InternshipRatings.com

by Ari Herzog

With approximately two months to go until some of you graduate college and enter the workforce and others seek internships, everyone is inundating you with information. Past articles in this column shared with you the importance of interview preparation, mistakes to avoid, and using internet applications.

Deviating from the above, I want to challenge your mind and ask why you have a resume. Don’t get me wrong, for you do need to show something to prospective managers and employers; but if the purpose of an internship (or any job) is to gain knowledge and experience, then why would you constrain yourself within traditional black ink on white paper just because everyone else does? Is your resume online? And, I don’t mean an uploaded Microsoft Word document. Is it?

If you trace the etymology of the 1804 French word, rÈsumÈ, it stems from the past participle of rÈsumer, which in English means to resume or to summarize. I donít know about you, but Iíd like to think my experiences, skills, and educational background are part of a running commentary on who I am today, how I improve myself, and where I am in my life–not a static summary of my past.

In an age when everyone uses the web to search Google, Facebook, and YouTube to discover quick-and-dirty facts, pictures, and videos about you, do you really want to condense your online persona to pieces of paper? When prospective employers ask for my resume, I point them to my LinkedIn and VisualCV profiles. Please click those links to see the difference.

I use LinkedIn to display a running reverse chronological list of my work experiences, like your typical resume displays, but I don’t go crazy by including bullets for every position. The nuts of LinkedIn are a combination of my summary at the top, an application showing recent blog posts of mine in the middle, and a series of recommendations at the bottom. You’ll see I’m connected to many people. So, when I come across a job listing (whether on LinkedIn or somewhere else), I search through my connections and their connections to see if there is someone who works currently or worked in the past with said employer. Then, I can send a message to my friend asking for a personal introduction. Make sense?

There is also a Q&A forum on LinkedIn, where you can demonstrate your speciality in a given subject by answering a question; and you can alternatively ask questions if you seek advice. If you just took a class on anthropology, that could make you into more of an expert than someone who doesn’t and is asking a question, right? If you just finished an internship working at MTV, that could make you more of an expert on broadcasting than someone else. Asking and answering questions is like peer review. The more questions you ask, the more people will click to your profile; and the more questions you answer, the more likely the questioner will appreciate your answer and mark it the “best.”

For more information on LinkedIn, I point you to Jason Alba’s blog (and book of the same name), I’m On LinkedIn Now What. He also created an application to help you track your LinkedIn usage, at Jibber Jobber.

I use VisualCV to duplicate some of my LinkedIn information, but in a much more illustrative way. Because LinkedIn does not allow outbound links beyond its “website” section, I needed a way to direct people to social networking sites I use, highlight some of my popular blog posts, show off extracts of LinkedIn and Twitter testimonials, and include some of my favorite quotations that help explain why I do what I do.

The neat thing about VisualCV–which I am not doing currently–is the ability to embed photos and videos and literally create an online portfolio. Suppose you’re a music student; do you have clips that you can embed? If you’re a fashionista, how about some pictures or videos of clothing you made and models wore? Wait, are you a model looking to go to the next level? How about a runway video? Tech students can upload screen shots of websites they worked on, showing off design elements. And PR students can create side-by-side examples of outstanding copy.

Maybe you’re not like me. You don’t have to use LinkedIn to display your work background or VisualCV to show off your creative flair. You can continue to use the paper resume, killing trees each time you or the prospective employer prints it. You can continue to constrain your experiences, skills, and educational background behind the same mechanisms your parents and teachers and employers used in their job searches. But if you’re already on networking on Facebook, sharing on Flickr and YouTube, and communicating with email and instant messaging, why not take it to the next logical step and use the web to show off who you are?

A few weeks ago, I had a phone interview with a HR recruiter at a leading Boston ad agency. The company had a Monster.com job listing, but I didn’t apply off Monster or on their corporate website. Rather, I determined on LinkedIn that one of my connections recently started his new job there. I reached out to him, explained I don’t want to create a standard resume, and could he forward my LinkedIn or VisualCV links to the recruiter. He did. While the recruiter had a hard time scouring my information–because it was in a weird format to her–we managed to communicate effectively and efficiently. Ultimately, I didn’t get the job but the system worked. The lack of a paper resume didn’t hinder me; and it doesn’t have to hinder you.

