InternshipRatings.com

By Allese Thomson Baker
Community Manager
Wesabe

Internships. A word of many colors for the college student; potential job, waste of time, stimulating taste of the “real word”, an endless hell of envelope stuffing, networking extravaganza, unpaid misery.  I’ve had plenty internships, luckily more that fit into the positive rather than negative category. Still, finding an internship that’s not only worth your time, but pays off your time, is not an easy task.

I can attest to this as during my last year at UC Berkeley, I quit my very well paying job as a waitress (that is, well paying for a college student- tips! tips!), to take an internship at an Internet start up. At the time I struggled with the pay cut, but upon graduation, was offered a comfy salaried position, with job-description way more interesting than any entry-level job I could have hoped for.

By searching for an internship where I could showcase my skills and think outside the box and then doing everything I could to be a valuable asset to the team, I was able to maximize my internship experience. I believe anybody can do this, and to virtually any internship. Here are few tips that I believe we’re central to my success.

Consider applying at a start-up
While working at a new company may not have the same name-brand appeal as working for an established company, start-ups are a lot leaner and chances are you’ll get to do much more “real” work. Also, because the company is trying to get its feet off the ground, the work you do makes and impact and the “big bosses” can see it. During my Wesabe internship, I interacted with the CEO (and most everyone else in the company) nearly every day, and attended company meetings.

Do Your Homework
Prior to your interview, research your potential new company (spend time- I am talking a few hours, not a few minutes- on their web site or see where their product is at in a store, read up on competitors, etc.). Takes notes and keep all this information in a notebook. During your interview, give some thoughts/feedback that shows you know, (1) a lot about their company and (2) to do research and have analytical skills. Transform the interview into dialogue by asking thoughtful questions.

To ease those nerves and help with prep, I would suggest brainstorming a list of questions in your notebook about your prospective position and the company in general. During your interview and ask those questions- remember you’re interviewing them too.

Be The Go-To Person At All Times
When you start, aim to be that responsible go-to person that can efficiently and quickly accomplish any task asked.

When I started at Wesabe, the CEO left me at my new desk and said he’d email me my first task. The subject line read: Competitive Matrix. I opened it. The contents: “Please use this model as the basis for your list. Best, Jason.” Attached was a list of the competition.”

That was it. I friggin’ freaked out. What the f$%^ was a competitive matrix? There was nothing else, no direction, no how-to, no example. So, I got resourceful, began googling, called everybody I knew about that might know what a competitive matrix. I checked out the competition. I pieced things together. When I had a grasp of what this competitive beast and our competition, I headed back to his office and asked if I was headed in the right direction. Turns out I had some things right and some things wrong. But my research made me look capable, responsible and like self-starter.

Be innovative: Think before you ask
Before you say, “I don’t know” or “I need help”, think, where could I find this answer? What other resources could help me answer this? Every single time, I do this before asking a question, I almost always find it’s something I could answer myself.

Additionally, “I don’t know” questions are always better, when you posed as, “In response to x task, I checked a, b, and c, resources and found d, is this the direction you’d like me to follow?”
Think like the CEO

When in doubt, think about what you could do that would best benefit the company. Really think, brainstorm, about how you expand your duties to help the company succeed, and then do it without being asked.

Take Notes and Always Have To – Do List
Whenever you meet with your boss, bring a pen and notebook and take COPIOUS notes. After your meeting has finished, recap the major points/deliverables to your boss, so you can make sure your both on the same page.

After the meeting, I often summarize the contents of my notes and then try to think outside the box. Given these priorities, what else can I do to help the company succeed?  I add these to my to-do list.

If you’re going to take an internship, put in all you’ve got and chances are you’ll get it back two-fold. If you don’t feel you can do the extra work to maximize your internship (researching one that’s worth your time, preparing for the interviews, going the extra mile when hired), than it probably won’t be worth your time or not being paid. Putting that extra 110% means your actually exploring a career and building a foundation and network for your own career. And, that, I believe, is absolutely worth it.

Allese Thomson Baker is the community manager at Wesabe (www.wesabe.com), an online money management tool and community. Allese graduated this past May from UC Berkeley with a degree in the History of Art and transformed her student Internship into a full time job. She now lives in San Francisco and is usually found raving about contemporary art and social media, buried in a book or playing with her dog, Riley.

