From Interns to Full-Time: Our Success Stories

When you accept an internship at Daifuku, you can ensure you're receiving more than just great experience in the material handling industry and more than just a place to spend a few months early on in your career or while you're finishing school. You'll receive mentorship and the training and support to grow both as a person and as a professional. And whether you're joining us for a few months while you're in school or joining us after you graduate to gain more experience at the beginning of your career, you can rest assured that your time here will be well spent and valuable. It's our goal that you leave Daifuku with hands-on experience while you pursue whatever's next in your career or that you stay on with us as part of an extended internship or as a full-time employee.

In this post, we'll explain what it's like to work at Daifuku and what type of people we're on the lookout for. We'll also share three stories from Daifuku interns who accepted full-time job offers after they graduated. Read on to learn more:

What it's Like to Work as an Intern at Daifuku

One nice thing about Daifuku's internship program is that it offers young professionals a path to full-time employment within the Daifuku enterprise. We value innovative thinking, talent, drive and ambition - and we boast competitive pay, a competitive benefits package and various other value-added offerings that help make Daifuku a great place to work.

We're also passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Daifuku and believe that a diverse workforce comprised of people coming from different backgrounds and with different perspectives is a strong one. In fact, the culture that we promote at Daifuku embraces everyone's unique perspectives, experiences and backgrounds so that our people - whether they're interns or full-time employees - can bring their whole selves to work and simply be who they are.

We don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Our passion for sustainability in automation has earned several prestigious awards, including the 2021 CDP-A Award for Climate Change Initiatives, the 2022 METI Minister's Award for Factory Greening and the 2022 CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for Emissions Reduction. We also earned the 2021 MSCI Empowering Women Index for Excellent Gender Diversity and the 2021 FTSE Blossom Award for Excellence in Environment, Social and Governance.

Internships at Daifuku: A Path to Full-Time Employment

Are you thinking of applying for an internship at Daifuku in the hope of making a positive impression and potentially having the opportunity to elevate into a full-time position? Read on to learn about three Applications Systems Analysts that have done just that. Here are the stories of Venkata Rayasam, Jonathan ONeil and Mohamed Elarbi:

Venkata Rayasam, Jr. Applications Systems Analyst

Mentorship. Guidance. Hands-on experience.

Those were just some of the most significant aspects of Venkata Rayasam's internship in the IT department at Daifuku as he studied Information Technology and Business Administration at Wayne State University in Detroit.

He began his internship working as a system analyst and was granted the opportunity to apply his skills and knowledge to projects that involved application development, automation and security. And while this experience was valuable and unlike anything he would have likely gotten anywhere else, one of the things about his internship that sticks out most to Venkata was the supportive work environment and the exposure to highly skilled professionals that he aspired to one day be.

"They not only supported my continuous learning but also fostered my personal growth," he says. "One of the most significant aspects of my internship was the mentorship and guidance I received from my colleagues. They encouraged me to explore how different technologies work together, and this hands-on experience was instrumental in preparing me for a full-time role."

Venkata was offered a full-time role at Daifuku shortly after he graduated from Wayne State in 2024 with his degree and currently works as a Junior System Application Analyst, where he continues to hone his skills to help advance the organization. He notes how the transition from intern to full-time employee was seamless, largely buoyed by his positive internship experience and the path he paved in such a role.

"I'm grateful for the chance to be a part of Daifuku, and I'm looking forward to contributing to the company's success," Venkata notes. "I hope my story inspires other students to pursue internships with Daifuku and seize the opportunity to be part of such an innovative and supportive team."

Jonathan ONeil, Jr. Applications Systems Analyst

Daifuku is known for creating "automation that inspires." You might say that Jonathan ONeil is living proof of what's possible when you embrace automation.

Jonathan joined Daifuku as an intern in the IT department in October 2023 and immediately took a liking to Power Automate within the Microsoft ecosystem of products and how using it enabled him to set up various processes that were able to automate certain tasks. He was also tasked with project work and with helping rebrand operations, notably a domain change for all employee emails across many computers.

"The domain-migration work involved support calls, communicating with many and assisting them in setting up their new email accounts and computers," he recalls.

Jonathan was going to school for software engineering at the time he was interning at Daifuku, and he saw the internship as an opportunity to gain experience as he earned his degree. He hoped the experience would help him when it was time to pursue full-time employment - and he was grateful when a full-time offer from Daifuku came shortly after he earned his Associate of Software Engineering. He now works as a Jr. Application System Analyst.

"All in all, the internship was awesome," he says. "It was a wonderful experience to grow and learn in a team environment, complete multiple large-scale projects together, and contribute in a way that benefited everyone. Fulfilling work, and now that I've been hired, I know there are only more opportunities in store."

Mohamed Elarbi, Jr. Applications Systems Analyst

Daifuku is always on the lookout for people with drive and ambition - and Mohamed Elarbi fit the bill from the time he started his internship in the IT department. His drive continues today as a full-time Jr. Applications Systems Analyst.

Mohamed joined Daifuku as an intern in October 2023, working under the guidance of IT management to automate processes, test software on various platforms, migrate solutions to different environments and more. It was his mission from the time he started to hone his technical skills and exceed what was expected of him as an intern in such a dynamic environment.

But one thing that stuck out to Mohamed throughout his internship was the culture at Daifuku. The supportive and empowering culture was one that he hoped to join after he graduated from college.

"Throughout my internship not only did I learn more technical skills, but I also learned more about the culture here at Daifuku, which I embraced," he says. "Additionally, I built a stronger network with the team members here at Daifuku."

But Mohamed didn't want to just accept a full-time position, he truly wanted to make sure that a career at Daifuku was what was best for him. In the waning days of his internship, he relied on the network that he built throughout the organization to ensure that he was the right person for Daifuku and that Daifuku was the right place for him. He met with Daifuku hiring managers and employees in the Human Resources department to discuss his short-term and long-term goals and career ambitions.

After he graduated from college, the full-time offer came. Mohamed didn't waste any time in accepting it - and he continues to grow personally and professionally as a full-time Jr. Application System Analyst.

"I decided to go with that opportunity as it aligns with my long-term goals," he says. "Ever since I became full-time, I have started to take on more challenging projects, which has resulted in further growing my skillset."

Contact Daifuku Today

The stories of Venkata, Jonathan and Mohamed aren't unlike many other stories at Daifuku about interns who seized the opportunity and were offered full-time positions following their graduation from college. At Daifuku, we're always on the lookout for more people who are poised to blaze a similar path, whether it's in the IT department like these three featured professionals or elsewhere throughout the organization.

At Daifuku, we're always looking to add talent to our growing organization and to our dynamic teams that help make our operations tick. Our mission is to inspire society, deliver prosperity and enhance well-being by making the world a more efficient and sustainable place. We can't do it without talented, driven people who are just as passionate about making a difference as our leaders are. Some of the best people who are making the biggest difference in our organization today started as interns at Daifuku and have stories similar to the ones that we shared earlier in this post.

We encourage you to explore an internship at Daifuku in the hope that your experience will be just as memorable and impactful as the experiences we shared from Venkata, Jonathan and Mohamed. Who knows, we might be featuring your success story in a post someday.

For more information on Daifuku and to explore an internship or career within the organization, click here. Apply today, start tomorrow and bring your talent, ideas and drive to Daifuku to continue our mission statement of creating automation that inspires. Contact us today to learn more and to get started.

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