As the Intern Queen, you could say that I’m addicted to internships. Or that when I was in college, I was addicted to internships. You might be an Intern-A-Holic if…..

1. You are currently a summer intern and spend most of your time looking for fall internships.

2. You’re only a freshman or sophmore and you’ve already participated in an internship or two or three….

3. You are constantly looking up places to work & people you admire.

4. You tweet everyday and are very aware of your favorite employers & career/internship experts on Twitter.

5. You NEED to know that you have the coolest internships out of all of your friends.

6. You’ve already had bad experiences with the printer, copy machine, and coffee machine.

7. You’ve started blogging about your internship experiences.

8. You’ve already thought about where you want to intern Summer 2011…and maybe Summer 2012.

9. You aren’t supposed to work on the weekends but can’t help checking your intern email account and doing research for Monday.

10. You spend more than anyone you know thinking about internships, social networking, and your future.

What else ?

I did a segment on KTLA yesterday (which I will post shortly) where I discussed some tips on how to really make the most of your summer internship. Here are a few tips I covered:

• Keep your cell phone on SILENT or just leave it in the car. You should not be checking your phone unless you are on your lunch break or you are using it for internship-related purposes. No texting or phone calls or checking apps.

• Stay off of Facebook on work computers. As soon as you are caught on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn your boss knows that you have “better” things to do.

• Don’t Tweet or update your Facebook status about your internship during the actual work day (unless this is part of the employer’s social media strategy). Your boss will most likely find you on these sites eventually and they shouldn’t see you documenting your feelings about the day.

• Don’t “friend” your boss or internship coordinator on Facebook unless they initiate the interaction. This can make many employers feel uncomfortable.

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

Hello Everyone,

I come to you with very exciting news. The day has come for my site http://www.internqueen.com to re-launch with new dynamic internship listings that allow users to search by industry, location, and semester. I’ve re-themed the site and really like the new look. The goal of the re-design was to create a clear internship destination for students looking for internships and companies looking to find great intern candidates.

The site still features my blog, I AM INTERN, and will soon feature my clothing boutique for Internal EthiKs. I’ve also linked in my Intern Queen YouTube Channel for even more internship advice.

I’m so proud of everyone who took the internship initiative over the past year. My run with quarterlife was a great one and although my site will no longer live on the quarterlife domain, I continue to have a great relationship with quarterlife and be forever in-debt to everyone who was part of that experience. All users who visit http://www.quarterlife.com/intern will soon be re-directed to http://www.internqueen.com.

On a personal note, I want to thank Marshall Herskovitz, the man who made all of my dreams possible. Every young entrepreneur dreams of the day when a successful businessman approaches them and is fascinated by what they’ve created. I was lucky enough to experience that last year with Marshall Herskovitz. I hope that everyone follows his example and takes a chance on an unknown project. Without taking risks, I wouldn’t be launching this site and I definitly wouldn’t be able to run my business from day to day.

I also want to thank Kevin and Mike – my wonderful creative team behind the new site. They have worked night and day on this project for weeks and I’ve so appreciative.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly at lauren@internqueen.com. I love responding to all of your messages and hearing your feedback.

Keep on applying for internships and looking for interns

Best of luck,
Lauren Berger
CEO
Intern Queen Inc.

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.

It’s officially internship season ! Wahoo ! Get excited everyone. An more important, get ready to make the most of your experience. This week, I will list 5 internship secrets – stay tuned !

SECRET #1

START REQUESTING MEETINGS.
You have been at your internship for about 2-3 weeks or so by now. It’s time to request meetings with the execs and high-ups. Make a list of anyone you admire within the company. Think big – any department works. Approach your internship coordinator and ask if you can request general meetings with those people somewhere from now until the end of your internship.

THE NOTE.
Send short, to-the-point meeting requests to the person or their assistant (ask what the proper protocall is). In your email, state that you are a student, your school, year in school, the department where you are interning, and what your request is. See below:

Mitchell Baker,
I’m a student at University of Arizona and currently interning in your drama development department with Rob Gold. I’d love to request a brief meeting with you at some point over the next 8 weeks. I’m here until August 8th and very interested in pursuing a career after graduation with your company. I’d love to here how you got started and introduce myself.
Best,
Aaron Brandy
Email: Abrandy@gmail.com
Direct: 787 888 8888

WHAT TO SAY.
Some executives won’t give you the time of day – BUT others will. I’ve sat down with at least half of the people that I requested meetings with as an intern. Remember, keep your meeting short and sweet. The goal is to introduce yourself, make a great impression, have a firm handshake, clearly state your career goals, have questions prepared, and thank them for their time.

A FEW QUESTIONS TO ASK.
1. How did you get started ?

2. What was your first position at this company ?

3. If you could do it all over again, is there anything you would do differently ?

4. What do you suggest I do to best prepare myself to enter this field ?

5. What newspapers, websites, blogs do you suggest I read to keep up on the industry ?

REMEMBER TO SAY….“Do you have a card so that I can stay in touch?”