It’s summer internship season, and retailers across the country are highlighting young professionals that are gaining valuable experience in the convenience retail industry.
Love’s Travel Stops hosted 104 interns from 43 universities working in 17 different states this summer. Interns in Oklahoma City at Love’s corporate headquarters “have gained experience in several business areas, such as merchandising planning, fuel quality, culture and inclusion and diversity, customer loyalty strategy and more,” said the company. Meanwhile, Love’s Musket and Trillium Energy interns in Houston have spent the summer learning about fuel trading and alternative fuels, including electric vehicle charging, while also giving back by volunteering at the local Boys and Girls Club.
“Each year our interns play a special role in learning from our team members while gaining real-world experience by bringing their innovative ideas and work ethic to the table as active contributors,” said Stephanie Shellabarger, Love’s supervisor of university recruiting. “It has been incredible to witness the growth of our intern programs as we strive to set interns up for success in their careers. We’re thankful for them sharing their talents and their summer with us.”
7-Eleven was named to the 2024 Yello Top 100 Internship Programs List. The list is determined by public voting and a panel of industry experts who consider many different aspects of the nominated programs.
Yello said of 7-Eleven’s program: “One special aspect of the 7-Eleven internship program is the “in store experience". Interns get an exclusive opportunity to go behind the scenes at a store and experience firsthand the inner workings of the operations. Interns gain a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of convenience retailing. It’s a unique chance to step into the shoes of our frontline employees and see the magic happening behind the scenes. 7-Eleven is proud to offer this immersive experience, providing interns with valuable insights.”
Marathon Petroleum was also named on Yello’s list. “Marathon is very proud that nearly half of all interns and co-ops return for another internship, along with a very high percentage then accepting full-time employment after their internship program. This track record of success inspires Marathon's Talent Acquisition team to continue enhancing the Campus and Emerging Talent Internship & Co-Op Program to lead in relevance and purpose.”
The Wills Group’s Lorissa Martin, manager of talent acquisition and performance, offered insights for how to create a successful internship program in a blog post for the company, with takeaways from the retailer's Rising Talent internship program.