SPD says goodbye to our wonderful intern, Aaron

Hello once again everyone.  Today is my final day of my internship with the State Personnel Department.  This summer has been an incredible experience and I have learned so much about human resources and state government as a whole.  I can’t believe how fast this summer has gone.  It really feels like I just started and now it is time to go.  This has been a summer that I will not forget.

On my first day with the SPD, I remember being nervous of what this internship had in store for me.  That first day was full of incredible experiences, from getting my badge and .gov email address to lunch with the staff and meeting with directors here at the SPD.  Soon after, Nicole (the other SPD intern) and I were given a list of tasks to complete.  These tasks seemed like a lot at first, things like a YouTube video and making an interview question guide, but through time management and hard work we were able to complete these tasks.

My first three weeks were spent here at the SPD working on tasks and job shadowing the different divisions.  Then the rotations began.  I spent two weeks working with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), three with Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), two with the Department of Health (ISDH), and two at the Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital before returning here for one final week with the SPD.  The projects at each of these agencies allowed me to learn a great amount.  I worked with succession planning at DNR and Larue Carter, became a master of Microsoft Visio in FSSA, worked with records retention at ISDH, and I got to experience new employee orientation at ISDH and Larue Carter.  These agencies and their projects taught me a great amount about the human resources world.

My return back to SPD gave me even more projects to complete.  I got the chance to create agency specific power point presentations for diversity hiring plans, I made a spreadsheet detailing potential job fairs for the SPD Talent Acquisition team to attend, and I also got to perform more employment verification and reference checks.  These tasks ensured that I would not go underutilized during my final week here.

Overall, this has been a great summer.  I learned so much and I hope that my work here left a good impression of me.  I want to thank everyone that helped throughout my internship.  Everyone was great in making me feel comfortable and were very helpful with any questions I asked of them.  I enjoyed my time working for the State of Indiana, and perhaps after I graduate from Ball State University next May I can return to work here with the State Personnel Department.