During my final year at the University of North Florida, I have been blessed to intern at Corporate Traffic, a logistics company based out of Jacksonville, Florida. I started in November of 2022, and I will continue my internship with CT until I graduate in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. My experience in the short time I have been with the company has been extremely rewarding. Learning the transportation side of the business world is something I haven’t had experience with in my past internships and is already proving to be extremely interesting and valuable as a young professional.
When I first arrived at CT, I was honestly very nervous. Being a marketing major and having never worked in the logistics industry before, I had no clue what to expect. Fortunately for me, CT has an excellent training program. Within a week, I had a firm grasp of what CT does and how it operates; concepts that when I first arrived, seemed like a foreign language to me. While talking with others in my training class, I realized I was not alone. My coworkers came from all walks of life, some with logistics experience and some without. But no matter their background, each had the hardworking and eager-to-learn mindset that creates the foundation for success at CT.
Soon I was assigned to my manager with whom I would report to and work with very closely. I started by shadowing him, learning what he does on a day-to-day basis and trying to take in as much as I could. Little by little, I began to perform tasks on my own, starting with tracking and tracing trucks. This is a very simple but crucial task that involves contacting either the driver or dispatcher to get an idea of the driver’s location and if they will make it to their pickup/ delivery on time.
Tracking and Tracing is an important task as any late drivers should be reported to our customers and if needed, be assigned new pickup/delivery times. These tracking and tracing activities show the importance of communication between us, the carriers, and our customers. My manager and I called these carriers and gave any new updates to the customer so that they would be informed if anything changed. When there was a change in the pickup time, we were able to work through the issue due to our constant communication which made the situation seem way less hectic. This shows the importance of communication between all parties in the logistics industry.
The other primary task is in sales and operations. This process is where the money is made and is my favorite part. Typically, I post the load for sale on our load board and carriers will contact me asking for details such as pickup/delivery date and times, weight, commodity, and most importantly, rate or price. Though some days are more difficult than others, this process has taught me to not get discouraged and to keep going, no matter how challenging it may seem. When I booked a load with a good margin or covered the last load of the day there is a very rewarding feeling that I got, like I helped my team get that win. It is a great experience and I used it as fuel to push me through my day, striving to be the best team player I can be.
Going into this internship I wanted to gain a better understanding of how a product is moved in the business world, gain valuable experience, and develop new skills. I can certainly say that this company has given me the experience and skills I desired, however, the best part has been that I am valued as a team member and employee. There were numerous employee outing activities such as basketball and hockey events, which were not only very entertaining but also gave me the opportunity to bond with my coworkers, especially those who I may not see on an everyday basis.
Everyone at CT is so friendly and eager to help me anytime I struggle or want to learn something new, for example, I was able to work alongside the marketing team and help them out on some projects throughout my time here. CT is very flexible allowing me to still focus on school during my internship, on top of that, CT’s relaxed and team-oriented culture also has numerous office activities such as mini golf or corn hole which is a great way to not only grow with my team but to also relax after a long day of work. The way everyone lifts each other up here makes it truly feel like a family. I would highly recommend this internship to anyone ready to take on their next challenge!