Internqueen.com

My name is Maferly, and I am a student at Baruch College in New York City. My Intended graduation year is 2014 and I am currently majoring in public affairs with a minor in communications. I believe internships are an amazing and fun way of getting hands on experiences, not only because you are able to try out many fields before officially choosing a specific career choice, but also because it is the door to many opportunities and meeting amazing people. Internships are also extremely crucial when it comes down to networking. Meeting professionals in a similar field and leaving a positive mark can definitely open doors after graduation. I think other students would like to read about my personal college experience because I do know my college experience is different from many outside of New York City, living in a the big apple and going to school is extremely different when compared to the traditional college experience.  I also value internships, as do everyone else who tunes in daily to the Internqueen.com website. I am currently a member of the PRSSA.

This is a blog post by Heather E., the Campus Ambassador from the University of Notre Dame. Heather is currently an intern for the one and only Intern Queen! She is a Business Management and Psychology double major.

Notre Dame is big on careers, internships, and networking. Our career fair here took place the third week of school! That meant we all had to get to work on resumes and employer research early.  As a sophomore, this was my very first experience at a career fair and it was daunting! I have been waiting to write this blog so that I could give you all the full story, and now I have the results of all my hard work. As a direct result of the career fair, I had the most wonderful problem an internship junkie could ask for – two offers. Our career fair takes place in the Fieldhouse, a huge multipurpose area that used to lodge our ice hockey arena. Over 200 employers set up booths and hand out info, take resumes, and talk about the opportunities they have available. When I walked in, I was overwhelmed. There were massive lines of confident students in business suits shaking hands and taking business cards. Seniors were looking for jobs and juniors were looking for internships. Sophomores? Let’s just say employers weren’t looking for me. But I persevered. I talked to representatives at about 12 different companies. I had done research beforehand and knew that they had internships available, and that they were companies I was interested in. After making that face-to-face connection, I applied to each position through the Career Center’s website.

I ended up with invitations to six interviews. Saks Fifth Avenue, ALDI, Deloitte and Touche, Target, and more! Six interviews, despite being told by each company that they were really only looking for juniors as interns. I actually only ended up interviewing with Deloitte and Target. After three rounds of interviews with each company, I received internship offers with both!  I am happy to say that I accepted the internship with Deloitte and Touche in Chicago. This summer, I will be a Business Technology Analyst Summer Scholar, which is just Deloitte lingo for a Consulting intern. I will be helping big companies solve their biggest business problems! Deloitte has been listed by Newsweek as the #1 place to land an internship. I feel so honored and humbled that I was able to land one. The recruiter actually told me at my interview that they didn’t accept sophomores, but that if my interview went well, they would petition management to give me a chance. No pressure, right?

What do I want you to learn from this? Never let anyone else tell you what you can or cannot achieve. I left the career fair extremely frustrated and dejected because employer after employer had shut me down as soon as I mentioned my age. I had low hopes, but had incredible success that I never could have imagined! In the internship world, there are no hard and fast rules. Employers will make exceptions if you are exceptional. So keep your chin up, shine in those interviews, and don’t stop believin’!

This blog is written by our High school  Campus Ambassador, Maria, who attends Memorial High School. Maria  is a senior, who has had several internships already!

On Monday October 24^th, I volunteered to work for the Handbag Designer 101 workshop at Fashion Institute of Technology’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre.  This event featured a very impressive panel of speakers (almost 35 speakers on the panel!) who offered advice to business entrepreneurs who want to start or continue building their fashion brands. They offered amazing advice from how to go about getting investors to how to get in touch with magazine editors. The speakers also answered questions from the audience and shared stories about how they got started. Divided into 10 segments, the Handbag Designer 101 Workshop offered amazing tips on launching your own company while weighing your risks in an industry where trend, style and influences change almost daily.  I was interested in volunteering for this event because it was being held at a school that I was interested in seeing. The panel also included Monika Botkier (Founder of Botkier Handbags) and Jessica Kleiman (V.P-Public Relation of Hearst Magazines)

Here are some tips that I thought were very insightful and useful for young students looking to build their brands.

Role of Funding in Fashion: Finding the capital to launch or support your business can be very tricky. Keep in mind that this money can come from anywhere, from friends and family to investors. Whether you’re getting this money from investors, savings or loans, its important to know your risks. Even though your idea is patented, which investors might love, you should always weigh your risks. Patents don’t guarantee success and your brand should always be the headline. Get advice from a lawyer and approach all investors (even if they’re your friends) in a professional way even if they have faith in your product. Know all the information about you brand that you need to know. Remember, don’t become obsessed with money and always put your main focus on your products.

