Justin Sinay interned at Molina Healthcare in Long Beach, California this past summer as a Marketing Intern for their Medicare department.

What were your internship responsibilities?

I developed marketing materials for Medicare-Medicaid dual programs, ensured all sections of the Molina website were compliant with the Medicare Marketing Guidelines set forth by state and federal governments, and created an Excel database for all marketing materials sent out during the 2016 year to make it easier to search key terms and make changes in accordance with the new Medicare Marketing Guidelines for 2017.

What was your biggest challenge during your internship?

The biggest challenge for me was developing skills where I needed improvement in order to be more successful out of college. I had set goals for my internship prior to starting and improving my attention to detail was my top priority. I am someone who likes to get things done quickly, but I was given assignments where it was extremely important to be thorough and not miss any small details. Telling myself to slow down on projects and constantly pay attention to the little things was the toughest part of this job because it’s easy to rush and try to impress your coworkers. But this challenge also provided me the most rewarding part of my internship and where I made the biggest improvement in my skills.

What was the most impactful thing you learned?

The most impactful thing I learned during my internship was to never be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone. Take on assignments that are challenging and confusing because that’s where improve your skills the most and set yourself apart from fellow employees and interns. Whenever my supervisor would ask me to do something I wasn’t sure of what to do, I would immediately ask questions and communicate my confusion or concerns. This allowed me to become more familiar with the expectations for the assignment but shows that I wasn’t someone who would back down from a challenging project. The projects in which I wasn’t 100% comfortable with were the ones that ultimately taught me the most because I had to either learn new skills or come up with unique ways to complete the task.