In honor of National Intern Day, we are taking time to celebrate and recognize all of our RSM interns as valued members of our teams. We thank them for continually making an impact on our clients, colleagues, and communities across the nation! We reached out to our current summer interns and asked them to share their RSM experience and what they have learned so far during their internship: 

“Gaining real client exposure and being fully involved with the project I’ve been assigned to has been my favorite part. Being able to see the firm’s leadership strategically navigate our client’s complex issues has been a great learning experience. I look forward to continue studying the way the firm drives meaningful relationships.” – Sam, Consulting Intern, Chicago

“My favorite part of the internship so far has been collaborating with my teammates to find solutions for our clients’ needs. A career at RSM means that I will be able to grow not only professionally but also as a person. There are a lot of employee network groups that I look forward to hopefully be able to join one day.” – Juan, Consulting Intern, Dallas

“I have learned so much about the culture at RSM. It’s very caring and growth-oriented, not only professionally, but also socially. Going into accounting I heard about RSM and set being part of the firm as a goal for my college career.” – Charlie, Consulting Intern, Los Angeles

“I’ve enjoyed learning how NetSuite is implemented and how easily customizable it is to the client’s needs and wants. Also, networking; I’ve met so many different people who exhibit the 5’Cs on a day-to-day basis and I am looking forward to being like them in hopes of teaching others to do the same.” – Esmeralda, Consulting Intern, Austin

“My favorite part of the internship has been getting to work with my engagement teams. Everyone is so friendly and eager to help me and it’s been wonderful getting to know them. I’m looking forward to getting to meet more people and getting to know the people I’ve already met even better.” – Jonathan, Audit Intern, Cincinnati

“Even being in a virtual internship, I have made friends with people from my office and other offices across the United States. RSM has really emphasized the importance of CDI, which is extremely important for me to have that support system. It makes me feel a part of a community by being able to join employee network groups.” – Caitlyn, Tax Intern, New Jersey

“One of my favorite things about my internship experience so far has been all the opportunities I have had as an intern to help produce real tax work for clients of the firm. One thing I am looking forward to about my internship having the chance to build a home for Habitat for Humanity with members of my office.” – Emily, Tax Intern, Davenport

Check out our Instagram story (@RSMUSLLP) to get a glimpse of the day in the life of an RSM intern!

The post Celebrating National Intern Day at RSM appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As one of the largest consumer products companies on the planet, Colgate-Palmolive boasts over 12 internationally recognized brands, 34,000-plus employees, and — yes — an elite internship program that offers plenty of career development, mentorship, and skill-building opportunities. 

Don’t believe us? We spoke to three former Colgate-Palmolive interns-turned-full-time hires to get the lowdown on how their internship experience set them up for success and advance their careers.

The Col-Pal Internship Put Learning And Real-World Experience Hand-In-Hand

Let’s start with Woodrow, who went from Customer Development Intern to Retail Marketing Specialist in under five years. “I was working on projects that were going to be used to inform actual business decisions,” he told WayUp. One of Woodrow’s primary responsibilities was digging into data and analytics to evaluate manual toothbrush performance. His findings were vital as it pertained to coming up with a new marketing strategy — and it’s something he’s extremely grateful for, “to allow an intern to manage and overlook that was a pretty big deal,” he said. 

One reason Woodrow found the Colgate-Palmolive program to be incredibly eye-opening was because he was able to apply the key marketing concepts he’d learned in college into the workplace. “In class, you’re learning the concepts, but they may not always stick because you’re not seeing real-world examples,” he said. However, as a Colgate-Palmolive intern, Woodrow was able to grasp a better understanding of both sales and marketing principles. Upon returning to campus for senior year, Woodrow said he “felt so much more present” in his classes based on the opportunities he was afforded as an intern. 

Shernelle, who started at the company as a Product Development Intern, agreed. “I learned so much about what it’s like to be in this industry and how to make products,” she said. Seven years later, Shernelle is now a Research and Development Technician. While Shernelle received ample training as an intern, she found that the program’s emphasis on hands-on experience was even more valuable — as was the opportunity to interact with managers, scientists, fellow interns, and other like-minded individuals. 

Colgate-Palmolive Encourages Interns to Network with Senior Leaders

“I just remember feeling at home,” Woodrow said. “Everyone made an effort to get to know us, to support us, to offer themselves as a resource.” He also noted Colgate-Palmolive’s open-door policy, which allowed him to network with senior executives. “Early in your career, you want to feel that you have a sense of community and that people are invested in your success. Colgate facilitated that very well, I felt that from day one.” 

In fact, one of Woodrow’s favorite memories as a Colgate-Palmolive intern was when one of the senior leaders walked over to the interns and personally invited them to join in on a lunch outing. At the restaurant, the executive went out of his way to ask the interns about their career aspirations and their lives outside of work. “It really made me feel like part of the Colgate family,” he said. 

Woodrow wasn’t the only intern to have a positive experience at Colgate-Palmolive. Just take it from Sumbul, a former Quality Assurance Intern and current Project Engineer. “The first thing I realized about Colgate was that they do an amazing job of linking you up with the right people,” she told WayUp. “What differentiated Colgate as a company was that it’s a huge company, but you still get recognition for what you’re doing. You know that you’re adding value and that your projects mattered.” 

As an intern on the Product Development team, Shernelle agreed whole-heartedly. “Colgate is full of people who care,” she said, before continuing: “Everyone cares about your growth and wellbeing, and they’re always trying to help you.”   

Careers Are Created (And Skyrocketed) At Colgate-Palmolive

Woodrow’s, Sumbul’s, and Shernelle’s stories aren’t all that rare — at least not at Colgate-Palmolive. Their internship program is a place where careers in marketing, engineering, HR, and beyond all begin — and continue to grow.

Sumbul reinforced how grateful she was that Colgate-Palmolive trusted and empowered her to lead her own projects.” At the same time, she received ample support from her manager through frequent check-ins. “My manager did regular check-ins with me. She wanted me to try projects on my own, but if I needed her, she’d be there for me,” she said. 

And the beautiful thing is, when you grow at Colgate-Palmolive, you help others do so, too.“We love passing the torch here. I’ve been involved with the hiring process and mentoring for our incoming associates. I’m also a mentor for the internship program now,” Sumbul said.

Intrigued? Check out open opportunities at Colgate-Palmolive on WayUp!

The post Here’s Why Every College Student Should Want to Intern at Colgate-Palmolive appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This past July, WayUp celebrated its fourth annual National Intern Day, and we are thrilled to announce our Intern 100 list for 2020. The list highlights the most ambitious, passionate, and talented interns in the country, and this year we had over 80,000 public votes cast! While there were an incredible amount of great candidates, only one could be named Intern of the Year. And the winner is…Dorien Baker! 

Dorien spent his summer at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Intern. We sat down with Dorien to learn more about his experience, background, and career goals for the future.

What College Do You Go To? And What Do You Major In?

Morehouse College, Economics

How/Why Did You Choose Morehouse College?

When I participated in admitted-students events in the country, many of the schools felt like there wasn’t anything special about them. It was like you were a product on a factory line, and their job was to continue building on their students the exact same way. There were some tours that I did not feel welcome on and heard things about racial issues on campus and saw political posters that made me feel uncomfortable and not safe. At Morehouse, my first impression was very different. Despite some of the differences in infrastructure resources between other schools I toured, Morehouse was the only school that I felt at home at. There were a lot of students from Chicago that I could relate to, and there were people like Dr. Sewell, Dr. Elu, and Mr. Goodgame whom I met during the tours and who later helped me every step of the way to have an opportunity for success. It was impressed on me that the mission of Morehouse is to give us the tools to be leaders who are well-read, well-spoken, well-traveled, well-dressed, and well-balanced, and I knew that this was something that I wanted for myself and that it was worth the price.

Why Did You Select Economics For Your Major?

I have always had an interest in financial services. In high school, I was interning with investment banks and worked on many different projects in the field. Many people get a degree in Finance or Business Administration with a concentration in Finance, but they miss the broad perspective of how global economics significantly impacts the industry. Ultimately, I see an Economics degree as the fundamental knowledge needed to work in finance and then later I can choose either an MBA, CFA, or both for the detailed knowledge.

How Did You Land Your Internship At The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network?

The director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Kenneth A. Blanco, visited Morehouse in February 2019 to give a talk on virtual currencies, cybersecurity, human trafficking, terrorism, and FinCEN’s role as a regulator and enforcement agency on these topics. Later in the day, Morehouse set up an event for campus student leadership to meet with the Director and his team to learn more about some of the issues that FinCEN covers. I connected with the Director and stayed in touch with him over the past year and a half, and he even set me up with a private tour of the U.S. Treasury Building in the White House complex. When we met last summer, he informed me that FinCEN was building their internship program and wanted to know my thoughts and experiences from past internships. Earlier this year he informed me that the application went live and the rest is history.

Can You Talk About A Mentor You’ve Had In Your Career? How Did That Person Affect You?

I have had countless mentors over the years, many of which have helped me in different ways. Director Blanco from FinCEN is helping me to become a leader; Dr. Sewell from Morehouse is helping me to make a change and leave a legacy at Morehouse as a student leader; Samantha Fields from the City of Chicago has helped me navigate workplace politics and learn how a city is run, and so on and so forth. In my experience, a great mentor is not someone who is trying to help you go down a path of success because there are many people out there with advice and their own definitions of success that may differ from yours. A great mentor is someone who can invest knowledge in you to develop your own understanding of the world and be able to support you while also taking a hands-off approach to let you navigate your own path with the knowledge you have given them.

Plenty of people have offered “the map” for success as if everyone is starting from the same place and ending with the same destination. I try to find mentors who know the pillars of success and are willing to teach them to me so that I can have them in my toolbox.

What Would Be Your Dream Job?

Hands down if I could do anything without the thought of salaries or location I would work with a major fashion house or an automotive company like LVMH or Mercedes Benz. I’d love to do something fun like creating and marketing new products to consumers and speaking at events to educate people about the brand.

What Advice Do You Have For Other Interns? 

As a high school or college student, this is the only point in your life where you won’t have a great number of immediate financial obligations. Many of my peers focus on the immediate pay that they could gain from an internship and not the experience. In high school, I had three internships. One at a major investment bank where I made less than $1,500, another at a globally ranked museum where I made less than $1,000, and one in the mayor’s office where I worked for free, all while my peers were making several thousands of dollars.

However, when I look at my peers now, there are people who aren’t getting opportunities because they lack the experience and there are things that I learned 5 years ago that people are learning right now. When you are young, the experience is the most valuable thing you can get. At the collegiate level, you’ll be indirectly competing with others on a global playing field. Some of those people might come from very privileged backgrounds and have the resources to make their own experiences like starting a company and making $100K+ while in high school, or parents who are executives at companies and can get you & your friends internships.

You have to take advantage of all the opportunities you can, even if you have to pay for them yourself. Working for the City of Chicago put me well ahead of the curve, but when I spoke to my friends, many of them said they wouldn’t work for free and have to pay out of pocket for transportation and meals. Now, that is something that when I apply for opportunities and people find out I did that in high school, they are immediately impressed. The money will come later in life. For now, take advantage of all of the opportunities you can.

2020’s Intern 100 List

Dorien is not alone in accomplishing great things this summer! This year’s Top 100 Intern list represents over 70 different companies and students from all over the nation! Congratulations to the full list of Top 100 Interns—we are so excited to see all that you accomplish in your futures!

As a company, we also recognized that this year, many had either lost their internship or struggled to find one due to COVID-19. As such, we were committed to celebrating all types of students in this ever-changing, evolving world. We are excited to announce that Aja Sparks was selected to win our professional development career package after hearing their inspiring story of what they did this summer to stay focused on their career.

The post Introducing 2020’s Intern 100 List! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We’ve all seen the “deep” personality quizzes that pop up on our timelines. Whether they offer to sort you into a house of a certain very private school in the United Kingdom or predict your future using highly scientific star charts, they usually don’t dig deep.

The Wingfinder assessment from Red Bull is exactly the opposite. It has four rigorous sections that test your quick-thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills (along with other actually important stuff). At the end, you’ll receive a customized profile of you as a professional. You’ll see where you excel, where you need to focus to make up for deficiencies, and what kind of role you’d be best in.

Digging Deep With Wingfinder

Wingfinder isn’t your average personality test. You won’t be presented with salacious scenarios and unrealistic outcomes. Many of the questions have right and wrong answers, are timed, and present you with legitimate leadership problems. This helps the test to determine your aptitude with certain types of thinking.

While it is, after a fashion, graded—it’s nothing like school. You’ll be rushing to sort images with keywords, working with increasingly difficult logic puzzles, and, yes, even taking on the role of professional ski team manager in the business case scenario.

The test will challenge you. However, it won’t reveal your weaknesses without finding your strengths. (And trust us, there are plenty more of the latter.)

At the end of the test, you’ll get a full analysis of your results. It’ll let you know where you excelled, where each of your strengths fall on the spectrum, and how you can actually use those broad traits in real-life scenarios.

Flapping Your Wings At Red Bull

Red Bull hires tons of college students. The team is full of marketers, storytellers, and brand evangelists who believe in the product and the company’s mission. It also hires people in technical roles: programmers, accountants, technology specialists.

It’s a team built from all types and stripes—and they appreciate that everyone has a unique profile of talents, abilities, and opportunities to improve. Embracing this is part of what gives the company its extremely broad appeal: from bohemian surfer-nomads to overachieving college students to busy, city-dwelling professionals.

One of the ways that Red Bull embraces and fosters this diverse appeal is through the Student Marketeer program. The Student Marketeer program includes the field marketing innovators and activators on the Wings Team, who coordinate and execute event marketing efforts to reach new customers everywhere, AND the campus-owning Student Brand Managers, who focus on their school as a territory.

They’re both marketing innovators who exist on college campuses and neighborhoods everywhere. As a Red Bull Marketeer, you research your market, leverage your insider knowledge, and coordinate events that help put Red Bull in the hands of potential customers. From trend-spotting to distribution, the responsibilities of a Student Marketeer are far and wide.

It’s influencing, researching, planning, executing, and so much more. The content of the job is in many ways up to you. And whether you’re a number-crunching strategy nerd or an emotion-driven storyteller, no one’s going to tell you that there’s a wrong way to do your job well.

…But there is a way for you to find out which you are before you start.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE WINGFINDER EXAM FROM RED BULL!

So, home in on your strengths with Wingfinder—and then put them into action as a Student Marketeer, Red Bull intern, or even in your first full-time job for the energy drink giant. Check out all of these amazing opportunities at Red Bull Student Careers right now!

The post This Company Helps You ‘Find Your Wings’ (A.K.A. Your Dream Job) With This Personality Quiz appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

While summer’s cozy temperatures and long days are many snowstorms, long lectures, and stressful exams away, the time to apply for summer 2019 internships is not. Many of the best internship programs start their search for the best talent as early as September.

Don’t have your summer 2019 spot secured yet? Worry not. There are still tons of live listings for Summer 2019 internships.

And if you need ideas on how and where to start, we’ve put together a list of the top ten most popular postings on WayUp this month.

1. Wealth Management Summer Analyst @ Deutsche Bank

2. Research & Innovation Intern @ L’Oréal

3. Accounting/Finance Summer Internship @ Johnson & Johnson

4. 2019 Technology Internship @ T-Mobile

5. Operations Engineer Intern @ Lockheed Martin

6. Software Engineering Summer Analyst @ BlackRock

7. 2019 Creative Summer Internship Program @ Ralph Lauren

8. Finance Intern @ Lockheed Martin

9. Valuation Services Intern @ Duff & Phelps

10. Product Engineering Summer Intern @ John Deere

Don’t see your dream internship on this list? Don’t worry. There are thousands of live listings for summer 2019 internships on WayUp right now. Start your search and get applying today.

The post Top 10 Most Popular Internships On WayUp This Month appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you’ve been at college for more than 30 seconds, then you’ve probably heard about these things called internships. In case you’re not sure what this means, an internship is a term of temporary employment at an organization. Ideally, you’ll receive training, do real work, and—hopefully—be paid for doing so.

If this doesn’t sound like enough of a reason to have an internship, then there’s one other major benefit to internships you should consider: They’re the gateway to full-time jobs.

So, why should you do an internship? You’ll get the experience and connections required to get your first full-time job—and in your desired industry.

Let’s dive into some of the more specifics that demonstrate just how essential internships are for your future—and not just on paper.

Internship Motivator #1: Some Things Can’t Be Learned in a Classroom

No matter how excellent your undergrad program is, you can’t learn the art of whatever it is you’re studying entirely from books and lectures. Much of the nitty-gritty of the job, office culture, and essential skills come from actually operating in a corporate environment.

For example, as an entry-level marketing associate, 40 percent of your job might be working in the Facebook ad manager. You won’t know how you’ll perform certain tasks until you’re assigned to do so for a real company—and shown by a manager.

On-the-job learning is how you learn about the latest industry trends, which makes you infinitely more valuable than someone who read the latest textbook.