By Nancy Sterling
Senior VP, Strategic Communications
ML Strategies

What attributes does a great intern possess and what pitfalls can he/she easily avoid?

I have experienced internships from all angles.  At Boston College, I was a teaching assistant to the Chairman of the Communications Department which meant that I had a voice in internship assignments.  Then I was an intern myself, first at the NBC station in Boston and then at its ABC counterpart.  I never would have been offered my first job in television, right out of college, if I had not had that experience.  At the latter job, I was in charge of managing the TV news internship program.  Finally, in my current position, we utilize interns in our crisis communications practice.

Let me offer five rules that may seem basic, but I have personally experienced interns who did not follow them and seen the impact on a professional environment.

1. Always have a notepad and pen at a meeting, whether it is a client gathering or a one-on-one with your boss.  I had one intern to whom I gave a pen and notebook during a session and she still showed up without those basics the next time!

2. Let your boss know your schedule and any changes as soon as possible.  He/she is trying to run a business and will likely be amenable to a change with enough notice.  However, the boss does not want to find out the week before the semester ends that this will be your last week!

3. Proofread your documents before you present them.  A supervisor is going to think a lot less of an intern whose one page document has one or more errors!

4. If in doubt, check it out!  No matter how proactive you are trying to be, if you are uncertain about how to handle an assignment, do not just plunge ahead.  Wait and double check.

5. Act like this is your real job.  Whether you are working for course credit or money, be the best all around employee that you can be.

These tips to the top will give you the tools to move from being an intern to being a valued member of the staff.

By: Kelly Reaves
Media Director
MindComet

Class schedules, project deadlines and lets be honest, late night get togethers with friends all play a part on how many hours you are going to put in, during your internship.  However, if you are looking to leave a lasting impression on the company you’re interning with, I’d recommend taking your internship responsibilities to the next level which means more than just showing up on time and checking things off your to do list.

Educate yourself and be ready to learn - Go into the interview prepared.  Know about the company’s product/service offerings, management team, previous work they’ve done, the culture and what’s going on in their industry.  Tell the interviewer what you are hoping to get out of the internship.  From when your internship begins to when it ends, be a sponge and absorb as much information, knowledge and education you can.   This may mean stepping outside of your comfort zone and going above and beyond the responsibilities given to you such as asking to sit in on meetings, shadowing other team members and delivering more than what is expected.  If you are looking to move into a professional intern role or full time position, all the more effort will help make this happen.

Be on time - Act as you would if this were your real job, we notice when you are late and it doesn’t look good.  If you’re going to be late, give your manager enough notice so they aren’t waiting on you.

Act professional - Although speaking from someone working at an agency where flip flops and t-shirts meet our apparel guidelines, don’t roll out of bed and come to work in your pajamas.  What if there was an impromptu client visit, wouldn’t you want the opportunity to sit in?

Speak up - We all have different personalities and approaches however as an intern, your goal should be to stick out from the rest of the crowd, in a good way.  Voice your opinion, ask questions, get to know the team, take part in activities.  This is your chance to shine especially if the company is prospecting full time employees.

Build your portfolio/references - You’re getting “real world” experience, so add the work you’ve contributed to, to your portfolio.  It beats having only school papers and projects to show.  You can certainly ask for a letter of recommendation, however if you have done a good job, your manager will most likely already have one for you on your way out.  Keep your manager as a reference and leave behind your personal contact information for others to keep in touch with you.

Prove them wrong - As a new intern, you bring with you preconceived thoughts on the quality of your work, dedication and confidence.  Prove your manager wrong by taking your work seriously and delivering double or even triple checked work, show you care and are serious about being there and are not afraid of a challenge.  You’ll get more work this way but its only because you have established a trust and your manager can now count on you to get things done right.

Good interns are hard to come by.  However don’t get me wrong, it’s a two way street.  Managers must be willing to put in the time and effort to give the intern what they need to be able to shine.   So to the seekers out their looking for internships, be sure to speak up if you are not getting what you need to be successful.  At the end of your internship, you should leave better educated or better yet, get to stay onboard!

By Ulrike Klein
Operations, Non-profit

Here are a few things you should remember when you are tackling one of your countless internships in the near future.