Ari Herzog is the principal of Ari Herzog & Associates, providing online media strategies for business and government. He blogs about strategies and tips at AriWriter and you can follow him on Twitter at @AriHerzog.

By Eugene J. Alpert, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars

Thinking of an internship in Washington, D.C.? There was a time when you really had to know someone to get a good internship in Washington. Before the Metrorail system was built, the only way to get around Washington was by bus (not always air conditioned), and housing options for interns were very limited. Washington was a sleepy town with “Southern efficiency and Northern charm,” as they used to say.

Today, Washington is a vibrant, bustling city where there are office buildings, apartments, restaurants at almost every Metrorail Station in the downtown area, making it very easy to get around to work and live in far-flung parts of the city. Every summer, Washington is “Intern City,” where perhaps as many as 40,000 or more interns descend upon the nation’s capital at some point to intern with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations seeking (mostly) free summer help. Washington has grown dependent upon interns, not only as a source of well-educated talent, but also as a future source of loyal, talented, future employees.

The ease of finding an internship on the internet or though the services of a nonprofit, educational organization, such as The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (www.twc.edu), has resulted in much greater competition for the best placements. The task is to find the best and most worthwhile placements, especially ones that are worthy of academic credit. This helps mollify parents at least a little when you can tell your parents you are going to Washington for the summer to work for free, but, of course, gain valuable experience to land that first job.

So how can you prepare yourself and be more competitive for the best positions? Here are some bullet points:

1. Demonstrate that you have a good sense of purpose. Know what kind of internship you would like to have and why you would choose one placement over another. You often can do this by sending in a writing sample on a topic of interest to the agency or organization you are applying to.

2. Do your homework. Research not only your favored internship placements, but also those that involve work at different ends of the ideological or political spectrum. You might be surprised to find that your opinions on an issue may be a better match elsewhere.

3. Be prepared to ask good questions about the internship. Especially if you are arranging your placement long-distance and your only contact with the potential placement is by phone or e-mail, have a list of questions handy to ask when you make contact. Be wary of placements that are vague about your responsibilities.

4. Seek a placement where you can be mentored. The “best internships have the best supervisors.” If you know you will be reporting to someone who will be willing to take the time to mentor you and make sure you have some excellent learning opportunities, then you will likely have a very worthwhile experience.

5. Make sure you have realistic expectations. The worst thing you can do to the internship site and to yourself is to expect to walk into, say, a congressional office and ask where your own office is. Expect a tray table and maybe you’ll be lucky to get something that looks like a desktop. Expect to start at the bottom and figure out how to make yourself valuable to the office by being humble, showing initiative and figuring out how to make your boss look good!

6. Never expect to use the “B” word. Never be “bored.” Each experience has sometime to teach you, whether it is the most exciting thing you have ever done or the slowest paced experience you have ever had. Figure out how to make the most of the experience by developing some good academic and professional learning goals in advance. Then ask lots of questions and do what you have to do to achieve your goals, even if it is on your own with little supervision. Maybe your supervisor will be so tired of your questions you will probably get some good work to do to stop all those irritating questions!

Have a great internship in Washington, D.C. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your career.
Eugene J. Alpert is senior vice president at The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. He has served as past president of the National Society for Experiential Education and has been involved with experiential education programs for college students for over 30 years.

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

David A. Cofer, Jr.
President & CEO
Cofer Consulting Solutions, LLC
www.CoferConsulting.com

Now, more than ever, interns can serve as a great source of innovation for the employers they are working for. Every organization, big and small, for-profit and non-profit is challenged with how they can do things better. This may come in the form of doing more with less, improving efficiency, driving down expenses, increasing productivity, raising customer satisfaction…it all comes back to the same thing; how do they get better. Well, who better to task with that charge than you, the intern!
Take what I’m saying to heart even if your employer fails to explicitly indentify this as an area of responsibility for you. Why? You ask. First, it’s a sure-fire way to stand apart from your peers. After ensuring that you are exceeding expectations as it relates to your regularly assigned tasks and responsibilities (this is so key, you don’t want to be out brainstorming news ways of doing things, only to compromise your “regular” work; in most environments, this would be bad!), take on the added responsibility of looking for new and better ways of doing things.

