Every summer, Global Edge brings on a new group of interns to work alongside our internal departments. This year’s class spanned six students from four different schools, covering finance, information systems, contracts, and business development, as well as one intern who is soon to complete high school.

We asked each of them a few questions about their internship, what surprised them, and what they are taking with them. Here’s what they had to say.

Van Lam, Finance

Van is a rising senior studying accounting. She joined the finance team this summer to do bank reconciliations, cash application, and daily training with both finance and HR. She helped build a set of AP processing documents that future interns will use to find procedures and common questions without pulling the finance team away from their own work.

What stood out most to Van was how close-knit the office feels. “Everyone got to know their colleagues like family,” she said, and she leaves with a stronger habit of asking questions, taking notes, and holding herself accountable. Her advice to next year’s class: ask questions and be curious about the people around you. There are more good stories in the office than you’d expect.

Andrew O’Brien, Finance

Andrew is pursuing a double degree in accounting and finance at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. On the finance team, he took ownership of the daily bank reconciliation and now handles it independently, while also working on a corporate housing project that compares travel costs with a corporate housing lender.

Andrew had only a vague sense of what staffing involved before this summer, and he was surprised by the scale of it and how many different clients one company can serve. Time at Medical Edge Recruitment gave him a look at another part of the business. He is heading back to school with sharper time management and a better sense of what a full day in an office looks like. His advice: come in without an agenda and be ready to learn whatever comes your way.

Sean Parish, Contractor Care

Sean is finishing high school and is now on his second summer with Global Edge, working on the contractor care team. His days center on contractor emails and calls across time zones, along with data-integrity audits between systems like Bullhorn, ADP, and DISA when contractors aren’t reaching out.

This year felt different from his first. Contractors are now calling him back directly with follow-up questions instead of routing around him, which he described as a real sense of being involved rather than just filling time. He was surprised to learn how much recruiters juggle beyond phone calls. Reflecting on the summer, Sean said his biggest lesson was learning not to rush – to slow down and take in the experience rather than racing to check things off a list.

Jalen Villa, IT

Jalen is in his final year studying information systems at Houston Christian University. On the IT team, he split his time between service desk tickets and building Power Automate workflows, a tool he had never used before this summer.

He didn’t expect recruitment to have so many layers beyond matching people to jobs, and he was struck by how open the communication is across departments. Presenting his work and reaching out to people directly pushed him outside his comfort zone the most. Looking back, Jalen said the internship was busy and always manageable. His advice for the next class was to come in ready for more than IT support, because you’ll end up doing a bit of everything and learning a lot.

Isabel Stanley, Contracts

Isabel studies business management with an HR focus at Texas A&M University. She spent the summer on the contracts team, reviewing paid sick time laws across all 50 states and dozens of cities and updating clauses for jurisdictions like Connecticut that had changed their requirements this year. She also led a department meeting.

Isabel didn’t know until recently that her grandparents had once run their own staffing agency, which gave her internship an unexpected full-circle feeling. She was surprised by how much there was to learn about the placement process from start to finish, and by how welcoming the office is generally, executives included. In one sentence, she described her internship as learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable while picking up processes she’d never encountered in school. Her advice was don’t be afraid to ask, whether that’s your mentor or anyone else. People are there to help.

Aiden Hutchinson, Business Development

Aiden is working toward his associate’s degree and plans to continue to a bachelor’s degree in business. He joined Global Edge for business development. This summer, he attended an EPC industry conference and built relationships with senior talent acquisition executives, an experience that was notable and impactful.

Aiden came in nervous about talking to senior leaders, but found that “the highest up of people are just people, and it’s really not that scary to talk to them.” Getting comfortable discussing unfamiliar technical topics on the phone was his biggest challenge, and he leaves with real proficiency in the recruiting platforms the team relies on daily. His advice for the incoming class was don’t be scared to talk to people, including your fellow interns. Everyone is in the same boat.

This year’s interns brought energy, curiosity, excitement, and a willingness to learn across every corner of the business. We’re grateful for their work this summer and excited to see where they go next.