![\"WeWork](\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/WeWork_internship_program_3.jpg?resize=1024%2C683\")
\u201cI major in finance and economics at school, so I haven\u2019t touched anything like a sales position before,\u201d says Ding. \u201cBut after this summer, I feel that I have grown a passion for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spent her summer researching some of the world\u2019s largest companies. She says the freedom she was given in doing the research allowed her to be creative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no direct place to look, so maybe you can find it on the company\u2019s official website, or on their LinkedIn, or on their hiring posts on other websites to see if they\u2019re planning on entering a certain city,\u201d says Ding, 20. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you to find your answer, and exploring the many ways to do so was really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hitting the ground running<\/h2>\n
With the intern program spanning only eight weeks, Olivia Bashiri worried that she wouldn\u2019t learn as much as she had at longer internships. But she hit the ground running, coordinating and scheduling candidates for recruiters on the people team during her first week at WeWork\u2019s London HQ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pace with which WeWork operates was a steep learning curve, but now it\u2019s my norm,\u201d says Bashiri, a 21-year-old student at Aston University in Birmingham, England. \u201cI like working this way; time really flies by. There\u2019s nothing worse than sitting at your desk and wondering when it\u2019s time to go home. Now, people have to tell me that it’s six o\u2019clock, and time to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to those in London, Bashiri worked with job candidates in WeWork locations all over the region. This gave her a look at how WeWork operates at an international level.<\/p>\n \u201cRecruiters here are recruiting candidates from Germany and Israel, which has given me an understanding of different cultures and how people work there in contrast to here,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n WeWork London intern Sebastian Hervas-Jones says that, before his internship, he\u2019d heard of the concept of a changing workplace\u2014of the idea that people wanted more out of their profession than just money.<\/p>\n \u201cBut before this summer, that seemed like just an ideal. WeWork has really solidified and normalized that as a baseline,\u201d says Hervas-Jones, a 19-year-old student at Scotland\u2019s University of St Andrews. \u201cNow it\u2019s like, if I\u2019m not working in an office with this level of connection, what am I doing?\u201d<\/p>\n Hervas-Jones says that as an intern on the community team\u2014responsible for running each WeWork building\u2014he was tasked with interacting with as many members as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve gained the ability to strike up conversation with anyone and everyone on a meaningful level,\u201d he says. \u201cI find that to be true anywhere, like if I\u2019m sitting in public transportation next to someone. That\u2019s not something I would have done before.\u201d<\/p>\n Aziza Rishmawi, an intern at WeWork in San Francisco, spent her summer doing competitive analysis for new markets that the company is entering. She says that while she expected her work to be limited to the growth operations team, she found the opposite to be true.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the best parts about this internship has been the ability to explore so many other career paths,\u201d says Rishmawi, 20. \u201cWe got to hear from people on other teams and learn about their different functions, even if those things weren\u2019t necessarily our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n A student at the University of California Berkeley, Rishmawi says that this made her more excited to join the workplace after college.<\/p>\n \u201cI was surprised simultaneously by how fast WeWork is growing but that, considering how big it is, employees still have a lot of mobility and freedom to take on new tasks,\u201d she says. \u201cIt makes me feel inspired about where my career can go.\u201d<\/p>\n Bashiri found the WeWork environment to be much more fun than she expected, especially in comparison to the recruiting positions she has held in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear about WeWork being a social company and community where everyone interacts\u2014you kind of think that every company must say that,\u201d Bashiri says. \u201cBut there is no quiet moment in our office. I\u2019m laughing most of the time, because I sit next to a really funny recruiter.\u201d<\/p>\n Claire Keener, an intern on the interior design team in New York City, says that events like the monthly all-company meetings were unique ways to see WeWork come together as a community.<\/p>\n \u201cI could see how focused the company is on its values and how they try to implement those everywhere that they can,\u201d says Keener, age 24, who\u2019s pursuing her master\u2019s degree from Pratt.<\/p>\n One unique aspect of the program is access to top executives, including co-founders Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last few days, we\u2019ve had both Adam and Miguel in London and we got to meet them,\u201d says Hervas-Jones. \u201cThey\u2019re these huge executives, but they\u2019re also normal people who are trying to connect people to make them a little happier.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the course of the summer, interns also worked together in groups to tackle questions facing WeWork\u2019s leadership team right now, from which new amenities should be offered to how events and social platforms can be used to spread awareness about the company. Finalists had the opportunity to present before McKelvey.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of companies who would allow interns to share their ideas with someone so senior,\u201d says Denys Woolley, a 22-year-old student at the University of Leeds whose group made it into the final round of presentations.<\/p>\n Woolley interned in London this summer, working on the energy team within the operations department. He says that he was surprised to learn how much work it takes to keep WeWork buildings running smoothly.<\/p>\n \u201cIn each building, there are tons of different variables that have to be tracked, from the types of taps we use to the amount of heating that\u2019s required,\u201d he says, adding that despite the workload, the atmosphere was laid back. \u201cThe biggest priority was being part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Ding says that before her internship, she thought of WeWork as a traditional coworking space, but that the vigorous and lively atmosphere has made her realize it\u2019s about something more.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a very vague idea about WeWork\u2019s business model, but when I got here I realized it\u2019s more about building relationships and an environment that makes work part of your life,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m much more excited about the idea of work because of the people that I\u2019ve met here.\u201d<\/p>\n Photos by Frank Mullaney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Program brings together 150 young people in five cities around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1687,"featured_media":3000000105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43912],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3000000104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-employee-spotlight"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"WeWork](\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/WeWork_internship_program_2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683\")
Exploring career paths<\/h2>\n
Interacting with executives<\/h2>\n