As CND Life Sciences continues to experience growth, launch new diagnostic tests, and expand its impact in the neurodegenerative disease space, the company can’t help but be future-focused. And one way CND invests in the future is by growing talent through an internship program that offers invaluable work experience to its participants.

“I’m getting start-up experience and working at a company that’s making an impact,” says Kaylin Diaz, a graduate of Grand Canyon University. Kaylin was working full-time and coaching a high school pom team on the side when she applied for an internship at CND. “It was a lot to juggle, and I wanted to scale back on my hours.”

Kaylin found the internship opportunity on LinkedIn and felt that CND’s needs matched up with her need for a job with a flexible schedule. She works in the HR department, helping to refine policies and establish an employee onboarding process. “I get to help establish policies that might be around for a long time.” Kaylin notes that doing an internship is a great way to get to know a company and their values and goals.

“I’m still in college, but I’m getting real-world experience in an office setting,” says Luke Moran, a marketing intern at CND and full-time student at Arizona State University studying business communications. “It takes a lot of discipline and time management. CND works around my school schedule; they’ve been really accommodating.”

As a marketing intern, Luke is learning Google analytics and helping to coordinate CND’s presence at national and regional conferences. What he’s most enthusiastic about is the opportunity to learn marketing automation. “This is really exciting for me and it’s important to the business.”

Luke hopes to continue working at CND, but acknowledges he’ll use what he’s learned no matter where life takes him next. He’s quick to point out how much he values “ … participating in the weekly marketing meetings with Rick (Morello). If you’re an intern at a big company, there’s no way you’re meeting with the CEO. Getting that kind of face time has been very motivating.”

Desiray Armstrong, a biomedical engineering major at Arizona State University says she was attracted to CND because of the start-up company atmosphere. “I loved the small team environment and the ability make a real impact, even as an intern.”

Desiray works in R&D, operating a whole slide scanner, helping develop quality improvement measures, and validating new image analysis solutions. “Doing an internship has given me real-world experience in the biomedical field and taught me the importance of being a team player and placing a large emphasis on quality. An internship provides the opportunity to learn that soft skills are just as important as hard skills.”

“From the first day that I walked into CND, the culture here has made me excited to come to work.” Desiray says her internship experience has shown her that it’s possible to create a collaborative team environment that encourages innovation.