Archive for Category: Internships
Winter is the New Summer…for Finding Internships
Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Recommended Resources on December 3, 2009 at 6:00 am
This is a guest post from Lauren Porat, co-founder of UrbanInterns.com
As I was perusing the job listings on UrbanInterns.com today, I couldn’t help but note the following excerpts:
- “understand the inner workings of a start-up…”
- “24-hour turn around work during business days…”
- “As the business grows, I will be hiring [full-time]…”
Don’t all of the above sound like summer internships? Wrong. They’re all winter internships with small businesses.
Sure, it’s officially the holiday season, as verified by the number of 30% discounts that are sitting in my gmail account. But that’s the point — businesses are gearing up to finish the year strong, and they need extra sets of hands to help them do that.
So…what types of winter internships are out there? Social media, PR/marketing, blogging, and business development are the top areas we see people hiring for this winter. And this all makes perfect sense. An eMarketer report just came out indicating that small businesses are using social media to market their businesses even more than their big firm counterparts. (more…)
One Way to Help the “Lost Generation”
Posted in Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Recommended Resources on November 2, 2009 at 11:00 am
A recent BusinessWeek cover story called today’s graduates “The Lost Generation,” citing statistics that young people who graduate in recession years continue to earn less over the long-term course of their careers.
This weekend, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert addressed the same issue, writing:
“These recent graduates have done everything society told them to do. They’ve worked hard, kept their noses clean and gotten a good education (in many cases from the nation’s best schools). They are ready and anxious to work. If we’re having trouble finding employment for even these kids, then we’re doing something profoundly wrong.”
Like BusinessWeek and Herbert, I am very worried about the situation for recent college graduates. Today I want to share with you what I’m doing about it:
I have and always will pay any interns who work for me. If you are a business owner, I ask that you do the same. (more…)
Tags: Internships
Virtual Internships: A Growing Trend and Great Opportunity
Posted in Internships Recommended Resources on October 15, 2009 at 12:35 am
This is a guest post by my friends Lauren Porat and Cari Sommer, co-founders of Urban Interns.
The job hunt is fierce. But a phenomenal new type of internship is on the rise, and it’s one that will boost your skills while at the same time allow you the flexibility of working from home and on your own clock. Employers are turning more and more to virtual interns, and we’re seeing a real rise in this on UrbanInterns.com. In fact, The Wall Street Journal published a story about this a few weeks ago.
Other advantages of a virtual internship? You don’t have to go to school in a major city to get access to awesome companies, and a lot of these positions are in areas that you’re probably already pretty skilled at, like social networking, blogging and research. We’re also seeing a rise in these positions at small businesses in particular, which is a great opportunity for you because you get exposure to management and get to play an important role as an intern at a small company.
So what’s the best strategy for going about finding a virtual internship? Here are some tips: (more…)
On CareerTV: “Feed Your Future” Recession-proof your job search”
Posted in Career Advice Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Networking Recommended Resources on February 8, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Many thanks to CareerTV for interviewing me for a new segment, “Feed Your Future,” sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers. If you’re a student at UT-Austin, please come to the LIVE event on Monday, February 9th at McCombs School of Business. Click here for more information on this FREE event.
To watch the video, click here.
How to succeed in an internship: 8 tips
Posted in Internships on January 25, 2009 at 8:36 pm
As spring break approaches, many college students are making plans for summer internships. As I’ve blogged about previously, internships are more important for young professionals than ever. Thanks to Heather Huhman, of the Entry Level Careers Examiner, for sharing eight of my tips for internship achievement.
1. Learn how work is different from school. Of course, the most exciting difference between college and the real world is the fact that you get a paycheck instead of grades. However, there are a few other changes an internship can help you adjust to. For instance, missing a deadline has major consequences. As an intern you’re supporting full-time employees whose jobs are their livelihoods—there’s no room for messing around with projects they’re relying on. Furthermore, your work as an intern could directly impact the bottom line of the organization you’re working for, particularly if you’re dealing directly with clients or customers. Your professionalism is not requested; it’s required. (Or you might get fired.)
2. Step outside your comfort zone. Internships are a great time to take risks, face your fears, and challenge yourself to try some big new things.
3. Be proactive. Asking, “What is a good thing for me to work on when you’re busy and I have nothing specific to do?” shows that you are a go-getter who wants to contribute and learn as much as possible. And, you may get assigned a cool project that no one else was smart enough to ask for—something that you can highlight on your résumé and promote in future job interviews. Remember, raising an internship from the “busy work/no experience” level to the “real experience” level is in your hands.
Click here to read the rest of the eight internship tips.
Have a question about internships? Post in the comment section below and I’ll answer this week.
