Stephanie Pinilla (UD ‘16) was featured on the UD Blog Squad in 2015 for her public relations internship with menswear company Robbie & Co. Now as a digital account manager for iHeartMedia, Pinilla looks back at her internship and reflects on how it got her to where she is today.

“At the time, I was interested in exploring fashion-related PR,” she says. “My internship influenced my professional path in that it made me realize what I was and was not looking for in a future job position; I wasn’t as interested in fashion as I initially thought. But it also allowed me to realize that I definitely was right about wanting to work in a communications-related field.”

The former communications and psychology double major lists the habits she formed during her internship that have come in handy in her current role.

“Skills I acquired from the internship that I still use today are to initiate my own projects if a workday is slow, to always ask questions and to take advantage of opportunities to learn new skills from co-workers, even if they may seem slightly unrelated to what my current role is,” Pinilla says.

When asked what she would tell her younger self as a #UDIntern, Pinilla says she would push herself to pursue more opportunities and to not be so hard on herself. “Try to learn as much as possible from as many people as possible,” she says. “Internships are learning opportunities where questions are expected, and perfection is not. Top internships are extremely competitive with limited positions, and sometimes not landing the large brand name internship will be a blessing in disguise.”

Pinilla says that her communication classes and network she built at UD helped her land the job she has today.

“The biggest career lesson I learned from my time at UD is to take advantage of networking opportunities and to look for mentors wherever you can,” she says. “At UD, professors are a great asset both in networking and as mentors. Getting to know them can not only help you with internship opportunities but also [to guide] your career path.”

To current students, Pinilla advises pursuing relevant professional opportunities, as it makes a big difference in how easily you can find jobs after graduation. 

“Companies want to work with recent grads who have shown an interest in the given field of the company,” she says. “Any experience that demonstrates they’ve had to work in a similar environment is always looked at positively and makes the candidate more likely to be considered for a position.”

She also adds that, like her internship, these opportunities could help you realize that you might be wrong about your dream job. “Sometimes these experiences help individuals to figure out earlier on if a field or position they thought would be perfect for them is or is not the right fit,” Pinilla says.

This blog post is written by our Division of Student Life student intern Rachel Ornstein.