Published: October 19, 2023

First Impression Leads To Second Chance and Internship

Sometimes a first impression leads to a second chance.

Finance major Lexi Siracusa ’25 landed her recent internship with iRobot after an initial unsuccessful attempt.

Lexi Siracusa, who is in UT’s 4+1 master’s program, is the financial planning and analysis intern at iRobot. Photo by Madison Loscalzo

Siracusa, who is in UT’s 4+1 master’s program, is the financial planning and analysis intern at iRobot, a company known for the Roomba, a vacuuming robot. 

This is Siracusa’s first registered internship at The University of Tampa. She credits her landing it to one of her business professors, Nicole Neves, who was an adjunct during Siracusa’s sophomore year. Neves also worked at iRobot as a talent acquisition recruiting manager. She reached out to Siracusa last year with information about a summer internship position.

Siracusa went through the interview process and made it to the last round of interviews, but she did not get the position.

“I was given excellent feedback because I was the youngest applicant competing with upperclassmen as a sophomore,” she said. “I figured everything happens for a reason, and it was good interview practice to help me in the future.”

Then in May, she was contacted by Neves, who told her that the financial planning and analysis team had been asking about her, and they wanted to offer her an internship for the fall semester.

“The company provides an incredible opportunity for me to gain corporate finance experience, and it showed they believed in me,” Siracusa said.

As part of her responsibilities, Siracusa updates financial documents like supply chain summaries and month-end reports. She also is responsible for providing summaries of department expenses in an easy-to-digest manner for presentations.

“This experience is crucial in helping me grow personally and professionally because I am gaining real-world experience within my career path, but also navigating a remote internship and building relationships with coworkers through a screen,” she said. 

Neves said Siracusa’s story is one she loves to share. Neves encouraged students to keep in touch with her and let her aid them in their internship search.

Many students did not take her up on her offer, but Siracusa did.

“It was clear through our interactions that she was motivated to learn and naturally curious. These are some key characteristics employers look for when hiring students for an internship,” Neves said. 

While many other candidates had more relevant experience, Neves said the finance manager was interested in giving Siracusa an opportunity to learn. After further consideration, the company decided to open a part-time internship for her.

“The takeaways from this story: It is near impossible for a student to meet all of the expectations or qualifications for a role. The intangible skills such as adaptability, motivation, teamwork, time management and problem-solving are critical for students to showcase — as Lexi did,” Neves said.

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