To combat the incredible expense of the City, Ed’s gonna give awesome unpaid mag interns a thousand bucks to use for living, travel and whatever other expenses. Assuming Ed can raise the dough, there’ll be one lucky whippersnapper each fall and spring semester and two recipients in the summer.

Spring 2012 Deadline—MONDAY, JANUARY 30! (Emailed applications must be received by 11:59 p.m., no exceptions!) What Ed’s saying is you better get crackin’ on your application! (On the application, you’ll also find all details about eligibility and whatnot.)

Q: I’m a sophmore in high school. I know it might be a bit early to start looking for internships, but I really want to have any experience with the work field. I want to be a magazine editor, so Journalism is my road to go. What should I do?

-Rose, High School Student

A: Hi Rose! I think its great that you are in high school and already thinking about internships! There are tons of internships that are happy to have high school students. You want to stick with the smaller/boutique companies. Remember, its all in the building  blocks. If you intern for a smaller website or magazine in high school by the time you are in college, you will be qualified for some of the larger publications. Make a list of your favorite websites, magazines, and newspapers (places you would LOVE to work). Make sure to include local publications as well. Look them up online and find out how to apply for their internship programs either on their website or by calling them if you cannot find anything online. Stick with it and you will find something great. Good luck and please let us know where you end up!

xo
Lauren Berger

“The Intern Queen”

Q: @internqueen Is it okay to wear sleeveless blouses to interviews?

-Brandi (@brandlew84)

A: Hi Brandi-

When I was watching 90210 a few weeks ago, Annie had an internship interview and wore something sleeveless with her bra straps sticking out. I felt embarrassed watching the episode – who dresses like that for an interview? When I think of a sleeveless top, I immediately think of bra straps falling out or showing (even if its just a little bit) which is completely inappropriate. I say that your shoulders should be covered for the interview. My suggestion for men and women is always to go with a standard business suit. For females, if you want to switch it up and wear a skirt (of decent length) that’s fine. You can absolutely wear a sleeveless top under a suit jacket. In fact, when I moved to Los Angeles, my go-to outfit for job interviews was a white sleeveless top, black suit jacket, black suit pants, black pointy-toed heels, funky silver necklace (to show my personality), and stud earrings. Once you get the job or internship, the dress code might allow sleeveless tops, and that’s fine but not for the interview.

Good luck! I expect big things!

Lauren Berger

“The Intern Queen”

Q: @InternQueen Hi! I have a quick question.. Is it inappropriate to contact an internship opportunity asking if commuting is an option?

A: Hi Nolan,

Thanks for the quick note. Commuting to and from internships falls under the connecting the dots category for employers. For example, lets say you are living in Maryland (like our ambassador Tara) and applying for a Spring Internship in Washington DC. The DC employer might look at your resume and automatically think, “nope, that’s too far away.” They might think it’s a mistake that you applied or they might have instant hesitations about you getting to work on time. It’s your job to connect the dots for them in the cover letter and clearly state how you plan to commute each day. Let the employer know that this is NOT a problem for you and if you have experience doing this for another opportunity in the past, let them know. Commuting is only a problem if you make it a problem. Don’t let this come between yourself and any potential employer. Commuting is very popular, especially for students who don’t live in major metropolitan areas. BUT if the employer feels like there is any hesitation on your part or feels that this might be an issue, they won’t hire you. Give them no reason to doubt your commitment.

Good luck! Apply for Spring Internships now on InternQueen.com.

Best,

Lauren Berger

“The Intern Queen”

This all sounds fine and dandy so far – right?

Unfortunately, Sarah went from being ecstatic so start the job to I quote, “hating going to work each day because I feel so useless”. We all know what it’s like to walk into an office job every day that we hate – it’s not a good feeling. But remember, Sarah is an intern. Is it different?

Sarah told me that she goes to work each day and she sits at a table and does nothing. Sarah says that her boss pays no attention to her and tells her that she is too busy to give her any work to do. It has been 4 weeks and no work has come along. Sarah has spoken to her boss repeatedly about the issue and her boss keeps saying that maybe things will change and providing Sarah with very vague answers.