Internship Motivator #2: Overcoming the Experience Gap

When it comes to finding your first full-time job, there’s a catch-22. You need experience to get a job. You need a job to get experience. How can you break that vicious circle before you’re caught in it? By getting an internship—a type of experience available to those without.

Interns are often trusted with the very same tasks that go to their full-time, entry-level counterparts. This allows you to speak to your ability to handle those tasks during an interview.

Connections can also be used to bridge the experience gap. Your connections to your manager, the recruiters who hired you, and your co-workers could all help you. Reaching out to these people could get you a return offer at the company or a recommendation for a different role elsewhere.

Internship Motivator #3: Fail Sooner, Go Further

Getting real experience also means finding out what you like—and dislike.

Internships let you know if you’re actually going to enjoy the experience of working in your desired field. This can help you avoid the nasty situation of getting trapped in a full-time job that you end up hating.

Want to be a banker? Give it a test run as a summer analyst (industry term for banking interns). Want to be a consultant? Try an internship program at a major firm.

Finding out your strengths, your likes, and your wants makes charting out your career path that much easier.

Ready to find your first internship? Start applying right now on WayUp.

The post Why Do I Need an Internship? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Some people shoot for the moon. An engineering intern at one of the nation’s premier private aerospace and defense companies — Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) — aims higher.

Kripash Shrestha is not your average engineering student. He has his sights set on a successful career. For Kripash, that means working for a company where he not only can work on his preferred tech (autonomous systems), but also work for a mission he believes is paramount. And, with this internship, he’s doing just that.

This determination helped earn Kripash a spot on the WayUp Intern 100 list for 2018. If you’re interested in the space, defense or cybersecurity industries, you won’t want to miss what Kripash had to say about his remarkable internship at SNC.

What It’s Like To Intern At A Leading Space & Defense Company?

SNC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with technology in the most critical sectors of engineering. The SNC team works with jets, spacecraft, probes, rovers, drones, cybersecurity – and even high-tech gear to help soldiers in the field.­­

With so much on the line, it’s hard to imagine SNC interns taking on real responsibility. Kripash, however, says that’s not the case at all.

“When you think of internships, you think of some companies giving low work to the interns,” he says.

“But here, you’re getting a lot of good opportunities and experience. You’re documenting code, and getting the same experience other software engineers are doing at the same time. I’m sure 100 percent this expands to other departments.”

So what exactly does Kripash do?

“I’ve been working on the Navigation and Landing Systems (NLS) team. Specifically, I’ve been helping with all-weather precision approach and landing systems,” he said, which means he’s contributing to the software systems that help some of the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicles take off and land safely.

What It’s Like To Be Named A Top 100 Intern?

“My family made a big deal about it. People in the company congratulated me,” Kripash said.

While he remains humble, the engineer-in-the-making admitted it was a great reminder that he’s headed in the right direction.

“It just feels really nice, and tells me that I’m doing good work, and that I should continue improving on what I’m doing. So I’m raising the standard for myself,” he said.

Don’t let Kripash’s humility fool you. Being named a WayUp 100 intern was no easy feat.

He competed against interns from a swath of industries and companies. The process included rounds of public voting, manager recommendations and a panel of expert judges who finally narrowed down the exclusive list.

(For a full look at WayUp’s Intern 100 list and the interns who made the cut, click here.)

Kripash said he would “definitely recommend” the SNC internship program (which landed a spot on WayUp’s Top 100 Internship Programs list) to other prospective interns, “especially if they’re interested in space, defense or navigation landing systems.”

In fact, Kripash liked SNC’s program so much, he opted to join their co-op program. He’s currently working three days a week at SNC in tandem with his senior year of college.

Want to learn more about a Top 100 intern program (that produces Top 100 interns like Kripash)? Do you want to start your own career in aerospace and defense? Check out SNC on WayUp now!

The post What Does It Take To Be A Top 100 Intern? This Rising Star In The Aerospace & Defense Industry Has The Answer appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Small Business Saturday is a celebration of the local, young, or otherwise smaller-scale businesses in our lives. It’s a day of sales, communal pride, and—of course—shopping. But this year, how about appreciating these companies in a different way? How about making some money instead of spending it? (Although, feel free to do both.)

In the spirit of the holiday, we’ve put together a list of amazing jobs and internships hiring right now at some incredible small businesses. From tech medical tech startups to brick-and-mortar designer stores, we’ve got it all.

1. Marketing Internship @ Snailz

This beauty startup based in NYC’s fashionable SoHo neighborhood is the perfect place to learn the ins and outs of digital marketing at a fast-paced company. This is a double win for SBS because not only is Snailz a startup, but the team helps their users book nail salon appointments with local businesses through the app and online.

2. Copywriter/Social Media Intern @ Gueridon

This Brooklyn-based retailer of fine and exotic furniture seeks a social media-savvy, clever copywriting intern to join its marketing team. A brick-and-mortar showroom with an online presence? This place couldn’t be more SBS or ideal for an intern trying to get experience in the marketing world.

3. Sales/Marketing Intern @ The Farm SoHo

Small businesses just love marketing interns, right?

The Farm SoHo is a co-working space located on prime Manhattan real estate. It’s a space for creators, businesses, and other endeavors to bring their teams and get work done without the hassle and risk of committing to a full-blown office lease.

4. Internship Program @ Azzure Home

Work on a diverse team handling everything from business-y, excel-heavy analysis to social media marketing for this home decor startup with an—obviously—beautiful office space.

Bonus: Become Your Own Small Business

Of course, if you’re truly enamored with the idea of small businesses, why not start your own? It doesn’t have to be a startup that goes through an alphabet of funding rounds and a 15-minute spot on Shark Tank (although, it certainly could be).

You can just start your own business with a side hustle. Become your own dog-sitting, tutoring, delivering, or marketing business when you pick up a side-gig. To get you started, we’ve even put together a list of the four best side hustles for your resume (and your wallet).

This is just a (very) small sampling of the small businesses hiring on WayUp. So, go and celebrate them in the best way your college-aged self can: Apply to work there. And you can start here on WayUp.

The post Celebrate Small-Business Saturday By Applying To Internships At These Startups And Local Companies appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The balancing act is one of the most difficult things to master.

The balance between work and life is one of the biggest struggles many young professionals deal with on a daily basis. As students, we must balance school, a social life and work. As student interns, we must balance all of that plus an internship. Internships are a lot of work to begin with, but when thrown in with all of your other responsibilities, you will begin to feel overwhelmed. There’s no perfect way to balance everything in your life, but there are a few things you can do to make everything run smoothly.

First off, get organized. Nothing will ever get done in a timely fashion or done well if you aren’t organized. Organization doesn’t mean you need to color-code, file or plan your every step, but it means to gather everything you need to be successful. Find your perfect method of organization and master it. I make a to-do list for each project/organization that I have work for and cross things off as I complete them. I also color code a monthly calendar, so I can see everything in a monthly view. Sometimes if I really want to get crazy, I color code my Google calendar that holds every event and reminder that I could possibly need.

Budget your time. Know how much time you need to work on your different projects. If you know you like to outline, draft and then edit your papers, make sure you give yourself enough time during the week to do so.

Also, ensure that you give yourself enough time for a social life. I used to rarely give myself any social time, but realized that it took a toll on my overall well-being. Give yourself time for a social life, your academics, your internship work and any other work you may have. You won’t be rushing towards the end to get everything done.

Set goals for yourself at the beginning of every week. Whether you have to create a social media campaign for your internship or have a research paper due for your history class, prioritizing tasks at the beginning of the week adds to your organization, but also ensures that you do your best work. Goals allow you to grow and plan for everything you want to accomplish.

With that being said, know how to prioritize. In the end, school really does come first, and your internship supervisor will understand that. If you have a huge research paper one week, let them know. If finals preparation will take some time, they will let you take some time off. Be sure to keep them up to date with how you are balancing your school work. They care about you, and they know that school is important too.

Also, know that you are at your internship to work. They offered you the position because they need you. You are a vital part to their team, so make sure you’re contributing.

Remember to have fun. All of the work you’re doing is for a reason. Internships are meant to be fun. You’re there to work and learn, but also to make connections and have a good time. No matter what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to have an unpleasant time. Enjoy your lunch break by spending it with your co-workers, have a study group with your friends and go out once in a while.

While you probably feel like you have a million things to do and no time to complete them all, you will find the time. Find a balance in your life, and you will find a way to get everything done and have fun while you’re doing it. You’re doing something important in every aspect of your life, so make sure you’re giving everything your all. Work hard because it will be worth it in the end, no matter how cliche that may sound.

The post How to Balance an Internship and School appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Hooray to you for scoring a summer internship and seeing it to the end. You deserve a pat on the back, and not to mention, the glorious recommendation your internship supervisor will write you. But your summer is coming to an end and so is the internship, and you must now say your inevitable farewells and adieus. 

Hopefully you have learned a great deal in your respective industry and have fostered both personal and professional relationships along the way. No matter how sad you may feel before leaving, don’t dwell over the fact that the internship is over, remember how far you have come from the first day and remember to follow through to the end. So before you go back to university, here are a 4 reminders to make sure you leave on the best of terms.

1. Send an appreciation card to your supervisor.

While it may seem like something simple and traditional, you should always remember to thank them for their help. Sure they had you make copies, send out faxes, organize their desks, or even fetch coffee, but they selected you out of hundreds, maybe thousands of other potential interns. You’ve done so much for them, but they’ve also done so much for you. They deserve a thank you card, email, or maybe even a gift! Nothing big of course, but something to show that you care and appreciate them. You may have given them your summer time, but they gave you the opportunity to work and gain real life experience.

2. Update your résumé.

This isn’t presumptuous, but necessary. Sure it only just ended, but you need to have all the information you learned fresh so you can update your résumé in the appropriate amount of time without having to remember or worse, fudge what you accomplished with your internship. Some people forget to update their résumés, which is a drastic mistake. You never know when you need to send it off so prepare ahead of time and don’t rush to fix it. Updating your résumé is key to success.

3. Write out a list or notes of your internship accomplishments, goals, skills learned, and contacts made.

There’s always the traditional back-to-school “what did you do this summer” conversation so why not impress? Another time you may need to remember this is when going on interviews. Interviewers will ask you about that internship and what you gained from it. You don’t want to say just “real life experience” or “how to use a copy machine and fax”, but something more exciting like “how to write a acknowledgment order” or “updating an online events calendar on WordPress”. Remembering these skills and activities that became your daily tasks will impress your interviewer. Don’t let an entire summer or internship go to waste because you forgot the skills or can’t recollect the work.

4. Remember the skills you learned and continue to build on them.

It doesn’t matter if the internship was relevant to your future career or not, but it is something that will help your future. Yes, you will impress future employers that you have the skills, but you will blow them away when you demonstrate you have continued to work on these skills on your own. If you choose to go back to your previous internship, they will be impressed as well and will value you further.

In short, don’t waste your summer with a mindless internship or just let it blow by. You worked hard for three months, and that will help you. Value the time you spent because others valued your time spent. Summer is over and your time there is over, but it will forever be remembered through your future successes.

The post Your Summer Internship Is Over, Now What? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ll have more success arriving at your desired destination if you have a map in your hand. In the same way, having your manager’s guidance will greatly benefit you this summer. Once you set goals with your manager, you’ll have an exact description of what’s required of you and what you’ll be expected to achieve during your summer internship. Knowing what’s expected of you is empowering, so here are 10 tips on how to set realistic goals with your manager.

1) Be flexible when you set up a time to meet with them. Managers are probably going to have to take time out of their busy schedule to meet with you. However, your manager will appreciate how you had the impetus to set up a meeting.

2) Prepare for the meeting by outlining your personal goals beforehand. Know these goals well and be ready to explain why each one is valuable. Also, write a list of questions you’d like to ask your manager.

3) Be enthusiastic and open the meeting with friendly conversation.  You will both enjoy the meeting more if you walk into it with a smile on your face.

4) Outline a schedule together that details when you will meet with your manager throughout the summer. Jointly create criteria for how and when you’ll be evaluated. Aim to meet with your manager at least once a week.

5) Discuss how your personal goals fit into the larger scope of the company. Tell your manager that you would appreciate receiving constructive feedback throughout the course of your summer internship on how you’re progressing towards fulfilling goals that relate to your role.

6) Ask for clarification on anything you don’t understand. Questions don’t make you look stupid; they make it obvious that you care about doing the job right. It’s always better to get clarification and know exactly what is expected of you than to guess how you should do the job. Working without direction makes messes that you and your manager will have to clean up; a waste of time for both of you.

7) Write down your goals for the week and other important points during the meeting. If you don’t copy down all that’s said, you’re bound to forget something.  It’s not your manager’s job to give you directions twice. Wielding a pen and pad will prove to your manager that details are important to you. Your notes will keep you on track when you are unsure of what you should be working on throughout the week.

8) Quantify your goals as much as possible and make the desired results metric-driven so your success can be easily measured. For instance, if your manager tells you, “Your evaluation will be based on how many projects you complete;” ask, “How many projects should I aim to complete this week?” When you have these numbers in front of you at your next evaluation, you will be able to say, “We said I should generate 5 leads this week, and I now have 15 leads who I have set up meetings with.”

9) Be honest with your manager. If you don’t agree with something your manager says or don’t understand why you need to perform an assignment in a certain way, respectfully bring it up to them. Burying concerns will only make them sprout up in ugly ways in the future.

10) Thank your manager at the end of the meeting. Reiterate your appreciation in an email or online message and point out specific pieces of their advice that were helpful to you.

“Under promise and over deliver.” If you exceed expectations in every detail of your work, your manager will trust you with more and set higher goals for you by the time you have your next meeting.

The post 10 Tips On Setting Goals With Your Manager appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

An internship can be a critical juncture in your career. It may be one of the first times that you have moved out of the classroom into the workplace, and it will require you to put the skills that you have learned to use in the real world. While it is always important to ace an internship, doing so may seem a little more difficult if your internship is virtual. Virtual internships are an admittedly new development, but they can still be just as important to your career trajectory. Here are four tips to help you ace your virtual internship:

Conduct thorough research

Before your internship begins, conduct some research—learn all that you can about the organization that you will be working for in order to truly understand its mission and its product or service. Since you will not be in an office environment, you may feel alienated during your virtual internship, but learning more about the work you are part of can offset this impression. It can also better equip you for any tasks you are given.

Emphasize communication and networking

The opportunity to network is often one of the most valuable advantages of an internship. It is also one of the most valuable advantages of a virtual internship, but it may require a bit more effort on your part. Again, start before your internship officially begins by reaching out to your supervisors, and to any other important contacts in your department. If possible, meet with them face-to-face at least once, or participate in a video chat to learn more about them and their work. Schedule several video chats throughout your internship to check in and to ensure that you are on track. You will also likely communicate with your supervisor via email. If there are any other employees who you believe could be important contacts for you, reaching out over email can be a great way to introduce yourself.

Manage your time effectively

With a virtual internship, you will not have a supervisor’s physical presence to keep you on task. Regardless, it is still important to complete your work in a timely manner. Do not let distractions (like Facebook or Twitter) tempt you; treat your time at work seriously. If the tasks that you are given do not keep you busy for long, ask for more work, as this will impress your supervisor. Most important, do not ever miss a deadline or leave a task unfinished.

Create a professional environment

Even if you are not in a traditional office environment, you should still make an effort to dress professionally. If it motivates you, you can even work at a library or coffee shop. You should also set up an area of your apartment, dorm, or house that will serve as your office. In short, even if you are not physically in an office, you should feel like you are at work—this is even more critical if you will have video chats with clients or colleagues.

Ultimately, acing a virtual internship is not so different from acing a traditional internship. It is important to be prepared, professional, and proactive. Do your work well, communicate as much as possible, and you should thrive in your virtual internship.

Catherine Martin is a contributing writer for UniversityTutor.com, the world’s largest global marketplace for finding independent tutors.

The post Top 4 Tips for Acing a Virtual Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

College happens in a blink of an eye and before you know it you’re sending out graduation announcements. You only have one internship under your belt and you’re afraid that your low GPA will stand in the way of obtaining your dream postgraduate entry-level or internship position. What could you do?

In a recent study, we discovered that 67 percent of employers think GPA is important in student recruiting. If you are interested in interning or working in fields like finance, law, engineering, or computer science, an exceptional GPA is usually required in obtaining a position. Often times hiring managers utilize the GPA to assess problem solving skills and predict applicant success.

If you weren’t the best student in college, struggled maintaining a part-time job, or were buried under too many extracurricular activities, try applying these helpful tips to overcome the upperclassmen “GPA Blues.”

1. Leave your GPA off of your Resume.

Don’t include your GPA unless it is exceptional or the employer specifically asks. In general, if you need a certain GPA to apply, recruiters look for applicants with a 3.0 or greater. Is your major GPA higher? If so, include that score instead.

2. Perfect your Application.

Compensate your low GPA score with a strong resume application. To dazzle hiring managers, demonstrate that you are a well-rounded student with ambition, skill, and leadership ability!

• Tailor your resume by adding action words detailed on the job description. List phrases like “quick thinking” or “complex problem solving” to demonstrate your communication and technical skills.

• Create a cover letter that tells your story. Express why you are interested in the company and how you will deliver.

