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What It’s Like to Go from a Finance Intern to Full-time 3Mer
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At 3M, we're all learning, discovering, exploring and innovating together. Our internship programs allow for students to join other 3Mers on their career journey. Here’s a deeper look at what it’s like to be a Finance intern from someone who has experienced it firsthand.
Name: Amy Ness
Title: Financial Analyst, Consumer Health Care division
Number of years and positions at 3M: Five years as an internal auditor, plant financial analyst and business financial analyst
Education: Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Office Location: Maplewood, MN
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Why were you initially interested in interning for 3M?
I heard repeatedly how 3M is a great company when I was considering different internship opportunities. More importantly, 3M is a company that performed well due to its diverse product offering. This made me confident in my future job security and excited about the diversity in opportunities that it would offer. I was interested in the finance program specifically because we would help solve real issues at the company. The projects we completed would continue to be used after the internship was over.
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What made you want to stay with 3M after your internship?
The people at 3M are so great. I was always treated as an important member of the 3M Finance team even though I was only an intern. I was able to meet with many finance leaders and all 12 interns were even invited to our CFO’s house for dinner. Also, I knew I could stay at 3M my entire career and have a variety of roles.
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What types of projects did you work on in your internship(s) at 3M? What does your role entail today?
My individual project during my internship required me to develop a tool to increase efficiencies of many of our treasury processes including bank account set up and wire transfers. The group project was to create enhancements to our 3M finance ethernet site which hadn’t been updated in many years.
In my current role, I provide financial council to the manufacturing and lab functions of my division as well as support two of our product lines. Every day is a different challenge, but my favorite part of my job is that I get to work with people in all functions of the business.
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How did your internship prepare you for a full-time career with 3M?
It was a huge advantage to start my career after the internship because not only did I understand the businesses and systems at 3M, but I already had a network of individuals who I could go to with questions as I began my career.
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What advice do you have for those interested in a career in this area at 3M?
Don’t judge a job by its title. When I started my internship at 3M there were many jobs that I thought I would never be interested in because of the title, but once I took the time to learn about them I realized they were more interesting than I thought and would help me build a strong foundation for my career.
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What has been the most memorable part of your career at 3M?
When I worked as an auditor I was able to go on two international trips. One of these was to a manufacturing facility in Mexico where I had the opportunity to conduct many of my audit overviews in Spanish. I had hoped to work somewhere that would give me the chance to speak Spanish and I was very excited by the opportunity to use it.
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Interested in an internship with 3M? Join 3M’s Talent Community and learn how your skills might be a fit at 3M when an opportunity opens up.
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