Soomin Kim on Preparing for your Interview and Internship

Through the Nasdaq Internship Program, we offer a variety of professional experiences for emerging talent through an immersive 10 to 12-week internship program. From Stockholm to the U.S., whether in person or remotely, we are getting an inside look at the bright minds and personalities that encompass the next generation of investors, disrupters and leaders. 

In honor of the internship season, we spoke with Soomin Kim, Digital Marketing Intern, about what to keep in mind when preparing for your interview and internship.

Please tell us about yourself and your position at Nasdaq.  

I'm a senior at Minerva University, expecting to graduate in December. I major in CS (Data Science and Statistics) and minor in Marketing, aspiring to pursue a career that has a mix of marketing, analytics, and data. At Nasdaq, I work as a digital marketing intern for the Market Tech business unit, supporting digital marketing initiatives for Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) and Market Platforms, the two main product families under Market Tech.  

How did you prepare for your internship?  

I went through all the basics, such as tailoring my resume based on the specific job description I am applying for and practicing answering interview questions with stories rather than generic facts. Especially for interviews, I found it helpful to do some quick background research on the people that will be interviewing me. I used LinkedIn to get some basic understanding of my interviewer before the interview because I think of interviews as conversations with another person. For example, after finding out that one of my interviewers was also a former intern at Nasdaq, I asked her about her internship experience. Not only were her answers helpful, but she also commented that I was the only interviewee who knew about that in advance. 

What is your favorite project you've worked on thus far, or one that you're looking forward to?  

My favorite project is building an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) dashboard to report and generate the SEO performance and insights of the products under Market Tech. I really appreciate my manager giving me full ownership of this project, providing me guidance and allowing me to take the initiative to meet with key stakeholders and proceed with the project on my own. Through this project, I've not only deepened my knowledge of SEO but also learned other crucial business skills such as communication and project management.  

What about Nasdaq stood out the most, now that you are part of the global team?  

The people definitely stood out to me the most. While everyone is fully committed to their own work and responsibilities, they also proactively offer support to other areas in need. Even as an intern, I was able to see this synergy happening as a result of such complementing, collaborative efforts among various teams. This inspired me to reach out to other teams beyond my direct team myself to seek areas where I can add value, leading me to work with three additional teams supporting other opportunities.  

What is your goal as a #NasdaqFam intern? How is Nasdaq supporting your long-term goals?  

My main goal as a #NasdaqFam intern is to learn about different career functions, industries, and--most importantly--about myself. Being a large-scale organization, Nasdaq is full of people with all kinds of backgrounds, interests, and expertise. Talking with them allowed me to indirectly experience various functions and industries. For example, there are numerous functions even within marketing, such as marketing operations, digital marketing, product marketing, content marketing, etc. As I cannot directly experience all of these roles myself during the internship, it was very helpful to talk with the people who do have experience in these areas. From those conversations, I could filter potential areas I may or may not be interested in, as well as be introduced to even more connections. Especially with only one semester left in college, these conversations and experiences are greatly helping me shape my career journey that will be launched soon. 

What advice would you give to future interns?   

The Nasdaq internship program itself is very well-structured, with sufficient guidance and onboarding. But rather than passively following along, it would also be meaningful to have a roadmap for yourself. For example, clearly think about what you want to take away from this internship, such as building new connections or learning more about your likes and dislikes. Time flies by so quickly, so having a broad picture like this will help you get the most out of the internship with clear takeaways.     

What a fun fact about yourself?   

I was in a yodeling choir when I was in elementary school, spending my weekdays and weekends doing performances all around my country (South Korea). The choir also required learning a lot of instruments for accompaniment, so I know how to play the piano, guitar, accordion, harmonic, and cowbells. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Other Topics

Culture