• Add work samples (if required) to your application and make sure to list links to any digital portfolios or personal websites.

3. Get Referred.

“Employee referrals have the highest applicant-to-hire conversion rate – only 7% apply, but this accounts for 40% of all hires.”

An employee referral is the easiest way to separate your resume from the rest. This is your chance to practice your networking skills  in order to boost your application, ultimately landing you the job. Tap into your professional network, and use peers or professors as resources for referrals.  Don’t forget, if you’re referred to a position, mention it in your cover letter. This acts as a “built in recommendation.”

4. Focus on better opportunities that are a better fit for you.

Unfortunately, various firms are strict on GPA requirements. If they require a 3.5, and you have a 2.7, your chances may be slim to none. Apply for internships and entry-level jobs that are flexible with GPA scores, and match your abilities. If you excel at these jobs, you might be able to circle back around to the company you first wished to work for. Seek a counselor who can help you reevaluate your options. You definitely won’t be the first to waltz into the career center with a GPA question.

At the end of the day, if you are unhappy with your GPA, CHANGE IT! Even if you are in the first semester of your junior year or last semester of your senior year, each grade counts. Take your GPA seriously, but understand that it is not everything when applying for certain roles.

Are you screwed? Not exactly. Every internship you apply for won’t require you to list your GPA and many companies who were strict on GPA scores are now evolving. One major company being Google:

“Google famously used to ask everyone for a transcript and G.P.A.’s and test scores, but we don’t anymore, unless you’re just a few years out of school. We found that they don’t predict anything.” – Laszlo Bock, Google’s Senior Vice President for People Operations

The post “Am I Screwed?” Applying For Internships With A Low GPA appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The holiday season always gets us into the spirit of giving. At the same time, being home for the holidays often means relatives nagging you about when you’re going to be GETTING something: a job or internship.

We think we can help. We compiled a list of 5 internship opportunities at nonprofits hiring students and grads right now. Working for one of these companies will keep the spirit of giving alive all year long.

Don’t wait, check out these incredible companies today:

1. Open Learning Exchange (OLE) is hiring a software engineering intern who can work remotely! This nonprofit is committed to ensuring that everyone is a learner, especially those living in the most impoverished, violence-riven parts of the world. They use innovative technologies to provide access to quality, personalized learning materials to thousands of people in need.

2. Love to bike? OnePulse is a nonprofit with the mission of uniting charities and communities through the power of biking. Their goal is to build a global community where charities share each other’s resources—and they’re hiring a communications intern to spread the word!

3. The Childhood Cancer Society (CCS) is hiring an intern to help with social media and design needs! CCS is an amazing organization that provides funds for medical care, accommodations, and travel expenses to make it possible for families in need to obtain the necessary care for their children and to be with them when out of town hospitalization and treatment is required.

4. If you love making videos, check out this NYC internship at Women’s Entrepreneurship Day. Their mission is to alleviate poverty by empowering, celebrating, and supporting women in business worldwide. As a production intern, you’ll have the opportunity to produce original video content as well as attend high profile women’s, entertainment, and social events like award shows, press conferences, and more.

5. 826 National, an organization dedicated to helping young students improve their creative writing skills, is hiring a research intern in San Francisco. Founded in 2002 by internationally acclaimed author Dave Eggers, 826 National has seven tutoring centers in different cities across the nation. If you’re someone who’s comfortable analyzing data and writing reports, this internship is a perfect fit.

Want to find other nonprofit job and internship opportunities? Head over to WayUp to apply.

The post 5 Nonprofits Hiring Right Now appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Making a great impression as an intern is all about working hard and adding value to an organization. But how can you go above and beyond during your internship and truly leave your mark on a company?

As part of our National Intern Day celebration this summer, we sat down with the CEOs and managers of some of the country’s biggest companies to find out the things that impress them most about their interns. According to Tonya Lee, a senior associate at EY, being a great intern begins with being proactive and asking good questions. Referring to one of her rockstar interns, she explains that what made him stand out was his enthusiasm and desire to learn. “He was awesome because every time we had some downtime, he was actively seeking out more work,” she explains. In addition to taking initiative, Robert was also curious about his role and not afraid to ask questions about the tasks he was assigned. “When he got a task, he was able to say, ‘Okay great. I understand the task, but WHY am I doing this task?’ That WHY question is a really good question to ask because the task became more clear to him as well as how it fit into the bigger picture.”

For Lee, this type of curiosity is important because it demonstrates an intern’s true passion for their role and a desire to learn as much possible about the business.

Ready to make your mark on a company? Check out our full list of jobs and internships to find the job that’s right for you.

The post How to Make Your Mark as an Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This story was written by StudySoup, a peer-to-peer learning marketplace that connects top students in the class with those who need a little help. Top students can upload their notes and study guides to the StudySoup Marketplace, providing their peers with helpful materials while also earning some extra cash.

You’ve just graduated college. Diploma in hand, you score an interview with the company of your dreams. You nail the interview, feeling even more confident that it’s the perfect opportunity for you.

Then a few days later, the hiring manager calls, and you wait patiently for her to offer you the job. But instead, she offers you an internship. An internship? You didn’t just spend all of that time and money on a college education for an internship. You want a full-time job, right?

But things don’t always work that way. And though post-grad internships often get a bad rap, they can actually be incredibly beneficial. Here are a few ways a post-grad internship can help you in your career.

Reason 1: Bulk Up Your Resume

One of the most frustrating and challenging problems that new graduates face is gaining the relevant work experience they need in order to get the job they want. However, you need a job to get that experience. So at this point, you are kind of in a pickle.

The great thing about internships is that they directly address this problem and can help you build up several sections of your resume, including:

• Work experience
• Professional skills
• References
• Portfolio samples

All of these are necessary for creating the perfect resume that will give you the competitive edge you need to land the job of your dreams. And internships are a fantastic way to build up all of these crucial areas and polish them immensely.

Moreover, internships allow graduates to try out new positions in different areas of a company and get the opportunity to work with different groups on different projects. If you have your sights set on a particular area within a company, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to take some initiative and ask to help out with a project on that specific team.

Finally, internships give you the chance to bolster up some crucial professional skills that hiring managers are always on the lookout for. Tip: these skills aren’t necessarily covered in the classroom. So for many, an internship is the first chance to practice them.

Some of these skills include:

• Self-Reliance: you demonstrate that you can work independently and that you are organized in the workplace
• Team: although the ability to work independently is important, you also need to be able to work well with others in collaborative environments
• Proactiveness: you show that you have the drive to get the job done, no matter what it takes
• Adaptability: demonstrate that you’re willing to constantly keep learning and be able to manage change effectively

Internships offer new graduates a perfect environment to learn, as well as showcase, these skills.

Reason 2: Get Ahead of the Competition

Securing an internship after graduation is a great way to get ahead of the competition. As I’m sure you are aware, you are not the only one who is going to be applying for most jobs. There will likely be a pool of applicants with varying degrees of experience and skills that will be competing against you.

However, an internship can make you stand out above the rest and give you the boost you need to secure your ideal job. It can be particularly valuable if you have your eyes on a specific company or job.

Even more, getting an internship can help pave the way for you to earn a full-time position at a company. As a matter of fact, returning and non-returning interns usually receive first pick at positions within companies they intern for.

Think about it. Hiring managers have a pool of applicants. Most likely, a lot of these applicants are like you: recent college grads, only some work experience, newly developed skills, etc. However, you stand out amongst the rest because the hiring manager knows your name, and the company knows your abilities. Chances are you’ll be picked over someone they don’t know.

Reason 3: Build Your Network

One of the best benefits of getting an internship after graduation is the opportunity to build up your network. The individuals that you meet as an intern can often become the most influential and helpful people in your professional career. These people can act as mentors, professional references, or connections to new job opportunities.

Vying for a full-time position in the company you’re interning for? Make a strong connection with your internship supervisor, who may be able to pull some strings at the end of your internship and help you move up the ranks to a full-time position.

And you aren’t just limited to making connections with only people on your team. Meeting with different clients, customers, or people working in different job functions or teams can also make valuable professional connections.

There are many people that you can interact with during an internship. Building relationships with each of them can help you build your professional network which can open up doors for you in your ideal career.

Recap

Though a post-grad internship may not necessarily have the same ring as a full-time job, don’t fret! Post-grad internships are an extremely valuable way to bulk up your resume, get ahead of the competition, and extend your professional network. And just maybe, you can leverage your internship for a full-time paid position.

The post A Post-Grad Internship Is More Valuable Than You Think appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you’re looking to add marketing experience to your resume during college or you’re ready to land your first full-time job, there are plenty of opportunities out there for passionate creatives with a desire to work in the marketing industry.

Here are seven marketing jobs and internships you can apply for now.

Internships

Marketing & Social Media Intern, Knotel

Knotel is on the lookout for a marketing and social media intern who’s a total rockstar when it comes to creating brand awareness. Your workday at this real estate startup will include working on strategy for social channels, creating lookbooks and monitoring trends in the corporate real estate industry. You’ll have the opportunity to develop your marketing skills while working for a wonderful company. Bonus points for anyone with experience in graphic design. Apply here

Growth & Marketing Intern, AND CO

As a growth and marketing intern at AND CO, you’ll wear a variety of different hats. From assisting with new marketing campaigns to developing partnerships and everything in between, you’ll have serious hands-on experience by the end of your internship. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for marketing, this could be the perfect internship for you. Apply here

Educational Marketing Intern, Novel Effect

Have an interest in both marketing and research? Look no further than this position with Novel Effect. As an educational marketing intern, you’ll not only get to develop marketing campaigns and generate opportunities for growth, you’ll also get to conduct research to aid in creating incredible educational experiences. Best of all, this position offers a lot of room to grow! Apply here

Marketing Communications Intern, Philips Lighting

As a marketing communications intern at Philips Lighting, you’ll get a chance to develop communication strategies for a company that’s doing amazing things with lighting technology. From writing copy to conducting interviews to event planning and even product design, there are endless opportunities to make an impact as an intern at Philips. Oh, and did we mention that they have one of the coolest offices around? Apply here

Full-Time Jobs

Digital Marketing Associate/Content Manager, Blueprint Income

Your chance to thrive in New York City is here! If you have a background in marketing and are interested in personal finance, this digital marketing position at Blueprint Income is calling your name. In this role, you will manage social media, write engaging content, design ads and much more. Apply here

Advertising Account Executive, Cox Communications

As the third-largest cable company in the U.S., Cox Communications is seeking an advertising account executive to join their highly-ranked diverse team. You’ll be working directly with clients, maintaining customer relationships, delivering presentations and a whole lot more. The best part? The position offers a highly competitive salary and the chance to start your career off with a bang. Apply here

Sales and Marketing Representative, Four Pillars Marketing

Love to travel and want to get paid to do it? Working as a sales and marketing rep for Four Pillars comes with national and international travel opportunities. You’ll shine in this position if you work well with clients and can become the face of Four Pillars Marketing by representing the brand. Apply here

Ready to land the perfect marketing job? Check out our full list of entry level jobs and internships.

The post Want to Get Started in Marketing? These Companies are Hiring Now appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When it comes to being a rockstar intern, 17-year-old Isabelle Scheerer knows what it takes to get the job done. As an intern at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Isabelle is responsible for managing the organization’s social media accounts and developing new engagement and research strategies along the way.

To find out what it takes to succeed as an intern, we asked Isabelle to share some of her most important learnings. Here are her top tips for how to rock an internship.

1) Tell us about your internship.

I intern at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, Virginia. Specifically, I intern in the education department where I am tasked with creating “Family Day” proposals. “Family Day” is an event that our museum holds a few times each year in order to educate the public about a certain culture, and to further blend that culture and the American lifestyle together. At my internship, I am in charge of several social media platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and (my personal favorite) Pinterest. Through the accounts, I promote museum events and showcase various artwork, artists and collections within the museum. I have also created lesson plans for classes that may be held in the future.

2) What would you say is the best part of your internship?

The best thing about my internship is the independence my supervisors give me. They are very interested in what the interns think and how we envision social media and events, allowing us to brainstorm ideas that actually make the vision come to life. For example, since the beginning they have given me the freedom to set up the social media accounts however I would like but they have also asked to see the accounts and ideas that I’ve come up with in order to get a sense of how I’ve developed the strategy. They are able to give the interns the perfect balance of structure and independence that allows us to grow and be as creative as we possibly can be. The support and encouragement I feel while working here is truly incredible; I couldn’t ask for a better internship or job.

3) What’s been your biggest learning experience so far?

The biggest learning experience I have encountered so far has been dealing with the regulations and guidelines involved with social media posting. Since I am in charge of posting images of artwork and artists, I have had to learn and understand what can and cannot be posted on the accounts, and in what way they can be posted. I have encountered the long process of steps it takes to earn complete approval before any public posting can be done. Though it has been a learning experience, and sometimes a lengthy one, the process has helped me further understand the way business protocol actually occurs.

4) Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, I hope to see myself growing in the field of fashion. I hope to be working at a big-name company, furthering my knowledge, gaining hands-on experience and increasing my passion for fashion design and merchandising. I hope to be working my way up in the field and to be on the way to creating my own fashion line. I have big dreams, and I have high hopes of achieving them, no matter how long it may take to get there.

5) If you had to give advice to another young intern, what would it be?

I would tell them not to give up and to fight for what they believe in. Most people are afraid to do something at such a young point in their life, but I think it helps you to grow. Maybe it’s scary, but I like to think that without being scared once in a while, you’ll never be able to achieve what you want. I would also tell them not to be afraid of being different or thinking outside the box. My creativity and differences are the reason I am where I am today and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Most of all, I would tell them that success takes time, so don’t be unhappy or discouraged if it takes you some time to get to where you want to be. The one thing you will always have is your passion, creativity, and drive — don’t ever let anyone try to take that away from you.

The post 17-Year-Old Rockstar Intern Shares Her Tips for Success appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When it comes to finding a great internship, knowing where to apply is just as important as having a strong resume and preparing for your interview. To make it easier to find awesome opportunities, we’ve put together a list of the best internship programs at companies across the country.

Whether you’re interested in marketing, engineering or human resources, there’s a program out there that’s perfect for you!

Ready to find your dream internship? Check out our full list of opportunities and find the one that’s right for you.

The post The Best Internship Programs for 2017 appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Did you know WayUp started a National Holiday? Well, ICYMI here are a few of the highlights from the first ever National Intern Day! 

1. 9:00 AM EST: Liz Wessel is on the TODAY Show with Al Roker

2. 11:15 AM EST: #NationalInternDay is a trending topic on Twitter in NYC

3. 12:30 PM EST: Liz & JJ (Co-Founders of WayUp) take WayUp’s summer interns to lunch for National Intern Day

4. 2:00 PM EST #NationalInternDay is a trending topic on Twitter in the US

5. 3:00 PM EST: The one and only John Legere posts about #NationalInternDay on Twitter

Shout out to the awesome @TMobile interns out there! Best #SlowCookerSunday audience I could have ever asked for! #NationalInternDay #TBT pic.twitter.com/LUvYiO0lft

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) July 27, 2017

6. 4:20 PM EST: WayUp’s Facebook Live Session with L’Oréal America CEO

7. 4:30 PM EST: WayUp CEO Liz Wessel is on Cheddar TV

8. 5:00 PM EST: WayUp is #Trending worldwide on Twitter!

9. 5:30 PM EST: WayUp recognizes it’s summer interns with an ice cream party

10. 7:00 PM EST: Bars around the city including Brother Jimmy’s and SideBar celebrate #NationalInternDay

…and that’s a wrap! Interested in learning more? Check out nationalinternday.com! 

Want to know learn what it takes to be one of the Nation’s best interns? Check out this year’s winners here!

Also, here’s a few more awesome #interns:

We ❤ our interns here at the Embassy of Italy 🇮🇹🇺🇸 in Washington DC! They’re amazing! #NationalInternDay pic.twitter.com/MIifQACST0

— Italy in US (@ItalyinUS) July 27, 2017

Melinda Gates in on the #NationalInternDay action

NASA’s interns also had some fun celebrating.

Tomorrow is #NationalInternDay! We're celebrating with the #InternEclipse photo challenge. Vote for your favorite!☀️ pic.twitter.com/LjRjXr2Kk8

— NASA Internships (@NASAInterns) July 26, 2017

Even Pikachu had something to say

Last (but certainly not least) the bright minds at Google making their mark

Huge shoutout to all the #GoogleInterns today on #NationalInternDay! Thanks for all you do to keep Google Googley 🤗 pic.twitter.com/xvERr5ZNXX

— Google Students (@googlestudents) July 27, 2017

The post The 10 Things You Missed on #NationalInternDay appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Time flies by when you’re having fun, right? It seems like just yesterday you were getting your information packet and learning all about the wonderful company that brought you in. Now you’re counting down your last days and squeezing in as much as you can.

Internships fly by, seriously, and you won’t even remember all the hard work you did towards the end. While you wrap up your last assignments and bond as much as you can with the staff and your intern friends, remember to do a few of these things too.

Plan out what you want to write in your thank you cards.

