InternshipRatings.com

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 Holly Landau
Leadership expert and CEO
Landau Leadership

You need help building your brand. Enter the ambitious Intern. Now it’s up to you to get the most out of the Mentor-Intern relationship. When seeking an Intern, find someone who fits with your brand. Look for a person who is actively interested in what you do, and who is willing to learn the business – the glamorous side and the not-so-glamorous side.

A small investment of your time as a Mentor can create the necessary structure for a successful internship. Keep in mind that this internship might be an opportunity to groom a future employee, so your level of professionalism will set the proper tone for what could be a long, fruitful relationship.

On your Intern’s first day, it’s important to share your vision. Explain your philosophy, your successes, your challenges, and where their support can help launch your brand. Then, ask your Intern about their expectations and career goals (and listen).

Setting clear performance expectations provides an important foundation to an internship. Meet face-to-face with your Intern to establish reasonable, measureable goals that can be realized throughout the duration of the internship. Instead of saying, “We’ll just figure it out as we go along,” instead say something like, “I want you and I to get the most out of your internship, so I’ve outlined five task areas that I’d like you to focus on. Let’s review each area and then I can answer your questions.”

Establish a schedule for discussing performance (daily, weekly, or monthly) and stick to the schedule. Check-ins could be as brief as fifteen minutes. During the discussions, structure your feedback in a way that’s understandable and motivating. Recognize the positive contributions first by saying something like, “We were all a little panicked last week when we had to gather the shipment for London. Sometimes we have to work fast in this business, and I really appreciate you making that happen in such a short time.”

Mistakes will be made by Interns and it’s up to you to share your observations. When giving constructive criticism, focus on the issues and structure your feedback so it doesn’t seem like a personal attack. Instead of saying, “You totally messed up that project, now it’s a nightmare,” say something like, “When you packaged the shipment without getting my approval, it meant that we had to open all the boxes again to make sure we included the invoice. Moving forward, please get my final approval before sealing the boxes, so we won’t have to do rework. I know you want to get the job done right the first time.”

Although it might be tempting to delegate all of your boring tasks to your Intern (addressing invitations, cleaning, trips to Starbucks), you should also consider some of the areas where your Intern could use some professional development. You can re-frame some of the mundane tasks by saying, “When you’re finished addressing the invitations, I’d like to take you to the Buyer meeting, I think it would be a good opportunity for you to observe the process.” You also want to leverage the skills that your intern already possesses. If you don’t know about their strengths, ask them about areas where they’ve demonstrated results in business or leading school projects. You might also get some innovative ideas from your Intern (maybe your Intern is tech-savvy and can help you clean up your client database, for example).

Remember, your Intern wants to build their resume and build skills, not just be used as a Temp or coffee-fetcher. Sure, some Intern tasks won’t be as exciting as others, so allow your Intern to earn your trust by assigning tasks of increasing responsibility. Allow your Intern to demonstrate that they can handle more responsibility before assigning anything too difficult or stressful. Set them up for success (and prevent someone else on your team from having to un-do the mess if you’ve given them too much responsibility too soon).

Finally, you want the internship to end on a positive note. Express your sincere gratitude to your Intern for their hard work. Know that when he/she leaves the internship, they take with them some insider knowledge of your brand and your work style. Interns contribute to the buzz about your brand – and you want it to be positive. When you take your Mentor role seriously from the beginning to the end of the internship, you’re ultimately contributing to the positive buzz about your brand and helping one ambitious person get closer to their career goals.

Holly Landau is a leadership expert and CEO of Landau Leadership, an innovative consulting firm providing customized training solutions to boost individual and team productivity and improve communication. www.landauleadership.com. Contact Holly: hollylandau@landauleadership.com

This article was originally published on Nolcha.com.

By Michael Harari
Go-Getter, University of Miami 2010
Advertising and Psychology

Spring semester is officially over. The summer is upon all of us – you know what that means: Reality show clip time! Oh wait; this summer won’t be spent watching re-runs and new episodes of “The Soup.” Nor will it be spent wasting away like a beach bum (no matter how much we want to). In this economy, and in the emerging world of business, internships are becoming more important.

Let’s take a look at finding an internship, and how if at first you don’t succeed, you clearly didn’t try hard enough. There is absolutely no reason for you to turn your back on finding an internship. Some firms look for experience. Some look for enthusiasm and drive. Some look for a combination of both. The fact of the matter is you never know what a company is looking for. And you never will understand it either.

