By Kathy Gurchlek
When Kevin Tzaka was researching potential internship opportunities, the University of Rochester Simon Business School student relied heavily on networking with school friends and former interns to get the lowdown on the cultural fit of various employers. Those 20- and 30-minute chats “gave me a better idea if I would be a fit or not,” said Tzaka, from Queens, N.Y. His research resulted in a three-month summer internship at IT solutions provider ServiceNow, based in New York City. Tzaka will graduate in 2025 with an MBA.
“I think that’s a better way [to research employers] than just looking on the internet,” he said. Consider, too, talking with faculty and others to see if they have connections with anyone you could contact to hear about their experiences with various companies. Tzaka’s family is made up of first-generation immigrants from Albania, so he leveraged his school network for insight into the work/life balance, training opportunities, and pace of the work environment at companies that interested him.
“Researching organizations is an integral part of your job search process,” the Columbia University Center for Career Education says on its website, “whether you’re exploring options or preparing for an upcoming event or interview.” That’s also true for identifying internships, and there is a wealth of resources that students can leverage.
Annual Reports, Demographics
In addition to having one-on-one conversations with people in his network, Tzaka studied companies’ annual reports, as did Manali Mahajan. She interned with ServiceNow’s outbound product management team and will graduate from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2025 with an MBA. ServiceNow’s overall internship program is among Glassdoor’s 25 best internships for 2024. Annual reports, along with company blogs, are valuable sources of information, Mahajan said, because they focus on “the kinds of things companies chose to highlight. … Seeing what people choose to talk about is very validating.”
Eden Gould-Anderson, an undergraduate student at Northeastern University from Long Island, N.Y., will graduate in 2026. She interned with ServiceNow’s enterprise field marketing team. Feeling comfortable bringing her authentic self to work is important to her, she said. She looked at company statistics, employee demographics—including whether global organizations reflected different cultural backgrounds—and the existence of employee resource groups. “I was kind of looking at whether they have belonging groups for people that are like me; multiple aspects of my identity is being a woman, and also a Black woman,” Gould-Anderson said. “I approached looking for internships the same way as [I looked at] universities,” to determine if a company aligned with her values, she said.
Campus Resources
An organization’s website is valuable, but “it’s not the only resource,” Mahajan pointed out. She cited the insight she gained from campus panels featuring both former interns and area employers. “Everyone has a different lens on culture, and I think just hearing that variety of perspective was helpful to me to understand what is the culture at ServiceNow,” she said. “It’s really telling when you think about what you hear people chose to speak about, because culture can be a really amorphous term.” Panels featuring employees talking about their career trajectories at their organization and hearing from individuals who were able to transition from one role to another caught her attention. “Internal mobility is really important for me when I think about culture at a company,” Mahajan said.
The Value of ‘More’
As their internships neared their conclusion, the students reflected on other advice they would offer other students. For one, don’t be shy about asking employees about their experiences. “I wish I’d reached out to more people … and asked people to share anecdotes,” Mahajan said. “I think those kinds of examples can uncover [information] about culture more than specific leading questions.” Tzaka recalled having great 30-minute conversations with individuals and regrets not talking with them longer. He was trying to be respectful of their time. He recalled a ServiceNow employee he’d spoken with telling him later that they were expecting him to follow up with more questions. “If they don’t want to make extra time for you,” one person told him, “… that’s not a company you want to work for. Don’t be scared to do that. Take that extra step.”
Also, cold-call emails to employees at organizations you are researching can be effective, Mahajan said.
“There’s a lot of power in being a student and reaching out” to inquire about a company, she said.
