Drake University wrote some great coverage on Intern Queen recently !
Check it out ! http://drakej70.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/lauren-berger-the-self-professed-intern-queen
When I was in college, I loved ED2010 (http://www.ed2010.com). Check out my recent article, 15 tips from 15 internships !!
http://www.ed2010.com/2009/10/15-tips-15-internships-courtesy-intern-queen
Check out my guest blog for Wasabi Ventures “Make Interns A Vital Part of Your Start-Up” , http://blog.wasabiventures.com/make-interns-a-vital-part-of-your-start-up/
Check out my feature “Interns Wanted and Working Harder” below:
http://www.recessionwire.com/2009/08/17/internships-in-recession/
In the past few weeks there have been several blog posts and articles focusing on the wealthy advantage of certain students in conjunction with unpaid internships. This particular advantage infers that students coming from middle to upper class families have an easier time taking on unpaid internships. The advantage also assumes that students from lower-income families need to pay their own way through school and therefore cannot realistically participate in an unpaid internship program.
In an ideal world, all internships are paid programs. However, the current economy has proven many young adults are willing to make financial sacrifices during difficult times because the experience of working at a desirable company will pay off in the long run.
A recent Forbes article stated: “an extremely large percentage of the student population cannot afford unpaid internships. These are students who struggle to balance the rigors of college with the need to earn enough to cover living expenses.”
This article provides students with a reason to not pursue internship opportunities. Lack of time. Lack of money. It incorrectly suggests that wealthy students are taking advantage of internship programs while disadvantaged students are working too many hours to fit in time for internships. As someone who has worked for several years with thousands of college students from diverse backgrounds, I can assure you that this is not the case. It takes a motivated and ambitious individual to pursue available internships. As educators and mentors, we should constantly be encouraging students to consider internship opportunities – both paid and unpaid.
It is not the financially secure person who gets the job; rather it is the focused candidate who strives to succeed and understands the value of an internship opportunity. This candidate will find a way to make everything work in their specific situation. If anything, their lack of financial means serves as a motivational tool which provides the necessary incentive to excel in their chosen fields.
Lauren Berger
“The Intern Queen”
Lauren Berger is the CEO of Intern Queen Inc. She is known as “The Intern Queen” after participating in 15 internships during her 4 years of college. Berger currently runs both http://www.internqueen.com and http://www.quarterlife.com/intern. She has been featured in Business Week, The New York Post, Washington Post, etc. Her National Fall Speaking Tour kicks off September 30th 2009.
COMMENTS
As usual, I asked my followers on Twitter what they thought – Is there a wealthy advantage?
segod@InternQueen no weekends is how I handle a FT job & FT school & an internship & really really long days but it’s all worth it… Right?
saramckinniss@InternQueen 1 of the internships I had was paid, but it was in NYC and I had to take out a student loan to cover living costs. =ed out tho.
rachellevi@InternQueen Job and Internship plus student groups and classes is stressful!
bruin@InternQueen Yes, most definitely. Especially in the fields of film and television, where it’s just about who you know.
gogetterjanet@InternQueen I don’t know? Maybe in a way because they might not need the money/work hourly @ a job so they can do an internship 4 free.
tiaramerchgirl@InternQueen Oh definitely (and I say that as a former sorta-wealthy student). You don’t have to worry about basic needs as much.
Dtothel_o…during college and never got to do an internship. Now I lack relevant experience to start my career. @InternQueen
joanntran@InternQueen YES, of course!! Some can afford to do it unpaid, or take off a quarter, while the rest of us need to pay the rent and bills!
laurashumaker@InternQueen of course wealthy students have an advantage! Other students either can’t take unpaid internships or have to juggle a job too.
chadkennedy@InternQueen Absolutely! They don’t have to worry about the expenses. All they have to worry about is the internship and networking.
smart_blonde@InternQueen Yes! As do students w/ parents who still finance them. Especially with NYC & Fashion internships. No kid can afford that alone.
EricSan@InternQueen Some advantage of course. They have financial backing to take that risk. Others may still chose to do it, but more pressure.
As a member of the “recruitment” industry, I take great interest in the different statistics put out about education in our world. At a recent, SHRM Conference (The Society of Human Resource Professionals) I met a group called the AACSB, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
“AACSB International advances quality management education worldwide through accreditation and thought leadership.” – AACSB Informational Materials.
Over the past year, I’ve noticed a significant amount of potential interns show interest in business internships and potentially entering business schools upon graduation. Is a student saying, “Yes, I want to enter an accredited business school”, a way of them simply avoiding graduation ? In an economy like today, maybe. But that’s not to discount the importance of attending business school and majoring in business degree programs.
I recently reviewed the AACSB’s pamphlet of Business School Data Trends and 2009 List of Accredited Schools. I found some interesting facts that I wanted to share. These further demonstrate the importance of education and it’s growth on a global level.
