Annika Gemberling joined the Human Resources team in July as a summer intern. She provided assistance to Marie Greer, Wanda Medlin, and Marilyn Milby. Over her six-week internship, Annika helped with benefits administration, recruiting, observing interviews, and getting to know the daily hustle and bustle of HR.
Annika, a senior at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, is acquiring a degree in Communications and minoring in Human Resources. She looks forward to jumping into the workforce and pursuing a career in Human Resources in banking and finance. Originally from Charlotte, NC, Annika hopes to move back to the area after graduation.
“I love working in HR. Every day is different and you really never know what is going to come your way,” Annika says reflecting on her experience as an intern. Any second of the day you can get hit with many different parts of Human Resources. ”
Annika has been thankful to get real, hands-on experience in the HR department: “It’s not like some internships where you’re just shadowing. I’ve gotten to do spreadsheets, recruiting, update files for employees and contribute in HR and corporate meetings. We’ve gone through Affirmative Action training and I’ve been able to sit in and help with multiple interviews.”
She reflects on how working in recruiting has been her favorite part so far. “You’re involved with people and helping everyone.” Recruitment has been a challenge in this climate, and Annika mentions, “I’ve learned you have to do literally anything you can, put advertisements everywhere and be proactive.”
While Associated Asphalt is a large company, Annika was familiar with the company because her father, Chad Gemberling, is our Director of Sales and Marketing, Commodity & Performance Products based in Charlotte, NC. Despite the size, Annika said the company makes a point to maintain the feeling of a smaller company. “They’re constantly involved with all the different terminals and communicating their needs. It almost makes you forget that there are different locations – it doesn’t feel as spread out, which is nice.” She also mentioned that when everything was remote, this was very helpful and made everyone feel connected.
Outside of the office, Annika plays softball in her spare time at the Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. We are so happy to have had her as a part of our internship program and can’t wait to see her journey post-college!