An internship is supposed to prepare you for the real world. It is  supposed to give you work experience and frankly, these are the people that you will likely put down as references for your first few job. The ladder is something interns seem to forget sometimes, because who doesn’t want a great reference from an intern supervisor!

A few things about generation “Y” are absolutely fantastic. You can multitask like no other. You are absolutely in tune with the Internet and electronics. Us Generation X’ers can definitely learn from you, however, being connect via different media day in and day out comes with challenges.

1. Texting and chatting - For heaven’s sake! Be discreet. I don’t tell my interns not to text or not to chat; I  know Facebook can be important after 3 hours of database crunching. I think they do great, high quality work and I do trust them to a certain degree. However, when I walk by your desk in any given week and I see several chat windows opens, a few questions arise, which are as follows:
Can I trust this person with a deadline?
Did this project REALLY take that long or did they goof off chatting or switching between screens every few second prolonging it?
What am I supposed to tell the person who gave them the project when they ask me why the project isn’t done, if I know there is a lot of chatting going on?

2. Being on time.
I can’t stress how important it is to be on time when you are starting an internship. Even when you work in a laid back office environment, being on time or even a bit early speaks volumns to your engagement, reliability and trustworthiness. It also shows that you respect the rules of the workplace.
There is honestly no excuse that works for me for being late. I am here, I use public transportation. End of story.

Interns are a really important part of many companies. Depending on where you end up it can be a great experience or a challenging one. I always treat interns as equals, after all, they often do things I don’t have time for or I need help with and sometimes they can do it better than me.

That being said. I know being an intern can sometimes be a thankless job. Not every supervisor will tell you during the interview that you might be stuffing envelopes. I remember internships where I was relegated to some back room and the entire building could have instantly combusted - no one would have missed me. But even those experiences end up preparing you for the “real world”,which is exactly what an internship is supposed to do.

Boring work? I got news for you. I love my job and career, but there are days where I am bored to tears, yet required to do just as great of a job.
Co-workers you might not like? Not a problem at my current job, but I certainlly have had to work with difficult people and maybe some have found me difficult as well. You have to look at these situations like working in customer service. This is your job and you are supposed to do a good job. So unless there is some bullying or mobbing going on, suck it up and get through it.

So, take note! Get up 10 minutes early, try to throw on some work appropriate clothing (whatever that might be in your industry, we all know it’s different for Bank of America than at a nonprofit), be on time, keep your texting and chatting in check. And also remember why, because if you don’t your supervisor will start doubting your ability to work on deadlines and your trustworthiness with such.

By Ian Stewart, MBA’09,
Georgetown University
http://wormsign.blogspot.com

Having just completed my own internship as an MBA Marketing Intern at Sun Microsystems, I have a few suggestions to those starting the process. Advice on internships abounds, so I’ve tried to keep these suggestions discrete, brief and actionable.

Before you choose…

1.) Take this opportunity to select an industry and position that will help you strengthen any soft spots in your career story. Next year when you apply to your dream job, you can talk about what you’ve learned and how it makes you a stronger candidate.

2.) Use your curriculum electives to help you prepare for the position. I used my internship to increase my real world marketing experience, and found that the two extra marketing electives I took prior to starting really made a difference.

3.) Meet and talk to as many people at the company as you can. Ask specific and relevant questions about their current position, the internship, and the company’s strategy. (Generalized questions are unimpressive and show disinterest; do your research and use it!)

During the internship…

1.) Don’t shy away from tasks you feel are below your station. They’re chances to prove you can (and should) be invited to work on the more difficult challenges.

2.) Recognize that being an intern gives you a free pass to ask for meetings with people who already have your dream job. Use it! Set up meetings and talk to them!

3.) Take the longest internship you can while still giving yourself adequate time after exams and before classes resume. I’m glad I had twelve weeks, because it wasn’t until about the eighth week that things really took off.

While you’re in the area…

1.) Find local professional organizations that are relevant to your career interests and attend a few meetings. They’re a great way to learn more about your options and meet people in your field.

2.) If you like the company, industry, or even just the area, this is a great time to do a little apartment/house hunting. Understand what the cost of living is so you’re better able to evaluate an offer next year.

Finally:

Internships can be fantastic educational experiences. Choose the position that best reinforces your career story, and then take advantage of as many of the opportunities during the internship as you can. You may not always end up where you plan, but you need a plan to get going!

