Internship Spotlight: Skyler Yuengling, Ross Stores, Inc.

Aug. 31, 2024
Employees standing next to each other

Skyler Yuengling '25 BSBA (Business Management) was an Assistant Buyer Intern at Ross Stores, Inc in Los Angeles.

 

Often, arranging housing and transportation can cause unexpected challenges and expenses. Can you share information about your living situation?

I chose to live in an Airbnb studio house for the two months of my internship. My internship gave me a housing stipend, but it realistically only covered one out of the two months of rent that I paid because housing in LA is very expensive. The housing stipend was also taxed a lot since California has such high taxes. The place I chose was really nice inside and was about a 20 minute drive away from the office. One thing I did not know was that the area I chose to live in was not the best for a female living alone to live in, but there were no issues I encountered while I was there. For anyone doing an internship in a place they are unfamiliar with I recommend them doing some research for housing before committing to it. 

 

Did the company help you find potential housing or roommates?

They created a GroupMe chat for all of the interns, allowing us to connect with one another before starting the internship. This gave us an opportunity to room with other interns if we chose to. 

 

Did they offer to pay for housing and/or transportation?

They offered a housing stipend for students that had to relocate. There was also a great deal of travel included during the internship, so they had us keep track of our expenses to be reimbursed at the end of the internship. 

 

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

I had applied for this internship early on in the fall semester. A week or two after I had applied was the Eller Expo, where I met Bert Stewart, the West Coast recruiter for the Ross Buying Office. It was really nice to meet him in person and be able to put a face to the name of my application. I believe this helped make me stand out from some other applicants. I then had a virtual meeting with Bert, where I was asked questions about myself to get to know me and to go through my resume and experience. After my meeting with Bert, I was accepted into the next round which was three back-toback interviews with Ross employees in different positions at the buying office. Finally, I was offered an official offer to be an assistant buyer intern for that summer. 

 

What was a typical day like?

There was no typical day at the buying office, everyday was different. Mondays typically involved running reports for the week to see how selling went the previous week as well as touch base meetings. Tuesdays through Thursdays were typically spent in the market which could be vendor meetings or comp shopping in stores. The company has Summer Fridays which would be virtual days only worked until 1pm, giving the office a longer weekend. Fridays are used to catch up on anything else that needs to be done and finish up with a few more meetings. 
 
 

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

For the Assistant Buyer internship, every intern has to complete an intern project. This project is a relatively open-ended project to showcase what you learned during your time there and your creativity within the job. I used what I had learned during my training and day to day experience. For my project I found an area of growth for the division I was assigned to in the internship. I then found possible products that could be added to Ross Stores within that area of growth and began reaching out to vendors to see if we could get their product into Ross stores. I had the support of the Buyer I was working for to reach out to these vendors. This project gave me a great idea of what it would be like to return to this company as an Assistant Buyer. 
 
 

What advice do you have for future students with a similar interest? 

My advice to future students would be to apply to internships early! I began applying in August and was fortunate enough to have an internship secured by October, which relieved a lot of stress for me during my first semester of Upper Division classes. I would also encourage students to research the internship when applying and see what they are specifically looking for in applicants. The more information you know before applying and interviewing, the better your chances are at getting the internship.