Before you even ask, yes you need to write thank you cards. Not a thank you email, not a verbal thank you, but a physical card that details what you are thankful for and how much you appreciate the time and opportunity that you were given. No matter how good you are at writing cards or thinking on your feet, you need to plan out what you want to write. It’s important to express your gratitude for the internship and your thanks to your internship supervisor. You should also take this time to think about who you want to write a card to. Obviously you should write cards to your department supervisors and intern coordinators, but is there anyone who helped you out that didn’t have to? Did you work closely with anyone from other departments? I’d consider writing them cards too to show your appreciation as well. The reason you do all of this? To show you’re a team player.

Write out what tasks and responsibilities you held and what new skills you learned.

The reason you want to do this before your internship comes to an end is so that you don’t forget anything. This information is what you need to add to your resumé, LinkedIn page, WayUp profile (hint, hint), and any kind of profile you have that employers can see. I suggest that you keep a running list starting at the beginning of your internship. Even if you only use a new program for one assignment, you still have experience with it and you never know when you could use it again.

If you have more time, ask for more assignments.

If you’re just a BOSS and finish all your last assignments, see if your supervisor has anything else for you to do. It could be a simple task of organizing some paperwork, or writing down messages from her voicemail, or he or she might lend you out to another department. No matter how maniacal the task, do it and don’t complain. It might not be the most glamorous job in the world, but doing it will show how dedicated you are to your internship, even as it comes to an end. Let’s not forget about getting recommendations!

Take in as much as you can and treat every day like a new one.

An internship is an ultimate experience. No two internships are alike, so treat each day like it’s your first, or your last! Take time to bond with your fellow interns, chances are you have a lot in common or have things to learn from one another! Bond with the staff, they were just like you once! Forming relationships outside, or even inside the office will change your internship experience completely. Trust me when I say this. One of my favorite internships provided an amazing experience because not only did I learn more than I had at any other internship, but the intern crew and staff were so friendly. We were not only co-workers, but friends too.

Enjoy this time and continue to work hard. Just because the end is near doesn’t mean you can slack off or ignore your responsibilites. After all, all that hard work you did was for something, end your internship on a strong note!

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post What to Do When Your Internship Comes to an End appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

At WayUp, we’re proud to celebrate interns every day, but we’re especially excited about the first-ever National Intern Day, which is taking place on Thursday, July 27th. As part of the celebration, we’re highlighting the achievements of six all-star interns and giving them each a $750 gift card to retailers such as Amazon and Apple.

If you’re an awesome intern and want to maximize your chances of winning the contest, listen up! Here are some tips that can help you come out on top.

1. Be a rockstar intern!

Before you can get recognized for being an amazing intern, you have to make sure that you put in the work. This means not only completing all of the projects you’ve been assigned, but also going above and beyond to prove to your manager that you’re passionate about your job and dedicated to making an impact at the company. A great way to do this is by asking your manager if there are any additional tasks or projects you can help with. This will show them that you’re a team player who’s dedicated to adding value to the organization.

2. Get the word out about the NID contest.

Being a great intern is a wonderful first step, but it’s also important to make sure that your company knows about the contest! After all, how can they nominate you if they don’t know it exists?

Send them over to the National Intern Day site where they can learn more about the competition and nominate you in one of six categories:

Design & Creative Intern
Marketing & Communications Intern
Product & Engineering Intern
Sales & Biz Dev Intern
Operations & Finance Intern
“Learn it All” Intern

In addition, ask them to pledge to participate in National Intern Day and commit to doing something special to celebrate their interns on July 27th!

3. Be your own PR person.

A little self-promotion never hurt anyone, especially when it comes to winning a contest.

While we’re not suggesting you walk around telling your co-workers how great you are at your job, we do think you should mention the contest, and tell them that you’re excited about it and would like to be recognized. A subtle mention during a coffee meeting and a few social shares will let your friends and colleagues know that you’re excited about National Intern Day and would like to be considered for a chance to win.

PS: Remind them that there are also awards for managers and programs too!

Ready to boost your chances of winning? Head over to the contest site to get started!

The post 3 Tips That Can Help You Win the National Intern Day Contest appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In the workplace, introverts get a hard rap. Not only are they labeled as unenthusiastic and poor team players, but others may assume that because they prefer to work quietly on their own, that they’re actually unproductive, or even worse, inattentive. In reality, introverts are capable of tackling the same tasks and responsibilities as extroverts; they just tackle them in their own way.

If you feel as if you’re an introvert, you may be worried about your inability to compete with extroverted interns. Don’t fret. In fact, because of the introvert tendency to think through situations before reacting, you actually have a lot of clear advantages over extroverts. Here are five ways you can shine as an introvert in your internship:

1. Quality over Quantity

Introverts are thinkers. You might not come up with five new ideas and excitedly share them over the course of one brainstorming session, but the idea you do come up with will be the cream of the crop. Rather than bursting out the idea the moment you conceive it, you’ll quietly gather your thoughts in order to perfect the idea, and only then, will you share it.

Introverts will thus not give unfounded ideas, which is a great timesaver in the workplace. Even if more outspoken interns are better at making their ideas heard, introverted interns are better making their ideas implemented.

2. Independence

Employers are always looking for focused team members who produce high-quality work, and introverts tend to be very good at staying focused on the task at hand. They think about the problem, form a solution, and just do it without getting distracted by small talk.  Bosses won’t need to ask them to solve a problem; chances are, if they have found the problem, they’re already working on finding the solution. In short, introverted interns are great at staying on task with little direction.

3. Desire to Improve

Introverted people may not seem outwardly competitive, but they undoubtedly feel a certain sense of competition. Instead of competing with others, they’re competing with themselves, a more fruitful, and engaging endeavor. They’re constantly challenging themselves to do better, which means they’ll be focused during work, but they’ll also be preparing outside of work. Introverted interns don’t just try hard on the job; they’re reading and learning more about the industry in their spare time.

 4. Passion

Not only are introverts passionate about improving themselves, they’re passionate about upholding their interests and beliefs. If you’re an introvert interning at a substance abuse rehab center, you probably feel passionate about fighting drug abuse, and you’ll do everything you can to help the patients get clean.

 5. Good Listening Skills

Introverts watch, listen, and observe in order to get all the information they need to hit the nail on the head the first time around. Supervisors won’t have to explain a concept or a process over and over; once introverts understand the idea, they’ll start looking for other places to apply it.

Tips for Interning as an Introvert

Despite all the inherent strengths introverts have in internships, it can be a little hard to figure out how to use these strengths. Here are three tips for succeeding in your internship as an introvert:

1. Take Notes

In order to calm down before an important meeting, write down all the notes you think you’ll need, or even plan out some of what you’ll say. Nobody is going to look down on you for over-preparing for a big meeting, and it’s always better than under-preparing and not understanding everything you need to do.

2. Regroup When Needed

If you’re feeling stressed or frantic, don’t be afraid to take a few minutes to calm down and regroup. Get your thoughts in order and return to work with a positive mindset.

3. Plan, Plan, Plan

Internships are often high-pressured so planning ahead of time can prevent you from having an uncomfortable “deer in headlights” moment. Yes, you’ll need to think on your feet, but your day will turn out better if you’ve prepared as much as you can.

The most important thing to remember is that even though you are an introvert, it’s not a curse—you are just as much of a valuable member of the team as an extrovert! You bring a different set of experiences and thought processes to the table, and that is extremely useful to any company. Instead of feeling ashamed of your introversion, embrace it—understand the importance of quality and hard work!

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post 5 Advantages Introverts Have In Internships appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

“What in the world is that!?” I’m guessing you’ve already asked this question during your summer internship.  What makes an internship valuable is that immediately after you learn something new, you are thrown into hands-on experiences to test your knowledge.  After learning what a sales pitch is, you reach out to clients directly; after learning a new programming language, you write computer software according to that new information. The quicker you can become knowledgeable about what you’re working on, the more successful you’ll be. This article will show you how you can accelerate your learning curve.

1) When you collide with something you don’t understand, catch it before it slips away!

Write down that word or topic so you don’t forget it, and then start gathering information as soon as you can.

2) Learn for the sake of personal growth.

Even if what you’re learning about doesn’t relate to your specific job as a summer intern, you’ll still benefit by being knowledgeable about it. You could end up working in that particular field or you could use your knowledge to contribute to an important conversation.

3) Take advantage of all the resources available at your fingertips:

• E-books: provide in-depth information.  Quora.com is a great resource, especially for tech students.
• Forums: give you the street-knowledge of the topic
• Magazines: are interactive and fun to read
• Blogs: allow you to interact with a community of specialists.  For instance, if you want to learn more about SEO, great.

Your colleagues should be glad to respond to any questions you have.  If they don’t know the answer, then you have just created an opportunity for them to learn alongside you. Use Twitter and Facebook to post questions.  When you spark an online discussion, you never know what knowledge could be shared or who could join the discussion.

There is a gap between being familiar with a topic and being a master of it. You can bridge that gap by purposefully acting to accelerate your learning curve throughout your summer internship.

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post How to Accelerate Your Learning Curve During an Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As the go-to career platform for students and recent grads, WayUp is excited to announce that the first-ever National Intern Day will take place on July 27th, 2017. WayUp is partnering with top companies across the country including American Express, Under Armour, Dell Technologies, and Unilever to recognize the nation’s hardworking interns, and celebrate National Intern Day.

“Internships are a critical step on the path to landing a job after graduation, and launching a successful career. Despite the stereotypes, internships are not about fetching coffee and making copies. Interns are vital contributors to the organizations that they work for, so we wanted to create a single day that puts them in the spotlight.” said Liz Wessel, CEO and Co-Founder of WayUp. “WayUp has helped millions of people find internships, and we have seen firsthand how impactful those work experiences are both for the intern, and for the company that hires them.“

As a part of the National Intern Day celebration, WayUp is launching a search to find the country’s best interns, and intern programs through the Intern Awards. Starting today, interns nationwide, as well as their colleagues and friends, can submit nominations for the best interns and programs in eight unique categories. Winners of the Intern Awards will be announced on July 27th.

Companies looking to celebrate National Intern Day can pledge to recognize their interns on July 27th at www.nationalinternday.com. WayUp will send every company who pledges a free kit with information and materials to hold their own in-office intern celebration.

“We believe that internships are extremely important, and a valuable experience for a student’s professional and personal development.” said Matthew Haddad, North American University Relations Team Lead at Unilever, one of the companies participating in National Intern Day. “We want our interns to have a fun time learning about who they are, while solving real business issues.”

To nominate students and businesses for the Intern Awards, participate in any of the National Intern Day activities, or receive more information, please visit www.nationalinternday.com.

The post WayUp Celebrates America’s Interns With “National Intern Day” appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So, you’ve landed a summer internship. Congratulations! As you know, internships are extraordinary opportunities to learn and grow. However, internships can only be what YOU make of them. In order to make the most of your experience, you need to set some solid goals.

Finding Your Passion & Setting Goals

Passion grows when you pursue a goal. You play with passion because you want to win, you write with passion because you want to convey, and you will work with passion because you want to succeed. “There is no passion to be found in playing small.”-Nelson Mandela

The first step to charting out how you want your internship to run its course is to look back and remember how you arrived where you are. Reflect on why you wanted to intern at the company you’re now at. How did you think the experience would serve you? Why did the idea of working there excite you? It will be important to re-ignite the spark of passion that led you to the internship as assignments are poured on you during your first days as an intern. Passion is the most direct way to your success.

Setting Successful Goals for your Summer Internship

Setting goals as an intern requires that you define success. What do you want to accomplish by the end of the summer? Some examples of this could be leading a project of your own, making a connection with another company, or receiving a job offer.

Remember to make your goals measurable. Specific numbers should be incorporated in your goals. For example, you want to prepare and present 7 fifteen-minute presentations to your manager and co-workers by the end of the summer.

Break your goal down into a more organized schedule: ex. you want to complete a presentation every week for this month.

Write your goals down. This will enable you to look back on them occasionally and check to see how you’re progressing. If one of your goals is to become an effective networker, continually develop that goal by meeting with people on a weekly basis.

Make goals that you believe you can meet. However, (and this part is crucial) once you reach the first set of goals you create, create new ones! Allow yourself to be satisfied with the accomplishment of a goal, but continue to look ahead. A marathon runner doesn’t stop to celebrate at each mile-marker.

Exceeding Expectations

No matter what industry you’re in, you should always strive not only to meet the expectations of your role but to exceed them.

The key to exceeding expectations is to take extra steps in each of your individual projects. When you finish a piece of writing, reread it several times and replace mediocre words for shimmering ones. When you finish meeting with someone, shoot them an email or Facebook message thanking them for their time. When you finish all your assignments for the day, help others fulfill theirs; I guarantee they won’t forget it. There is always more to be done. Continually be alert and search for what more you can do.

Come into your work with passion, set to exceed the clear goals you laid out for yourself.  If you keep your goals in front of you as you strive to be productive in the workplace, you will be surprised how much you will achieve. Don’t be satisfied with just a base hit; strive to hit the ball out of the park. If you do so, you will be well on your way to Mastering Summer Internships.

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post How to Set Internship Goals appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Everyone remembers their first internship. And as the go-to career platform for students and recent grads, we know the importance of internships firsthand. So, we’re partnering with top companies across the country such as American Express, Under Armour, Dell, Unilever and more to recognize the nation’s hardworking interns and celebrate the first-ever National Intern Day on July 27th.

“Interns are vital contributors to the organizations that they work for, so we wanted to create a single day that puts them in the spotlight.” says Liz Wessel, the CEO and co-founder of WayUp. “WayUp has helped millions of people find internships, and we’ve seen firsthand how impactful those work experiences are both for the intern, and for the company that hires them.“

Your company can celebrate too

If you want your company to be part of the celebration, you can pledge to participate on the National Intern Day site. To help you make the day special for your interns, we’ll send your company a free kit with information and materials to hold your own in-office intern celebration. We also recommend hosting a special event on the 27th to put the focus on your interns and celebrate the amazing work they do every day. This can be anything from a mentorship session to an intern lunch or anything that feels right for your company.

Your interns can win some incredible prizes

As a part of the National Intern Day celebration, we’re launching a search to find the country’s best interns through the Intern Awards. Over the next three weeks, interns across the country, as well as colleagues, friends and employers can submit nominations for the best interns in six unique categories. The winners will be announced on July 27th and interns will receive a $750 gift card to a retailer of their choice including Amazon or Apple.

Your managers and company can be recognized as well

In addition to awarding the country’s best interns, we’re recognizing the best intern managers and internship programs. So, make sure to nominate your managers and your company to win on the National Intern Day site. We’ll be publishing a list of the top 50 internship programs at the end of the summer. We’re definitely curious to see who makes the list!

Ready to get the intern party started?

Check out the National Intern Day site and learn how your company can get involved.

We’re gearing up for the first-ever National Intern Day on July 27th. Head over to www.nationalinternday.com to learn how to get your company involved in the celebration.

The post What Employers Need to Know About National Intern Day appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When it comes to starting your career, few things are as important as a great internship that can help you develop the skills and experience you need to succeed. To recognize the importance of internships, and the impact interns make on an organization, WayUp is launching the first-ever National Intern Day on July 27th. We figured if there could be a National Selfie Day and a National Oreo Day, there should probably be a day to celebrate our country’s future business leaders too!

We’re partnering with top companies across the country such as American Express, Under Armour, Dell, Unilever and more to recognize their hardworking interns and draw attention to the importance of internships as a necessary step on the path to professional success.

Interested in getting involved in the celebration (and possibly earning a cash prize in the process?!) Here’s what you need to know about National Intern Day:

What is National Intern Day?

National Intern Day is the first celebration of its kind, a day designed to highlight the awesome things that interns like you do every day. “Internships are a critical step on the path to landing a job after graduation,” says Liz Wessel, the CEO and co-founder of WayUp. As a company that’s helped millions of people find internships, we’ve seen firsthand how impactful those experiences can be and we want to celebrate interns who are making a difference.

How can you get involved?

As a part of the National Intern Day celebration, we’re launching a search to find the country’s best interns in six different categories:

Best Design & Creative Intern
Best Marketing & Communications Intern
Best Product & Engineering Intern
Best Sales & Biz Dev Intern
Best Operations & Finance Intern
Best “Learn it All” Intern (For those of you who do it all!)

Sound like you? If you or someone you know fits the bill, you can submit a nomination and enter yourself (or your fellow intern) in the contest. The winners will be announced on July 27th and will receive one of six awesome cash prizes, including a $750 gift card to either Amazon or Apple.

What else do you need to know about National Intern Day?

In addition to spotlighting amazing interns, National Intern Day also puts the focus on employers who are creating awesome internship opportunities and programs. So while you’re submitting a nomination for yourself, go ahead and submit one for your internship program manager and company too! This will help them get the recognition they deserve while also giving other interns the opportunity to discover great internship programs.

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post National Intern Day is Changing the Way We Think About Interns appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Internships are tricky. How do you know what industry you want to work in or what position you want all based off of a couple months at one company, and what if you have a dream job that just seems downright unattainable right now?

