InternshipRatings.com

Hey Interns,
 
We all know that there are many benefits from interning during your college semester or summers off. However, what it comes down to is getting your foot in the door and landing that job. Below you will find some advice from GlassDoor.com on how to turn that part-time internship into a full-time job.
 
Good luck!
-InternshipRatings.com 
 
Here’s a link to the full article: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/turn-internship-fulltime-job/

By Jenny Yerrick Martin

YourIndustryInsider.com

@JennyYM

In the “new” economy (as opposed to the economy we older people experienced while you were children where people had stable jobs and showed up and did what was expected of them and collected steady paychecks), which journalist Tina Brown has dubbed “The Gig Economy,” more and more people are going from project to project without a permanent position.

There are pros and cons to this. The pros are a more stimulating work life and rewards based on successful completion of tasks, not trading hours for dollars as so often happened in that “old” economy. The big con to this one is the instability of the work life. As you embark on your career in the “gig economy,” here are five questions you should ask yourself:

1) Are you the first person they call to see if you are available?

2) Do they sincerely thank you when you are done working with them?

3) Do they refer friends and associates to you when those people need to hire someone?

4) If you have a job, are you the one they call to refer them to a friend because they trust your judgment?

5) Do they often say they want to hire someone “just like you”?

Having the answer to all five questions be YES is the surest way to make sure you stay employed and moving toward your ultimate career goals.

Jenny Yerrick Martin is a veteran hiring executive in the entertainment industry and the creator/writer of YourIndustryInsider.com, a website providing information and inspiration to students, recent grads, and others on breaking in, moving up, and making it in entertainment. She is also a professional resume writer and career consultant (www.momentumadvantage.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 Joe Waters
Director of Cause Marketing
Boston Medical Center

A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get a call or email from four or five people looking for work.  Most of them come from marketing, advertising and public relations. Some are changing careers. Some just can’t find work in their chosen fields.  They all see opportunity in cause marketing, and they’re right.

This post is for all of you, because I know I haven’t gotten back to everyone.  And I know–despite your kind assurances to the contrary–that I haven’t been as helpful as I would have liked.  This post is also for all the people who haven’t contacted me, but I know will.  This will hopefully be a resource to them, as will all your comments, no doubt.

So how do you get a cause marketing job in Boston?  (I say Boston because that’s where I live and work but I suspect that what I’m about to say applies to a lot of other cities.  But correct me if I’m wrong.)

Cause marketing jobs aren’t so much born as they are made.Very few nonprofits in Boston have staff dedicated to cause marketing.  In addition to my own nonprofit, I can really only think of two other full-fledged cause marketing shops: The Jimmy Fund and Children’s Hospital.  The function just hasn’t been formalized within many nonprofits–yet.  Of course, you could work for “The mother of cause marketing” at Cone, Inc. on Boylston Street in Boston but that’s agency work and is different from doing cause marketing for a local nonprofit.

I suggest you be prepared to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing program for that organization. Of course, very few organizations will hire you just to do cause marketing so be prepared to do other work: communications, major gifts, operations, etc. But pitched correctly cause marketing is a great value-add for any organization, and you should be bolstered knowing that close to zero of the nonprofits out there are doing the work.

It’s at this point that I ask that job hunter on the phone or across the table if they are skilled enough to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing effort and experienced enough to execute that plan if they really got the job.  They almost always answer yes, but the real answer is usually no.  This leads me to my next point.

Get experience in cause marketing. Pretty brilliant stuff, eh?  Sadly, (but luckily for some, I guess) only a nonprofit would be dumb enough to hire someone with no experience to run their cause marketing program.  Believe me, I’ve seen it.  But it never works out so let’s not take advantage of someone and waste every one’s time, okay?  If you really want to work in cause marketing you should work in the field for a bit so you can learn the ropes and see what’s involved.  I hire volunteers all the time who become full-fledged team members, get real assignments, real experience and real recommendations when they apply for real jobs.  But you don’t have to come and work with me.  Volunteer with another organization for which you feel passionate.  Ask them if you can help them with cause marketing.  I’ll bet you a stack of paper icons it’s something they’re not currently doing.

If you don’t have someone to learn from, examples abound of successful cause marketing efforts.  Just look to nonprofits–of similar size and focus, if possible–and learn from what works for them.  When I first got into cause marketing I had no one to learn from except from what I saw and read.  Fortunately, I live in a City with two strong, local cause marketing teams, Dana-Farber and Children’s Hospital.  And it helped that my job was in a hospital too.  I started my own program by applying some of the things that had worked for them.  And you know what? They worked for me too!

