91ÖÆƬ³§

By Joy Vann 

When Joshua Seaford graduates in May, he'll be armed with real-world experience from two internships aligned with both his major in enterprise cybersecurity and his minor in maritime and supply chain management. Each experience has added a different layer of depth to Joshua’s resume. The Strome College of Business major hopes his combination of skills will help him stand out to employers. 

A native of Richmond, he was attracted to 91ÖÆƬ³§ by Norfolk’s surroundings, including the waterfront campus. He’s taken advantage of clubs and sports at the University, trying his hand at rugby and serving as the treasurer of The Student Propeller Club, an international nonprofit professional organization that supports the maritime community. He also serves as risk management chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon and is vice president of finance for the University’s Interfraternity Council.  

Joshua, an Eagle Scout who took a gap year and earned an associate degree from Brightpoint Community College before enrolling at 91ÖÆƬ³§, isn’t exactly sure where he wants to land after graduation. He does know that the maritime industry needs to reinforce its cybersecurity capacity and that protecting global commerce from bad actors is a threat that won’t go away.  

He is currently in his second internship as a student sales operations analyst with ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, a global container liner shipping company with operations in more than 90 countries and a U.S. headquarters in Virginia Beach. In his first internship, he worked remotely, conducting hydrogen research for Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems (CCLAS) which is located in Disputanta, Virginia. Joshua explored hydrogen production, storage and distribution methods, and analyzed the economic feasibility and infrastructure requirements for hydrogen-electric power adoption in Southern Virginia. 

How did you get the internship at ZIM Integrated Shipping Service?

At the 91ÖÆƬ³§ Organizational Fair at the beginning of the school year, I was just talking to different people, and I walked to the table and we hit it off. I mentioned that I was in The Student Propeller Club and they said they had worked with people from there before, so that was helpful. They reached out to me for an interview a few days later, all things went well and I took the internship.  

I'm grateful for The Student Propeller Club. It's given me an internship, and a lot of our members have also gotten internships through connections they've made through the club. It provides a direct link into the industry.  

While a group of us were recently in France for the International Propeller Club Conference in Lyon, the rest of the club members attended the Virginia Maritime Association symposium that brought 900 people from around America to come together to network and learn.  

We’ve also done things like resume writing and revising, LinkedIn profiles and building business cards. We’ve also taken tours of the Port of Virginia and the Virginia International Gateway logistics center and warehouse, and we’ve gone to oyster roasts to network and meet people.  

What do you do at ZIM Integrated Shipping Service? 

My position title is sales operations analyst. I analyze data and use dashboards to generate reports for forecasting and performance tracking. We oversee the sales reps and account owners for North America, making sure they are getting their quotas and making reports for the upper executives, showing key performance indicators are green. The analytics side of that is digging through data and exporting data to make pivot tables and files. 

What are you learning in your internship?  

I’ve been learning different programs like SAP (software), Microsoft Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management software), Tableau Software , IQSHIP and Power BI. I've looked into and learned about the different types of jobs available in the maritime and supply chain management field.