Luckily, President Barack Obama gave some helpful advice to the White House’s summer interns this week, and his message is universal regardless of where you’re interning: “Worry less about what you want to be and more about what you want to do.”

When it comes to figuring out what you want to do with your life, it’s easy to get stuck on titles and perks. Yes, being able to say you’re a hip fashion designer or the founder of the next big app sounds nice, but how do you know you’ll actually enjoy the work that comes with clawing your way into those roles?

Instead of focusing on your future title, think critically about the skills your current internship lets you acquire and what you actually enjoy (or straight-up loathe) about the work you’re doing. For example, if you want to go into fashion design, do you actually like sketching, sewing, dealing with vendors and spending hours toiling away at tiny details? If yes, you’re on the right track. If you’re cringing just reading this, maybe the title was drawing you more to the industry than the work itself. Time to go back to the drawing board.

But before you start looking for a job where you’ll like everything you’re doing all the time, remember that no matter what gig you end up taking, not every part of it will be glamorous or fun. Many startup founders still physically pack boxes of their product in warehouses. Programmers deal with lines of code they aren’t necessarily jazzed to write, and sales people fill out countless spreadsheets, which may not be your definition of fast-paced or exciting, but if you’re in the right role in the right industry, the interesting parts of the job will far outweigh the grunt work you inevitably have to do.

Going back to President Obama’s advice, what does this mean for you now? No matter what internship you’re completing, think about what you do and don’t like about your gig. Could you see yourself doing this work full-time and really liking it? If not, what are parts of the internship you do like, and are their other industries or roles better suited to those skills?

Internships are an awesome way to learn more about yourself. Don’t ignore those signs.

The post Want to Be a Stellar Intern? Steal This Simple Tip from President Obama appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You have just graduated and are looking to start an internship to gain more experience in your field of choice. You are bright, motivated, and eager to make a good impression. You are also a new parent.

A previous article discussed the importance of balancing your work and life. As any parent of a newborn baby can tell you, though, newborn babies tip that scale in their favor and with good reason. They require that attention to survive in an environment that is new to them.

The Question is: How does a new parent juggle the demands of their new child with the demands of a new internship?

While it may not be apparent at first, there is common ground between what you and your newborn baby are experiencing. Both of you are experiencing environments that are different than what you are used to. The anxiety and stress over new situations and environments can be overwhelming.

In such a situation, one thing you can do to relieve some of that pressure is to build and use your social support network. A social support network can include friends, family and even coworkers. In fact, being around supportive and caring coworkers can increase your satisfaction at work. Talking to supportive coworkers during your break or at lunch can help you reduce the anxiety and stress that you are experiencing from taking care of a newborn.

Having supportive friends and family can also help you cope with your anxiety and stress. Reaching out to your friends and family for help when you are feeling overwhelmed for help with daycare, advice and comfort can help ease some of that burden and enable you to recharge so that you can give your full attention to your baby and career. Having an unpaid internship can also place new parents in a unique situation because interns whom are also new parents have more expenses without the income to cover them.

Having a supportive spouse, partner and even parent can ease some of the financial challenges of having an unpaid internship and a newborn baby. Additionally, if you are living in the United States, there are resources that you can find from your local government. Programs such as California CalWORKs and Florida Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are examples of resources that you can use for support.

Both you and your newborn are experiencing new environments. It is important to note that you can visit your medical doctor if either you or your baby has difficulty coping with your new lives together. Remember to keep your doctor appointments, to take the time to rest and to enlist the help of your social support network. Most importantly, remember to take a step back, and enjoy the time that you have with your newborn.

The post Life As an Intern and New Parent: You Are Not Alone appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Interested in exploring a career in Finance? We sat down with Kyle Higgins, a recent grad who joined Deutsche Bank, to learn all about how he landed the internship and what he got to do over the summer. Check it out!

Q: What was school like for you, and where did you expect to go career-wise?

Kyle:  I graduated from the University at Albany (SUNY) in the Financial Analyst Program.  There were roughly 20 others in my year, and all of them are now working in Finance. It was definitely a competitive program, with many students completing extracurriculars and internships in addition to full class-loads. One program that I was involved in was an asset management group, where we managed money from the school’s endowment fund. This gave me some fantastic experience that helped my resume in a big way. The overall culture of the program was very pre-professional—needless to say, we wore suits to class more often than sweatpants.

Q: How did you find out about Deutsche Bank? What other areas/companies were you interested in at the time?

Kyle: I had previously heard of Deutsche Bank but didn’t have any direct contact with the firm since none of my classmates in the Program had been hired there.  While at a networking event, a few alumni talked about their jobs at Deutsche Bank and they told us about the internship and Graduate Program.  The presentation they gave is what ultimately got me interested, and why I submitted my resume. I also applied to a few other banks, but to this day, I’m really glad I went to that Deutsche presentation.

Q: What did you expect going into the Deutsche Bank internship program?

Kyle: The presentation on campus gave me a strong impression of the caliber and type of people at Deutsche Bank and this was only strengthened as I completed phone screenings and final round interviews. My expectation was to participate in real-world scenarios while collaborating with other interns throughout the 10 week program.  Our group project ended up centering on two separate cases involving Russia and Argentina.  At the end of the summer, we presented our analysis to several senior managers in Risk, and our analysis actually helped them make important decisions in those markets.

Q: What was your first week like in the internship?

Kyle: The first week at Deutsche Bank was a combination of offsite intern training and introductions to your specific team, which for me was CRM Securitization.  The training helped teach us things to consider when working on the job, emphasizing practical knowledge like financial statement analysis.  My first day on the Securitization team made me realize how much interns were treated like full-time employees.  Although we were new to the role, real work was assigned to us with deadlines and expectations.  I remember how on the first day, my mentor gave me a live deal to read through.  Although he knew most of the information would take a while to digest, I appreciated  that on day one he treated me like a peer, giving me real insight into what he was working on.

From the moment I joined the Bank, I was impressed with the diversity of views and perspectives – not only in my intern class, but in the full-time staff as well.  Within Risk, there were several colleagues with diverse nationalities including Chinese, German and French, and everyone seemed to bring unique perspectives to the table. Something really valuable I learned on the team was that the combination of several cultures and backgrounds bring out the best quality of work.

Q: What are a few things that surprised you about Deutsche Bank?

Kyle: As I mentioned earlier, I was surprised by the level of diversity of backgrounds and cultures on the team.  The depth of knowledge my colleagues were able to draw upon, from previous positions they held both internally and externally was truly incredible.  As an example, one of my colleagues had previously worked for the rating agencies which ultimately gave him better insight into their methodology and approach. Finally, I didn’t realize how many locations and countries Deutsche Bank operated in globally; when I had the opportunity to go abroad with the Bank, I really felt like I was a part of this vast global team.

Q: I heard the Deutsche Bank Risk program offers graduates the opportunity to complete an international rotation. Where did you complete yours? How do you feel this enhanced your experience with the Bank?

Kyle: My international rotation was in Dusseldorf, Germany for nine weeks.  I worked with the Global Credit Rating team (GCRT) and completed several ratings during my stay.  This experience helped me understand the work that the team completes on a daily basis, as well as how the end results flow into the CRM function.

The experience was extremely helpful in improving my skills when evaluating companies that are corporate as well as financial-based.  Being able to “deep dive” into financial statements and assess the health of a counter party is crucial to several roles in finance.

On a more personal note, it was a pleasure to expand my network and meet those who work in the Dusseldorf office.  Within that location, 22 languages are spoken and the nationalities include Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, and Venezuelan, to name a few.  The team welcomed me into their daily life and made me feel at home six time zones away from New York. It was awesome.

Q: What has the experience taught you about yourself?

Kyle: The experience has taught me that I can learn something new in a completely foreign environment.  No matter where I go or what I do in my career, it is reassuring to know that I can thrive in a challenging environment.  It has also improved my ability to collaborate with colleagues from very different backgrounds.  If I could succeed in an office in Dusseldorf, Germany, where people spoke 22 different languages, I could get by anywhere.

Q: What are you excited about for the future?

Kyle: The grad rotation has afforded me the opportunity to see many areas of the Bank, both domestically and internationally.  By the end of this Risk program, I will have worked with CRM Securitization, CRM Leveraged Finance, Global Credit Rating Team and CRM Hedge Funds.  I have developed so many valuable connections and expanded my network farther than I ever anticipated.  I am excited to bring all my experiences and general knowledge of risk to whichever team I am fully placed with. I’m also looking forward to finally moving into the city!

Interested in a career at Deutsche Bank? Head over to their company page on WayUp for more information!

The post My Summer Internship at Deutsche Bank appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As a senior at UC Davis about ready to graduate, I decided to stay another year to pursue the entertainment industry and was lucky enough to land three studio internships. In my super senior year, I got to intern at Warner Bros. Records in the International Marketing department, Nickelodeon Animation Studios in the Vault department, and DreamWorks Animation Studios on the movie, Penguins of Madagascar. I also had the opportunity to interview with many other companies, such as Pixar and Live Nation, but unfortunately the timing was a bit off.

From applying, interviewing and participating in these internship programs, I’ve collected some tips and insight which might prove helpful in bettering your chances when applying to entertainment internships. Absorb what is useful for you and ignore what is not. Keep in mind, there’s always more than one path to get where you’re going.

Be An Off-Season Intern

Most students apply for internships during the summer, which makes these programs very competitive, especially for the highly sought out studios. If you want to better your chances, apply during the off-seasons (Fall/Spring semester) and take some classes at your university during the summer instead.

All of my internships were either during Fall or Spring semester. I remember I applied to Warner Bros. Records for the Summer program and did not hear back from them. I then re-applied for the Fall program without changing a thing on my resume, and I received three interviews all in various departments.

Read about a Nicktern’s  experience  interning for The Fairly Odd Parents here

Be Willing to Relocate

If you want to break into the industry and are not fortunate enough to live in the Los Angeles area, you have to be willing to relocate. Being a student at UC Davis in NorCal, I knew my options for the entertainment industry were very limited and that I was probably going to end up in SoCal. If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to sacrifice some things. During my internship with Nickelodeon, I had fellow interns who came all the way from Illinois and New York for the unpaid internship (Nickelodeon is now a paid internship).

I know this is not easy and can take a cut in your savings, but there are some ways to keep your cost low. For example, you can find yourself a sublet for your current apartment and use that money to rent a spot in Los Angeles.

Be Professional

Even though it’s the entertainment industry and everyone is wearing shorts and flip flops, you should still dress to impress. Not only does this apply when interviewing for the internship but also while you’re interning at the studio. These internships are the longest job interview you’ll ever have, and by dressing sharp, you’ll stand out and will be remembered.

During my internship at Nickelodeon, an executive saw me dressed up in slacks, a button up and a tie and complimented my attire. Definitely not a bad person to impress.

Find Out How To Get An Animation Internship For College Students

Join a Club or Organization

If you are hesitant to apply because you believe you don’t have enough or any experience in the entertainment industry, join a club or organization at your school. I really wanted to break into the music industry and had no experience in that field whatsoever, so I volunteered for my college radio and put that on my resume, which showed I was doing something music related.

Once you have a major studio on your resume, no matter the industry it is, it will open more doors and help you land internships at other major studios.

Helpful Resources

Want to get into the entertainment industry, but have no idea where to start? Be sure to subscribe to my blog, The Storyboard Room where I’ll be posting a behind the scenes look from the people who work in the industry. You can also watch “The Outsiders,” my cartoon short with Nickelodeon Animation Studio here.

The post How I Interned With Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, & Warner Bros. In 1 Year appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

1. Expect the Unexpected

Near the end of 2014, I was home on break and campus life seemed as distant mentally as it was physically. In fact, that was my goal, as I was in the midst of numerous transitions in my career – from adjusting to a new position as a Director of Special Events for the Illini Union Board to joining the planning committee for the 2016 Institute of Industrial Engineers Regional Conference. Further, I was intending to spend the summer productively on campus, so it was likely I wouldn’t be seeing my family for a year. One evening, I booted my laptop to email my advisor about a course I was interested in and found an unexpected message in my inbox.

2. Choose Based on Position, Not on Paycheck

A brief email with a PDF attachment that turned out to be an offer letter for a Continuous Improvement Engineer Intern position, an assignment which exemplifies the values I held close as an Industrial Engineer. To put it concisely, it didn’t take long to set aside my other offer and commit to this one.

Fast forward a break and a semester; my roommate sipped on coffee as I munched on a chocolate-chip muffin, wearing new hard-toe boots, unsure what to expect from my first day at G&W Electric Company. My brain was struggling to process mixed advice while wishfully mapping an ideal internship experience. My phone buzzed – our Uber was here. It didn’t take long to slide through suburban traffic, and before I knew it I was sitting in the Westinghouse training room, combining forces with 24 other interns to stare down the front wall. Punctually, the HR team entered, encouraging us to help ourselves to the breakfast that was waiting at the back of the room as they walked us through the day’s training schedule, signaling the official start of my internship.

3. Maximize and Track

It wasn’t long before I felt like a part of the organization, and the accompanying routine felt like a part of me. My supervisor and department had been pushing me to my capabilities ever since I completed my initial summer project – scheduled to last 3 months – in just under 2 days. Although it was a seemingly simple area layout, the sheer detail involved in developing a realistic proposal forced me to realize that I had only scratched the surface of being an Industrial Engineer, a true case of the more I knew, the less I knew. Before long, I had worked with the Director of Continuous Improvement on field action kits, updated assembly procedures and been assigned to pioneer an exhaustive full-plant layout with no sign of slowing. I was placed on increasingly more experienced teams with different departments on a wide variety of projects.

As the tasks accumulated, my supervisor passed a seemingly impervious piece of advice – to make a list of my projects this summer – without which I may not have been able to write this today. This is about when my largest project of the summer hit – a material handling investigation to efficiently locate and kit frame parts during the assembly process. As my teammates and I promptly discovered through considerable data analysis, the problem was larger than even our supervisors knew, with annual losses touching 6 digits. The project took a turn, and we diligently began hunting for solutions from various suppliers and conferences, availing in a final proposed solution with an almost irrefutable 2 month return on investment! Needless to say, the executives loved our report, and this project lives on my résumé till date.

However, the summer was far from over as my supervisor wished me to take his spot in a Weld booth Kaizen event in an effort to practice the ever beloved 5S+1 (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, Safety) toolkit. After almost a week of painting, fabricating and retrofitting with the Manufacturing Engineering and Welding departments, our first ever world-class welding booth was a sight to behold. As you may agree from the above photo, it wasn’t a surprise that the company supported a 1 month rollout schedule for the rest of the facility.

Less than 2 weeks from now, I would be on a bus to my new room in Urbana, I thought, as update emails from my campus Program Director rolled in. I was set to tie up loose ends from the Summer Intern Newsletter to my final project. This was possibly my most exciting project, as I was to operate independently to facilitate the reorganization and remodeling of a work cell in order to accommodate more efficient parts flow and an all-new, fully-automated glue dispensing robot! I was required to independently cooperate with multiple departments and suppliers while consistently carrying out supporting tasks – including personnel supervision and equipment installation. In my mind, this was the ideal culmination of my experience, along with a testament to the knowledge and faith I had earned in the past

4. Maintain Connections

I contemplated the end of my summer at G&W as I looked down at my chocolate-chip muffin. I was sitting in an almost identical spot a few months ago, but understood this muffin much better now. It fascinated me that even a muffin would go through a multifaceted manufacturing process saturated with engineers, simply to be consumed with maximum satisfaction. Further, I realized how much I had been processed over the past summer, in my passion and voracity for Industrial Engineering. I mulled over not recognizing myself when I graduate or how the campus life I was returning to would overhaul my system of living.

Nonetheless, I knew I would stay in touch for updates on my projects’ sustenance and that I was connected to a fair number of G&W Employees through LinkedIn; isn’t that a victory in itself?

5. Take Photos!

Yes, it’s that part of the post, where a misty-eyed writer urges you to cherish each moment and gather multiple memory cards worth of selfies, but remember, memories can be the best way to network and reconnect with old peers after life takes you down different paths. Alternatively, they might come in handy if you find yourself writing an internship blog!

The post How to Seize Unexpected Opportunities and Make the Most of Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Over the summer, I interned at Studio Pura, a photography studio in West Hartford, CT. The entire internship experience was very hands-on and allowed me to greatly improve my own photography skills and editing skills within the Photoshop software. I was also required to assist with photo shoots and attend client and business meetings. Since Studio Pura is a small photography studio, the owner is the sole photographer and I was the only intern and person working for her. The small size of the company is partly why I was given so much responsibility with my workload for my supervisor.

While at school, my major is English Creative Writing, and I study Photography as my minor. When I started at Studio Pura for the summer, I thought my skills with photography would really be the only area of study that would lend help to my internship experience. My supervisor, however, needed help with her blog, so I was basically able to take over writing the blog for her. I was so happy that both my major and minor were put to use with this internship.

One of the best experiences happened right at the end of the internship when I assisted my supervisor with a wedding in the middle of August. During all of the other photo shoots that I had assisted on, my job had mainly been to hold reflectors and move props around. However, at the beginning of this specific wedding, my supervisor handed me her other camera and asked me if I wanted to shoot as her second photographer. I was so happy and pleased that my supervisor trusted me enough to shoot a wedding with her. This was the perfect end to my internship experience with Studio Pura.