Blogging for your brand: We all know that social media is key in marketing your brand. You can always post about your line on your website and hope to have millions of views. Bloggers should search for ways to increase the traffic of their sites, whether they are with contests or videos and create personal relationships with your viewers. However, social media does not necessarily mean free publicity. You always have to put love, effort and attention to your media sites.  Having a blog can be very useful when launching your brand, because you can create personal relationships with customers. Having younger customers is important too, because they can grow up having known about your brand. It’s like having customers for life. The traffic and fans are not going to just happen. I thought it was really interesting because as interns, our duties often include managing Facebook or Twitter pages for the company we work for. Maintaining these social media sites is not as easy as it looks and mistakes can easily be made, and when they are, of course, everyone can see it.

PR and Going Green: Using eco friendly material is a growing trend that many customers now look for.  You should use green materials if you want to make a difference as a brand and help make an impact on the environment. Some fashion companies now use cotton, hemp, artisan, suede, vegan and animal free materials in their products. It can be tricky to go green with your products when you are first starting out. You have to keep prices reasonable while using these materials because people may not spend too much money on a brand that isn’t well known. Apply PR tricks to your brand when you are starting out to gain attention and build a reputation for yourself. Media landscape has expanded from tradition media tremendously in the past years. Always use short, sweet messages to describe your brand, as they can be more effective. This will help you gain traffic and get good feedback. When using PR and Going Green tricks, be sure to stay true to yourself and weigh your choices and options.

Tips for Contacting Editors: When you are ready for your products to be featured in a magazine, you should take special steps to getting it done. Do research on the magazines you are going to contact. Make sure they will be interested in what you are offering them and don’t offer them something they will not need. Create a special pitch that is simple and thorough but not overwhelming. Do the work for them! Create a link of celebrities to your products if you can to spark interest. Was someone famous spotted wearing a pair of shoes similar to the ones in your line? Send them a snapshot! You can also emphasis that you are sending them your products exclusively. This will have them interested because they may just have their hands on something that other magazines won’t have. This might also give you a faster response.  Remember, they are looking for you just as much as you are reaching out to them.

I love volunteering for fashion events because you often get to be part of the crazy production process. I was very lucky to have learned a lot from the workshop and I got to help the show directors with fun errands like distributing gift bags and helping guest speakers and participants sign in.

I thought it was an incredible experience to be in a room with so many successful, influential business entrepreneurs and designers. I’ve seen many of them on television and in magazines! I loved hearing the panel share their stories about how they accomplished their goals and how others could make it happen.

This is a blog post by Sara, our Campus Ambassador for the Fairleigh Dickinson university. Sara is  currently interning at The Rachael Ray show!

As an intern I’m learning more and more how important networking is. Networking within your internship can help you feel more comfortable while you are at your internship but it can also benefit you in post internship and graduation. It is important to make long-lasting relationships with people you intern with

There are also tons of ways you can network now with all the technology we have available. I joined a Young Professionals group in my state that has tons of networking events every month. It only cost a 20 dollar lifetime fee. Certain events depending on the venue cost extra but it’s definitely worth it for the exposure. Also, keep a look out for events on your schools campus and try to go to as many networking events as possible. At my school upperclassmen can usually attend some alumni events which I think is a great resource. You never know if there is someone looking for an intern or if a job position is available and you can also get there advice and hear there experiences.

Don’t forget to check your on-campus career center and even major department. They may have information on upcoming networking events or career fairs where you can make more connections that can last a lifetime. If they have resources and postings on a website or on Facebook or LinkedIn, be sure to check that out as well.

I know over the past summer the Intern Queen held a networking event in New York City and I’m sure there are more to come. Be sure to check out the Intern Queen website as well as sites similar to it for upcoming events. Lauren also explains herself in her new book, All Work No Play coming out January 3^rd how crucial it is to network.

So don’t be afraid to use your available resources and happy networking!

This post is written by Alicia, our Campus Ambassador from Towson University. Alicia is a Mass Communication major (with tracks in Public Relations and Advertising) and an Italian minor.

In a previous blog post, I wrote about personal branding and how it can help you establish a professional identity. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about how a logo contributes to a brand’s identity – and I think you should have one.

Not only do I think you should have a logo, but I think you should be consistent in using it. I use the logo from my calling cards (purchased on Etsy) on my resume, cover letter, and thank-you cards, and I keep with the same color scheme for all materials I send out. While in some professions, it may not be a good idea to deviate from a standard black-and-white resume, in more creative fields (like graphic design, advertising, PR, etc.) it helps a resume stand out in the pile.

Having a logo is a great way for prospective employers to gauge a candidate’s personality and style, and it will add a little visual interest to a pile of boring resumes. I spent hours on Etsy trying to find the calling cards that best fit my personality, but I’m rewarded for that each time someone sees my calling cards and compliments them.

I challenge you to take some time and find your brand identity, and then harness it to get your dream internships!