Tags: Internships
Video on PwC.tv: How to recession-proof your job search
Posted in Career Advice Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Networking Recommended Resources Volunteering on January 14, 2009 at 9:07 am
The bad news: 2008 was the worst year for jobs since 1945.
The good news: It’s a new year, and with that new year comes new advice, new tips and new resources for job hunters.
Recently, PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the best places for young professionals to launch a career, invited me to provide tips to help students and recent graduates find jobs and internships right now.
Click here to watch the 5-minute video and to download a list of 10 ways to recession-proof your job search.
If you have additional questions, feel free to submit them here.
Essential recession reading: 5 new articles for young job hunters
Posted in Career Advice Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y International Careers Internships Job Hunting Recommended Resources on December 18, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Yesterday I was a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation on the topic of “Where to Look for Jobs in the Recession.” Laurence Shatkin, author of 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs, and I shared our tips, and host Neal Conan took calls from listeners.
Many listeners shared upsetting stories of layoffs and difficulty landing new jobs, and many also offered suggestions on what companies and industries are still hiring. We discussed opportunities in healthcare, education, accounting, trucking, energy, defense and more. Listen to the full program here.
We also talked about the fact that job hunters today have to cast a very wide net in their jobs searches. To that end, here are several recent articles that offer an abundance of suggestions, resources and opportunities: (more…)
On ABC News on Campus: 10 ways to job hunt during winter break
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Networking Recommended Resources Volunteering on December 15, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I’m excited to announce that I’ve just been named the Career Contributor to ABC News on Campus, the national college network of ABC News. I’ll be writing weekly career advice columns, answering reader questions (submit your question here) and providing video advice segments. I hope you’ll visit and bookmark ABC News on Campus, which features news, opinions and advice from campuses across the country.
My first article is “10 ways to job hunt during winter break,” a guide to using your holiday vacation to help your job hunt. Here is an excerpt:
Welcome to late December. ‘Tis the season for celebrating the end of finals, catching up with hometown friends and family, exchanging gifts and good cheer and — gulp — dreading the question: “So, have you found a job yet?”
Whether you’re looking for an internship or a full-time first job, the holiday break marks the unofficial start of job hunting season. (Or, if you’re graduating in December, it’s absolutely official.)
Of course, the bad news this season is that you’re facing the toughest job market in recent history. The good news is that there are always opportunities, especially for entry-level positions. But you have to act fast, and you have to act smart. Here are some tips for what to do over the next few crucial weeks to land a great job or internship.
Click here to read the rest of this article on ABC News on Campus…
One Day, One Job
Posted in First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Recommended Resources Reviews of "Getting from College to Career" on July 8, 2008 at 3:09 pm
A big thank you to Willy Franzen and the team at One Day, One Job for the awesome review of my book, Getting from College to Career.
What is One Day, One Job, you ask? It’s a must read for any entry-level job seeker in today’s uber-competitive, weakening economy, everything-is-slower-in-the-summer job market. Recent Cornell grad Willy Franzen started One Day, One Job (and its sister site, One Day, One Internship) to do exactly what its name suggests: feature one hiring company a day.
One Day, One Job’s mission is to revolutionize job hunting by doing much of the leg work for you, finding companies — usually ones that are off the beaten (Fortune 500) path — that are hiring entry-level candidates. Willy and his team also provide an article about each company, so you know as much as possible about what the company does and what they’re looking for. All you have to do is apply.
Beyond the great daily jobs, I love the site’s articles, where the One Day, One Job team shares its strategies for finding the jobs they list — from Google searches to magazine “best of” lists to cold calling and more. The job search process is in constant flux, and One Day, One Job is on top of all the trends.
Internships are more important than ever
Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Internships Recommended Resources on June 9, 2008 at 6:00 am
It’s summer internship season again, and, according to an article on CNN.com, companies are hiring plenty of interns this year, despite–or perhaps because of–the downtown in the economy.
During my colleges years in the mid-1990s, internships were more of a “nice-to-have” rather than a “must-have” credential. I spent two summers working as a camp counselor in Los Angeles and plenty of my friends worked as lifeguards and waitresses. I don’t think it ever hurt us in the job search department. Today, however, it’s not uncommon for college students to spend every summer in a different internship. While I hope that today’s students are still having plenty of fun in the summer sun, it’s a fact that in today’s competitive work world, internships have become essential.
One of the reasons internships are so important is because more and more companies are using their intern programs to replace on-campus recruiting. An internship is now a thinly disguised audition–for both the student and the employer–rather than a charitable learning opportunity. This makes sense: what better way for both sides to find out if a relationship is a good fit than to test it out for a few months before fully committing?
If you’re working as an intern this summer, here are some tips to ace your audition and earn a future offer if you’d like one: (more…)