I go to Endicott College, where, as an undergraduate student, we are required to complete multiple internships throughout our four years of study. Although finding internships seems scary and confusing, it is not so difficult or daunting. If you have an idea of what you want to do and know where you want to be or might want to be, it’s easy to just type, “photography studios in Boston” into Google or an internship searching site, for example. It’s also helpful to use any relationship that you have—whether it be a parent, teacher, boss or friend’s relative—to help you get a foot into a potential internship site. Once you have a list of a few places that you want to intern, it’s important to write a cover letter and perfect your résumé and then email both along to the company. For me, when I applied to Studio Pura, I didn’t even know if the studio accepted interns, and although I was the first, all it takes is one email to find out! 

The post How Taking Multiple Internships Helped My Launch My Career appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Being from a smaller town outside of Minneapolis, I always knew I wanted to see more. When I began studying film at the University of Minnesota, my attention was quickly drawn to the bright lights of Los Angeles. I took a trip down to the golden coast and knew it was where I wanted to be. Upon my return, I began scouring the internet for a possible internship that would land me smack dab in the middle of Hollywood.

Fast forward a few months, three terrifying phone and Skype interviews, countless dollars flying out of my bank account and I am in Los Angeles! I am settled into my apartment and have begun exploring the city.

As my internship was about to begin, these were a few of the things I wish people would have told me about the entire experience:

1. No Job Is Too Small

On my very first day, I thought I would be helping out on some big film set or sharing stories with the stars. No. I was putting together an Ikea desk and organizing banker boxes, but did I complain or make it seem like I was not interested? Absolutely not. I was as eager as ever, and you bet I put together the best desk that city had ever seen. Once your supervisor trusts you more, your jobs will get bigger and bigger! (mine definitely did!)

2. Make Friends/Connections

This is crucial. Although I did not befriend that many other interns, I did make friends with both of my supervisors and the CEO of the company. Be friendly, work hard and stay professional.

3. Ask Questions

Kind of obvious? Maybe, but you would be surprised by how many of the other interns were too scared to speak because they were “just interns.” Make an impression! Of course, you do not want to cross any boundaries, but it will only help you to ask about the company, your tasks, what you can do better, etc. These things will make you seem eager and ready!

4. Help Out Wherever Possible

I am the strongest believer in internships. My internship taught me more than my four years at college (sorry mom and dad..) ever did. This is because I gave that summer my entire heart and soul. Any extra job that needed people – in my case, this was usually production assistants – I would take. I worked almost every single shoot that the company had. I was even sent out on my own to do interviews for a large company event with high profile film stars. I was able to prove that I was serious and that I knew what I was doing by helping out whenever I could.

5. Take The City Where You Are Interning Into Consideration

Although this is not about the job itself, it is very important. I ended up being in Los Angeles, thinking it was the most perfect place for me. After my summer as an intern, I realized that even though I loved where I was working, Los Angeles was not for me. I would not have known this without my internship. It gave me a chance to work and live in LA without any strings attached. LA does look good on a resume in the film world, though! Internships are the best way to get a taste of what life will be like after graduation. It gives you a foot in the door at a company, new skills and a brighter outlook on life. Make sure you are taking it seriously, working your hardest and jumping on every opportunity!

The post What I Learned Moving to LA for an Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I interned at iHeart Media radio station with KJR 950 sports talk radio. All in all, I will take away some Adobe Audition skills, which is a software I really like working with. In general, I think the internship was great! I made podcasts filling in descriptions & pictures and made audio cuts from Seahawks and Mariners players, guests & hosts that were used on the air, which was super fun. I will take away from this experience a foot in the door in the audio industry, meeting some good people, more audio skills, podcasting ability and some sports knowledge that I never had before. I hope the contacts I have made will stay friends or at least be good references in my network. It is still weird not to be going there Monday-Friday anymore, and I was sad when it ended.

Advice I would have for those wanting to land and succeed at an in internship:

1. Keep on it. E-mail multiple times if you have to. Be persistent without being a pest. Don’t give up until you get a yes.
2. Be on time, even be early if possible. I think it is super important because time is precious, and people don’t want their time wasted. Showing you can follow a schedule proves you care about what you are doing.
3. Listen, especially when you are getting instructions or orders. When you pay attention and do things right the first time, it shows you are competent and want to impress your higher-ups. Plus, people don’t often like to repeat themselves.
4. Ask questions. If you don’t know something or can’t remember, it’s better to ask someone than to miss the mark.
5. Be friendly. Show your personality, and try to bond with people and find things that you have in common with them. They with be happier if you are likable.
6. Put in the work. When someone asks you to do something, do it to the best of your ability, and if that person wants you to stay late to work on an extra project or activity, do it with enthusiasm. The effort will be appreciated.

The post Internship Advice I learned Working for Sports Radio appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As a first year forensic psychology graduate student, I had made up my mind to intern at my state’s only maximum security prison for female inmates.  I learned early on in life that squeaky wheels usually get greased, so with my own personal mantra in hand, I sought my internship by communicating directly with the prison warden herself.  After several carefully timed emails, I received a response from the prison’s chaplain asking if I could meet with her the following day at 10 am in her office at the prison.

Being familiar with prison protocol was in my favor.  Those weekly twelve-step meetings gave me an upper hand on what I could and could not wear, as well as what I could bring inside with me.  Although I had never been incarcerated myself, I had something much more valuable in common with the female inmates.  I was there to give them hope, if not all of them a little bit of hope, then at least one of them a lot of hope.  Hope came in real form:  me!  With my physical scars and a story for each one, I shared how my former life as a heroin addict had its one and only purpose, in my eyes, and that was to show other alcohol and drug-addicted women that they do not have to live that way any more.

My desire to intern at this prison, I told the Chaplain, was to carry a message of hope two days a week in four group sessions.  I started the following week.  My hopes were high to help many, but reality proved otherwise.  My groups dwindled and participation lessened; however, I do know I helped change one inmate’s life.  I rallied on her behalf to the Department of Social Services as well as her attorney for this particular inmate’s fight to keep her parental rights of her 3-year old son.  She won.  It was simple to me: An inmate working hard to rehabilitate herself—which she was—does not need to lose her rights as a mother…leave those cases up to those inmates who have no desire to get better, and believe me, I encountered many of those during my internship.

At the end of my internship, I was exhausted mentally and emotionally.  My dreams of carrying hope almost turned me into a cynic.  It is sad but true. However, what I gained from this internship is perhaps my most important life lesson learned to this date—approach everything you seek with an open mind and let go of any expectations.

The post Hard Lessons Learned From My Internship Behind Bars appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Internships have become a crucial component of the college experience and early career-building endeavors, and the first step toward a fulfilling career is often to impress your internship supervisor. But how, exactly, can you do so? Here are five ways to catch his or her attention:

1. Go above and beyond

It need not be said that unless your supervisor asks you to perform a task that is dangerous or illegal, you should do it, and do it well. But if you truly wish to impress your supervisor, aim to do more than asked. Contribute to the company in a way that highlights your skills—perhaps you are a talented writer, so you decide to take on tasks that showcase your writing abilities. Perhaps you have a content marketing idea that you feel strongly about. Share it at the next meeting that you attend, or with your supervisor directly. In short, do whatever you can to exhibit your talents and ideas.

2. Look and act the part

Professionalism is essential in every industry. If you would like your supervisor to take you seriously, dress appropriately for the environment you are in—whether that means business formal or a provided uniform. Acting professionally is also important. This means interacting with others politely and monitoring your social media pages, among other actions. Yes, your supervisor may look at your Facebook page, so ensure there is nothing on it that you would not want him or her to see.

3. Ask for advice

Few people know your supervisor better than the individuals who work with or for him or her. Do not be afraid to ask company employees appropriate questions about your supervisor—for instance, what he or she looks for in submitted work, and what may impress him or her the most. It can also help to directly ask your supervisor for advice about your internship and future career. This will show that you value his or her opinion and are serious about this opportunity.

4. Show an interest

It is likewise important to indicate that you have an interest in the company itself. Ask your supervisor and coworkers questions about the company to show that you are genuinely interested in the business. Stay engaged the entire time that you are present, and if you do not have a task to work on, find one. Finally, attend company events, even if they are not required.

5. Stay in touch

Impressing your supervisor does not end when your internship ends. Your internship supervisor can be an important contact in your burgeoning career, so it is important to remain in touch. Start with a handwritten thank you note after your internship ends, and follow up with an email. Send emails periodically, or consider meeting your former supervisor for lunch or coffee.

The most important advice to keep in mind is to showcase the best features of yourself. Show your supervisor that you are talented, professional, and committed to your internship and industry, and he or she is sure to be impressed.

Catherine Martin is a contributing writer for UniversityTutor.com, the world’s largest global marketplace for finding independent tutors.

The post 5 Ways to Impress Your Intern Supervisor appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Highlighting her experiences as an intern, Shelcy Joseph offers some great advice on the best practices to implement during your internship. Shelcy is a student at Hunter College and a marketing intern at Hearst Publications. Shelcy shared her story in this interview conducted by Jane Horowitz, More Than A Resumé.

Did you have specific career plans when you started college?

I had a few detours before I decided to pursue psychology. I began college with a plan to major in chemistry and continue on to pharmacy school or perhaps pursue a career in physical therapy. I quickly realized these were not the right career paths for me and started to explore other options, which led me to psychology. I was always interested in understanding human behavior, and I could see that psychology has real-world applications. Pursuing my degree, I discovered my interest in the field of communications and started acquiring experience in social media, marketing and public relations through internships. My internships led me to the path I’m on now. I feel constantly challenged and it feeds my love of learning.

Where did you develop your love of learning?

My parents always instilled in me an attitude of keeping an open-mind, finding the positive in situations and learning not just in school, but in all you do throughout your entire life. These lessons were particularly valuable after the earthquake in Haiti. I had always planned to go to college in the U.S., but the earthquake destroyed the school system and we moved to New York where I completed the last two years of high school. I know I can overcome anything by turning negative experiences into positive lessons and facing challenges head-on.

What experience prepared you to start your internship?

I’ve had two internships prior to interning in the public relations department at Hearst Publications. The first was working in a neuroscience lab at Rockefeller University as a social media intern and then interning in marketing and communications at AARP. These two internships made me realize that I was able to merge all my interests—writing, research and social media engagement. Through the internship at Rockefeller University, I became more confident in writing and presenting and I learned how to translate the scientific language of neuroscience in ways that marketers could understand and use. I learned where I fit in which I know helped me get the internship at Hearst.

What steps did you take to make sure you developed and learned skills from your internship?

I like to challenge myself and believe it’s my responsibility to learn new skills and grow, so literally I did everything. Opportunities will not always come to you so you often have to go after them. I asked for more work at all my internships and proved myself capable of taking on any assignment. I made myself indispensable to the team.

What actions have you taken to turn your internship into a full-time position?

Hearst doesn’t hire interns right away unless there’s an opening they qualify for, therefore interns need to stay in touch and find out when an opportunity arises. I will stay in contact with my supervisors and as soon as position opens, I will apply. I love the work and the people I’ve worked with at Hearst. Regardless of what happens, I know from this experience that I want to pursue a career in communications. As a public relations intern, I’ve gained experience in research, social media, video production, pitching stories to the media, tracking and analyzing trends, writing reports and more. These skills are adaptable to any industry.

What advice do you have for college students who are interning this summer?

One of the most important lessons I learned was to never underestimate the people you meet and the value of building a solid network. Start with your co-workers; people you can share information with and learn from, and then expand both inside and outside the company.

Keep your focus on learning and not just on your resumé. It’s essential to find ways in your internships to challenge yourself, create opportunities you can learn from and then share the information with others.

Go into an internship with an open mind. This will allow you to embrace all aspects of the experience and overcome any obstacle.

Do you have internship advice to share with your peers? Please submit your request for an interview at info@morethanaresume.com . Please include your college, major and graduation year.

The post InternView: I Discovered My Career Through My Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Highlighting her experiences as an intern,  Samantha Netzband offers some great advice on the best practices of being an intern. Samantha is a student at Syracuse University and was a business development intern at PAR Government, a technology solutions company. Samantha shared her story in this interview conducted by Jane Horowitz, More Than A Resumé.

Did you have specific career plans when you started college?

I’ve known since I was 12 years old that I wanted a career where I would solve problems and interact with and help people. I’m not strong in the sciences, so for me that meant becoming a family practice lawyer. As clear as I was, the journey to start law school was not.

I started Syracuse University as a triple major—English, Writing and International Relations. With my focus on law school, I found undergrad work frustrating; I didn’t want to wait four years to complete school. I decided to switch majors to political science, and then worked hard to complete school in two years. I start Syracuse College of Law this fall.

Tell me about your parents.

Both of my parents work for the government although in very different capacities. They instilled in me not specifically the idea of service, but doing work that helped people. My mother has said many times, “I don’t always get what you are doing, but I support your decision”. I’m very lucky to have that kind of support.

What experiences prepared you to start your first professional internship?

In the Spring 2015 I had an internship with the New York State Assembly. Although the work there didn’t directly prepare me for the internship I had this summer, I did start with an understanding of what is expected of interns and how to behave as a professional, not a student.

I’m glad I had that experience because I really didn’t know what I was getting into at PAR Government. It’s an information technology solutions provider to the government and I am not a tech person. There was a lot of complex, dense technical material for me to read and lots of report writing something I didn’t think I was good at but figured I would just have to learn as I went along. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good fit and very beneficial for both the company and me. I feel much more prepared to start law school.

What steps did you take to make sure you developed and learned skills from your internship?

My manager was very helpful. She asked me what I wanted to learn and what I wanted to get out of the experience. We discussed the good and the bad from my previous internship. When it comes down to it, you’re responsible for your own learning, but it helps when your manager gives assignments you will learn from. For example, in addition to reading technical material, conducting market research was new to me. I got to present the research findings to people all over the country. Having that experience will absolutely help me in law school.

What advice do you have for college students who are interning this summer?

I know in some companies internships are dirty work and sometimes people can be disrespectful to you because of that. One way for that not to happen is to see yourself as part of the team and just dive in right away, but don’t get too comfortable too quickly. You won’t know what minefields you’re walking into in the beginning. It’s also important to learn the company’s business and jargon used. The government uses a lot of acronyms and it was hard to understand what was expected until I learned them.

My advice is try to get an internship in the career you want but if you can’t, apply to other internship opportunities. I know I want to be a family practice lawyer, but also knew I was not going to get an internship in a law firm until I went to law school. I had internships in government, technology and a nonprofit. There are things to learn from every experience.

Do you have internship advice to share with your peers? Please submit your request for an interview at info@morethanaresume.com . Please include your college, major and graduation year.

The post InternView: Find Your Place in the Company Right Away appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Highlighting her experiences as an intern, Jordan Silverman offers some great advice on the best practices to implement during your internship. Jordan is a student at Tulane University and was a marketing intern in Jerusalem, Israel at Bettertrader, an Israel a trading systems start-up. Jordan shared her story in this interview conducted by Jane Horowitz, More Than A Resumé.

Did you have specific career plans when you started college?

I knew from the start that marketing would be a good fit for me because I like the creative side of business. Adding finance came later. I was enjoying the business classes I was taking and could see how having a background in finance would help me advance in a marketing career. Although I have my heart set on marketing, I don’t know yet if I’m interested in working at an advertising agency, a big company, or even in sports marketing. However,  I will cast a wide net and be open to opportunities that might not be apparent to me right now.

What are some of the experiences that prepared you to start your internship?

As a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a nationwide business fraternity, I get to be with a group of very motivated students who are mostly in the business school. We’re not competitive. Instead, we encourage each other to achieve our individual goals. By attending events, such as hosting a business professional panel, I learned how companies view graduating students as potential new hires. This has been helpful when applying for internships.

Last year I did a semester at Vienna University of Economics and Business in Vienna, Austria. Living there helped me transition to my internship in Israel and the unique culture while some of the other interns I worked with at Bettertrader had a tougher time adjusting. In addition, some of the courses I took helped me develop a better worldview of how to market brands, making it easier to do my job.

What steps did you take to make sure you developed and learned skills from your internship?

Bettertrader is a startup company. I knew going into the internship that I would do a number of different jobs within marketing some of which would be new to me. For example, I created an email marketing campaign to engage potential customers. I was comfortable writing the content to present to decision makers at Bettertrader, but I needed to teach myself to use the software that would track customer response to the email campaign. I also created and conducted market research surveys. I really pushed myself to develop analytical skills, which I now understand are essential to getting a job in marketing.

What are some of the other takeaways from your internship?

When I start to look for a job, I knew I want to begin my career in a bigger company where I will have exposure to the a diverse networks of ideologies and people I can both learn from and see as mentors. I would not have known that if I didn’t have this internship.

From this experience, I can show employers how easily I adapt to situations, my willingness to take on responsibilities and my effectiveness working in teams. Every day I learned not to judge so quickly because it’s never as black and white as it might appear, especially when you are working in another culture.