I also learned a lot by reading whatever I could get my hands on, including every case study at Causemarketingforum.com.

But tapping someone else’s experience isn’t limited to one city.  It could really work anywhere.  There is a very talented young man on Twitter right now, @KyNamDoan, who is working hard to land a job in cause marketing in San Francisco.  He’s smart because he knows that he can’t just limit himself to cause marketing.  He also knows that while he’s very knowledgeable about the field, he doesn’t have a lot of experience.  After talking with KyNam on Twitter and then by phone I contacted a colleague at a public hospital in San Fran and asked if he could volunteer with them.  I wasn’t surprised by her response.

“He sounds great,” she said, “how much experience does he have running cause marketing programs.”

“Not sure he has any,” I replied.

“Joe, I appreciate the offer, but how does that help me.   I don’t need another intern to manage,” she said.

“You won’t have to manage him,” I assured her.  “I will.”

I realized I could help both KyNam and another public hospital because I knew exactly what both needed to do to be successful.  The effort would be win-win.  KyNam would get some valuable experience and cause marketing would become entrenched at a key public hospital in San Fran, the home of several important national retailers.  Not a bad deal for me as I would like to establish a national cause marketing program for public hospitals.

I’m still working to get KyNam in the door at that San Francisco hospital. I also think I could teach him cross-country what he needs to do to launch successful cause marketing programs. But the facts remain that most cause marketing jobs are made, not born. To work in cause marketing you need either some applicable experience or be a keen observer of the industry, preferably both. That’s it. That’s how it happens.

So for all of you who want to get into cause marketing, get started. As my brother, a teacher, likes to tell his students: “You have a wonderful future ahead of you. I suggest you get going.”

Joe Waters is Director of Cause Marketing at Boston Medical Center. He blogs on the intersection of business, marketing and philanthropy at Selfishgiving.com.

By Carl Hymans

Managing Director

G.S. Schwartz & Co.

Pick a major, make a career choice, get an internship, gain experience for getting that first job.  Seems that’s the natural order of things.  But somewhere along the way, despite the best efforts of the career development department, potential interns are not always getting the key message: details are paramount!

I continue to see many of the same standout errors, which may keep you from getting a callback.  Here are five tips to help you get the internship you want.

Include A Cover Letter

An email subject line of ‘internship’ with a resume attachment is not enough.  I definitely recommend a cover letter.  The letter does not need to be very long and can be in the body of the email.  Remember, it is an opportunity to make a positive first impression.  Use it!  Include that you are interested in an internship position, the university you are attending, your major, your goals for the internship, how it is part of your career path, etc.    

Avoid Careless Mistakes

I cannot overstate the importance of being detail oriented as a mistake-filled cover letter or resume will often end up in the trash.  I’ve actually received cover letters from potential interns that mentioned how much they wanted to come to work for us and what an opportunity it would be to be part of our firm.  There were only two glaring errors.  One, as these were obviously form letters which were simply copied over and over again, they did not take the time to notice that the firm they referred to in the letter was not G.S. Schwartz & Co.!  Another error was that the firm name was in a different font than the rest of the document, making it all too clear this was a ‘fill in the blank’ form letter.  These are extreme examples but not as unusual as one would expect.

Do Your Homework

Aside from avoiding the aforementioned errors, as well as numerous others such as bad grammar, typos, etc., do your homework on the firm you are writing to and get some detail in the letter.   Visit the company Web site and do Google and other searches for information you could note in your letter.  Reference some details about the firm that show why you’re specifically interested in it, and not just that it happens to be in the industry you’re trying to enter.        

Be Ready For A Phone Callback

The phone rings and it’s a callback from the firm you want most to intern with.  Are you prepared for it?  What are you going to say after ‘thank you for getting back to me?’ 

This phone call is more important than most candidates realize.  If I receive three resumes from candidates with similar credentials, the one who makes the best phone impression is the one I will invite in for an interview.

Prepare yourself in advance by having several key points in mind that you want to communicate.  These should include your relevant course work, strengths and accomplishments, internship goals and career objectives. 

Come To The Interview Prepared
Bring several copies of your resume with you.  Don’t assume it’s the interviewer’s responsibility to have your resume waiting for you.  You may meet several people and you should have enough copies for all. 

It’s also important to have information on projects that you are involved with at school or in your personal life that relate to your chosen field.  If you are applying for a communications related internship, writing samples are recommended.  Even if you are not asked for them, do not be afraid to present any materials such as writing samples or coursework that will help you secure the internship. 

Other materials to bring include a notepad and pen!  The blackberry or cell phone in your pocket won’t help you when the person you are speaking with offers recommendations of Web sites, organizations, etc., that may be helpful to you.  Plus, it’s better to take notes than miss important points.  Doing so will only reinforce your attention to detail.

