Internships allow individuals to gain valuable skills before officially entering the workforce. Crawford & Company’s internship program recruits college students and allows them to gain exposure to multiple disciplines, providing opportunities that encourage talent and hard work within our offices around the globe. Crawford’s i2e (Intern to Employee) blog series features individuals who have turned their internships into full-time career opportunities at Crawford.
Learning the importance of connections
Larkin Shull, a native of Columbia, Missouri, knew she wanted to be a part of a structured internship program. When she stumbled upon a Broadspire internship program posting online, she felt Broadspire was growing in the structured direction she was looking for. She was intrigued by each of the screening conversations she had with human resources and eventually accepted an internship position with the claims department, in Denver, Colorado where she’d planned to spend the summer.
Larkin says,
“Broadspire leadership went out of their way to help me develop a full picture of the claim process. In addition to the work I supported within the office, I got to shadow a nurse on a claim, attend a workers’ compensation hearing and tour the Colorado Judicial Center.”
Before coming to Broadspire, Larkin’s day-to-day interactions were mostly with peers of her own age and experience. The diversity of Larkin’s experiences in her internship helped push her beyond the college bubble and exposed her to a world of connections, which would later play an important role in her transition from intern to employee. Soon, she was learning from seasoned workers’ compensation professionals and gaining perspective about their roles. Larkin often notes that working in this position helped her get excited about opportunities she would have to help people after graduation.
Larkin didn’t immediately settle into a role at Crawford following her college graduation; she first joined the staff of a US Senate campaign, before realizing that that career path was not for her. In late September 2018, she contacted a former Broadspire colleague who connected her with Mark Delew, the director of consultative analytics at Broadspire, who would later become her supervisor. Mark informed her about an OSHA Customer Success Coordinator position located in Chicago, Illinois, and she began working for Crawford full-time in December 2018.
She has been able to incorporate the knowledge she gained from her internship into her current role.
“I really enjoy the people I work with and the services we provide,” Larkin proclaims. “Every day I’m confronting new challenges, creating enhanced solutions for our clients and internal employees.”
Her advice to anyone considering a Crawford internship?
“Invest in the connections you are making. Clearly, when the time came, these connections helped me get my foot back in the door at Broadspire as well.”
