Each summer, we create possibilities for a group of interns by providing real-world, professional experience through challenging projects in our fast-paced, innovative organization. Seeing how much of an impact they’re capable of making in a few short months, many of our interns choose to continue their careers with CDK as full-time employees.
Ayushi Oswal and Ryan Larsen are just two examples. Ayushi began her CDK journey as an intern with the Technology team during the summers of 2023 and 2024. She’s now an associate software engineer working on building a product that will help dealers improve the buying experience for their customers.
And Ryan started as a Learning and Development intern in 2020 and was later offered a full-time role as a talent specialist on the HR team. He has since built a reputation for being an innovative thinker and strong relationship builder and has taken on a bigger role as an associate HR business partner.
See what Ayushi and Ryan have to say about their career journey at CDK:
What about your internship experience made you want to come back to CDK as a full-time employee?
Ayushi: The people! My manager, mentor, and teammates made it clear that I was a valued member of the team and invested heavily in my growth by giving me opportunities that went far beyond what I expected as an intern. Knowing that my growth was genuinely a priority made me confident that CDK was somewhere I wanted to continue building my career.
Ryan: I wanted to stay at CDK because of the exposure to various projects across the Talent space. I also valued that my colleagues trusted me to positively impact both the department and the business through my work.
How has CDK supported your growth as a young professional?
Ayushi: One example is when I was trusted to lead my team’s development efforts for our product. Being given that level of responsibility, despite being new to the team, allowed me to quickly ramp up, understand the inner workings of CDK, and gain firsthand experience with the end-to-end process of bringing a new product to life. That level of trust helped me grow much faster than I expected.
Ryan: CDK has consistently kept me engaged at work by asking me about my interests, caring about me as both a person and an employee, and challenging me to do work that makes an impact. Through my regular check-in conversations with my manager, I shared my desire to take on a more business-facing role so when an opportunity opened, I was top of mind.
Why would you recommend the internship at CDK to other students or graduates looking to gain professional experience?
Ayushi: The program included workshops with company leaders, volunteer opportunities, networking events, and sessions where we could learn from employees across CDK. Those experiences helped me build confidence, strengthen my communication skills, and learn from people with a range of backgrounds and experiences.
Ryan: CDK is different because they care about your development. They do a fantastic job of tailoring your internship toward developing skills by having you take on legitimate projects from day one. From the get-go, there is mutual trust that the work done will benefit both the employee and the company.
What has been the most exciting or rewarding project you have worked on?
Ayushi: Building a product from scratch gave me the opportunity to experience every stage of the product development lifecycle and see the direct impact of the work almost immediately. It’s exciting to know that something my team built will be used by customers and make their experience better.
Ryan: I’d say that would be supporting our employee engagement survey. It’s extremely satisfying to watch the impact of this tool on projects, teams, departments — or even the company — when they can pair engagement data with actionable insights. Since we launched the tool, it has had a positive effect on the business.
How are you empowered to make an impact in your role?
Ayushi: My manager and teammates trust me with meaningful responsibilities and encourage me to contribute ideas, lead development efforts, and collaborate across teams. Knowing that my contributions are valued motivates me to continue learning, take initiative, and look for ways to improve both our product and the way we work as a team.
Ryan: I’m empowered because my team has involved me in high-level projects. In my first role, I was introduced to engagement data through our survey tool, and provided reports that helped teams improve their engagement. This data not only supports change at the team level but also drives company-wide actions. Since then, I’ve taken that deeper understanding of the tool and found ways to use the data in my current role to guide business leaders on ways to handle HR issues, including increasing recognition and engagement.
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