Kelly Phillips – Eddie Bauer
By attending the Undergraduate Women’s Breakfast last winter quarter, I was able to network with two Eddie Bauer recruiters, learn about their internship program, and ultimately establish a relationship with them. I have always been interested in retail, as well as companies that advocate an active lifestyle. Therefore, the Eddie Bauer internship was the perfect opportunity for me. After three rounds of interviews, I was selected as one of nine Igniter Interns, and then placed on the Retail Traffic Team.
Within the marketing department, our project was to develop and analyze key traffic driving solutions that would drive traffic into Eddie Bauer full price stores. In nine weeks, my team and I analyzed historical traffic data, created a program, tested our program at the University Village Eddie Bauer store, and finally gave a final presentation to the CEO, senior management team, and over 200 Eddie Bauer associates. The fact that we were given a real business problem to focus on not only made the project meaningful, but it meant that our results actually benefited the company. My team was able to successfully create a traffic-driving program, which was eventually rolled out to new store openings across the country.
In addition, the three intern teams were competing against one another, which made the internship both exciting and competitive. Not only was it a paid internship, but each member on the winning team (my team won!) also won a cash-prize. Although we were competing, Eddie Bauer set up so many fun activities for all of the interns. We went hiking, stand-up paddle-boarding, and every Friday we would have the opportunity to listen to and meet different speakers through our “Inspiration Fridays.”
One thing I appreciated most was the fact that Eddie Bauer really stressed the importance of networking, and made sure that we could set up informational interviews with anyone in the company that we would be interested in talking to. Eddie Bauer really cared about us, and didn’t treat us like typical interns. I loved my experience at Eddie Bauer, and I am still in contact with many of the people there today.
