Meet Team UPS

Q&A with Keola

What attracted you to UPS?

While I was going through the recruitment process, UPS seemed to be a company that really cared about their people and wanted to invest in you and your future. I felt like I would have opportunities to learn, grow, and do work that mattered—so I went with UPS.

At a high level, can you tell us about your internship role?

My internship role involves redesigning the employee value proposition, or EVP. It’s looking at current UPSers and future UPSers, evaluating how we can make them a best fit for the company and ensuring that we set expectations so they know what we offer here and what they bring to work in return.

What has your internship/co-op given you the opportunity to learn so far?

My internship has taught me the importance of people and perspectives. When you're trying to look at an organization as a whole, there are different perspectives, walks of life, ages, personas, including students, parents, and caregivers. It’s important to understand where everyone is coming from and where they going—and we figure it out by talking to people. You can’t just read data points, you have to go out, meet people, and figure out what really makes a UPSer a UPSer. It’s been nice going around talking to a bunch of people, everyone’s so willing to offer up insights and learnings.

Share some tips for making the most of your UPS internship, such as networking with other interns and learning about the company's culture?

I reach out to five people a week to do one-on-ones and just to get to know who they are, what their job is, and see other areas of the business. I also do back-end research because UPS has a lot of resources. You can log in and do a bunch of learnings and trainings and read their story from beginning to end. I recommend doing that because then you see where people are coming from and why they've been here for 20, 30 years.

What do you enjoy the most about UPS’s company culture?

First, everything is intentional, so when you get projects or work or get invited to a meeting it's because they want your perspective, they want your insights, they want you to learn and ask questions. They’re very good about doing that. Second, everyone I interact with has been very genuine. They want to see what you’re good at, see what you want to develop, do a personal growth project, figure out what areas you want to explore, and connect you with people. I’ve had chances to learn beyond the scope of my projects and that’s a huge win for me.

In what ways has your work felt meaningful thus far in your internship?

When I’m working on the EVP, a lot of it is trying to get perspectives on all UPSers. So, on one side, it’s professional management and working corporate and talking to people, but I also had the chance to go out and see what it's really like being in the hub and working part-time manual. Seeing two different aspects of UPS and how they merge together to create an efficient company that moves packages—that’s what I feel like has been meaningful because I can see how opposite ends of the spectrum still come together for a bigger goal.

What are your career goals? How do you feel your internship will positively impact your career goals?

I’m just starting out in my career, but I want to keep moving up. I want to be a director or VP and get those experiences to help be a better mentor, a better leader, a better trainer to the generation after me and to be a better collaborator with the people I have now. UPS has a unique culture with so many roles in one company. You can move laterally or vertically, and my internship is showing me that there are so many moving parts in one company that allow you to learn and grow in a path that’s the best fit for you.

What separates UPS's internship program from the other internship opportunities you looked into?

UPS doesn’t just do the internship as a one and done. It’s so future focused that they are willing to do things like help get you out to be in person. I’m from Utah which is far away but they help get you here and make sure you have real life experiences. UPS is really good at developing your skills and offering networking to help you in the future.