Skip to main content
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Search

Full Article

Visit Apply Give

CBA Student Worker Finds Path to Employment Before Graduation

Brooke Parsons has spent the past year as a student worker in the Management department while finishing her B.S. in Finance. Now she’s graduated and beginning a new chapter in her life which recently got jump started with an internship at Conagra.

“Conagra put us up in apartments in Omaha and it was about a two and a half month internship,” said Parsons. “It was a full time job for the entire summer. There were 13 interns total and four of those were from UNL. “

Parsons was able to integrate much of what she had learned in the classroom at the College of Business into her internship. She even made a big enough impression that Conagra decided to hire her after she graduates at the end of the Fall 2010 semester.

“As an intern at Conagra you get handed a project you work on throughout the summer and then at the end of that time we made presentations to the senior leadership team. They did an interview process through that. We did our presentation and they asked us questions about it. That’s how they decided who to bring on full time and I got asked back full time.”

Parsons will be able to work extensively in various divisions of Conagra over the next three years.

“We go into their financial development program. It’s a three year rotational program where you get to rotate throughout the company and do various financial roles before you get placed somewhere permanently. I’ll be in a different department each year for my first three years with the company. “

Parsons, who will be receiving a degree in finance, originally made contact with Conagra at the Beta Alpha Psi student organization career fair. Through Beta Alpha Psi she was able to enhance her marketability as a potential employee even more.

“I was an officer for Beta Alpha Psi so I got the chance to travel to New York City two summers ago to their annual conference. We also went to Kansas City for the regional conference and got to do a presentation there. We got to meet a lot people and do a lot of networking. So that was really cool.”

Parsons is originally from Brandon, South Dakota near Sioux Falls. She came to UNL because she believed there would be more opportunities for her than if she went to school closer to home. It looks like those beliefs -- and opportunities -- are now paying off!

Published: November 10, 2010