A University of Kentucky student's summer internship turned into a two-year professional journey that culminated in a full-time job offer before graduation. Elliott Kraus, a finance and marketing double major from the Gatton College of Business and Economics at UK, began working at Bullard in 2024 through a listing on Handshake, the platform used by the university's career services office.

What started as a planned month-and-a-half marketing internship evolved into something substantially different. According to a University of Kentucky News article, Kraus first interned in marketing for 14 months, then transitioned to a nine-month finance internship designed to prepare him for his current full-time role as a business analyst.

Bullard, headquartered in Cynthiana and with offices in Lexington, is a fifth-generation family-owned manufacturer of personal protective equipment. The company was founded in 1898 and invented the original hard hat in 1919. Bullard products include industrial hard hats, fire and rescue helmets, respiratory protection equipment, and thermal imaging cameras used by workers worldwide in hazardous conditions.

Kraus credited his UK education with preparing him for the role. "Having an internship while I was actively in school was a force multiplier on my education," he said. "It isn't just textbook and theory. You get to see how the theory lines up with the real world and how concepts are applied in practice."

In his current position, Kraus develops Power BI dashboards and automates business intelligence processes. One project he highlighted involved overhauling the company's scorecard report system for sales managers, transforming a static monthly summary into an interactive dashboard that allows users to filter data across multiple dimensions.

Kraus initially wavered on his major after discovering that marketing at Bullard was more data-driven than he expected. That realization prompted him to add marketing as a second major and pursue a minor in business analytics—a combination that proved ideal for his eventual role at the company.

The decision to stay at Bullard rather than pursue positions at larger financial institutions came down to the company's mission. "What I like about Bullard is what we do—we protect people. Our mission is to protect workers around the globe so they can work productively and go home safely," Kraus said. He emphasized the company's collaborative culture and mentorship approach to management, noting that Bullard operates with a flatness that makes employees feel like equal contributors regardless of title.

Bullard is a OneUK partner, one of the University of Kentucky's strategic corporate partners committed to holistic engagement with the university. According to data from Gatton College, 67% of 2023 graduates landed a business-focused internship before graduating, highlighting the value of experiential learning at the institution.