I AM INTERN

This is a guest post from my current Fall Intern & Campus Ambassador, Chandra Robrock. Chandra attends Florida State University and runs the blog, http://fsufashiongirl.com/. Ironically, I also attended Florida State University! Take a moment to read Chandra’s blog and then leave your thoughts on the subject.

{Beep…beep…beep} Your ears perk up. {Beep…beep…beep} you try andgnore it.  {Beep…beep…beep} but your curiosity gets the best of you. You take your hands off of the steering wheel and reach for you cell phone. The taunting glow from the screen reads “1 NEW MESSAGE.”

Texting while driving has proven to be a major issue for Gen X and Gen Y. According to KGB, the average teen sends 80 texts a day so that’s 560 texts per week and 29,120 texts per year. I send approximately 20-40 text messages per day.

Just a few years ago, the word “texting” wasn’t even a part of people’s regular vocabulary. Now it is nearly impossible to escape the term. Everywhere you go, you see someone, man, woman, or child, texting. It has become an important part of today’s culture.

Texting, although very convenient, can be very dangerous when done behind
the wheel of a car. Whether you have just started texting and need to constantly look at the screen while you are typing, or you are a texting pro and could text in yoursleep, any texting causes a major distraction.

Accidents related to the use of cell phones happen all of the time which is why thirty states have already made texting while driving illegal. I’m sure in the future, the rest will follow suit. Don’t think this should be a law in your state? Next time you are riding in a car, take a look & see how many people around you are texting or talking on their phone while driving – the results might scare you.

At my high school, we lost several outstanding students in car accidents due to texting while driving yet people still seem to do it. Wouldn’t it just be easier to ignore your phone until later?

Before you text and drive, ask yourself “Is this worth losing my life over? Is it worth the life of someone else – a stranger, a friend?” Chances are that if a text message IS that important, you should invest in a hands free headset & discuss the matter over the phone, if necessary.

The only time I text while I drive  is at a stop light or when I am stuck in traffic on the interstate, otherwise you will never catch me on my cell phone while driving.

If a friend is going to text and drive, I will offer to answer their texts for them and they will either have me text back for them or stop texting behind the wheel.

If you can’t stop texting, either turn your phone on silent so you don’t hear it, have the passenger (if you have one) answer the text message for you, or put the phone in your purse or out of reach so you aren’t tempted to text. Also, if it’s important, you can purchase a hands-free device & discuss the matter over the phone.

I want to hear your thoughts! Have you ever texted while driving? Have you ever ridden in the car with someone who was texting behind the wheel? Do you think every state should pass a law forbidding texting while driving?

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.

Last night at 8:30PM I had an urge that I couldn’t fight to run to my favorite bookstore and read some new time management titles. A friend had mentioned David Allen’s, Getting Things Done, http://www.davidco.com/. I immediately grabbed that title along with Julie Morgenstern’s, Never Check Email in the Morning, http://www.amazon.com/Never-Check-E-Mail-Morning-Unexpected/dp/0743250885. These books gave me the pick-me-up and focus that I needed to start my week with a bang.

One point that really helped me was something that Julie mentioned in her book. She speaks (obviously) about not checking email in the morning, which is something I definitely do – purposely. This morning I decide to take Julie’s advice and get in control of my day instead of spending the morning answering other people’s requests. It’s now a little past 8AM and I feel extremely accomplished. I was able to not even open my email and turn my phone on silent (and flip it face down so I was tempted to look). I worked diligently for 90 minutes on a project. Julie was right when she said that if it’s urgent, they will call you and 90% of the time it’s not urgent.

I’m about to open my email, already a few hours into my day, and I feel focused and energized. How do you start your day? Are you willing to attempt not looking at your emails first thing?

If you are at your internship or job it’s important to bond with your fellow interns and/or co-workers. These relationships can stay with you for your entire career. Just to give you an idea of where some of my internship relationships have ended up – see below:

• Michael Menachem (my intern buddy from Backstage) is now a well-known music writer (http://twitter.com/menoxmusic)
• Alyson Campbell (my intern buddy from the NYU Summer Program) now runs her own PR Firm in NYC (http://twitter.com/alyamp3) Her internships are available on my site!
• Shannon Howard (my intern friend from Fox is now a fabulous comedy coordinator at ABC)
• Rob Forman (another Fox intern friend) is working on the new show Lonestar in Los Angeles.

We were all able to lock in our relationships and stay in touch beyond our internship summers. We are constantly resources for one another and the frienships we’ve created will last a lifetime. And we always have those summer to look back on.

This is your time to lock in your relationships. Hang out with your fellow interns or co-workers outside of the office. You never know when a contact will come in handy and if you can form a friendship out of it – even better!

If your office doesn’t do intern activities – be the one to create them. Put together after hours events where all of the interns can hang out in an environment outside of the office. Check out a baseball game or a hot local brunch spot. Make it happen – you won’t regret it. And as your internships come to an end in the coming weeks, make a note in your calendar to stay in touch with these people, friend them on facebook, keep them posted on what you are doing. I promise, many of them will end up in the same industry and location as you in the future.When I moved out to Los Angeles, the first two people I called were Shannon and Rob (from above). You never know….

Lauren Berger For Careerrookie.com

We are officially in Fall Internship Season! Many students don’t pay much attention to Fall Internships but I’m here to tell you to think twice about that.

Read more on my guest blog for CareerRookie.com

http://careerrookie.com/Article/CB-212-Blog-Consider-a-Fall-Internship/

I’m writing this blog on a Sunday, a time when hopefully the majority of my readers are relaxing. One of my biggest weaknesses is my ability to completely relax. Even on a typical Saturday or Sunday, it’s hard for me to completely cut myself off from working. I do think most entrepreneurs have this struggle, but I’m extremely bad at relaxing. When I have company in town or go on vacation, I usually take at least a day or two until I can get into complete relaxation mode. To my credit, I have gotten better about relaxing over the past year, but it’s still an issue.

I spent the past week in bed sick with a relentless cold and fever. I’m finally better (with the exception of an annoying cough) and was probably the most cut off from work that I’ve been all year. And the good news is – it felt good. It felt good to be able to separate myself from my work, to go to sleep thinking about television shows instead of internships. When you think about it, it’s pretty lame that it took getting that sick to take a break and slow down – it reminds me of the Jessie Spano episode of Saved By The Bell “I’m so excited, I’m so excited” – or the episode of Full House when DJ keeps going to the gym. I’m not overdosing on pills or exercise – just on work.

This isn’t something that only happens to young entrepreneurs. In fact, when I had my full-time job I also had this issue. People at all career levels experience lack of time management – lack of relaxation – lack of time to themselves.

So here’s to everyone trying to structure their days, work hard, but still find some time to relax. My goal has always been to take at least one day off per week (normally Saturdays) and to stop working at a decent hour each night so that I have some sort of work/life balance. If you’re an intern, a employee, or an entrepreneur – always remember, even though you are a hard worker – you also need some time to yourself and some time for friends and family – make sure to always try and balance your time.

As a young person, you might not struggle with this yet. But start thinking about this now – value your time away from work just as much as you do your time at work. I promise this will help your work/life balance in the future.