At the University of Kansas, career prep isn’t something you start thinking about senior year. For Drake Schotland, it was built step by step through the KU School of Business, hands-on experiences, and a community that helped him grow into his goals.

 

 

As a Supply Chain Management major, Drake made the most of KU opportunities designed for driven students, including the Business Leadership Program and Business Honors Program. Along the way, he gained real-world experience through internships, professional connections and the kind of career support that helps students move from “figuring it out” to feeling ready.

Drake’s KU experience didn’t just help him explore career options; it helped him take real steps toward one. Through the School of Business, he completed two supply chain internships and accepted a full-time job offer he’ll begin after graduating this May.

This story is written from Drake’s point of view as part of our Jayhawk POV series. He offers incredible insight into how to get an internship — advice that applies to any major. If you’re looking for more real KU student experiences, you can explore the tag to read more posts from Jayhawks across campus.

Supply chain management internships

Hello, my name is Drake Schotland and I’m a current senior studying Supply Chain Management with a minor in Business Analytics through the School of Business here at KU. In this post, I’ll tell you about my experiences with internships, a few tips on how to get one, and how they helped me land a full-time job after graduation.

Coming into college I knew a lot of what I didn’t want to do (STEM, Health, Law) more than what I did want to pursue. I chose the School of Business because of the beautiful Capitol Federal Hall, Business Leadership Program, and knowing that whatever field I end up in, I wanted to work with people. The B-School curriculum is excellent in that you’re required to take an introductory class to every major offered, which is how I found Supply Chain Management. 

My professor for Introduction to Supply Chain Management (SCM 310) was Joe Walden. His teaching style was engaging; he had personally lived through every concept he taught. Looking back now as a senior, I can confidently say he was one of the best professors I had in my time as a Jayhawk and set me on the path to pursue Supply Chain Management.

An overview on internships

Before accepting my full-time role as Supply Chain Specialist at Kiewit after graduation, I completed two consecutive summer internships, starting the summer after my sophomore year at Evergy. 

Internships are wonderful experiences because they give you a window into what your life could look like after college and allow you to do hands-on work. They force you to ask yourself if the path you’ve chosen is right for you. Many companies view internships as a path to a full-time role at the company. I’ve often heard it said that internships are an 8-12 week interview process, and it’s as much you interviewing the company as they are interviewing you.

The more internships you can do before you graduate, the better. It will help boost your resume, and employers love to see more than four years of cleaning golf carts at a country club, (still the most fun I’ve ever had at a job). Landing an internship can be a bit daunting though, and I’d recommend starting your search in September, if you’re looking for one in the summer. 

Securing an internship

There’s no one path to landing an internship either. Below are a few bullet points that I recommend in your search:

• Talk to people in your life (family, friends, professors) and express your desire for an internship. You never know who might be a friend of a friend working in the field you’re pursuing, and they can get you in the door for an interview at least.
• Develop relationships with your professors. Professors have connections in the field you’re studying and want to help you succeed, (Tom Patton is a professor who’s an excellent example of this).
• Create profiles and fine-tune them on LinkedIn and Handshake. KU’s Business Career Services can help you build these profiles to exactly what employers are looking for, (they also do free professional headshots). Handshake lists thousands of internships and full-time roles that you can filter to your liking, and oftentimes recruiters will reach out to you first on the platform.
• Develop your resume. Get deeply involved in a few organizations that you can speak about in interviews and study abroad if you’re able. Business Career Services will help you build a professional resume you can confidently hand to employers.
• Go to career fairs. KU is fantastic at bringing companies to campus to meet students. The Business Career Fair features 100+ companies all on campus at once. Do a bit of research into the companies there you want to talk to; it is a golden opportunity to stand out from other candidates looking for the same role.

Interviews, in my experience

These tips above should help you land an interview, which is an accomplishment in itself! Preparing for an interview is a bit more straightforward, (at least in my experience). Make sure to research the company (values, line of work, basic facts) and the qualifications for the role you’re interviewing for. 

Often, the interviewer will ask you about your past experiences and pose situational questions to you. The purpose of the situational questions is to gauge how you would respond when placed in a specific scenario.

The interviewer will also give you a chance to ask questions, and it is imperative that you have at least a few. It’s best to develop the questions you want to ask when researching the position you’re interviewing for, and then writing them down so they’re on hand for the interview. 

My personal favorite is: “what are some traits you’ve noticed that successful people in this role have had in the past?” It can be applied to any role, and you can parlay it into your strengths!

Internships provide tangible experience

During my time as a student at KU, I completed an internship at Evergy between my sophomore and junior year and Garmin between my junior and senior year. Evergy is the utility company for the Kansas City metro area, headquartered in Kansas City, MO. 

Garmin is a technology company which spans consumer, automotive OEM, marine, aviation, and outdoor markets headquartered in Olathe, KS. Both internships taught me a lot about what I did and didn’t want in searching for a full-time role.

Some highlights from my internships were:

• Working with incredible people. At both Evergy and Garmin, the coworkers I had went out of their way to teach me, answer questions, and make me feel welcome in the office. Not to mention both teams had smart and capable people who were excellent at their jobs.
• Understanding the business. Evergy’s internship program emphasized interns being able to go out in the field and see the heart of the business in action. I traveled to jobsites around Kansas and saw the construction of distribution lines and met with the linemen who maintain them.
• Meaningful work. While working in a supply chain role at both companies, I was given meaningful projects that benefited the companies. I built relationships with suppliers, did research on spend & quantity data, helped to write contracts, managed dozens of unique parts and their lead times, and so much more. 
• Learning what you want. Garmin is excellent company to work for because they take care of their employees, offer fantastic benefits, and value the wellbeing of their employees. Because of this, they can be very selective in who they hire. This made me realize that I want to work at a company like this where employees are taken care of and I will get to work with / learn from some incredible people.

From internships to a job offer

Through my internships, involvement in the school of business, and using my network I was able to accept a full-time role at Kiewit as a Supply Chain Specialist after graduation. 

It would not have been possible without the resources made available by the KU School of Business and the help of many people along the way. Take advantage of the resources at your disposal and get all the experience you can. As a student, seek out failure and learn from it, it is invaluable!