Behind the Scenes: Bertelsmann HR Services Internship Blog
Meet our Interns at Bertelsmann HR Services
HR Services at Bertelsmann has put together our list of interns and asked them to blog about their experiences working for a recruiting services department at a major media company.
Our interns work on many projects that are connected to the daily functions of our business units in the book publishing, music publishing, TV production, online and service units.
This is a great opportunity to hear first hand what its like to work across Bertelsmann from the people who are in the internships!
Last day at Bertelsmann
today is my last day here. Three month have gone by so fast. But I had a great time and learned a lot. The team was really nice and fun! I'm a little bit sad that i have to leave, but I'm also really looking forward to the next weeks. On SUnday my friend and I are going to California for two weeks before I'll fly back to Germany.
Bye,
Nadine
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Monday morning motivation
I'm back at work after a really relaxing weekend. Thankfully, NYC has cooled down a little and now it's not as uncomfortably hot as it was last week. It looks like it might rain though.
Today work might be a little slow because I'm waiting to get a few projects approved; until then I just have a few small tasks to take care of. But it's nice to have an easy Monday as a transition back into the work week.
Here are a couple of the ideas that I want to start working on soon:
- Start a photo gallery on the intern page.
- Create a live chat feature (so that students considering an internship at Bertelsmann can talk to a real intern).
- Post some polls, quizzes, YouTube videos, quotes, etc.
So as soon as those get approved (with hope, later today), keep an eye out for all the new features on the Students & Interns site!
Cheers,
Wes
Sotd: "Suture Up Your Future" - Queens of the Stone Age
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Introduction
My name is Meseret. I am an online video intern here at Bertelsmann. I will be working with Rachel this summer. I’ve been here since Monday and I’ve enjoyed everything so far. All my coworkers are nice and patient considering I’m the only male intern here. Needless to say it’s a girls club, but they are nice about including me in their discussions about girls' stuff.
A little about me: I am originally from North Dakota and yes, I got to NYC by horseback. I just transferred to NYU where I will begin my third year of college in the fall. I am majoring in Dramatic Writing for film and TV. I am really excited about starting school (I know I have no life) partly because I’m such a fan of film and because I have the opportunity to share and experience it with others who share my passion.
I am living in a dorm, which is great except for the whole no air conditioning thing. I really like where I’m living because I’m able to walk around and check out record stores and just enjoy NYC. The other day I was able to go to Central Park and film some things for work. What’s better than that?
I’m currently working on shooting B-Roll footage and developing a few video ideas for the site. More on that soon.
Au revoir,
Meseret
Sotd: "Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair" - Bessie Smith
Recommended Movie: Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin) - Playing at the Film Forum on Friday, June 13, until Thursday, June 19.
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Up-to-the-minute news
This has been an interesting week. I finally finished editing the BeCruiter User Manual---what a relief! Now I'm going to start on the project I've been looking forward to since the beginning: rewriting the CYOC website, starting with the Students & Interns section. I'd like to get some new features running to make the site a little more exciting. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave me a comment.
In the words of Mio: "Rock and roll!"
-Wes
Sotd: "Take it From Me" - The Weepies
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What's new?
I'm now in my third week at Bertelsmann, and I'm still really enjoying the work I've been doing. The laid-back atmosphere is great; I can listen to music while I work, and it absolutely makes the time fly by. Everyone has been really nice and my biggest problem right now, according to my supervisor, is that I'm not open enough (I'm a little shy).
I'm currently editing and revising the BeCruiter user guide, which has been good practice for my copy editing skills; plus I'm learning a lot about the BeCruiter system. I'm sure that knowledge will be useful in the future because BeCruiter is such an important element here in the HR department.
One of my main goals this summer is to rewrite parts of Create Your Own Career so that it has a more youthful, welcoming tone. Many parts of the site are aimed at attracting college students and I think the tone may be too rigid (and boring, honestly) to catch the eye of a younger audience. I'm meeting with one of my supervisors today to discuss some ideas.
In other news, it has been stifflingly hot here in New York in the past few days--95 degrees and up! Unfortunately my apartment isn't air-conditioned so I'm glad I spend most of my time in this nice, cool office. :)
Cheers,
Wes
Sotd: "Bombtrack" - Rage Against the Machine
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Introduction
Hi,
I'm Elisabeth, a.k.a. Wes, the latest addition to the Bertelsmann team of interns! I'm working in the Recruiting Services department doing some editorial work for Create Your Own Career and other Bertelsmann websites.
A little about me: I'm from South Carolina and I'm a senior at Ohio University, where I study journalism and international studies. I just got back from a 100-day trip around the world with the Semester at Sea program, during which I visited 12 countries and had classes onboard a cruise ship! I love cats, video games, reading sci-fi novels, and cooking Thai food.
This is my first time living in New York City and it has been really exciting for me. The weather has been great, so I've been trying to take advantage of it and spend a lot of time outside. I'm living near Washington Square Park, which is a great area with tons to do.
The whole HR team has been very welcoming and I've really been looking forward to coming to work each morning. So far I've just been making small content edits to areas of the C.Y.O.C. site, but I think there are a lot of other, bigger projects that will be surfacing in the upcoming weeks.
More to come!
-Wes
Sotd: "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" - Blue Oyster Cult
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In the last few days the weather in NYC has been really great. What a pity that we have to sit in the office and work ;-) But now it's 5 p.m. and I can go out in the park to relax in the sun before I work on the last parts of my project tomorrow.
See you.
-Nadine
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After a while...
Hi all,
The last weeks were very busy, so much so that I totally forgot to write in my blog. I've done more than two-thirds of my internship, so there are just three and a half weeks left in New York. I think I will miss it when I am back at home.
In the last few weeks I did a lot of little projects for all of the team members. For example, I worked on several animated banners, updated the homepages, found images for a poster campaign for Arvato Services, etc. But nothing very special has happened, so you haven't missed too much!
Yesterday Elisabeth, a new intern, started and now I don't have to be alone in my cubical anymore, and I have more possibilities to improve my English knowledge. I'm happy about this. ;-)
You'll hear from me soon again.
-Nadine
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Meeting Random House
This week has been a lot of fun. I've been working on creating a new title sequence for Arvato systems and I took some great footage last week of their impressive midtown building on a beautiful spring day.
Today I interviewed two Random House employees. One works in design, and the other in editing. It was really interesting to hear about what drives them to do the work they do and what it is exactly that they do for Random House. There are lots of videos to come.
Back to editing!
-Rachel
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Project
Yesterday afternoon and today I worked on my first own large project: creating a case study competition to find new employees for Bertelsmann for hard-to-fill positions. It's really interesting, and I'll have a lot to do the next few days.
I'll write more tomorrow!
See ya!
-Nadine
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