Inside Deighan’s Summer at Nike: A Hands-On Internship Experience

Securing the Internship

Many student-athletes across the country dream of landing an internship with an illustrious brand like Nike. But with a Summer 2025 class of 190 interns across Nike, Jordan, and Converse, the spots are few and far between.

At the Graham Family Athletic Career Center, formerly the Michigan Athletics Career Center, student-athletes receive a variety of resources. From LinkedIn and resume workshops -- to interview prep sessions with the director of the GFACC, Maurice Washington, and assistant director Julie Fielding -- Michigan student-athletes are put into a prime position to succeed.

Women's cross country and track and field student-athlete Haley Deighan attended two resume labs at the GFACC, in addition to meeting with both Washington and Fielding for advice. The preparation allowed Deighan to be ready for the lengthy interview process with Nike. Two stages were HireVue recorded assessments, while the final round was a Zoom with a Nike recruiter and the director of the HR team she's working directly with this summer.

Despite making it to the final stage of the interview process, Deighan worried her resume might fall short. Securing the internship brought her a sense of relief and validation.

"Being accepted made me feel more confident in what I have to offer," she said.

Deighan's repertoire developed as both a student and an athlete at the University of Michigan transcended beyond experiences on a resume, but in her character and attitude -- both essential for success in the workplace.

Working for Nike

Rather than having a strict schedule each day, Deighan describes the environment as self-driven.

"While there are a few weekly meetings scheduled by others, most of my meetings, especially networking meetings, I arrange myself," Deighan explained.

Deighan spends the rest of her time shadowing team members or doing project-based work. In her internship project, she is tasked with identifying communication inefficiencies and available resources within the human resources team.

Specifically, Deighan created a shared OneNote notebook as a library of resources for her team. In the notebook, Deighan put together communication templates and worked on simplifying content that is sent out throughout the day to Nike HR. Instead of delivering announcements in a large paragraph, her proposal sends them in bullet points to streamline communication.

"It's an exciting challenge because at the end of the summer, each intern presents a deliverable that Nike can actually implement. Knowing my work could be used makes the task feel very meaningful," Deighan said of the proposal.

Dedicating her entire summer to the project only deepened the importance of her work.

Moving to Oregon

Part of interning at Nike means Deighan had to move to Beaverton, Ore., for the summer. She lives with fellow interns near Nike Headquarters from mid-May to the beginning of August. The move may be daunting, but Deighan is already seeing the fruits of the investment she's made in herself and her career journey.

"This internship helped me grow by adapting to new environments, improving communication, readiness, and confidence. As an athlete, it has sharpened my time management, discipline and resilience," she said.

Deighan has been able to grow in new areas and fine-tune skills that will translate well beyond her time at Nike.

Outside of the internship, Deighan has kept busy by exploring Oregon and nearby Washington with the other interns in her program. Her favorite spot has been Cannon Beach, known for its sandy shores and stunning ocean views; not to mention, it's only about an hour and a half away from Nike Headquarters.

Preparing for Post-Grad

Before this internship, Deighan was still exploring potential career paths. The exposure Nike has given her to different roles has helped her narrow down her options. Specifically, Deighan hopes to work in human resources at Nike in the future.

Perhaps more important than what her future career path looks like is the industry knowledge and skills she'll take away from her time in the Nike internship.

"This internship has helped me understand my strengths and interests in the workplace, and has been a great experience for networking and understanding industry best practices," Deighan said.