Internqueen.com

Are you a saavy, ambitious man who wants to express themself through blogging and networking with hundreds of people? The Intern Queen wants YOU. InternQueen.com is looking for male guest bloggers to contribute to our site. Our site gets between 500 and 800 hits a day, which means people will be reading your posts. Sounds like something you’d like? Great! Send me an email at emily@internqueen.com, and we’ll have you writing about topics that interest you before you know it.

This blog was written by Hilary, our campus ambassador at Columbia College in Chicago. She recently transitioned from Communications intern to Special Events intern at The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois.

Having trouble filling your free time? Here are a few ideas of how to get involved that come with some great perks!

Help out your professors. These people know what they’re doing, that’s why you pay your tuition dollars to them. Take the time to see if you could help them out in their office. This shows great initiative and gives you a chance to learn more about them and possibly who they know!

Reach out to non-profits. Non-profits are great, even if they’re not what you’re interested in long term. They always have work to be done whether its in-office or at a 5K or event they are hosting. This is a great chance to get experience you may not have had at your internship or learn about in class.

Join local organizations that fit to your interest or major. This is a biggie. Going out and getting involved on campus or in your city’s organizations that nature to your interests, career aspirations, etc. says a lot. It will look outstanding on your resume and could lead to great networking opportunities.

This blog was written by Alison, our campus ambassador from Sarah Lawrence College!

As the demand and popularity of college internships rises, students are increasingly faced with challenging decisions to make when deciding where to intern for the semester. With such strong emphasis being placed on securing competitive internships, it is sometimes difficult to be positive that you are making the best career choices to maximize your professional development. What can be even more puzzling is when false myths about internships are thrown into the decision-making processes. Here are a few internship myths to steer clear from when you are searching for internships or trying to deicide which internship offer to accept.

Myth #1- Always take the paid internship over the unpaid one

Yes, money is tight while you are in college. Between books, groceries, loans and trying to sneak in a little bit of a social life, your wallet can start to look pretty thin. While this is true, taking a paid internship at a company that does not have a strong internship program over an unpaid internship at a company with an accredited internship program can be as destructive as shooting yourself in the foot!  Although the unpaid internship is going to be a large expense, the professional experience and exposure that you will gain from a strong internship program is incomparable to a weak program that does pay. This is not to say that all paid internships offer poor experience, but what I am saying is not to base your placement decision just on monetary concerns. Look at the programs that each company is offering; find out whom you will be working with and reporting to and what kind of work you will be doing. Once you know this, choose the option that is offering the most legitimate and challenging work. It is better to be drafting press releases and conducting market research unpaid than fetching coffee for your boss for $7.25 an hour.

Myth #2- Only take an internship that is in the field of you college major

The job market is a hard scene right now and we are all aware of this. When job creation is stagnant one of the most important principles to learn is adaptability. If you are majoring in English, think beyond a publishing or journalism internship. An internship at a public relations firm may expand your skill set even further! This holds true with most college majors. Do not simply limit yourself to searching for an internship in one industry; there are many relevant and beneficial internship opportunities across multiple professional fields.

Myth #3- If you’ve got the internship, so you’ve got the job

Having an optimistic mindset that you want to secure an entry-level job with a company once your internship ends is great! However, feeling that this is a given simply because you were offered the internship is not a productive way to be thinking. Scoring an internship at the company of your dreams is a great first step, but if you want to get the job offer when your ten weeks are up, you need to work your hardest at every opportunity to showcase the great future employee you could be. The internship is your chance to demonstrate your work ethic, authenticity and motivation, but it is not your golden ticket into the company.

This blog was written by Nina, our Intern Queen Campus Ambassador at Erasmus University in The Netherlands! Nina has traveled all over the globe!

I spent most of November and December applying to universities in the United Kingdom for my masters. It was definitely one of the most stressful things I’ve ever had to do because applying for masters has become so competitive and universities really focus on filtering applications to find the top students. When applying for internships, cover letters are often the most important thing and it’s the same for your masters: you really need to write a great application letter. I never had the top grades, but I had a CV that stood out – I started applying for internships in my first year of my bachelors and I made sure that I did as many as I could. Filling my application letter with the experience gained during my internships was probably a game-changer for majority of the admissions board that reviewed my application letter.

Many universities in the United Kingdom require a CV and state that a CV will only make your application stronger. Students like myself that have trouble regurgitating crammed knowledge in the exam hall need to make up for it with internships because it shows dedication, motivation and extensive time management skills. Some of us are just more practical than theoretical, there’s nothing wrong with that but you need to show the admissions board that you’re not just lazy. Most universities will ask you to write about where you see yourself in five years and how this specific course will help you when starting your career. If you have internships, you can back up virtually anything you write and your application letter will only be better. I know from personal experience that without a masters degree, especially in Europe, you won’t be getting far. Internships won’t only help you getting a job later on, but they’ll definitely help you be the candidate that universities are looking for when applications start piling up in the admissions office.

The Intern Queen Campus Ambassador program provides a forum for driven college students to express themselves through professional networking, personal development, blogging, and peer-to-peer connections. They actively promote the Intern Queen message on their respective college campuses. These bright and ambitious students will one day be leaders in their fields.

We are looking for students who are:

• Attending school outside of the United States
• Graduating May 2013, 2014, or 2015
• Involved, ambitious, and always seeking new opportunities
• Great organizers and communicators
• Active on social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter)
• Influential on their college campus
• Aware of the importance of internship opportunities and are ready to focus on their future!

What do they do?

• Spread the word about InternQueen.com to their campus (and social network)
• Share insight into the internship landscape outside of the United States
• Expand the Intern Queen brand internationally
• Blog and video blog once per month, which are posted on Intern Queen Blog
• Participate in one Campus Ambassador contest each semester
• Help us spread the word about our partner brands and test new products from brands we work with
• Provide feedback about new websites, ideas, brands, and products
• Network with other Ambassadors and their connections!

Interested in applying? Send an email to alicia@internqueen.com with your name, school, and anticipated graduation date for application materials! All application materials will then be sent to you for completion.