Zainab Shahbaz ’21, a management major at the Barney School of Business, was able to obtain an internship at IHOP, a reputed restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast foods, with her exceptional networking skills and with guidance from Professor Celia Lofink.
Shahbaz joined the IHOP team as a human resource manager, which gave her the opportunity to explore various aspects of her job, such as planning and implementing policies and programs, the hiring process, employee relationship management, and drawing contingency plans to face unpredictable situations like COVID-19. During her time at IHOP, Shahbaz improved not only her technical skills, but also worked on her communication skills and body posture as she had to direct her team and new staff members on new strategies to achieve the company’s goals.
Shahbaz credits her manager at IHOP, Mohsin Afzal, for guiding her on how to handle various situations and for helping her to complete her tasks in an effective manner. Sharing about her experience, she says, “The most significant impact this internship had on me was helping me learn technical skills and leadership skills. I was able to improve my communication skills, and I faced scenarios that I would never have thought I would face, and learned to solve them in an effective and ethical manner. And I was able to figure out whether human resources manager is the type of position I want to pursue when I graduate.”
Zainab Shahbaz ’21, Management Major, Barney School of BusinessWhat I liked most about my UHart experience was the class size. Because of the small class size, I was able to build relationships with the professors and get to know them, and they were very engaged with the students to help them succeed.
Shahbaz believes that the program structure at Barney, which is designed to keep in mind the changing times and the current requirements of the market, has fully equipped her to face the real world. Every year UHart invites many guest speakers from various professional fields to share their experiences, and Shahbaz found this very useful for building connections in the industry. As part of an earlier course requirement, Shahbaz interned for Kure Rx pharmacy, where she learned technical skills and marketing techniques that prepared her for her first professional job. Shahbaz stated that going forward, she aspires to leverage her educational knowledge and work experience to start her own business.