[This special edition of Hiring Happens was written by our summer intern class of 2026: Anika Clark, Ava Ashenfelter, Ethan Bartos, Jaclyn Santaguida]
Our summer as interns officially comes to an end today. All of us are about to enter our final year of undergrad, which means the hunt for a full-time job is rapidly approaching. Between our jobs of retail and serving during the school year, this summer we experienced what it’s like to be the youngest, least experienced people in the workplace.
Before even becoming an intern, we had to find a place that was willing to teach us the ropes. Applying for internships was some of the most stressful four to six months of our college careers so far. The time we spent sifting through countless (243 collectively to be exact) applications of different locations, duties, and qualifications, trying to find the best fit was a lot to manage.
To add on to the stress, we couldn’t help but compare ourselves to every other candidate. Each time we pressed apply, thoughts like “What if someone else is better?” or “I don’t have enough skills for this” permeated our minds. Trust us, overcoming these thoughts is no easy feat. We were all relieved to receive such an opportunity, it even felt like a miracle [editor’s note: funny, none of them described our offer as a “miracle” when we called them].
As students, we are told that we need summer internships to help build a path for our future careers. However, finding your first job or internship with no previous experience is virtually impossible. With the increased pressure to find an internship, students are now competing with nearly 8 million others. And while this creates pressure for a candidate, it also creates pressure for a company, which has dramatically changed the hiring process.
Anyone who has applied for internships recently knows the sheer exhaustion of going through three to five interview rounds just for a single offer. We sit through standard resume walk-throughs, complex hypothetical scenarios on the spot, and compulsively map every past story into the rigid STAR framework just to hit the right checkboxes. These rounds are supposed to help us stand out, but they mostly highlight a frustrating contradiction: we are forced to prove we can perform in a professional environment before we’ve even been allowed to enter one.
For most of us, this is the first time we’ve been in this kind of professional setting. Our preconceived notions of office behavior heightened the anxiety around acting just right. What followed was an endless string of questions: Did I sound too easygoing in that meeting? Is it super obvious I’m confused? Should I be laughing along to a joke I don’t know the backstory of? The answer to all of it is arguably the most nerve-racking part: You learn by simply doing it.
That only works, though, if the room lets you do it. What we’ve landed on this summer is that the best environment for anyone new to the workforce is one that is conducive to learning and forgiving of mistakes. No matter how much overthinking is put into a project, a presentation, or even a single sentence, we are bound to get something wrong. This summer, working with a team that welcomed any question and was always willing to help us through an issue made being the youngest, least experienced people in the office a lot less scary.
Looking ahead to our final year of undergrad, the impending full-time job search feels a bit less like an unconquerable mountain and more like a familiar trail. We may still carry some of that imposter syndrome, but we’re no longer stepping into the professional world completely empty-handed.
This summer taught us that being the youngest person in the room isn’t a handicap, it’s an opportunity to absorb, adapt, and grow. As we prepare to re-enter the application battleground, we do so with sharper skills, a clearer picture of the work cultures we thrive in, and the confidence that comes from knowing we have a place at the table. We’re ready to take those next steps, secure in the knowledge that every mistake made and lesson learned this summer has laid the foundation for the careers we’re about to build.
Thank you to the entire Spherion team for giving us this opportunity and showing us what a great summer of work can look like. If you’re looking for advice on how to build a great summer for interns, give them a call. (We were not paid to say that. Well, technically we were. But not for that specifically.)
Signing off,
Anika, Ava, Ethan, & Jaclyn
Your Spherion WI & Northern IL 2026 Summer Intern Class