Please briefly describe your background prior to Haas
I was born and raised in Germany and spent some time in the U.S. for school, university, and an internship. I have a Master’s in Electrical Engineering (EE), but never ended up working in that field. Instead, I worked as a management consultant at McKinsey for ~2 years prior to Haas. Due to my EE background, I mainly worked on projects in the Semiconductor industry.
What industries and functions did you recruit for and why?
I recruited exclusively for tech as I wanted to explore roles outside of consulting in the industry that I was passionate about and that aligned with my experience. I targeted big tech (Apple, NVIDIA, etc.), semiconductor/hardware focused tech companies (e.g. Samsung, WesternDigital) and “somewhat mature” startups (Waymo, SandboxAQ).
For roles, I focused on Strategy and Business Operations, which matched my consulting experience and interest in understanding the bigger picture of the tech industry.
Briefly describe how you approached recruiting. Anything worked particularly well for you?
Overall, I applied to ~20 MBA internship positions and ended up with 2 internship offers. Since I had the luxury of my consulting return offer, I was rather selective about the companies I applied to. I made sure I was excited about the company or the role and that my background aligned with the job description. When I was particularly interested in a role, I tailored my resume to the job description and made an effort to network with current employees.
Networking in tech was super helpful, particularly with (1) smaller companies or (2) senior contacts at larger companies. I reached out to people that led or worked on the teams I applied to via LinkedIn. Even though not everyone responds, sending a message and highlighting something we had in common—like Haas, a European background, or consulting—made it easier to connect. I believe my networking helped me secure big tech interviews.
I received interview invitations from 4 companies and found it really useful to prepare with Haas peers. All of my interviews mainly asked behavioral questions, so it is helpful to have some stories prepared.
Briefly introduce your internship company and your team
I interned at SandboxAQ, an AI and Quantum tech startup with ~200 employees. Sandbox spun out of GoogleX and the Google culture is still very present within the company. The company is structured into 3 product teams (Cyber Security, Sensing, Simulation) and some smaller overarching teams. I interned on the overarching AI team as a Business Operations intern.
The company mainly hires PhD educated scientists and engineers. Business folks often had a consulting or tech background. This summer, they had 25+ MBA interns across all of their teams and I assume they will again look for many MBA interns next summer.
While the internship was mainly remote, they do have an office in Palo Alto that I visited a couple of times during the summer. They also organize team offsites to meet with your team in person at a cool location (This summer we went to Santa Fe, New Mexico and Cabo, Mexico).
Briefly describe your summer project or job description
Since me and my co-intern were the first MBA interns on the AI team, it took us some time at the beginning to figure out what would best support the Engineers on our team. Other teams were more structured , with MBA interns focused on a single project for the summer. I ended up working on 3 smaller projects:
- Market Analysis: My team was interested in the RWD healthcare market for one of their AI capabilities. I conducted a detailed market analysis that included a) an overall market overview, b) insights on competitors, and c) interviews with potential customers and experts.
- AI Presentations/Market Research: I created presentations on various AI-related topics for internal and external audiences, covering a) AI trends, b) technical explanations of key AI concepts, and c) AI regulations across different countries.
- AI Strategy: I collaborated with my manager and AI leads to redefine the company’s 3-year AI strategy. This involved meeting with stakeholders to gather input, developing overarching strategy pillars based on their priorities, and effectively communicating these across the company. The strategy process was highly iterative.
Thoughts / reflections on your internship
Overall, I enjoyed my internship, but I would not go back to my specific team. Here are some of my specific pros and cons (but the situation will vary by team).
Pros:
- Exciting company and products with young and motivated employees
- Flexibility of remote work with fun in person events
- Organized internship program with fun activities and networking opportunities
- High autonomy to decide projects (generally more true for startups vs. big tech)
- Good Pay and benefits (office setup, wellness)
Cons:
- Low probability of full-time return offers
- Little structure (I learned that I need structure to be motivated at work)
- Too many interns resulting in double work and much time spent aligning
- Things change every day -> a lot of your work might be scraped
Closing thoughts or advice
(1) Work together with Haas peers while recruiting
(2) Network, but focus on smaller companies or senior roles – and try to establish a genuine connection