SPD Welcomes Intern Ryan Lattimore!

My name is Ryan Lattimore, and I grew up in Rensselaer Indiana, where sports and good grades were practically the only things I focused on growing up. By my senior year, I had confirmed my passion for a career in business, which I am still pursuing today. I am currently a junior at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) pursuing a duel major in Human Resource Management and Business Management. I plan to graduate during May of 2017.


I heard about Indiana State Personnel's HR Spring Internship opportunity through the Kelley School of Business on their online platform KelleyCareers.com. Being in my third year of college, I found it essential to search for internships prior to graduation. After applying to multiple internships in various areas of business, I stumbled upon a opportunity with the Indiana State Personnel Department (SPD). After doing some research, I soon realized the great opportunity that stood before me. The Indiana State Personnel Department is the second largest Human Resources (HR) department in the state. This internship offers interns a first hand look into the large scale public sector of HR. I immediately submitted my resume! After multiple phone calls, online screening, and a panel interview, I was offered the internship.

I chose this internship because of its potential to experience large scale HR in the making. Compared to other internships, I found the Indiana State Personnel Department to be the most competitive and desirable, due to their rotation program, variety of projects, and job shadow opportunities! I had a few other options to choose from, even some internships that were paid. However, I chose the experience over the salary and decided to make Indiana State Government my home for the semester! My goal is to constantly increase my HR experience prior to graduation. I felt that  SPD would give me a great opportunity to learn about the public sector.


My first week at SPD has been pretty outstanding. From day one I was put right to work. I spent almost all of my time in the Talent Acquisition division, where I shadowed multiple coworkers and got introduced to their everyday tasks. After going through my standard training sessions, I was assigned the Web Developer Internship to recruit for, which is part of the Governor's 2016 Summer Internship Program.  Check it out: http://bit.ly/1VkWA5K I often hear about internships where, as an intern, not much really gets accomplished. I have been blown away by the amount of independence I have to really work in the fashion that suits me. I work 24 hours a week, and never find myself wondering what else I could be doing! This internship is extremely interactive, and I am looking forward to what is yet to come!


Ryan Lattimore
State Personnel Department
HR Intern