Behind the Scenes: The Secrets to Success and Lessons from Our 2023 Summer Interns

Being an intern is a lot of pressure, not only for the intern themselves but for the company that has invited them for the summer. This is the chance for the company and its culture to make a serious impact on the younger generation. In many cases, a summer internship is the first exposure to what a real-world career may look like in the future.

We invite you to step behind the scenes a little bit to get to know our 2023 summer interns, what kind of projects they got to work on, and the lessons that they plan to take with them back to school and their future careers.

This summer we had three interns that we met at the University of Georgia career fair. Two worked in our lending division, Max Fenno and Oscar Nunez, and the third, Sai Gudipati, assisted our Information Technology team. We asked each of them to sum up the key learnings of their internship with us. This is what each of them had to say.

Intern Projects, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned from Each Intern

Max and Oscar had similar projects as they both assisted the loan side of community banking this summer. Oscar worked with our Loan Servicing team and was pleased to gain a better understanding of loans and the procedures that must be taken to service them after they have been fulfilled to the customer. He found it satisfying to see concepts from the classroom be applied to actual real-life loans. Through becoming efficient in the work tasks that were assigned to him, Oscar learned more trivial skills of how to manage day-to-day life situations too! Skills he learned on the job are helping him form healthy habits in his personal responsibilities including acquiring healthcare, scheduling automobile appointments, and planning for his long-term future. Way to go, Oscar!

Max was new to banking and lending, so our Loan Fulfillment leader had the privilege of introducing the banking and lending industry to him! Between educational courses, his peers, and mentors/leadership, Max not only gained a working knowledge about the life of a loan, but the documentation that’s needed for lending, clearing and cleaning up existing tracking items, and more. Max is taking with him vital core lessons from his BankSouth experience that can be applied to his personal and professional life. He’s even going to consider banking as a possible career field!

Finally, our I.T. intern, Sai. Sai enjoyed taking on tasks that allowed him to learn new skills and sharpen those he already had was a great experience for Sai. It surprised him to find how committed each department at BankSouth is to ensuring every customer is happy, even those that don’t engage with customers daily. Also, Sai gives credit to BankSouth for providing him with a mentor during his time here, which shows the company was invested in making sure his time with us was a success.

That’s a Wrap for the 2023 Summer Intern Season!

This was our third summer intern season for us at BankSouth, and these interns definitely surpassed all expectations and have set a new standard for internship excellence for future interns that join the BankSouth family. Through their unwavering commitment to seeing every task through to understanding every “why” we do each step, these interns have left a mark on the teams they were part of. We’re proud of their academic and professional accomplishments and can’t wait to see the great success each is sure to have in the future.

About Our Internship Program

BankSouth is committed to keeping an eye out for the next generation of talent, and one of the best ways to acquire qualified and enthusiastic employees is through offering a summer intern program. Interns are not limited to a certain department – past interns have had the opportunity to work in nearly every area of the bank including Compliance, IT, Marketing, Retail, Credit and Underwriting, Banking Systems, Accounting, and during a Core conversion.

We have had such success with our intern program that several interns have been offered full-time opportunities after graduation – some even a year or two after graduation. “Our hope is that we can do our part to prepare (interns) them for the next step in their career and if that is with us, that’s the icing on the cake,” says Traci Thrasher, PHR, VP – Human Resources Officer.

Students from universities across the southeast have interned with us, from the University of Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, and Gordon State College to name a few.

If you’re a young professional looking for an opportunity to challenge yourself, grow your skills, and have a little fun along the way, keep checking out our careers page and Handshake next spring for any internship opportunities that come available! We look forward to helping the younger generations create a bright professional future.