I AM INTERN

Every student should have a target list or dream list of employers they want to work for. Normally, I coach students and have them put together these lists when they are actively applying fo rinternships, but you should have one all year round – if you are applying or not. You must constantly be reminded of your future goals and keep yourself informed and up-to-date on the company of your dreams.

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.

This is a guest post from our new Campus Ambassador Series.  The author, Catherine Pylant, attends University of South Florida (USF) and is involved with PRSSA, wakeboarding, and field hockey.

Check out Cat’s video here: http://bit.ly/c9Lfg7

It’s not a secret that college kids are not made of money. Aside from the rising cost of tuition and going completely bankrupt buying books every semester, scrounging for lo0se coins in the couch never seems to add up to be enough dough!

So what is a college student to do in order to get some extra money? A lot of people would say, “Get a job!” but sometimes that may not even be an option to a student taking a full course load along with trying to manage an internship on the side. So the student finds his or herself right back where they started: What should I do?

I currently manage school, extracurricular activities, and an internship. Unfortunately there is not one easy sure shot way to land extra spending cash, but I have come up with some options to cut a few corners here and there in order to keep a few dollars in your bank:
1. BECOME A COUPON COLLECTOR! Usually on every business’s website they have a place to enter your email to sign up for newsletters and coupons. If you’re really against e-mails then do it the old fashion way, thumb through the local newspaper for coupons, or search for coupon websites online.

2. STOP EATING OUT SO MUCH! College students love to go out to eat; it’s easy and social! Personally, I am guilty of doing this a couple times per week. If this is really depleting your spending resources (like mine), try going to lunch instead of dinner. Usually the prices are less, but the portions are also smaller. When it comes to ordering a beverage, go for the FREE option, Water. If plain water is too bland, ask for a slice of lemon or lime for taste. Cutting a few bucks out of the check for ordering water accumulates! Also if you usually go home with a doggie bag at the end of the meal, try sharing! If you are someone with a bottomless stomach, check out “All you can eat,” nights at restaurants.

3.  FIND THE DEALS! No college student enjoys being stuck at home while his or her friends are out having a good time. When choosing where to go out for the night, do some research. I like to check out places that have specials or discount prices for students. Be sure to pull out that ID at most college area establishments because it could mean some real savings!

4. RENT YOUR TEXTBOOKS! This is a recently new option for college students, and it is a GREAT one. I did it this semester for the first time and needless to say I did not feel the need to cry when getting my books! There are numerous websites (Ex: http://www.Bookrenter.com) that offer this alternative. This service can save a student hundreds of dollars a semester!

5. KNOW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA! With the huge craze of social media, I found businesses are using these popular sites to promote themselves. Check out the deal of the day on sites like http://www.Groupon.com, “Like” a place on Facebook for free products, or follow your favorite places on Twitter for instant updates on special prices, you can find a way to save!

So unless you are extremely lucky enough to win the lottery, or a miracle happens and tuition prices go down and books are free, hopefully my 5 easy steps can help you not die on the vine while just trying to live your everyday college life!

This short blog entry is for all of the chickmagnet88, beachbaby1010, and sexygoddess69′s of the world. I beg you, please change your email address. We all have those email’s from when Instant Messenger was the coolest thing in the world – change them! You can keep those emails for your “IM-ing” purposes, but not for professional correspondence. My email used to be “PrincessL84@aol.com” that would NOT be an appropriate email for my professional use. The best option is to go to Yahoo or Gmail and create a FREE email address. The common combinations are “firstname.lastname@gmail.com” or “first initial.lastname@gmail.com”.

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.

Thanks so a great idea from a friend, we are starting a new series called GUESS THE FAMOUS INTERN. Please include your answers/guesses in the comment section of the blog…Today we have two for you to guess…

What famous fashion-guru started as an intern at Mademoiselle Magazine?

What famous entertainment mogul started as an intern for a CBS affiliate in Nashville?

And the results are in for the top 10 schools that have student’s using http://www.internqueen.com to find FREE internship listings and content….

The colleges & universities are:

-Boston University

-Arizona State University

-CSUN-Long Beach, CSUN-Northridge, CSUN-Fullerton

-Columbia College

-Northeastern Illinois University

-Rutgers University

-Cornell

-Syracuse

-University of California Los Angeles

-University of Southern California

What school are you representing? I’m surprised we didn’t get UCF or FSU on the list this year!

