York College of PA December Graduate, Lancaster County Resident Secures Position through Successful Internship

Julisa Batista is finishing her time at York College with a busy schedule: 21 credits and a part-time internship with Penske Transportation Solution. Her hard work is paying off, though, as a full-time position with Penske awaits her after graduation on December 13.

Batista, a senior Human Resource Management major from Conestoga, Pa., first heard of the Penske internship when she was searching an online job board for HR internships last spring. “After I applied, my HR Development Instructor Professor Smeltzer recommended the internship to our class, reaffirming my decision to apply,” she said.

Batista spent the summer of 2023 interning in the HR department for Penske Logistics in Reading, PA, one of several brands under the Penske Transportation Solutions umbrella.

“The truck leasing side of the business is mainly composed of the Penske Truck Rental locations around Pennsylvania and other states, where you can rent or lease a truck for your personal or business needs,” she explained. “On the logistics side, the Dedicated Contract Carriage team I was part of provides customers (large companies) an option to outsource their freight transportation with Penske and receive trained drivers and a fleet of trucks to help deliver their products.”

During her time with Penske, Batista put into practice many topics covered in her classes at YCP. Several courses were particularly helpful.

“My Supply Chain Management (SCM) class provided an overview of supply chain activities, including inventory management and the role of safety stock, transportation, and distribution strategies, such as cross-docking, and supplier relationship management,” she said. “This information helped me a lot at Penske because I had no experience in the transportation industry or logistics business, and my SCM class provided that basic knowledge to build on.”

Another course within her major also gave her a leg up at her internship. “During my HR Development class, I was instructed to design a training module to present to a group of HR professionals at the end of the semester,” she said. “This helped improve my presentation skills by engaging an audience, facilitating discussions, and responding to questions. It also helped to enhance my research and communication skills by gathering and evaluating information from different sources and tailoring communication to different audiences.”

Batista’s knowledge and experience were put to the test at Penske when she presented the launch of a new HR Location Checklist she built to HR partners on a large Microsoft Teams meeting she hosted.

“Our associates will use the checklist when they go to their locations to check for compliance issues,” she said. “Our HR team now has a new requirement of submitting five checklists per quarter, which I will be auditing. I also created a digital dashboard that updates automatically every time a new checklist is submitted. This dashboard allows our HR partners to ensure they're meeting their quarterly requirements and will enable them to review which questions are coming back most frequently compliant and non-compliant. The feedback I received on this project was amazing and extremely positive, and I feel proud that I contributed to the company in such an impactful way.”

Following graduation in December, Batista will transition into a management trainee position with Penske, which she is piloting for the first time for HR. Pending her graduation from the trainee program, she will transition into the role of Manager of Associate Programs.

“My time at YCP definitely contributed to my success,” she said, “and I am extremely grateful for my time at Penske. I am very excited about this opportunity to continue to work with the amazing people I’ve met so far at Penske.”