What advice do you have for college students who are interning this summer?

My father gave me this advice: Each week take time to write down what you did. It’s easy to forget your accomplishments if you don’t track them. When you go to write your resumé or LinkedIn profile or preparing for an interview, you will have the information readily available.

I also think it’s important to speak up and do so this without offending others. Going to school in Vienna and working in Israel, I learned how to be culturally sensitive. I recommend looking for an internship outside of the U.S. because it’s another skill to differentiate yourself from other job candidates.

Do you have internship advice to share with your peers? Please submit your request for an interview at info@morethanaresume.com. Please include your college, major and graduation year.

The post InternView: What You Will Learn From Getting An Internship Abroad appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you don’t already have a game plan for your summer internship search in the spring, the holiday break is the perfect time to start thinking about it! The four week break leaves you lots of time to do activities that will boost your resume and make you a better candidate when it comes time to apply to jobs.

While vegging out on the couch and watching reruns may seem like an enticing option, the key to landing a summer internship is to plan ahead. Small steps like these can really help in the long run so you’re not scrambling to get your resumes in order come spring. Here are a few easy steps to help get you ahead of the game.

Get a Job or Externship

Experience is the best thing you can do for your experience. Short term externship experiences show dedication and interest in your field, which an employer will recognize. If internships or externships are not an option, getting a job is alway a good idea, as it shows you are hard working. Plus, making money isn’t so bad either!

Start Your Resumes Now.

When it comes time to submit your resumes and cover letters to employers in February, you are going to have your hands full with mid-semester projects, midterms and essays. Do yourself a favor and get on top of this while you can. By starting now, you have the time and freedom to get creative with your resumes and customize them for each internship you apply to.

Learn a New Skill.

Next to building your experience, the best thing you can do to boost your resume is learn new skills that are applicable to jobs you are applying for! Employers admire applicants that are already trained on programs and software, which gives you a competitive edge in the application process. Learning new skills can mean taking an online course in coding, taking an Excel or Salesforce class at a community college or learning a new language.

The main purpose of your break is to relax and take a break from school, but in your free time consider swapping out your TV remote for a book. Theses are all easy steps to help you get ahead and land you the internship of your dreams. Having a solid plan and structure during your job search will reduce the stress and prevent you from scrambling at the last minute. Come February, you will be glad you did.

The post How to Use the Holiday Break to Land a Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Highlighting her experiences as an intern, Celia Hensey offers some great advice on the best practices of being an intern. Celia is a student at Washington University in St. Louis and did an internship at  Dunes Monitoring Program, Bellows Air Force Station. Celia shared her story in this interview conducted by Jane Horowitz, More Than A Resumé.

Did you have specific career plans when you started college?

Yes, I’m a planner. I went to Washington University in St. Louis and was certain I would be a molecular biology major and afterwards attend graduate school. Then I took my first class. I knew right then it wasn’t a good fit for me. I started to explore other opportunities and learned about the school’s Pathfinder Program in Environmental Sustainability. The program is a way for me to take an interdisciplinary course work approach to my studies and exposes me to both case studies and fieldwork, which were new to me when I started school. I credit the Pathfinders Program for helping me discover my passion for environmental biology and fieldwork.

Tell me how you got your internship at Bellows Air Force Station on Oahu.

As an associate in the Pathfinders program, I have access to a network of professors and upper classmates who helped me understand career opportunities in my field of study. I also participate in a career services center program that organizes work groups to discuss careers. The facilitator of the group I’m involved with was leaving to take a job in Hawaii. We had a meeting to discuss her new job and discovered a shared passion for environmental work. As a result of our conversation, she connected me to the manager of the Dune Monitoring Study program at Bellows who was looking for two Washington University summer interns.

Unfortunately, the program was unfunded and the internship was unpaid. However, I applied and received approval for research funding through Washington University and am now writing a research paper that will outline the dune monitoring study procedure and plan to monitor sand build up that we designed.

What were some of the experiences that prepared you for this internship?

One aspect of the internship was to replant the dunes with native plants, which we could never do with such a small team. During my previous internship with a non-profit conservation group, I gained experience planning a community outreach program. I like seeing a project from its start to the finish and used what I had learned to take the lead on creating a community event. I planned and marketed the event and met with neighborhood associations and nursery owners. On the day of the event, we planted 3,000 sq. ft. in just three hours with the help of volunteers.

What steps did you take to make sure you developed and learned skills from your internship?

My plan is to have a career in environmental conservation. I’m very interested in community engagement and by taking ownership of the event, I learned more about how to reach out to communities. Also, living in the Midwest I don’t have many opportunities to work on coastal ecology projects. I was able to study native plants and learn from nursery owners from my experience and I plan on going back to work in Hawaii.

What actions have you taken to turn your internship into a full-time position?

There isn’t an opportunity to work at Bellows after graduation because it’s an unfunded program. It’s really the passion and work of the program manager and the interns and volunteers. However, through the internship I’ve built a professional network in Hawaii.

What advice do you have for college students who are interning this summer?

I think the most important thing you can do is identifying what exactly it is you want out of your internship and the specific skills you want to learn. I talked with the program manager about my priorities and together we created opportunities for me to accomplish my goals.

One of the benefits of an internship is learning from other people in the field and finding a mentor. Cultivate relationships with the people you have similar interests with to learn how they got started in their careers, what they think the pros and cons are and to grow your network.

Do you have internship advice to share with your peers? Please submit your request for an interview at info@morethanaresume.com . Please include your college, major and graduation year.

The post InternView: Before You Start Your Internship Identify Your Goals and Priorities appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As the summer began, the start date of my marketing internship was drawing nearer. This would be my first internship experience, so I was understandably nervous. I had no idea what to expect – I didn’t have much experience in marketing, and as the full-time copywriter for the company had just left, I was going to be writing copy as well. I have writing experience, but I have never written for a company. Many things were up in the air, and I was under the assumption that the internship would be a hectic catch-up game in which I always felt like I was a step behind.

The internship started, and I was first tasked with understanding more about what the company does – something I expected. As the days progressed, I often found myself without much work to do, something that is dangerous for an intern. I like to keep busy, and at times when there was nobody around to give me something to do, I felt useless. I didn’t like that, so I decided to think of ways to be of use.

The first thing I did to fight my boredom was to take a walk around the office and simply ask my co-workers if they had anything for me to do. I even set up a shadowing session with the woman who handles the search engine optimization for the products on Amazon and other e-commerce sites, a skill that is extremely useful in marketing. Finding co-workers and learning about what they do, even if they aren’t in your department, is a great use of your time and is invaluable for expanding your professional repertoire.

Another thing I did was to simply look through all of the company files, find timelines and plans that had not been implemented yet and take a stab at some of them. For example, I came across the social calendar that we had created for the next year, and I noticed we had content planned for the month of August that hadn’t been written. So, I decided to have a go at it, and it turned out well enough that it will be included on our new website. I also wrote some new introductory copy for the revamped catalog that is being released, which will be used as well.

Finally, if you still can’t find something to do after asking around with your fellow employees and searching through all of the company files you have access to, go online and try to learn something useful. At one point, I looked up some different search engine optimization resources and tried to learn some more details about that. I also read about some different copywriting strategies and tools, and both of these resources really did help me become better at my job.

What it comes down to is this: Make sure that whatever you’re doing, you’re learning something. You want to use your time wisely, as your internship is likely a stepping stone to your future career. Any extra skills you can acquire during your time will help you along the road, so make use of this incredible opportunity you have been given and do some learning.

The post Fighting Your Internship Boredom appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Intern (n):

A student or trainee that works in order to gain work experience.

That’s the point of an internship — to gain work experience that you could not learn in a classroom. In my opinion, an internship is the best thing a student could do before entering the workforce. You discover how you will work in an office setting. You will  figure out the kind of employee you could be, and you will be able to differentiate jobs that interest you from those that don’t.

While just being an intern and completing your tasks is one thing, there are many ways that you can go above and beyond to become a super intern.

No matter what kind of internship you have, there’s always something more you can do. There’s always another question to ask or another skill to gain. An internship is in place for you to learn real skills in a field you may end up in. You work with people who are living this career; therefore, you have the opportunity to be just like them someday.

The most important thing for you to do is ask questions. No matter what, you’re an intern. You’re a pre-professional in a professional environment, so there are bound to be things that you don’t know how to do yet, and that’s ok. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re unsure. Your supervisor will be happy to answer any questions you have, so they won’t have to correct you once you finish your task. Your supervisor is there to teach and support you. That’s why they signed on to have an intern. They will appreciate any questions you ask because your eagerness shows that you are attentive and willing to learn.

This should go without saying, but complete your tasks on time, and complete them fully. Do not turn in work that is half finished or that is done poorly, simply because you wanted to turn it in on time. If you’re struggling to meet a deadline, let your supervisor or co-workers know a few days before the project or task is due. They will work with you to make sure you do you best work. Also, because you are a brand new intern, they aren’t aware of your working pace. It might take a few trial and error sessions, but eventually, you will find your groove, and you will work well together.

If you complete your work early and have no more tasks to do, ask for more. My current supervisor told me that she has a running list of things for me to do if I ever run out of tasks. Again, you are just beginning and will have to find a happy work pace with your supervisor, so when in doubt, ask for more work because there will always be something for you to do. At a past internship, my supervisor wrote in a recommendation letter that I am a hard worker and that I will do any task because I constantly asked her if she needed any help. Who cares if it’s a menial task like organizing a desk or making copies? Your effort will be appreciated and it  won’t go unnoticed.

Something I started doing recently is taking notes while having one-on-one meetings with my supervisor, and I definitely recommend trying it out. Not only does it help you remember what you discussed, but it also shows that you are attentive. With that being said, you don’t have to copy down every single word that’s said, but jot down notes that you won’t remember or details that you think are important. Taking notes saves a lot of time in the end. If you can’t remember a specific dimension that your supervisor wanted you to use for a graphic, for example, you’ll have it written in your notes, and you won’t have to send an email or pop into their office.

Make it a habit to say hello/good morning to people when you get into the office – the same goes for saying goodbye/good afternoon/good evening when you leave. It seems like such a little detail, but again, people will remember it. It shows that you’re friendly and that you work well in an office environment. No matter how big or small your office is, make it a habit.

Internships are a big deal. Being an intern is a big deal. You were specifically chosen for a reason, so make sure you prove them right. You did or said something right during your interview that made your interviewer(s) want to offer you a position, so make sure you live up to that expectation. Whenever I work on a new project or have a new internship, my aunt always tells me to “Soak it up like a sponge.” Take everything that your internship offers you, and soak it in. There’s so much for you to learn, so make sure you take advantage of it, and be the best intern you can be. You have the potential; now, just put in the effort.

The post How to be a Successful Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For those of you who have considered a career in the banking industry, sleep may not be very common.

According to Mashable’s article, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. told its summer interns that they aren’t able to work more than 17 hours per day. For some, this may be considered a blessing given the amount of hours that are normally worked by investment bankers.

The post Goldman Sachs Interns Only Allowed 17 Hour Workdays appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Internships are all about gaining experience, making connections and learning new things. They involve a lot of work and learning, but if you’re able to have fun in between all of this, you know you picked a good one. Whether it’s the work you’re doing or the people that surround you, there are so many different things to love about your internship.

If you love your internship, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. It’s often difficult to find an internship that you absolutely love.

Do you love your internship? Here are 5 signs that you do:

1. Work doesn’t feel like actual work.

There’s a big difference between doing work that you’re assigned and doing work that you enjoy. If you find each task or assignment to be dreadful like a chore, then you aren’t enjoying yourself. On the other hand, if you find each task exciting, fun or easy to do, chances are, you love what you’re doing.

2. You have actual conversations about things other than work with your coworkers.

If all you and your coworkers do is talk about the company, assignments or other work-related topics, then you aren’t really bonding. Knowing things about your coworkers enables you to establish relationships. For example, if you know your coworker’s  dog’s name, their favorite sport to watch and play or their favorite TV show (which happens to be your favorite too), then you have formed a real connection. When you have people at your internship to talk to about things that aren’t work related, you’ve created a memorable relationship. You have not only a coworker but a friend as well.

3. You get excited to go into the office.

Because of a combination of #1 and #2, you want to go into the office to work and chat with your coworkers. If you don’t dread getting out of bed in the morning (unless you didn’t get any sleep or you are sick,) don’t find yourself coming up with excuses to work remotely or don’t feel unproductive throughout the day, then you actually enjoy the whole internship experience.

4. You find yourself learning new things everyday.

The entire purpose of an internship is to gain new skills and apply them to real tasks. An internship is like a crash course of working in the real world. You’re learning from hands on experience instead of a classroom lesson. Whether you learn big things or little things, at a great internship, you’ll be learning constantly.

5. You compare any future job, internship or work experience to it.

Basically, you can’t stop raving about it. Maybe you love the coffee shop across the street or bagels on the first Wednesday of every month–you always find yourself comparing any and everything to it. Will anything ever measure up?

First, congratulations! It’s difficult to find an internship that resembles what you want to do in the future, but you were able to do that and more. Doing something you love is so important.

10 years down the line, you don’t want to find yourself stuck at a job that you don’t enjoy. When you find an actual job that you love to do, you know you’ve hit the jackpot. Enjoy your internship! Continue working hard, and continue communicating with your supervisor–you never know if the internship could turn into a potential job post-grad.

The post 5 Signs You Love Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Congratulations on your summer internship! Getting paid to learn is an awesome gig. Pat yourself on the back.

But now that you’re here, what should you do to get the most of your limited time this summer?

Since you’re reading WayUp, I’m going to guess that doing a good job is something you were planning on doing anyway.

It’s assumed you’ll show up and hustle, but there’s always more we can do as top performers.

Here are some tips to go beyond a job well done:

Connect with colleagues on LinkedIn

This tip is so simple and easy, yet many interns forget to add their co-workers on LinkedIn.

Even if you think the website is “for old people,” remember that you’ll be “old” one day too (and sooner than you think).

You will need professional contacts throughout your career for many reasons – not just to find a new job.

The best networks have a large number of quality professionals – so start early and be consistent. LinkedIn is by far the fastest way to save these professional contacts without much effort.

ACTION ITEM:
– Every time you meet a new colleague, add him or her on LinkedIn. Make this as normal as breathing. Your future self will thank you for it.

Read more LinkedIn tips in my guide on LinkedIn profile optimization.

Reach out to colleagues outside your team

While it’s tempting to keep your head down and be a rockstar for your team, branching out to other employees is another way to have a stand-out summer.

Just like the first tip with LinkedIn, this tip expands your professional network.

Why do I care so much about building a network of quality professionals?

In today’s job market, over 70 percent of jobs are found through networking.

Take advantage of being the young and curious intern, and reach out to your company. Have informal lunch meetings so you don’t disrupt normal business hours. Learn more about the company in these meetings, and see if your skills can be used on different teams.

There comes a point in most careers where your people skills matter more than your technical ability. Interpersonal skills are learned, not gifted by nature. Take this opportunity to practice your people skills in a low risk environment – you are “the intern” after all.

Reaching out early will give you the practice needed to be a great networker.

ACTION ITEM:
– Schedule one informal lunch meeting per week with an employee not on your team.

Don’t know how to start? Check out our email scripts on beginner networking over here.

Deliver hand-written ‘thank you’ cards

In a world of Tweet storms and disappearing Snapchats, having a permanent and emotional connection is a rare occasion.

Throwback to the days where you had to write with a pen and paper. Take the time to thank your mentors and colleagues with a physical card.

The card is a physical reminder of your awesomeness that summer. Each time your manager glances at your card during a stressful work day, he or she will remember how you made their life easier.

This one’s simple, but also easy to over-do. A basic Hallmark card and a one paragraph thank you are enough.

ACTION ITEM:
– Deliver a hand-written card for each manager you reported to. Also consider cards for co-workers you worked with often.

Use these tips to expand your network, practice your people skills and leave a permanent connection. Who knows…you may find yourself with a full-time job offer after this Summer of hustling.

Let us know in the comments how everything goes!

The post How to Get The Most Out of Your Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Photography internships can enable you to work with top-notch photographers. Many are even willing to give amateur photographers with great potential a first look into the process of making a career out of photography.

It’s a tough world out there in this specific field, considering the amount of competition that grows every year, and doing an internship can get you on the right track. Use these 10 great tips for finding and landing these internships successfully.

1. Create a Perfect Physical Portfolio

Make sure you have a portfolio that really showcases your skills as a photographer. Printing out your images on glossy paper or any type of photography paper will show that you are serious. Internship employers usually want to find people who are creative. If you can showcase this to them, you will have a higher chance of getting hired.

Look books are a good idea, but if you spend the time to make a custom portfolio and look book geared toward the position you are applying for, your chances essentially skyrocket. It shows creativity and a strong desire for the internship.

2. Digital Portfolio

Take the plunge and buy a domain, like www.yourname.com, and build a portfolio site. Products like Squarespace allow you to make super slick sites with no knowledge of web development, and portfolio sites are relatively simple. You are just showcasing all your work.

