How One Bloomfield College Student Turned his Internship into a Career

How One Bloomfield College Student Turned his Internship into a Career

Before graduating from Bloomfield College, Renso A. Hernandez ’19 received a full-time job offer. After a successful summer internship with Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the computer science major and Newark native was accepted into Johnson & Johnson’s full-time, two-year rotational Technology Leadership Development Program (JJTLDP).

The first year of the Program begins June 15, 2020, and will place him as a Business Technology Leader/Product Line Owner. Following JJTLDP, he will be offered final, long-term placement within the company.

While at Bloomfield College, Hernandez was a volunteer peer coach for the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) New Jersey chapter. He helped teach introductory and advanced web programming using HTML, PHP, CSS, Javascript, and MySQL to youth in the area.

“I became aware of the BDPA during my sophomore year from Professor Steven Kreutzer and Professor Kyle Rivers, who was not only my Web Programming teacher at the time, but was also the current coordinator for the program,” recalled Hernandez, who noted both Bloomfield College professors recommended he volunteer his time to the BDPA.

It was this same volunteer work that encompassed most of his weekends in the summer that led him to hearing about the internship with J&J.

“It just so happens that Johnson & Johnson sponsors our BDPA chapter and the previous two peer coaches before me [who also attended Bloomfield College] have ended up getting full-time job offers from J&J,” said Hernandez.

Following a challenging, in-depth interview process with J&J, Hernandez did not make the short list for the internship. He did not give up, came back “twice has hard,” applied once again the following year, and was accepted as a technology intern within Supply Chain IT for the Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) team in Bridgewater.

Hernandez credits his internship to helping him gain perspective on a different area of IT. He said, “Working with CPI has broadened my horizons in terms of what positions I would want to take in IT.”

“Internships are important because they can give you a good taste of what working feels like before you graduate and lets you learn about the company and explore the various roles within the organization,” Hernandez continued. “Getting an internship is a huge achievement because of its competitiveness, and it shows hiring companies or graduate schools that you have dedicated time and took initiative. An internship opens a doorway to a realm of possibilities; you can begin to make a name for yourself.”

His internship with J&J positioned Hernandez to be able to apply internally for the full-time rotational program. Knowing key players, he provided the Company recommendations from their own internal staff, which helped to elevate his application.

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