A Kohawk’s dream takes flight with a job at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll

Joshua Conte

Josh Conte '23 made the impossible possible. Law firm internships are already a challenge to find, but Josh managed to secure an internship...and a job. The aspiring corporate lawyer is starting a part-time role with Shuttleworth & Ingersoll as a full-time Coe student. A pinchful of perfect timing and a heavy dose of hard work led Josh to every law student’s dream. 

After spotting an email from C3: Creativity, Careers and Community, Josh signed up for a resume building and professionalism class in the spring. The class instructor and C3 careers director, Nanci Young, told Josh about a newly available marketing internship at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll for the summer. 

“I’m really glad I took that class and met Nanci. I thought the internship would be a great experience. It’s hard enough to get an internship at a law firm, let alone as an undergraduate. The fact that I was able to get my foot in the door and make these connections is big. Nanci has been a great help,” he said.

Josh tapped into his minor in communication studies writing press releases, editing blog posts, coordinating social media, updating attorney profiles and managing the website.

“It's interesting because you get to see how these marketing strategies work in real life,” he said. 

His can-do attitude impressed Shuttleworth & Ingersoll staff and attorneys alike. They altered the internship to be more law-focused for Josh and assigned special marketing projects. Coincidentally, the current marketing director announced their retirement and Josh was deemed the natural fit to take on a shared part-time role. He will be splitting marketing responsibilities with a current Shuttleworth & Ingersoll employee. 

“It makes me feel good. I know I was doing a good job and they saw that and wanted to take me on as an employee because they see some potential in me. I’m really excited the internship led to a job and who knows what it'll lead to next. There’s several attorneys I met [at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll] who said they started as interns and it led to a clerkship which led to their job,” Josh said. 

The mentors Josh has gained in the last few months are more than willing to take Josh under their wing after witnessing his hard work. Nanci on the other hand, didn't stop with helping Josh secure an internship at the law firm. She also connected him to her daughter, a recent graduate from Emory University School of Law to help provide law school advice. 

“I've made some good connections with the attorneys. If I didn't have this internship I wouldn't have had any experience at a law firm going into law school,” he said. “It's really helping me see what daily life would look like for me as a lawyer. I'm definitely on the right career path.”

This year, Josh is going to be juggling his new job with his business administration and managerial accounting double majors and the Birkey Investment Fund at Coe. 

Josh is joining a group of hand-picked students to research and analyze Coe’s investments with guidance from his advisor, Retired Assistant Professor of Stead Department of Business Administration and Economics Kevin Trout and Roger & Mary Baxter Professor of Business Administration and World Affairs Pam Carstens. The Birkey Investment Fund provides students hands-on experience in finance, economics, business administration and accounting. Students will present a report of investment recommendations to the Board of Trustees in the spring. 

As someone who’s followed the stock market since the ninth grade, Josh knows it will be a challenging but rewarding year taking on responsibilities that lead him one step closer to corporate law. 

Josh is researching law schools and practicing for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) fully aware of how these opportunities will set him apart from other applicants. Kohawks like Josh leave the nest with confidence and competitive resumes because of Coe resources like C3 and mentors like Nanci. In fact, for the past decade, reporting Coe graduates have been employed, in graduate school or involved in service opportunities nearly 100% of the time within nine months of graduation, while the latest national average is 83%. Whether it starts with an email, class, appointment or campus event, C3 supports students to be the best they can be. 

“Definitely go to C3 and get involved anyway you can. If I wouldn’t have taken that class, I wouldn’t have met Nanci. She wouldn’t know what I was interested in and she wouldn’t know to reach out to me for the internship. And after you have your internship, really go above and beyond,” he said.

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