InternshipRatings.com

Ross Herosian
College Programs & Outreach Specialist
Sirius XM Radio
     At the risk of dating myself and sounding like my parents I start by saying “Kids nowadays are so much more connected.” While I vividly remember the soundtrack of incoming & outgoing IM messages through computer speakers in college, we now have text messages, Facebook, and Twitter (Sorry Myspace, I think they’re over you). It’s an important distinction to make that while students are more “connected” their ability to communicate is probably the same as it’s always been (if not worse).
 
   There are chunks during the year where my days are spent reviewing resumes of intern candidates and calling and/or emailing them. I am a pretty casual but professional person in both e-mail and phone conversations, but I am constantly surprised (strike that, depressed) that so many students feel that they can e-mail me using text abbreviations (lol, idk, etc.). I am a very forgiving and open – minded person so I usually just chalk it up to “this generation” and tell myself that if we do accept them into our program that I will break them out of this habit. This is an exception. I think the hardest thing for interns to grasp or learn during their internship is adapting to a “corporate” setting. I am not talking about dress code (Most interns dress nicer than me) or working hours but strangely enough the communication is usually the last thing to click.
 
      In the FB/Twitter world, simply scanning your Newsfeed/Timeline catches you up with what you need to know. Replying to these messages is a courtesy, not a requirement. In the corporate world, responses are an acknowledgement to the messages. A simple response to your co-worker’s e-mail will let them know you are engaged in you work and in-time to their needs / requests.
 
      Oh yeah, when you re: just be sure to use complete sentences. IDK why but even when my BFF uses abbreviations it doesn’t make me LOL.
 
About the author:  Ross Herosian is the creator and manager of Sirius XM Radio’s award-winning internship program (2008 Vault.com “Top 10 Internship In America) and is always on the look-out for passionate, creative, and talented interns.  To learn more about the Sirius XM Radio internship go to http://internships.xmradio.com or you can email Ross at internships@siriusxm.com .

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 Becky Steinberg
Boston University 2010
Mass Communication, Public Relations & Spanish

Hola! I am a junior at Boston University, majoring in PR and currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. My study abroad program allows me to take an internship for credit, giving me a unique opportunity to observe office-culture outside the States. I work in a small marketing firm, Elipse Iniciativas and these are just a few of the cultural differences I wanted to share:

·    Kisses. I love the Spanish two-kiss salutation (also prevalent in other European countries). In general, I think it makes Spaniards less socially awkward and starts any relationship off on positive footing. In my experience, it also affects office culture. My 30-something boss greeted me with two cheek kisses my first day, immediately establishing a friendly relationship and making me feel like “one of them” rather than a foreign, temporary intern. I greatly appreciated it, and as a result felt more comfortable participating in the office banter and asking questions about everything from my assignments to Madrid nightlife. While this may not sound revolutionary, think about how long it takes to develop equally informal relationships with co-workers in the U.S when both parties speak English fluently.

·    Siesta. A two-hour lunch break. At my last internship in Boston, my boss wouldn’t take lunch breaks most days, sending me to get a salad and Diet Coke from the Au Bon Pain downstairs instead, which she would eat at her computer. Here, the siesta allows professionals to eat with co-workers, go home to eat with their families and even take a quick nap. I don’t have time to go back to my apartment, so I spend the time eating a three-course-meal with my co-workers or grabbing a sandwich and sitting on the patio with them, ultimately allowing us to be friends in addition to co-workers. Siesta also provides a break from the stresses that accompany deadlines, last-minute changes and computer malfunctions. My boss, for example, at the height of the craziness of planning the Madrid Marathon, would still come out to a long lunch. The siesta seems to help everyone stay sane, even amid event-planning frustrations. They say Spaniards have generally long lifespans, and it’s definitely not because the smoking restrictions (smoking in restaurants the university hallways is still custom). My money is on the siesta.

·    Politically Correct—the Spanish are not, or so I’ve been told. While I’ve never had a personal experience that speaks to this, in preparation for our entrance into the work force here, our internship-director shared one of her experiences. Apparently, her co-worker didn’t know she was pregnant and told her frankly that she looked like she was gaining weight and should probably stop eating so much. She told him she was indeed pregnant, to which he replied she should still maybe think about eating less.

To sum up, my experience at Elipse definitely verifies how my host-brother describes the Spanish attitude towards work: “We work to live, not live to work.”

Christine M. Perry, R.Ph.
Pharmacist Recruiter
SUPERVALU Pharmacies

Business etiquette is made up of significantly more important things than knowing which fork to use at lunch with a client. People may feel that if you can’t be trusted not to embarrass yourself in business and social situations, you may lack the self-control necessary to be good at what you do. Etiquette is about presenting yourself with the kind of polish that shows you can be taken seriously. Etiquette is also about being comfortable around people (and making them comfortable around you!) Here are some business etiquette tips to remember.

Business Attire:
- Attire should be noticed as appropriate & well-fitting, but it should not take center stage
- If in doubt, err on the side of dressing better than you might need to
- Carefully inspect clothes for tags, dangling threads, etc.
- Men: belt color should match shoes & always wear long-sleeved shirts
- Women: don’t confuse club attire with business attire & keep makeup conservative
- Use perfume/cologne sparingly or not at all & you should not smell like smoke

Business Etiquette:
- Standing up to greet someone is always polite (especially w/ elderly, superiors, & intros)
- Shake hands upon meeting, doesn’t matter who puts hand out first, regardless of gender

Phone Etiquette:
- Answering the phone with a smile gives the caller a welcomed feeling & will generally result in a smother conversation
- It is never ok to not return phone calls

Party & Social Event Etiquette:
- Don’t even consider not going unless you have a justifiable excuse
- Stay long enough to speak to everyone there (if reasonable), at least an hour
- Be prepared with open-ended questions to get others to talk

Dining Etiquette:
- The purpose of the meal is to interact (eating is secondary)
- Follow the lead of your host or hostess
- Solids on the left, liquids on the right
- Always use your silverware from the outside in
- Never place your napkin on your plate
- It is best not to order alcohol even if the interviewer does
- Never criticize or state a dislike for a food that is served to you, instead simply eat foods you do like & make an attempt to taste unfamiliar foods
- Be discreet if you drop something on the floor or get something stuck in your teeth

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.