CNBC Internship Testimonial: Elizabeth Arakelian, Program Research Intern 2016

My summer internship at CNBC gave me an inside glimpse of the multifaceted nature of news production at a global media company. Before interning in CNBC's market research department, my media experience was focused on news reporting as I had worked at a newspaper and as an online editorial intern for NBCUniversal's market owned station websites.

While an intern at CNBC, I learned a variety of reports to run in order to ascertain trends in viewer habits, audience demographics and effective primetime show topics. The internship gave me a vision for the backside of news and the importance of quantifying how well a show or a network is doing. I was able to use my training for storytelling in a new way. This work made me more comfortable working with numbers, which in turn helped me incorporate data reporting into the thesis work I completed while achieving my master's degree.

My departure from news production into research was a smooth one, due largely in part to the team I worked with. When I was interviewed by my internship advisor and senior research manager on the phone I was immediately struck by how genuine, yet professional she was. She was a pleasure to talk to and — little did I know — this was the attitude of the rest of the team I was about to join.

CNBC's most defining quality may just be its people. Across all of the departments, people are not only focused and motivated, but seem to enjoy their jobs. This means they have the energy and interest in sharing their knowledge and wisdom with their interns. Often times I would see the talent, or television show hosts, taking a break from the studio and grabbing something to eat in the cafeteria and they always smiled and said hello. To feel included and valued as a summer intern in such a large media company lends credence to what those who work at CNBC often say: It's like a family.