So, do your homework, be prepared, and get that internship!  Good Luck!

 

 

By Sarah Smith
Producer’s Assistant
Platinum Dunes

When I first started applying to internships I had no idea where to begin. Eager to find an “in” among the mass of applicants, I decided to seek out Boston University alumni. I sent my resume to several alumni who were working at various companies within the entertainment industry. One was for Fox2000 (a film production company on the Fox studio lot) and the other was Anonymous Content (a film production company that also specializes in commercials and music videos). This strategy proved to be extremely useful, wherein I landed both internships after brief interviews. I found that having been a graduate of BU, my interviewers already knew my worth. They were familiar with the curriculum, faculty, and campus life and therefore already had a sense of my abilities. It didn’t matter how long ago they had graduated from BU, the standards to which I was held were the same. Somehow there was already an unspoken bond having attended the same college.

I found this alumni connection to be incredibly helpful. I had easily landed two quality internships in the heart of highly competitive Hollywood in matter of minutes. This alumni power only continued as I went on to apply for full time paying positions. I received amazing recommendations from my internships and that in turn helped me land my first job at Tapestry Films (another film production company). Ironically at Tapestry I had two alumni co-workers. Again there was an instant bond that came from attending the same college. We could easily recount professors, sports teams, school renovations, cafeteria food etc. Various things would come up at work that we could talk about even though again we did not graduate the same year. This bond helped to solidify my relationships with my co-workers and helped these relationships continue to be strong even when we moved on to work at different companies.

Soon after I had gotten my career started I was in charge of recruiting interns for the office. I found that the same criteria I was looking for was easily fulfilled by BU students. I was able to see how years earlier I was chosen for my internships based on these same criteria. It was easy to know the work ethic and the academic background that the students had. It was also nice to be able to help them out and teach them what I knew, as I had learned from my alumni mentors.

Judging from my past experience the power of alumni is strong on many different levels. Find former alumni whether they are or are not working at a company you want to work for. Ask them to meet for coffee. Discuss their career paths and ask them for advice on your own career plans. Attend alumni events that your college holds such as movie screenings, sports games, banquets etc. If your college does not hold such events, start a networking group for alumni yourself. The alumni connection is a great resource for starting out and it will only grow throughout your career.

One guess as to how I got asked to write this article…from a fellow alum.

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 Ariel Diaz
Co-Founder and CEO
YouCastr.com

There is a lot of very specific ‘how to’ for internships, so I will offer a slightly more general and unconventional approach to thinking about internships.

The advantages of internships
Internships offer a very low barrier way to try something. This means you can try out new things that you are unsure of, or do something fun that you don’t really know how to turn into a career. At worst, you’ll waste a few months, but even learning that you don’t want to do something is valuable. Additionally, internships also offer a taste of real world experience before actually getting there, which can help ease the transition.

Take advantage of both of those things. If you are unsure of a career path, use internships to experiment and try different things. If you are certain, use your internships to work towards that.

Create an ‘elevator pitch’ about yourself
A rule of thumb for startups is to have a really compelling, ‘elevator pitch’, that should be able to explain what you do and why it’s interesting in one sentence. It has to be memorable, clear, and compelling, or you’ll miss out on potential investors and customers. Do that for yourself. Summarize your internships, resume and career goals in one sentence. Share it with others.

Use internships to support your story
The key is to look at internships as a way to support your story, your elevator pitch. It’s not just a resume or a list of high profile companies. Stories are important because that is how people remember what you are doing and what you want to do. Stories let people absorb new things into their existing framework. The more compelling the story is, the more you can take charge of how people categorize and remember you.

Work your network to get the word out
Networking is not a bad word, it’s much more important than people realize. It is more than just having 800 friends on Facebook, it’s about cultivating and maintaining relationships, online and off. More often than you will imagine, you will have mutual friends with potential employers and customers, and having a positive word is very valuable. Finally, personal, individual introductions are infinitely more valuable than cold emails and resumes, and are more likely to get you an interview, call, internship, or job.

Think about the bigger picture
Getting to college is a pretty linear process. It’s pretty clear what the goals and requirements are before and during your college years. Careers, on the other hand, are not linear. There are a million paths to take. Internships are not just things you do to pad a resume and achieve a linear goal. Once you see it that way, the priorities quickly shift from finding the internships that look best on paper, to the ones that are most interesting to you personally.

If you are able to use internships to create a unique, dynamic, and consistent story, you’ll be a lot more memorable, a lot more interesting, and a whole lot more likely to achieve your career goals.