The Top 3 Locations with Accredited Member Schools
1. North America (481)
2. Western Europe (22)
3. Eastern Asia (17)
*In the US, the most popular location to have a main campus for an accredited school is URBAN (47.1 %)
*Estimated Number of Worldwide Education Institutions Offering Business Degrees is 11,833
Top 5 Countries Offering Business Degrees
1. US (1, 602)
2. China (1, 396)
3. Philippines (1, 243)
4. India (1,200)
5. Mexico (1,000)
*source was the Global Foundation for Management Education, AACSB
Most Popular Programs Offered Worldwide by Field/Discipline/Level for 2007 – 2008 for Bachelor’s Degrees
1. Accounting
2. Finance
3. Marketing
*Interesting: Wow ! Marketing ? Students that say they are “marketing majors” tend to get ignored and people say they are “taking the easy way out”. I feel the opposite. Marketing is an integral part of any business, especially these days when social media has taken marketing positions to a new level. Making that brand to audience connection can only be done by a true marketer.
Most Popular Programs Offered Worldwide by Field/Discipline/Level for 2007 – 2009 for MBA’s
1. General Business
2. Management
3. Finance
*Interesting: Entrepreneurship is only offered at 21.7 % of the school’s surveyed offering bachelor’s degrees and at 10.5% of the school’s surveyed offering MBA’s. I hope to see that number increase aggressively over the next 2-3 years. As a business owner, I only wish that I had some entrepreneurship classes under my belt.
From 2005 – 2006, Students in the US earned a total of 318,042 Business Degrees (BA). Of this total, 159, 683 of them were male and 158, 359 were female.
*Interesting: Note – not a big difference between male and female.
In contrast, from 1969 – 1970, there was a total of 105, 580 Business Degrees (BA) earned. Of this total, 96,346 of them were male and only 9,234 of them were female.
*Interesting: Hey Ladies ! We rock. Look how far we’ve come.
Of the BA degrees in Business earned from 1995 – 1996, 77.8% were White, 7.9% were African American, 5.5% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5.0% were Hispanic.
In contrast, from 2005 – 2006, of the BA degrees in Business earned were 72.4% White, 9.6% African American, 7.2% Hispanic, and 6.9 % Asian/Pacific Islander.
*Interesting: The only race to decrease in the amount of business degrees earned were White/Caucasians.
I recently read an astonishing statistic provided by NACE (National Association for Colleges and Employers),
“As of April 2009, 59 percent of graduating college seniors, had NOT started applying for jobs .”
WHAT ? Even in a “good” economic climate this demonstrates a lack of preparation. Student’s should be applying for jobs towards the BEGINNING of each semester. The job search process can be a very LONG one and it’s key to get started as early as possible.
- Students graduating December 2009 should start their job search process mid-September.
- Students graduating May/June 2010 should start their job search mid -January.
Prepare For the Job Search
1. Keep a Calendar. This your time to really get organized. While you hang around and have summer “lazy days” or fun time on the weekend, take a moment to create a calendar. Use your IPhone, Blackberry, Microsoft OutLook, Google Calendar, or even a planner to choose days that you will accomplish certain tasks. You’ve been through the back-to-school a few times by now and should know what you will have to do. I suggest marking down the following days on your calendar:
- 2 days where you can sit down and start applying for Fall internships.
- 1 day where you can take a last look at your Fall 2009 classes and make sure you are meeting all of your requirements.
- 1 day to write Thank You Notes and log contacts from your current internship and any career-related events you may have attended.
- 3 days (after your semester starts) to start researching job possibilities in your location of interest.
- 1 day to compile your job application materials and put together any sort of portfolio, letters of reference that you might need.
- 1 day to set up informational interviews with any of your contacts that are already in place.
- 2 days to start your job reachout and start sending in application materials (clearly stating your graduation date) and requesting interviews for October (ish).
2. Organize Your Contacts. If I had to go back in time, I would have starting organizing my contacts much earlier. Go through your piles of business cards and random papers and start really keeping track of the people you meet. If your email system provides a great way to store contacts, go for it. Do you need to save everyone’s number in your cell phone ? No. I like to use Excel documents that are always saved on my computer and that I can import into other programs to organize when necessary. Organize your contacts list with the following columns so that you can view the document in many different formats on an ‘as needed’ basis.
- Contact First and Last Name (Make sure to spell it correctly).
- Contact Direct Number and Office Line (You want to have the office line just in case the person leaves their position).
- Contact Email Address
- Company Address (If you don’t feel like typing in the entire address, just write the city and state the person is located in for time zone reasons and if you are ever in that city you can contact them).
- Status/Notes (This column is for you to keep track of how and where you met this person and when you last spoke to them. If you put in a call or email to them, track it).
- Category (Try to categorize your contacts by field or industry so that if you want to search all of your contacts in a specific field – you can).
