Internship Spotlight: Lucy Matson, Procter & Gamble (P&G)

Lucy Matson '23 (BSBA MIS & Marketing) was a Analytics & Insights Intern at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, OH.

What was the process of getting this internship, job, or summer experience?

I applied for this internship online and submitted my resume. After passing this stage, I successfully completed an online assessment. After a few weeks, I was contacted to do an hour-long one-on-one phone interview. The same day that this interview was completed, I was contacted to move onto a second-round interview the following week. This interview was a virtual 1 hour video interview with 2 leaders within Analytics & Insights. A couple weeks after this second interview, I received a call with my internship offer. This whole process lasted about 3 months.

What was a typical day like?

During the internship, a typical day was getting into the office around 8am and checking my emails. Throughout the day, I would have a few meetings with our team about current initiatives and I was able to ask questions and be fully involved. Additionally, I tried to meet with other people from the office to get to know what their jobs were like and get a holistic perspective of the company. During the internship, I worked on 3 projects, so in-between meetings I tackled building Power BI dashboards and completing consumer interviews to uncover insights. My days typically ended around 4pm. 

What was your favorite part of the experience?

My favorite part of the experience was meeting other interns from across the country and experiencing the amazing culture of P&G. Every week, we had intern events that allowed us to build relationships and led us to become great friends. Some of those events included an intern cooking class with our managers, happy hours, baseball and soccer games, as well as a trip to Kings Island amusement park.

If you worked on a big project, please describe it below:

One of my projects was to build a Power BI dashboard to track the sales of products in one of our categories. Our team was working on building a database for this data, but my dashboard would be a supplement in the meantime. This project was very rewarding to be a part of, especially considering I was involved in tracking the sales of a recent acquisition. I was the owner of this project from the beginning, and had the autonomy to make the visualizations that I thought were important to answer the business questions. I completed all parts of the process, including getting the data and cleaning it within Excel, then uploading it into Power BI and creating visuals. Once that was done, I had to make sure that the dashboard was dynamic and able to refresh even when I was finished with the internship. 

What did you find most challenging?

The most challenging part was balancing and prioritizing my projects. Within 12 weeks, I had mid-point and final presentations to work towards and 3 projects to manage. These projects were all equally important to the business, and required a lot of effort and time. In order to be successful, I used my network and asked for help when I needed it so that I wouldn’t fall behind. 

What did you learn?

It is hard to put into words how much I learned, and I could go on and on. The biggest thing that I learned was how to take many different sources and data points and connect them to form a story and make meaningful insights. In order to do so, I learned about seeking external resources, thinking critically, adapting, and taking calculated risks. 

What advice do you have for other students looking for a similar experience, or advice for future students to be successful?

The biggest piece of advice I have would be to remain open-minded and eager to learn. Employers love those who want to grow and at P&G, it is encouraged for interns to make an impact from Day 1. Don’t let the fact that you are an intern stop you from achieving great things in a short amount of time. Try your best to do more than what is asked, since this will only help yourself learn and achieve.

How did Eller Prepare you for this experience?

Eller’s professional development helped me get this internship through interview skills and resume building. Within Eller’s Tech Core internship, I worked on a project with Power BI for the first time, and this skill caught the attention of P&G. The class that prepared me the most was the consulting track of BCOM314. Throughout this internship, I had a mid-point and final presentation, just like BCOM. The goal was to present insights and recommendations to important leaders within the company, which BCOM prepared me for. My presentation skills were evident during this internship, as well as prioritization, and this would have been a lot harder if it wasn’t for BCOM and first-semester upper division of Eller. Lastly, nothing helped me more than the ability to take feedback and apply it to be even better! 

Did you feel supported by the company or organization you worked with? Please share what they did to help you feel included. This could include general inclusion as an intern, concerted efforts around diversity/equity/inclusion, or something specific in response to COVID-19:

I felt 100% supported. P&G has so many affinity groups that employees can take part in, and HR and my manager always ensured I was seen and included. The company is incredibly inclusive, and from my experience, the higher leaders were even more welcoming and supportive towards interns. Despite being a large company, P&G does a fantastic job at making it feel small. 

I encourage anyone to try for an internship at P&G and be open to the process!!! You won’t regret it, and I guarantee you will learn so many invaluable skills.