Last summer I was fortunate to have an internship at an amazing advertising agency in New York City. I was going for art direction and was placed in print production. While this wasn’t my first choice, I was flexible, and I still got to be part of the creative process. My resume wasn’t anything special, and quite frankly, my portfolio was on the shitty side. However, something in my cover letter and my interview had set me apart from the other applicants.

It’s a year later. I’ve sent out my resumes and cover letters. I followed up and sent my portfolio (which is better than last year, but still could use some work – those who tell you their work is perfect, need to get off the meds and receive a slap of reality). Funny thing is, I had another internship during school, boosting my resume credentials, and a better portfolio, and yet I couldn’t hear back from a large percentage of agencies I contacted. I thought I had the qualifications they were looking for, but I guess I didn’t. Just goes to show, you have no idea what companies are looking for. One year you have it, and the next you can’t receive a response.

That brings me to the main topic of this discussion: if at first you don’t succeed, you clearly didn’t try hard enough. It is discouraging when agencies/companies/firms don’t get back to you. You want to yell and curse their names into the ground, but you realize there’s a more constructive way to take revenge. You strive. You strive to get a better internship. So when you apply for a job there, they can see that you had a kick-ass internship when they didn’t take you on.

Lesson #1: Don’t isolate yourself geographically; unless you are geographically isolated.
This is simple to understand: broaden yourself to other cities. If you live in Chicago and go to school in Boston – apply in both cities. If you live in South Carolina and attend school in Virginia – apply in both states. Basically, do not limit yourself to your home-state. That is, unless, you live in New York and attend school in Manhattan – still apply outside the state, but you may have a home field advantage (some agencies love taking students from SVA or Pratt because they have a reputation of great design skills). Those who are geographically separated have a much wider selection of companies to apply to. Yes, it may mean living in your crappy apartment by school for a couple more months, but you are gaining valuable knowledge. The more opportunities you have to send out your resume, the better chance you have of getting that interview.

Lesson #2: There is no magical resume number to follow.
I wish there is an easier way to lay this one out. Over the course of January to May 2009, I have sent between 40-50 emails to various agencies in Miami and New York. Some people, such as my father, believe that number is too small. He rather have me send out about 20 resumes per week. 20 per week in a month. That is close to 80 resumes in a month, for 5 months, and you’re looking at 400 resumes being sent out. You have to be meticulous and completely OCD to not completely screw it up and send out information to the wrong company (nothing worse than doing that). But I felt comfortable with the 40-50 resumes that I sent out. It’s all at matter of your comfort level in your abilities, your resume, and your opportunities. But don’t be stubborn: if you think you are semi-qualified, still send out the resume. The response may amaze you.

Lesson #3: Be persistent. But don’t be a pain in the ass.
There is nothing worse than a pain in the ass. We all know the type. They get up in your business all the time, track you down, and overall, piss you off. You want to be persistent, but you do not want to piss the company off. If you send your resume out and do not receive a response, send a follow-up e-mail or phone call a couple of days later. Make a simple statement: “I wanted to touch base to make sure you received my resume. Please confirm that you have received it. If not, I have attached it to this e-mail.” HR reps are constantly busy and bombarded with too many e-mails. There is a chance that your e-mail got through the cracks and was overlooked. By touching base, you can engage in a conversation with the company; this conversation can lead to an interview and the possibility of landing the internship.

Lesson #4: Don’t limit yourself to what you know. Check other online postings.
A simple online search for finance companies, advertising/pr agencies, etc., can only get you so far. There is no harm in checking Craigslist job postings. Yes, they have more than just cheap furniture being listed. You would be surprised at the number of listings posted each day. My internship this year was found through Mediabistro.com. For those of you interested in advertising and marketing, take a look at Talentzoo.com. Check Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com. Basically, use the Internet the way it was intended to be used: to connect with millions of people around the world. Find any opportunity you can. The best internship could come from a small posting on a site you never heard of.

The truth remains: if at first you don’t succeed, you clearly didn’t try hard enough. You are all brilliant college students, who understand the complex world we live in and continue to influence. If you don’t hear anything back from the first round of resumes sent, send more out. If you are satisfied and think “you know, I sent out 15 resumes this month and I’m content,” guess what, you will be sorry. You have every opportunity to succeed. Don’t let it go to waste by not trying your hardest to get what you want.

Of course, there are several more lessons and rules to follow. I am but a simple college student sharing my experience with you. Take what I say to heart, or tell me I’m full of shit and disregard it. At least consider what I have said; who knows, one day you’ll look back and say “That Mike. He knew what he was talking about.”

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.