Internship Leads to Job at Nestlé Purina for Chaifetz Graduate, Matias Grignola

As a college student, it's easy to notice the skyscrapers near Saint Louis University's campus and imagine yourself working for one of those companies one day. Matias Grignola, a recent graduate from the Chaifetz School of Business with a B.S. in finance and entrepreneurship '19, is doing just that. Following graduation, he works full-time as an internal auditor for Nestlé Purina.

Prior to accepting the position, Grignola interned as an internal audit intern at Nestlé Purina the summer before his senior year. His duties involved scheduling meetings with appropriate stakeholders to discuss the functions of their specific business departments and utilizing Nestlé Purina's resources to evaluate how the departments were complying with company policy and best practices.

"My biggest takeaway as an intern was learning how to interact and work alongside upper management and subject matter experts," Grignola said. "My team encouraged me to learn as much as I could and take ownership of my work when presenting it to stakeholders."

Before Grignola interned for Nestlé Purina, he took advantage of the resources the Chaifetz School of Business offers, such as the Valerie A. Davisson Career Resources Center (CRC).

The center helped him prepare for the interview and gave him an idea of what to expect since it has experience with students applying to Nestlé Purina's internal auditor internship's position,  Grignola said.

During the internship itself, Grignola felt prepared to audit specific business sections in each department due to the curriculum the Chaifetz school provides their students, he said.

"The Chaifetz School of Business’ core business curriculum prepared me to excel in my internship, due to the need of having a broad-ranging knowledge and understanding of all business areas," Grignola said.

As Grignola settles into his full-time position at Nestlé Purina, he can also count on the knowledge gained from the Chaifetz curriculum to know how to solve future challenges in his career.

"My finance and management classes provided crucial insight on what working in a large corporation would be like as well as giving me knowledge of the current corporate business landscape around the world," Grignola said.