This guest blog is by Andrea Teggart

polishmycrown.wordpress.com Twitter: @luckyandi

Good morning world! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Today is a day of transitions for me; my summer job ended this morning and my internship with the Intern Queen ended last Thursday. It feels very strange not rushing around doing work! During my last week interning, Lauren, the founder and CEO of Intern Queen Inc. encouraged the four interns to reach out to everyone we have been in contact with over the summer. This was definitely a push to clear out my e-mail Inbox, but I began the almost never-ending task. I sent e-mails to everyone I’ve worked with since June, whether I had helped the individual or company post an internship on the website, schedule a time to speak with Lauren or collaborate for an upcoming project, etc, etc.

In the e-mail, I explained that it was my last week working for Intern Queen Inc., that it was a pleasure helping them with whatever I did (obviously went into more detail), and asked to connect with them in the future. I included my personal e-mail account and my Twitter handle. In past internships, I hadn’t really reached out to people outside of the company after the internship was completed. I had always networked within the company and try to remain in touch with people I worked with, but never was encouraged to REACH OUT past the direct people I work with everyday. I didn’t have any response expectations from the people I sent e-mails to as my Intern Queen internship was finishing, but I trekked through my Inbox and sent them to everyone I’ve been in contact with.

I wasn’t really sure how my e-mail would be received, but never, ever expected the responses I did! Sonja from Katalyst Media, Virgilia from GenJuice, Sandy from Media Awaken completely blew me away with their positive responses. They asked what my future plans were and have interacted via Twitter and LinkedIn already. All three of these companies would be awesome internship opportunities for students this fall! I e-mailed different career services departments that I’ve worked with this summer and Christa from Cornell University and Syreeta from USC e-mailed me back promptly thanking me and offering to stay in touch. I’ve already been back-and-forth chatting with Simmy, a summer intern at Urbane Perspective Media + Lifestyle. I’ve corresponded with Emily before, who blogs here and she was so responsive to my e-mail and asked about my future plans and goals.

This was just a sample of responses I’ve had e-mailed back to me from my first e-mail reaching out to contacts through my internship with Intern Queen Inc. I was completely surprised how supportive and quick these individuals were to connect on different social media networks, ask about my future plans and offer job and internship advice. Thank you Lauren for pushing me to do this simple task and reach out to absolutely everyone I’ve been in touch with and thanks to all I’ve worked with and your positive feedback and responses.

Dear potential intern candidates,

I’m begging you to please stop blowing off internship interviews. I’ve heard from a number of employers  about students who apply to specific internships, respond to the employer, and then blow off the interview.  This is extremely unprofessional. You MUST communicate with the employer. If you cannot make the interview for whatever reason – just be honest and send them an email ASAP. Completely blowing off an interview is not acceptable and remember – everyone knows everyone. You have no idea who these employers know in their personal and professional networks. Make sure you don’t burn a bridge with anyone. If you are no longer available for the internship, don’t feel bad, just be honest and send a nice note declining the opportunity. From an employer’s point of view, they would much rather hear that you cannot do the internship before they bring you on board.

Please take this  note into consideration when/if you are contemplating blowing off an interview or employer’s correspondence.

You can do this and you can do this the professional way!

Best,

Your Intern Queen, Lauren Berger

Question: sezon312

@InternQueen after finishing an internship, do i send letters do the president (small co.) or the person who hired me or both?

Answer: Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your tweet. If you work for a small company and have been introduced to the president at one time or another, I do think you should send him/her a thank-you note along with another note to your direct supervisor and any other executives that have helped you over the summer. Below are a few quick Thank You note tips:

1. Either purchase your own stationary or go the store and pick up professional looking Thank You notes in the card section. Get something basic that says Thank You on the front and is blank inside. You should be filling in the inside – not the card company.
2. The inside of the note should thank the employer for the opportunity, reference specific tasks that you enjoyed doing, and mention how you look forward to staying in touch.
3. Sign a Thank You note with “Best” or “Sincerely” unless you and your employer are on an “xo” basis. You are only on an “xo” basis with your employer if they have closed a note to you with that in the past.
4. If you do purchase your own stationary, make sure to keep it simple and classy. When picking it out, think about if you would use the same stationary in 15 years – is it timeless? If the answer is yes, you are probably picking out the right stationary.

Excuse my cough, but listen to my radio show

I cover fall internships, virtual internships, and how employers can properly interview their interns. I speak about my virtual summer interns and how we run our day!

http://recruiterearth.com/forum/topics/the-intern-queen-with-lauren-3

This blog post will be short and to the point. Often times, students apply for multiple internships so it’s  expected that they will accept some over others. This is absolutely fine. However, if you are going to take the time to apply for an internship and the employer emails you or calls you about your availability and potentially setting up an interview – REPLY TO THEM.

There is no excuse for not responding to an employer’s email. Just because you cannot accept the internship doesn’t mean that they still aren’t a valuable contact for you. If they took the time to review your resume, take the time to get back to them.

Signing out.  – IQ