My Amazing Internship Experience with Riviera Advisors
It is never easy figuring out one’s future career path, especially in college. When I was admitted to CSULB, I entered as a Psychology major with only a general understanding of going toward the Industrial/Organizational Psychology direction. However, there was still so much to learn about the options available. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to make an impact in organizations. As I was learning about various career paths, I stumbled across the field of Human Resources. Intrigued, I added it as a minor and became fascinated with the field. I was not quite sure which specialty to choose-they all seemed very interesting. When I came across the internship posting for Riviera Advisors, I knew I had to apply after their internship information session. I had no idea of a potential career in Talent Acquisition, notably in consulting. Even if I was not to be accepted, Rivera Advisors had an exceptional candidate experience that highlighted the importance of attention to detail in every step of the recruiting process. I was honored to be selected as the Talent Acquisition Analyst Intern for the 2022-2023 cycle!
A year later, I could not have asked for a better internship than what I had with Riviera Advisors! This internship has given me the opportunity to gain hands-on, in-depth knowledge of Talent Acquisition alongside my classes. My responsibilities included managing social media by posting relevant TA articles daily, analyzing client projects, facilitating workshops in-person or online as a Zoom producer, interacting with HR professionals, and finally recruiting for the next intern. During my time with Riviera Advisors, I have been able to work with clients from a wide variety of industries, even those from Fortune 500 companies! As a Talent Acquisition Analyst, I contributed to each unique client project by analyzing client data, developing insightful propositions from the data, and presenting to executives and HR professionals. With each client we worked with, I was able to learn about how Talent Acquisition operates in various industries, along with other influencing factors. No matter the client, our goal is always the same: to formulate a streamlined and efficient strategy to enhance the Talent Acquisition function to its best potential.
Riviera Advisors always seeks to set their interns up for success through numerous avenues. In addition to performing analytical work, I have been able to develop myself professionally and network with a multitude of HR/TA professionals. I was also encouraged to join the Human Resource Management Association (HRMA) at CSULB to get further involved in the field of HR. In my final semester, I took on the President role and brought the organization back to its original abilities. Aside from Zoom presentations, Riviera Advisors provided me the opportunity to travel and present to clients. Alongside facilitating training academies and creating the necessary materials. Having the opportunity to meet and explicitly interact with clients helped me develop skills in professionally presenting myself and participating with the team. On a couple of occasions, I was able to travel directly to client sites with the team. On one, we visited a very large, public homebuilder in which I was able to be involved in the working on their strategy plan. But that was not limited to local traveling, in mid-April, I joined the team in attending the SHRM Talent Conference being held in Orlando, Florida. Being able to attend a conference for work is not something many internships offer, and it is an experience I am extremely grateful for. My role throughout the course of the conference comprised presenting Riviera Advisors to potential clients, networking with HR professionals, attending speaker sessions to learn more about various disciplines within Talent Acquisition, and finally assisting Jeremy Eskenazi, our managing principal, in his speaker session. During our last night of the conference, we hosted a dinner with VIP TA professionals to offer them a unique networking experience and a fun event that could not be elsewhere from the conference. Given how I had been constantly researching articles to post for Riviera throughout my internship, it was amazing to meet many of those prominent HR professionals in person. Moreover, being able to ask for their insight about their career paths and have them in my network to reach out to. The conference provided an immersive learning experience that my school textbooks lacked. We concluded our trip by traveling to a client site to visit and interacted with the Hiring Managers. Being that this company was a healthcare adjacent service provider, it was eye-opening to be able to see how they operated first-hand to carry out their mission.
Cycling down
Once back home in California, I set out on my final big assignment: recruiting the next intern. This phase of the internship contributed greatly to my learning because it gave me a hands-on opportunity to practice everything I had been learning for the past year. It has also been one of the most fulfilling parts because it reveals itself as a full-circle moment. When I first began, I did not realize how interdisciplinary Recruiting was. It was not simply posting a position, interviewing, and selecting a candidate. It was far more complex. Along the way, I picked up skills in designing flyers, marketing, and most of all event planning for the internship information session. This meant overseeing multiple things at once: coordinating with HRMA for event approval, booking rooms, inviting alumni interns as guest speakers, managing the budget, ensuring a good number of RSVP sign-ups, and hosting the event at last.
Overall, I have cultivated an array of skills and knowledge through my internship that will definitely aid me as I advance in my career. This internship offers an experience like no other. Riviera Advisors is a wonderful and supportive team to work with. I found being able to directly make an impact on organizations early on in my career path to be an especially meaningful aspect. The hands-on learning opportunity they provide enables their interns to evolve by developing their analytical proficiency, professionalism, and many TA skills to support them in their future endeavors in the field of HR. My experience with being able to make impactful changes to organizations inspired me to go further. Now that my internship has ended, I will entering my next big chapter. I will now be working towards completing my Ph.D. in Management at University of California, San Diego beginning this fall. While I could simply become a practitioner, I would like to be able to have a gateway to enacting larger changes within workplaces. Especially considering how the world of work has drastically changed since the pandemic. I would like to optimize and rehumanize work with using interdisciplinary learning and scientific backing. My internship at Riviera Advisors has most definitely provided me with the foundation to do so. I am excited to use all the skills I developed in my future career.
