I would scroll through a Pg Slack chat that posted any Pg-related news content. It was exciting and inspiring to see big-name publishers like Forbes and Bloomberg discussing the success of Pg. While reading these articles, I couldn’t help but think I was a part of something bigger!
2. Interns take ownership of projects
We’ve all heard the internship horror stories where interns are given meaningless busywork. My internship at Pg was FAR from this experience. Right off the bat, my manager made it clear that the projects in my internship would directly impact operations at Pg. Not only did my manager assign meaningful projects, but she also allowed me to take creative ownership while working on the assignments. It was so rewarding to lead a project from start to finish all while having the opportunity to make the projects my own.
At Pg, I felt like I was treated with the same respect as full-time employees. This feeling of belonging was integral to my success and goes to show how Pg treats its employees.
3. It’s a community like no other
Through my internship, I learned a ton about operations, but I also learned all about the various departments at Pg. My manager and the People Team connected me with employees across all teams to help me gain well-rounded exposure to Pg. Having this experience gave me a stronger understanding of Pg, and I was able to meet many of the employees across all teams over Zoom.
Within my team, we had weekly meetings where we spent time discussing our weeks and getting to know each other through fun activities like questions of the day. I was able to learn so much about my co-workers and share many laughs through these small weekly conversations. Outside of work, there were plenty of opportunities to get to know the employees including trivia and charades nights.
Whether it was participating in shadowing events or team meetings, I felt extremely welcomed. Even though my internship was remote, I found that employees went out of their way to introduce themselves and set up Zoom calls to get to know me! I won’t lie, I felt a bit like a celebrity.
4. Personal and professional growth go hand-in-hand
Although all of these factors made interning at Pg an amazing experience, the way in which my manager cared about me personally and professionally was single-handedly the reason why I enjoyed the internship so much. My manager took the time to ask me about my professional interests and how I view my career trajectory. After these discussions, she set up meetings for me to shadow individuals within Pg that matched my interests. This really made me feel valued as an intern.
But my manager didn’t just make me feel valued as an intern, she cared about me as a person. During my internship, I was also enrolled in graduate school. Juggling both the internship and graduate school was definitely stressful, but my manager was extremely understanding and always checked up on me. In one instance, I had a large graduate school assignment coming up that I needed to dedicate time to. My manager encouraged me to take time away from the internship to focus on succeeding in this project. It was reassuring to know I had Pg employees supporting me outside of work.
Reflecting on the entirety of my internship, the accepting community and excellent leadership at Pg allowed me to flourish in the role. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to intern at Pg and I can’t wait to use all I’ve learned as I progress throughout my career. Thank you, Policygenius!
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