This situation is frustrating to hear about. Internship coordinators and employers are typically busy and often do not give interns the time of day. However, for this to happen over 4 weeks, is unacceptable. You should not bring interns on if you don’t have the time to give them work or delegate the task of “intern supervisor” to someone else in your office. In this case, here is the advice I gave Sarah:

First of all, do not take any drastic measures at this point. Steps 1 and 2 are below:

Have one more meeting with your boss. Be as formal as possible. Do not threaten to quit the internship. Do not mention leaving the internship. Ask your boss for advice. Tell her that you are really excited about this opportunity but feel that you haven’t been given anything to do over a significant period of time. Ask if there are opportunities for you to meet with other internship departments and help them out a few times per week. Tell her that you want to help the company out as much as possible and you don’t mind what department you are in. Afterall, the goal is to leave the company a well-rounded and knowledgeable individual. Ask your boss if you could work on a research project and that way you can occupy your time with that each day. Tell her that you want to help her out in any way you can. Make sure that your boss understands your motive is to help. You can also suggest lowering the amount of hours you intern each week so that your boss doesn’t feel pressure to constantly provide you with work.

Good luck!

1.@InternQueen I’m looking to do an internship in NY next year…do you know a good place to live for students on a budget?

Hi Joe!

When I was 19, I went to New York City for the summer to intern. I stayed at Hayden Hall, one of NYU’s dorms and had the experience of my life. I was interning at Backstage which used to be in Astor Place, so it was only a 10 minute walk to work. My summer in the city was priceless and I still keep in touch with several of my internship friends from that summer and from Hayden Hall. My advice is do everything you can to get there and keep searching, don’t let anything turn you off from it! If one place is to expensive, keep searching. It’s New York City – anything is possible.

Here are a few options in terms of New York City Summer Housing:

New York University Summer Program

Note: You can live at the dorms, get on the food plan, workout at their gym and you don’t need to be enrolled in classes.

NYCIntern

Note: They are known to provide affordable summer housing for interns.

StudentHousing

Note: The company is called Educational Housing Services

Columbia University Summer Housing

Note: You do not need to be enrolled on campus.

Sublet In The City

Note: This is a way to find a sublet as opposed to an actual housing program for sum

Q: (from @AliciaC20O)@InternQueen I graduated last December but found an internship that only wants current students. Should I still try to apply?

A: Hi Alicia! Thanks for the note. Over the past two years, I’ve seen an increase in college grads looking for internships. Many employers have formal HR policies in place that prevent students that cannot get college credit from interning. That being said, the smaller/boutique employers normally do not have these policies. In fact, a few employers even look for college grads. Off the top of my head, I know the David Stark Design Company on my website, http://www.internqueen.com, looks for recent college grads. Good luck with your search and don’t let rejection get you down. Keep trucking along

xo Lauren Berger

“The Intern Queen”

Brands and employers are spending TONS of money to make sure they have a social media presence. They are doing this because they WANT to engage you, they WANT to start a conversation, they WANT to hear what you think. Go to the website of each of your “dream employers” and try to find the Facebook or Twitter logo. You can also google “company X on Twitter” and find their profiles. Again, the majority of employers do have these profiles set up.

Following these brands will help you identify with the company culture, tone, and stay in the loop of their programs, career opportunities, and news feed. I would also encourage you to comment & tweet. Get yourself involved with the conversation. Send your questions, they pay someone to answer them! Communicate directly with the employer of your dreams – it doesn’t get much better than that.

One more note to add is that last night during #internchat, I was asked about employers following students back on Twitter and potentially seeing negative things or inappropriate things. No matter what your age – student or not-social networks are not a place for negativity or inappropriate content (pictures or posts). Make sure that before you start following employers, you clean up your pages and make sure that your page is a representation of your personality (the best side of your personality). Delete anything that you might have questions about – it’s probably not okay.

If you aren’t sure if your email address is appropriate – it’s most likely not. Be safe, change it. Nobody wants “hotmamma85″ working in their office.