By Francine Blume, PhD
Director of Experiential Education
American University, Washington, DC

You’ve amazed, delighted and thrilled! You’ve saved a multi-million dollar account! You’ve prevented international incidents!

Or maybe you caused an international incident. Ooops.

Whether you’ve shined, maintained, or had challenges, there are things you need to have done before you walk out those internship doors for good.

Ask for feedback

Know what the organization is going to say about you, good and bad. Make sure you have at least one opportunity for an evaluation before you leave. Ask your supervisor about your strengths, areas where you grew, and areas that you should continue developing. Be open, don’t argue if you disagree. This isn’t the time. (If your supervisor has facts completely wrong, be very diplomatic about setting the record straight. Ideally, any conflicts would have already surfaced and been addressed.) Ask for examples if you aren’t clear what your supervisor means. Definitely thank your supervisor for the feedback, and if appropriate, ask if you can use him or her as a reference (see below).

Prepare for the next internship or job

Identify at least one person who would be willing to write you a letter of reference. Have it in your hand before you leave. Never give up your right to see what references say about you. (I had a friend that was using a reference repeatedly, but unbeknownst to him, the reference was very negative, and he had a terrible time getting jobs.) If you’d like to come back, either as an intern or an employee, express that. And if there won’t be openings, be sure to ask about other individuals and organizations with whom you may want to network. Ask about professional associations that you might want to join, and events that might be interesting. As soon as you can, update your resume to include this most recent internship.

Leave on the best of terms

You want them feeling great about you after you’ve left, and not grumbling because they’re cleaning up after you. Make sure all your work is done, or at least at a stage that can easily be handed off to someone else with clear instructions. Gather an informal portfolio of your work products, and make sure you have permission to use them. Thank everyone with whom you worked and interacted. Thank you notes on cards are always appreciated and stand out from emails. Keep in touch from time to time with an email, letting them know what you’re up to. This applies whether or not you had a positive experience, because you never know when and how you’ll run into these people again.

Spread the word!

If you had a great experience, tell your friends! Tell your department! Tell your Career Center. Make a video! Blog! If you wouldn’t recommend the site, definitely tell your school, but be discreet about putting anything negative in public forums with your name. Be as constructive and professional as you can. And, of course, rate your internship at InternshipRatings.com!

Then it’s on to the next adventure! Good luck!

By Michael True

Director of Internship Center

Messiah College 

Much of what we do in life involves first impressions.  Oftentimes, the first impression an employer has of us is the email we send to them with our resume.  Of course, that just begins the long road of email correspondence.  Use care when composing emails.  Your supervisor and co-workers will appreciate it.

* Do not send anything that you would not be comfortable seeing in tomorrow’s headlines. Email is more like a postcard than a sealed envelope with a letter in it.

* Treat email like any other business communication; watch your spelling and grammar as your communications skills will come through in your email.  Do not use instant message or texting abbreviations.

* Read what you write before you send it.

* Break up the text by using short lines and paragraphs; this makes it easier for the recipient to read.

* Be sure to fill in the “Subject” line with concise and informative language; this allows the recipient to file, prioritize, and retrieve easily. It is considered rude to leave the subject line blank.

* Writing in all UPPERCASE and or BOLD letters is considered SHOUTING at the recipient.

* Do not forward or edit an email without the original sender’s consent.

* Do not send chain emails. These are emails that tell you to forward the information to many other people.

* Remember that all laws that pertain to discrimination, defamation, and harassment (verbal, emotional, and sexual) pertain to electronic communication as well.

 

Remember, the #1 skill employers look for in new hires is excellent communication - written and verbal.  Email is in that writing skill category.

Best wishes!

 

By Heather Krasna, 

Director of Career Services, Evans School Of Public Affairs

University of Washington 

We’ve all had that dream where you see yourself sitting down to take a midterm exam, but you completely forgot to study for the class.  Second only to this nightmare is the one where you try really hard to get an internship, only to find out that the one you accepted wasn’t “worth the coffee.”™ 

Sometimes it’s easy to tell that the internship isn’t what you were expecting: your employer is asking you to pick up his/her laundry, it’s been made clear to you that you will continue filing papers no matter how much you’d like to learn, or the supervisor has said something downright disrespectful to you.  If that’s your situation, skip to the last paragraph of this post.  Sometimes, though, it’s worth taking a moment to think about what does make an internship worthworth doing and whether there might be something you could do to make your internship more worthwhile.