Trust me, it sounds like a lot of extra work, but it really will come to you far easier than you think. You have the benefit if being completely new to the environment and if you simply make a conscious point of being on the look-out for improvement opportunities, they will come to you. Now, here’s a little secret. It’s not as simple as going to your supervisor or manager and saying “I know how you guys can be better” at your jobs. You’ll have to do a little better than that. Also, when asked to support your recommendations, if you use words like “I think”, “probably”, “I like this way better”, etc. be prepared for a less than supportive response.

You have to bring data. Tell your employer that you have already developed the “business case” to support your ideas; they’ll love it. All the business case represents are the facts to support your idea. Be able to demonstrate how your recommendation improves the business by influencing a key performance driver / metric. What are these you ask? Typically they deal with things related to service, cost, and quality. Think of it as an experiment. Formulate your hypothesis (if you do x, y outcome will be achieved). Test your hypothesis. Absent a “lab” where you can actually perform the test, gather current state and/or historical data, formulate fact-driven assumptions about how the introduction of your recommendation would change the environment and produce a new set of outcomes. Present your findings and wala, you’re a superstar.

Now, is it really that simple? Well, probably not. But if you commit to doing these things, here’s the worst that will have happened. 1.) You will have fully committed yourself to your employer. 2.) You will have done all that you could to advance their business and make them better and 3.) At the end of your assignment you can walk away feeling very proud of the work that you performed. Not all bad if you ask me.

Dave Cofer is President/CEO of Cofer Consulting Solutions, a firm specializing in attracting, developing and retaining young professionals. E-mail Dave at David.Cofer@CoferConsulting.com. To learn more about Cofer Consulting Solutions, visit www.coferconsulting.com.

Nancy DeCrescenzo
Director
Office of Career Service
Eastern Connecticut State University

Students seeking internship should always attend campus career fairs. With rising recruiting costs, it is fair to assume that if an employer pays to attend, and releases human resources to such events, they have positions to fill. Most companies who participate in campus career fairs do so to meet prospective interns, as well as entry-level candidates.
Simply attending a career fair, however, is not enough. Students should be well prepared to take full advantage of the opportunity. Below are suggestions for what should be done before, during and after the event.

Before:
• Examine the list of participating employers and research, in advance, those that you will target. Most student schedules do not allow time for meeting all of the representatives in attendance. Moreover, meeting bankers and accountants when you are a social work major is an ineffective use of time. Know about the company and positions available before engaging with the recruiters.
• Update your professional resume and have it reviewed by a Career Services staff member.
• Invest in professional attire. Students should dress for job fairs as they would for job interviews.
• Attend pre-fair events sponsored by your Career Services staff. Alleviate any anxieties you may have about attending career fairs by getting some last minute coaching from your career counselors.

During:
• Navigate the fair alone. Do not attend with a group of friends, your parents or your puppy! You can portray confidence, initiative, and ambition by doing so.
• Turn off your cell phone, take off your coat and hat, and leave your book bag at the door.
• Be friendly and professional. Offer a firm handshake, maintain eye contact during conversation and smile.
• Introduce yourself to everyone you meet. Career fairs are networking events with many opportunities to interact with new people. Prepare a brief introduction that includes your name, major, career goal and purpose for attending the fair. Collect business cards.

After:
• Organize the materials you collected at the career fair.
• Send an electronic resume to any recruiter who requested one accompanied by an email message that references the conversation at the fair.
• Complete on-line employment applications as requested by recruiters.
• Send thank-you notes to any representative that gave you extra time, advice or guidance.
• Design a follow-up strategy based on important dates and information gathered at the event.

Career fairs are one of the many recruiting events hosted by your university. Your participation offers you the opportunity to explore new industries, assess hiring trends, and expand your professional network. These events are a great way to learn about internship and other employment options in the comfort of your own campus. Get to the fair and get hired!

Erin Everhart
Marketing Intern
352 Media Group

I’m beginning to feel like my posts are becoming a bit redundant. It’s not like I do the exact same thing every week, but blogging about any type of research your doing for 15 hours a week in front of a Dell computer screen isn’t exactly MTV “Real World” material over here. It’s really just the life of an intern, which, no matter how awesome the company you work for is, is never really that thrilling. Granted, I am doing significantly more than just “Intern go for my coffee” or “Intern go wash my car,” but it’s never anything that I can see come to fruition. It’s not like I have this project I’m working on, and when it’s finally finished I can sit back in my $15 Office Max computer chair and say “Yeah…I did that.”

