Interns Bring Fresh Perspectives to Kohl’s Leaders

Members of Kohl’s leadership team share the importance of Kohl’s internship program, how it helps them grow in their own careers, and offer advice to interns during their experience at Kohl’s.

Earlier this summer, Kohl’s welcomed more than 500 interns to its stores, distribution centers and corporate offices across the country for a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience. Kohl’s paid internship program, ranked one of the top in the United States by Indeed.com, offers life skills, incredible job experience and the opportunity for full-time employment after graduation.

With the potential to grow future talent, Kohl’s and its leaders are heavily invested in the internship program and work closely with teams to ensure a hands-on, business-led experience during interns’ summer with the company. Kohl’s is committed to the program as part of the continued effort to build a strong talent pipeline, and leadership takes a front seat in helping to guide and develop this future workforce.

Members of Kohl’s leadership team recently shared their favorite parts of the internship program, how it helps them grow in their own careers and what interns can take away from this experience.

Katherine Finder, senior vice president, product development

What’s your favorite part about having interns on your team?
Our entire product development (PD) intern program is focused on identifying, recruiting, training, and retaining the best new talent that will fuel our future. I believe Kohl’s has created one of the strongest intern programs in the retail industry. Our goal is to paint a picture for the interns of what it’s like to be part of the PD organization. Interns become part of our teams, both learning and contributing to what we do. From sponsors to managers, coaches and mentors, the whole PD organization gets involved in training and teaching. It takes a village, and we are committed to creating the best experience from the first day to the last.

How does your department benefit from Kohl’s internship program?
The intern program is the main pipeline for talent in product development, so we invest a lot of time and resources to ensure that we attract awesome people and engage them during their time with us. Our teams have the chance to flex their training muscles, as many of the activities are taught and led by the working teams. We also benefit from the infusion of new ideas and fresh perspectives from our intern group. As we work to attract a younger customer to Kohl’s, they are a goldmine of ideas and innovation.

What is one thing you’ve learned from your interns?
It would be impossible to pick just one. As someone who has been in this business for a lot of years, the interns remind me of what it was like to be at the beginning. Their energy, ideas and even their fears keep me thinking about how we can be better and how we can continue to reinvent ourselves as we move forward.

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with your interns?
I tell them every chance I get: do something every day that scares you. They are at the beginning of incredible careers and now is the time to stretch, try new things and take some risks.

Crystal Brown, district manager, San Antonio, TX

What’s your favorite part about having interns on your team?
My favorite part about having interns on our team is the opportunity to coach and develop future talent.

How does your department benefit from Kohl’s internship program?
The stores organization utilizes the intern program for training and developing future talent. Interns are also a great resource for fresh, new ideas!

What is one thing you’ve learned from your interns?
Interns are great resources for leveraging technology and social media; they take recognition and communication to the next level. They want to share what they are learning with everyone.

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with your interns?
Take initiative, be proud of your accomplishments and don’t be afraid to share with your leaders. The internship is what you make it. Kohl’s has a ton of possibilities, go for it.

Mike Baughn, senior vice president, finance & treasurer

What’s your favorite part about having interns on your team?
My favorite part of having interns on our finance team is that it’s an incredible opportunity to have an associate dedicated to analyzing our business in a new way. Maybe it’s something we’ve always wanted to dig into, or maybe it’s something where we need a fresh perspective, but I am always amazed at the results we get when we hand our interns a challenge and then provide them the infrastructure and support to deliver great results.  

How does your department benefit from Kohl’s internship program?
In addition to having our interns tackle real projects that we will use going forward, the finance department benefits greatly from the interns developing into full-time associates. Beyond that, we fully believe in the opportunity that the “Coach” program provides individual contributors across our team to begin to experience managerial responsibilities as an opportunity to develop their career as well.  

What is one thing you’ve learned from your interns?
I’ve learned to ensure we are always encouraging questions, challenging our status quo, and teaching the “why” behind our requests. On top of that, I’ve learned that they are far more prepared for professional life than I was after my junior year of college!

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with your interns?
The advice I always give is that they own their career path. I share with our interns that they are at the stage of their professional development that they are going to get a lot of what I call “free advice”, and, at the end of the day, it’s not about what others think is best for them. They need to own the decisions they make with their career and their path forward.

Chad Melnick, senior vice president,  merchandise planning & allocation, women’s apparel

What’s your favorite part about having interns on your team?
Interns are incredibly important to the continued success of our company. Having them on our teams gives us a chance to assess their potential and fit, cultivate their strengths and skills, and ultimately groom them for future roles in our organization. Watching the talent pool of our organization blossom each summer is both enjoyable and inspiring.

How does your department benefit from Kohl’s internship program?
The interns come with a fresh perspective on the business. They challenge our teams to think differently, simply by asking “why”, and they push our associates to synthesize their strategies and decisions into understandable and relatable communications.

What is one thing you’ve learned from your interns?
Never stop being curious or challenging the status quo. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it is the best way to do it.

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with your interns?
During your time here, take full advantage of all the opportunities that are available to you. At Kohl’s, that means aggressively seeking out learning activities, inserting yourself into important conversations, freely giving your perspective, and actively listening to what is going on around you. In addition, take the time to network. You are creating long-lasting relationships that you will lean on upon your return to Kohl’s after graduation. Beyond Kohl’s, that means immersing yourself in the many things that Milwaukee, Wis. has to offer.

Ritch Houdek, senior vice president, technology

What’s your favorite part about having interns on your team?
It’s great to watch them grow over the summer. For many of them it’s their first experience in a corporate setting. Most start out a little timid, but by the end they’re presenting projects in front of a group of senior leaders. Their presence and confidence is usually a stark contrast to their first week.

How does your department benefit from Kohl’s internship program?
New talent is a critical part of our workforce. The intern program helps students gain real world experience and helps Kohl’s identify potential hires. Great teams are a blend of experienced associates working alongside former interns who have graduated and accepted offers to join our team.  

What is one thing you’ve learned from your interns?
I love their optimism. They’re enthralled by our people, technology, facilities, and company.  Sometimes when you live it every day you start to take it for granted, and they remind me to more fully appreciate it.

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with your interns?
In school there’s a tendency to get focused on a particular aspect of IT. We see many students that want to be software engineers. When you intern with Kohl’s Technology, you’ll see there are dozens of job families ranging from business analyst to data scientist. My advice is to spend some time and see all of the great career paths within Technology.

For more information on Kohl’s internship program or other career opportunities at Kohl’s, visit Careers.Kohls.com.