Guest Writers: Our Experience as GivePulse Interns

GivePulse Summer Interns Kayli and Brianna share their experience during their internship, what it was like to be a part of the GivePulse Ambassador Program, and their future goals. 

Why We Joined

As our summer comes to a close, we would like to take time to reflect on our experiences working for GivePulse and encourage anyone and everyone who is interested to apply. The last three months, we have spent working remotely for GivePulse, producing various materials and guides for members to utilize. 

Brianna: "While working at my university's community social and service office, I became aware of the GivePulse ambassador program through my supervisor. From the first day of joining, it was clear this program was an exciting opportunity to delve more into the world of community engagement. While reflecting on my time at the internship, I would say that GivePulse has helped me grow immensely in my professional and personal life. In the long term, I will be attending law school after I graduate, and this job has taught me a variety of valuable skills to utilize, such as time management, organizational skills, and good communication. The choice to join the program and accept the internship was a fairly easy one. GivePulse is a company that is truly helping to give back and create meaningful service opportunities. After completing my time in the GPA program, it only made sense to want to further expand my knowledge of the GivePulse platform and help work to bring change to others' lives."

Kayli: "As an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Office of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research, I made the decision to dedicate my efforts towards student and community service on my campus. When the chance to join the GivePulse Ambassador program arose, I immediately felt aligned with their mission and jumped at the opportunity to get involved. As the GPA training progressed, I gained deeper insights into how GivePulse utilizes their platform to encourage engagement across many universities, and as the program came to an end, I found myself interested in more–Which is why I applied for the GivePulse Success Management Internship. During this internship, I not only gained valuable assets that benefit my campus, but I also developed areas of professional and personal growth within myself. I now leave this internship inspired and eager to extend my knowledge to improve student and community engagement on my campus."

Our Main Takeaways from GivePulse

While spending our summer working on various projects and putting our best efforts into ensuring the material we create at GivePulse is the best possible product for our users, we have learned a lot. This internship allowed us to grow and develop our professional skills more to ensure we are leaving the job better than how we came in. 

Kayli: "Over the past three months, I found myself putting on many new hats that challenged the way I normally think and strengthened skills I have not experienced before. The most notable skill I found myself practicing during this internship is creative problem-solving. Every assignment given to me addresses an underlying problem, and not every problem is solved with a single solution. I found myself being consistently creative throughout all of my projects and anticipating new problems that could arise with any step I took. This brainstorming process allowed me to become imaginative with the conversations I had, and it fostered a productive environment so that I could address the root problem of all my projects."

Brianna: "Throughout my time during this internship, I have learned so much and truly grown as a person. Having a remote job comes with a different element of personal responsibility that I believe is hard to find in a typical workplace setting. Each day, you must hold yourself accountable to stay on task and complete your projects to the best of your ability. Time management is a major factor I found to be important with this internship. While it may seem easy to work remotely on your laptop, you still need to be able to balance the various tasks asked of you. For me personally I think the skill I found most beneficial is adaptability. I think the overall theme of working in this internship has been learning how to adapt and think outside of the box on a variety of projects. Learning how to juggle responsibilities, manage time properly, and be able to communicate effectively with peers has been a project of becoming adaptable to the new environment."

Our Future Plans

Our internship has given us the opportunity to grow and helped further us down our professional paths. With the skills developed throughout the summer, we have gained more knowledge and experience that will only help us in our future endeavors. 

Brianna: "When looking ahead at my future plans, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to work at GivePulse and develop necessary workplace skills that I am positive I will be utilizing for years to come. Currently, I am beginning to start my final year at John Carroll University, where I am studying Political Science on the Pre-Law track. Upon graduating, I will be attending law school, where I will spend the next three years working towards my J.D. with a specification in Intellectual Property. All of the skills I gained from this internship will have a direct impact on how I navigate through future projects and roadblocks."

Kayli: "As I walk away from this experience, I give consideration to the opportunities provided by GivePulse, which allowed me to stretch my way of thinking and expand my knowledge. Within the next year, I am continuing my service at The Office of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research, and I will be completing my Business Entrepreneurship degree. I plan to continue implementing my newfound knowledge for the continual development of BlazerPulse practices at my college community engagement office, and I also plan on engaging myself, as a student, in the opportunities created by the UAB community on BlazerPulse. While my experiences gained at GivePulse certainly benefit me and my community in the short term, I also see the long-term benefits as I progress through my career. My creative problem-solving skills gained from GivePulse will always prove to be relevant in any position, and I will definitely continue to exercise these skills wherever I find myself."

How You Can Get Involved

Hearing from both of our experiences, it's easy to see how grateful we are for our time at GivePulse and how much we have gained from this opportunity. We would like to take the time to extend advice on how to get involved with GivePulse and start your journey with this amazing platform.

If you or someone you know holds a deep passion for community engagement, social change, or civic networking, get involved and gain relevant skills with GivePulse! It is the company that will support and challenge its employees, students, and interns, and the focus is simple–We work to create meaningful change and impact.

The GivePulse Ambassador Program is a great training opportunity that allows students to dip their toes into the world of social engagement and how GivePulse fosters a space for impactful change. It is a flexible, one-year program that allows students to learn how GivePulse creates their impact while simultaneously offering development opportunities to students themselves.

By joining the ambassador program, you will be able to experience a wide range of opportunities within the platform and develop networking, professional, and academic skills further. For those who are looking to extend their knowledge beyond the ambassador program, we encourage you to seek GivePulse internship opportunities for further development. Diving headlong into the opportunities provided by GivePulse created an energized place of innovative learning and skill enhancement for us, and we hope to inspire others with an interest in social change to see how GivePulse can impact them.

About GivePulse

GivePulse's mission is to enable everyone in the world to participate and engage in lifting their community to new heights. We do so by providing a platform to list, find, organize, and measure the impact of service-learning, community engagement, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and volunteerism.

Founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas, GivePulse works with 650,000+ groups, including colleges and universities, nonprofits, businesses, K-12/school districts, and cities and municipalities. Together, we connect millions of people in an effort to create positive social change.

Start making a difference today by visiting www.givepulse.com.