First off, try to be open-minded in the beginning of your internship.  Sometimes you have to prove yourself before the employer will trust you with juicy projects or recognize your capability, and sometimes an employer just hasn’t thought through what an intern like you might be capable of.  If you spend the first few weeks doing your best job, being eager to take on new projects, and trying to be enthusiastic, hopefully the employer will naturally begin to trust you with more and more interesting work.  Once you’ve been at the internship for a little while, though, the time it ripe to ask yourself some questions. 

Is your internship helping you: 

• • learn new skills, 
• • build networking contacts, 
• • build positive references, 
• • add to your resume, 
• • get a firsthand look at potential employers, 
• • possibly lead to a full-time job, 
• • decide whether or not you like this type of work, or 
• • decide if you like your possible major?  

If you said “no” to some of these questions, is there anything you could possibly do to change that answer to a yes?  For example, are you waiting for your boss to introduce you around, or do you think you could take the initiative and introduce yourself to some of your colleagues to improve your network?  Or, if you approach your supervisor in a polite and eager manner, and mention how much you would love to learn about their marketing plan (or whatever), could your internship supervisor perhaps be impressed with your initiative and give you more exciting things to do?

If, however, you said no to each question, and have also tried whatever you can to improve your situation, and have been gettinggotten nowhere, then you have to make a tough decision.  Is it worth suffering through this internship just to put something on your résumé?  Do you think you would at least get a good reference from your supervisor, or are things so bad that you should just cut your losses?  

If you actually feel so uncomfortable that you can’t bring yourself to continue working at the company, then it’s probably time to quit.  Try talking it over first with a friend, a professor, or a career counselor at your college’s career center.  If you are registered to receive college credit for the internship, definitely make your professor aware of the situation ASAP (you might get an incomplete grade in the class, but most professors won’t punish you for getting into a bad internship situation).  Start looking around for a new internship and see what’s available.  Many companies post internships throughout the year, so you may be surprised what’s available mid-semester.  If it’s too late to get another internship this semester, start looking at next semester and focus on your search for a new opportunity.  And  if you got your bad internship through your college’s career center, it’s essential to tell your college’s internship coordinator so that future students won’t also suffer– and don’t forget to rate your internship at InternshipRatings.com!

By Adam Zand
Consultant

Everything I learned about Interning, I learned during meetings – and from listening to Howard Stern.

On May 7 Antonio Pierce, a linebacker for the N.Y. Giants with an interest in broadcasting, did a one-day internship at “The Howard Stern Show.” His tasks included answering phones, teaching staffers how to throw a football and finally towel snapping “Sal and Richard” of the show who had scammed him earlier in the day with prank calls and requests for coffee. As he told the crew, “I figured, win the Super Bowl, do some more hard work.” Being a New England Patriots fan and someone who considers Stern and his crew to be members of my family, I’m even more jealous of this guy. My revenge is that I’m going to share some internship success advice (when you hear that “a” word, do as Chris Rock advises and “Run!!!”) with you. I’ll be upset if anyone shares it with Antonio.

Get invited to meetings
Asking to attend a meeting will get you noticed. Folks at your job will actually be shocked. They all hate meetings – it’s the time of day when they think nothing happens. They exhibit this by bringing in a laptop (“I’m taking notes”) or sneaking peeks under the table at their BlackBerry. If you can get into the room, the magic of meetings can happen for you.

Listen and take great notes at meetings
As mentioned, the staffers hate these things. They really only want to hear themselves talk or impress a supervisor or delegate a task and get back to the safety of their desks, Aeron chairs. They dread getting assigned a new initiative in the meeting. So, how do you as the office nOOb help them survive the process? You take amazing notes and offer to share them when you go to their offices after the meeting concludes. They will appreciate this act of kindness and organization as they can check to see the brilliant things they said and make sure they weren’t assigned something or required to report results back to the boss.