For example, the past week I’ve mainly been doing research on different trade show/conferences/speaking events where someone from 352 Media could attend to further spread our name. While I definitely can see how that information can be vital to our company, it wasn’t anything that made me work to put my creativity to use. And it wasn’t anything that I could showcase for the hours I spent researching online.

Maybe, it’s because I’m so used to seeing a finished article in print and having a physical object that proves that the time I put into it was worth my while. But I think I’m really starting to realize that there’s no tangible method to measure marketing success. Sure you can look at where you stand in Google’s search bar or the number of Web site hits or even the number of people that swing by your booth at the Technology for Marketing and Advertising trade show in London. But that’s not something that you can say you 100% accomplished on your own. I hope–and want to assume–that if/when I take a higher position in a marketing department that my theory will be proved wrong (I welcome any advice in the form of comments to my post!), but just starting out the in marketing business, it’s hard to send the end results when you’re an intern.

By Suzanne K. Daley, Recruiting Manager, Wenham, MA
John White, Recruiting Manager, Winston-Salem, NC
Mullen

Getting your foot through the door, for an internship or an entry- level job can be a daunting task at any time and especially during a weakened economy.  We put together our best tips for helping you find a job (or internship) you’ll love.

Overall, you need to be engaged in the process—in the search, the interview, the follow-up.  You really have to want to be at the agency and to make a difference every day. Sincere enthusiasm and interest always shines through.

Your resume – it all starts here…

Your resume tells a story about you (and your interview should confirm that story).  It should be clean, easy to read/ digest, and one page (do not spill onto 2 pages—edit if you must!).

1. No grammar/ no spelling mistakes.  At all.  Ever.  You will end up in the recycle bin.  Proof, proof, proof your resume and then pass it to someone else to proof it again.

2. Don’t “over –embellish” your prior experience. If you waited tables, list just that and maybe one brief sentence. Don’t write things like, “assisted customers with menu selections and tabulated receipts,” it’s unnecessary.

3. Be sure to include any school activities or internships that are meaningful to you as it will show us more than just your academic background. However, if you only did a one-day charity walk, don’t bother to include.  We seek sincere commitments, not one time deals!

4.  It’s okay to be creative even if you’re not applying for a creative job.  The basics remain the same- perfect spelling/ grammar, easy to read layout, etc., but it’s okay to add personality to your resume— maybe use an interesting font for your category labels or put your name in a color, etc.  Be yourself and you’ll be fine.

You’ve got your version of the perfect resume, now it’s time to do prep work and figure out what great agencies you want to work at, what they seek, and all you can about them.

Agency research

1. Google!  There are no excuses if you don’t know the client roster, latest news, any big awards etc. anymore; you must know all you can about where you apply to work.

2. Read the job descriptions!  Don’t apply for every opening just for the sake of increasing your odds.  If anything, you’ll come off looking scattered.  You can’t be entry level and a Senior Vice President at the same time. Review the posted job description and really dissect it line by line to make sure it matches with what you want to do.

3. Network—ask pals, friends of your family, professors, fellow college alums, anyone in your network if they know someone who works at your dream agency and see if you can connect with someone in-house to learn more about the agency and how they got to where they are.

You made it to the interview stage, now what?

1.   Try and think of the interview as a conversation— these are the people you’d potentially be dealing with and interacting with a lot. As much as you can, try and make your time with them as friendly and normal in tone as possible. Also, if you’re asked “Do you have any more questions for me?” don’t say: “No. You’ve answered everything.” Ask your interviewer how they got their start in advertising, ask them about their role in the organization, how/if you’d be working with them etc.  Be engaged!

2.  Take notes during your interview.  This will help you with your follow up thank you notes as then you can mention specific conversation items.

3.   Remember that manners go a long way— have a firm handshake, make eye contact, show up early, etc.  If it means doing a dry run the night before to make sure you know where you’re going— do it! Also, be presentable and dressed in business attire. You don’t always have to wear a suit and tie (depending on the interview), but definitely look like you’re going somewhere special.

4.   Send a thank you note— email one once you get to your computer and post a handwritten one that evening.  It’s so competitive and these little things will make you stand out from the crowd.

Finally, good luck and enjoy agency life!