Mind meld during meetings
Here’s the key point in this entire goofy article - The mind meld analogy (any old school Star Trek fans exist on www.InternshipRatings.com?) isn’t too far off. Your most important career development task is imagining what everyone is thinking and what motivates them in the meeting. Once you’ve solved this puzzle, you get to pick a few people to probe (a different sci-fi procedure) with questions about their day jobs and career path. Check how they present themselves in the meetings and later if you like what they do for work. If you do, then you probably want to mirror their behavior, actions and maybe their career path. Pay particular attention when your mentor proposes a new idea at a meeting that will make the company some money or save money or make the bosses look good. That might be another article from me, but those are the only three things that us “professionals” actually need to do at work to prosper!

Some day you get to host your own meetings
So, if you’re cruising on a rudderless intern ship, take immediate action before the summer ends (and you forget everything under a College-mandated haze of Red Bulls and “flavorings.”)
1. Get invited to meetings – especially the ones that have food
2. Listen and take great notes – bring a pen as old-timers like me get nervous when faced with the backs of glowing laptops
3. Mind meld during meetings – don’t stare or zone out too much as the meeting will eventually end.

For more information on meeting etiquette check out this article I was quoted in from Boston Business Journal and better yet stay in touch with me on Facebook, TalkShoe or Utterz.

Enjoy the meeting!

Cheers,
Adam Zand
ThisDudeAbides.Zand@gmail.com

By Steve Raymund
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Tech Data Corporation

Working as an intern is a great opportunity to learn what it means to live inside the world and culture of corporate America. With open eyes and ears, you can acquire important skills and knowledge that will help you succeed in your future career. Perhaps more importantly, you can learn a lot about yourself and what kind of work environment best fits your own personality.

Quite often that first or second internship culminates in an exciting job offer and the chance to build a career inside a company you now know, and that knows and values your contribution in return. Here’s a few tips to maximizing your success in the corporate America:

You may be a stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with its social conventions, so take your time to learn how things get done in this new world. Listen, watch, take notes, study and reflect on your experience. Remember, company cultures can differ remarkably from one another. Intel, for example, is renowned for its culture of confrontation, while HP, in contrast, places high value on collaboration. Although a company may have formal procedures and rules, quite often it’s through informal networks and processes that more can be accomplished. So be diligent in learning about your company’s social norms to avoid making a silly faux pas, and to ensure that you maximize your effectiveness.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice. If given an assignment, seek counsel and feedback along the way vs. waiting until your finished project is ready for formal unveiling. I’ve seen people waste weeks of work by misinterpreting their original instructions and finishing up with a worthless product. A better alternative is frequent checkpoints with your boss or colleagues during which you’re likely to hear great suggestions to improve your end product. That way you’re more likely to stay on track with the original assignment.

Be timely in everything you do. Show up to meetings a few minutes early. Deliver your reports when due. People don’t like to hear excuses for tardiness, delays and missed deadlines. To be sure, delays are sometimes unavoidable, but don’t wait until the last minute before informing your boss that you can’t deliver your work on time. It’s much better to provide an early heads up, which might in fact create an opportunity to enlist help in flattening the obstacles slowing your progress.

Be cordial, not saccharine. People spend more of their waking time at work than just about anywhere else, and would, in most cases, prefer it to be a pleasant experience. Sullen, negative attitudes are a real turn-off in and outside the workplace. The wrong attitude can put you on the bottom of everyone’s list for special assignments, project teams, and promotions, despite your technical skills. By the same token, it’s important not to go overboard in the other direction, annoying people with your garrulous chirping.

Always be honest and truthful. A number of years ago we were recruiting a senior financial executive for our Latin American operations. Our lead candidate had all the right qualifications: great experience, Ivy League MBA, and an easy and intelligent manner. Until reaching me, he had won over everyone who had met him. Our interview together was the last stop before offering him the job. In reviewing his resume, I noticed that our candidate had listed fluency in Portuguese as one of his skills, which for a Latin American job was quite relevant. His resume did not qualify his degree of fluency to reading only, or any other limitation. Since I once lived in Brazil and am reasonably comfortable in the language (at least one on one), I switched to Portuguese once formal introductions were complete. Poor guy, you could see his face fall as soon as he spoke, for he could barely assemble a complete sentence in the language, at which point our interview was over.

The lessons above seem like pretty basic common sense right? Pay attention; be curious; show up on time; be friendly but professional; tell the truth. You’d be surprised how many people have trouble with these things.