Make sure you have social 2.0 accounts for your photography on all the major outlets: a Facebook page, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress and more. Make sure these are separate from your personal social accounts as it implies an air of professionalism when they are accounts dedicated to your photography.

Have these linked and featured on your portfolio site. This makes you look much larger than life.

3. Keep an Online Press Kit Handy

Also on your portfolio site, you are going to want a page that is a one-page type press kit. Usually new businesses and bands have press kits, but you’ll find them useful as well for landing work in this field. This is basically a kit with your logo, promotional materials and anything else that the public or media needs to know about you or your business. In this case, it’s a unique little kit to showcase who you are to employers.

4. Find Internships Online

You don’t need to go through classified ads or newspapers to find these opportunities. The Internet is filled with companies looking to hire you as an intern. There are sites that aggregate internships, and they are a really good resource.

I would also recommend approaching companies that normally don’t offer internships but have a clear need for photos, and try pitching them your ideas.

I bought some glasses online from glasses.com, and in the process, I noticed that all their product shots were the same. I also assumed they had tons of products that always needed shooting. I simply emailed them my desire to intern and my willingness to work for pennies. I pitched a few alternate ideas about how to shoot their product, and I got the internship!

There are probably millions of websites and local business out there that need product or branding photography. (Seriously, e-commerce websites like this that have shot after shot of inventory, large and small, are everywhere.) They may not be advertising an internship, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be interested in having an intern. They just don’t know it yet. That’s where you come in.

5. Cover Letter

It is highly recommended to submit a cover letter for an internship. This letter should indicate reasons that outline why you should be given the chance to be an intern. Don’t be afraid to include information about who you are, including your previous experiences. This letter is not your resume. Think of it as a way to touch base about who you are; it’s the cherry on top of your resume.

6. References

Any kind of previous work involves working with employers. If you’re in good touch with any companies you have worked with, try asking for a letter of recommendation. If you have worked with a charity or have volunteered at your church, these are sources that can help add that special effect that says you know what you’re doing as a photographer.

7. Interview Like You’re Ready to Learn

During the phone interview, you want to make sure that you are eager to learn from the best. Showcase your technical expertise and know-how; let them know what you’re capable of, but always show them that you’re eager to learn. This is what internships are all about in the end. It’s about employers giving new people like you the chance to learn the business and work from the bottom-up. Showing this eagerness and willingness to learn will increase your chances of employment.

8. In-Person Interviews

Doing in-person interviews are very scary, and they require a different level of preparation as opposed to traditional phone interviews. It is highly recommended to wear professional clothing, speak with confidence and be the best version of you. They want to hire somebody with that natural extinct in this field, so showcase your abilities throughout the interview.

9. Which Internship Should I Apply to?

Consider applying to an internship that interests you. There are times when an internship may involve photographing people or things you aren’t interested in. Find out what the job will entail, and you will be able to see by the job description if it is of any interest to you.

The tips above should help get you on the right track to landing an internship in the photography field. The key is to make sure that you present yourself as a professional photographer who is ready to learn about the business.

The post Tips for Getting an Exciting Photography Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you are a business major, it’s easy to get drawn into imagining yourself as an intern at Google or with a prestigious firm on Wall Street. The reality is that most big name corporations have highly selective internship and employment programs. By one estimate, you would have a better shot at gaining admission to Stanford or Harvard than you would at scoring a job at Google. What other options are available to business majors as the competition for plum internship positions and jobs becomes more intense?

Nonprofit internships are often overlooked as an excellent way to gain transferrable skills and work on substantive projects that you can own. Let’s debunk some of the common myths about interning with a nonprofit:

Myth #1: Having a “big name” company on my resume is the best way to get a job when I graduate.

Reality:  While interning with a top company will certainly get the attention of prospective employers, at the end of the day, they are more interested in what you have actually accomplished. Your past performance is the best indicator of the value you can bring to a prospective employer. Because many nonprofits have limited human and financial resources, interns are often able to manage major projects that communicate a high level of responsibility on resumes. Being able to say that you implemented QuickBooks in your organization, coordinated a fundraising event that raised $500,000, or designed and launched a nonprofit’s website that increased volunteer applications by 15 percent, can provide evidence of your strong project management skills. Projects of this scale and level of responsibility are typically not offered to interns in larger corporations.

Myth #2: Interning with a nonprofit means that I will be working for free.

Reality: While a number of nonprofits do not have the resources to pay volunteer interns, internship offices are seeing a trend in more nonprofits offering hourly wages or stipends to their interns. In part, nonprofits are building internships into their budgets as they realize the value that interns can bring. In addition, many nonprofits are able to use grant funding to hire interns for special projects.

Myth #3: As a business major, I should intern in a “real” business.

Reality: There are over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Together these organizations employ 8 percent of our workforce and account for over 5 percent of the U.S. Gross National Product. Business majors can find internships in nonprofits in areas ranging from IT to marketing to finance. Do you know what the NFL, New York Stock Exchange, Princeton University, and American Red Cross all have in common? They are all nonprofit organizations.

A frequently overlooked benefit to interning with a nonprofit is the opportunity to be part of an organization that has social impact. Imagine the potential rewards of interning for an organization that measures its bottom line not just on its financial impact, but also on the impact it has on society. Another benefit to consider is that interns in nonprofits often have the opportunity to interact with board members, some of whom might have influential leadership positions in corporations and can help you expand your network. Opening your internship search to nonprofit organizations might benefit you in ways you never expected.

Angela Schmiede is Dean of Academic & Professional Success at Menlo College, a small, private business college located in Silicon Valley. She has over 20 years of experience designing and leading experiential learning programs, and has taught at Vanderbilt and Stanford Universities.

The post Taking the Road Less Traveled: Nonprofit Internships appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I was clueless about why I needed an internship to finish my professional writing degree. I mean, I got that an internship would provide a space for me to learn how to apply all the concepts, theories and practices I was learning, but what I didn’t know was how vital taking on a internship would be, not just for my field but for any and every field. More than anything, it seemed oppressively time-consuming and arbitrary to my writing degree. Though it was a required component of my degree, it was probably the most beneficial (excluding the cumulative classes that ground education).

I had no intention of behaving like some stereotypical, brainless sorority member looking for an easy internship where I could be paid to essentially act like the office Barbie. I was more honed in on scholarship and reaching my full potential as a writer and collaborator, having been a senior executive member for the campus arts and honors college journals and a member of many other clubs. I also was on the directing boards of many of these organizations. Having excelled in nearly every academic endeavor since kindergarten, I was ambitious, in light of my disinterest in an internship, recognizing that I didn’t fit the student affairs persona.

So, as an introvert without a car, I had to look on campus to find which offices and departments would be open to hosting an intern for a semester. That aspect was essentially the easiest part, because as I was very involved in campus extracurriculars and departmental student initiatives, I could just turn to a few of my favorite student affairs personnel and ask if they would permit me to join the team and help around the office for a couple months. The downside of working on campus meant that it would almost surely be unpaid, as most of the budget had already been allotted to graduate assistants and other departmental endeavors. Regardless, seeing as I had limited means to find a campus internship, I was on a mission to find one that I would enjoy and that was relevant to my degree.

I wound up in the Intercultural Affairs office (ICA), and having already attended or aided organization of ICA events, I emailed the Assistant Director of Resources about whether she could use some help on any new projects. While she tentatively agreed, she referred me to the office director for approval, and he formally interviewed me, in spite of our previous friendly cooperation throughout the prior two years of my office involvement.

There should be a note here about e-mail etiquette: It is very important to maintain professionalism and give off a positive, confident air about yourself when inquiring after a job, even just an internship. Employers want professionally-minded workers who can provide services to them while representing and maintaining the office or department’s image.

For instance, during the interview, I wore interview-appropriate attire and held myself calmly and confidently. I was prepared by presenting previous projects I succeeded in constructing, like team papers, my own website (I showed design and organizational drafts that led to the final product.), and examples of handouts and brochures that I had created for my job at the time with the tutoring center. When asked to describe how my interests in social justice, diversity and other multicultural affairs were a good fit for my professional writing internship requirement, I was prepared to explain by giving accounts of past papers and articles I had written with content on diversity or social justice and LGBT current events. I described my opinions about the versatility of professional writing and voiced that I may as well write about topics that allow me to explore my passion. With my previous experience supporting ICA office productions and advocacy, it was the perfect fit for me.

My internship began the next semester, my last semester in college. I was managing many different responsibilities: from coordinating with the office’s administrative support associate by working with staff on calendars by scheduling events to developing outreach and advocacy through designing flyers and publicizing through social media to managing documents and press releases in time for deadlines. Sometimes, I also handled weekly meeting minutes, accepted and answered office calls and met with other campus department representatives like branding and design to enhance the new office brochures. Additionally, I authored an in-house style manual to dictate all office documentation that conformed to campus APA and SACS accreditation citation styles, edited and rewrote the campus Safe Zone guide with the office graduate assistant, created a quarterly newsletter layout and print plan that went into effect the next quarter, coordinated with students on beginning an annual student-run ICA-supported arts journal that was published the next semester, attended monthly meetings with the director for one-on-one time, engaged in all open staff e-mail discussions, managed my work hours’ log and time sheet and aided in the organization of all ICA events.

In addition, I would often e-mail my supervisor ideas for enacting new ICA-hosted events and engaging ICA-familiar students in activities around campus like a Service Learning help-the-homeless project or attending a Business lecture given by a visiting professor Emeritus. I loved interacting on campus in multiple capacities and reaching out to classrooms by visiting and giving away ICA “swag,” like wristbands or pens, advocating for ICA’s many causes by being a dependable office representative and opening up the floor after many events to help facilitate and promote meaningful discussions with my supervisor. The office staff were all very helpful and resourceful, and upon graduation, despite my previous notions of studying intercultural communications and finding a job in that field, I realized I belonged in Student Affairs (yes, even as an introvert).

I recently attained a graduate assistantship in LGBTQIA+ affairs in a multicultural affairs office at my new university where I’m seeking my Master’s degree in higher education administration, and—you guessed it!—my internship is the primary reason I was able to attain my assistantship and earn placement in my cohort!

In conclusion, no matter your field or current opinions about how helpful an internship may be for your future career, an internship is an excellent opportunity to get a taste of the work you intend to do (and you don’t have to be a student or even a prospective student to find one!). Be choosy in finding your fit—I recommend seeking placement in a department, office or company that shares your values and goals. Mostly, don’t be afraid to find something new! Whether or not it is required doesn’t matter; what matters is your fervor for your work and how much effort you’re willing to pour into a valuable experience! I hope my recapped experience has helped get the wheels turning toward your next occupational enterprise, and happy hunting!

The post The Difference an Internship Makes appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s funny how a deadline suddenly makes you realize how little time you have and how much you still need to accomplish. My time in Australia is ending—literally, my visa expires soon— and I am just hitting my stride here. My life is pretty hectic with two jobs and holding down an internship, but that’s how I like it.

Living in Sydney for almost nine months now has made me notice huge differences in the way Australians and Americans operate in the workplace. Besides the accents, there are several big contrasts between an internship in Australia versus in America.

Know Your Rights

As I’ve lived and worked in America my whole life, I’ve never given much thought to my working rights. However, in Sydney, my visa limits who I can work for, where I can work, and what I can do. Understanding this is definitely crucial to anyone’s success in a different country.

For example, I have a work/holiday visa which is intended for people who want to work a casual job for six months then travel around Australia for the rest of the year. Casual jobs lasting only several months are super common in Australia, unlike America.

I was so clueless about visas that I didn’t even know I needed one to move to overseas, spurring a panicked rush to apply right before I left.

So learn from my mistakes before you jump on a plane across the world; research your chosen country and their visas. Make sure you know what is required, what working limitations are in place, and if you need a sponsor to work.

Work/Surf Balance

Australians are famously known for being laid back and always being at the beach, but does that translate over to the corporate world too?

While working at my internship, I was surprised when I was asked every day to lunch with the whole office. The whole office packs up, walks to a cafe in the area and spends an hour or more eating together. It actually turns into a great bonding experience, connecting the different departments. During the day my boss and other co-workers often leave to get food or coffee, take personal calls or just leave in general.

Australians also holiday (in American terms: vacation) regularly and extensively. It’s normal to have a co-worker gone for weeks while they backpack around Europe or visit Thailand.

In America, I’ve had to dress formally and business casually during my internships. No matter what, I’ve always erred on the side of dressing conservatively.

However in Australia, the attitudes and constantly beautiful weather affect the general work wear. Women generally wear flats and sandals, short skirts and dresses, and I rarely see a sleeve in the office. The men in my workplace usually sport jeans, shorts, and sneakers.

In the end…

Compared to my other internships, this Aussie internship was the most easygoing and flexible I’ve ever had. In the past, I would never leave to go get coffee without permission first or wear a see-through blouse like I am today.

The trust of the company and the carefree attitude is amazingly refreshing, and I actually get more work done because I’m not wondering when I can take my next bathroom break or if my skirt is long enough.

The post What I’ve Learned Working Down Under appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

With the pressure of completing coursework, paying for school, and trying to enjoy your college experience, sometimes life can feel a little overwhelming to say the least. Between working, schoolwork, and maintaining a social life, it can seem like a daunting task to get everything done without feeling stressed, and we often have trouble maintaining a balanced schedule.

Luckily, there are steps you can take to make sure you feel like a human, even when you’re actually a stressed-out college student. Here are 5 easy tips to help you attain—and maintain—balance throughout your college life: 

Keep an Updated Schedule

This is a great way to make use of the calendar app on your phone. Take the time to add your class schedule for the semester as well as any due dates for your assignments. Set aside specific times throughout the week to focus on things like homework, laundry, and the gym. If you work in retail and have a schedule that moves around each week, it can be difficult to stay consistent with plans. If this is the case, try to design your schedule when you find out your work hours each week.

Work Ahead (or just Don’t Procrastinate)

By procrastinating you are allowing your to-do list to grow and grow into an intimidating amount of work. Once all that work has piled up, it will be even harder to motivate yourself to get started. Getting ahead on readings, papers, and other assignments will help reduce procrastination-based stress while allowing more time in the future for hanging out with friends or just relaxing with a weekend of Netflix binging. Resources like Course Hero—which offers study resources, online tutoring, and digital flashcards—can help you study ahead and compare notes to past students who’ve taken your exact courses before.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

We regularly hear about the benefits of getting more sleep, from maintaining a strong immune system to improving our moods, but we seldom manage to actually implement this advice. Sometimes we get so entrenched in our work that the high amount of stress and large workload can keep us from getting enough sleep. If you really take the time to improve the quality of your sleep,your stress levels will go down and you’ll be able to think more clearly and make fewer mistakes in your work.

Prioritize Your Work

Organize your work in a meaningful way based on when projects, papers, and other work events are due. Recurring things like homework and studying are easier to schedule ahead of time, but sometimes papers and projects tend to sneak up on you. Make sure to check your syllabus to see how different assignments are weighted. Important assignments like papers and exams can make the difference of a full letter grade (or two!) for a class. Prioritizing assignments will allow you to focus on what is most important first, and then knock out smaller assignments afterward. Knowing you’ve completed a major project and don’t have to worry about it hanging over your head can also help you to feel more balanced and relaxed.

Make Time for Yourself

Whether this means spending time with friends, visiting family, or even just taking a moment to relax by yourself, it is important for your well-being to have some time set aside away from work and school. Once you have finished important tasks, be sure to find some way to treat yourself and clear your head.

Following this simple advice might not melt all your stress away, but it will help you stay sane while still maintaining a busy schedule. And remember, you don’t have to go through it all alone! Be sure to take advantage of all the resources at your disposal, including Course Hero’s homework help and study resources.

The post 5 Ways to Maintain Balance Between Work, School, and Life appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Sorry to disappoint, but this is NOT an article on indoor cycling classes. Though if you want to stay on top of your New Years fitness resolutions, I’m sure your neighborhood soccer mom would love to tell you all about it over a glass of fermented chia seeds.

So what is spinning, and why is it relevant to your job hunt? Read more to find out.

What is spinning?

If you’ve ever watched or listened to coverage of presidential debates, you may be familiar with something called a “spin room.” This is the room where members of the media interview various members of the Presidential nominee camps. No matter how strong or weak the performance by their candidate of choice, interviewees must work to “spin” the situation to favor their candidate. These interviewees are experts at navigating the media, dodging criticism, and diverting attention from mistakes to accomplishments.

For a fictional (and not terribly inaccurate) portrayal of this tactic, check out the “spin team” from NBC’s Parks and Rec.

Why should I do it?

As a current student or recent graduate, you likely don’t have very extensive experience in your field of choice. But the jobs you apply for (even the entry-level ones!) often expect 1-2 years of relevant experience. How do you get this experience in the first place when everyone expects you to have it already? Sometimes, you need to be a little creative in how you present your credentials.

Am I endorsing lying about your experience in order to get a job? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

However, there are ways of phrasing and presenting your background and experience in a way that will support your qualification and improve your fit for a job in the eyes of your interviewer.

How do I do it?

Spinning your experience in an interview depends on your ability to identify and communicate the value from your experience. Sometimes this requires providing a wider context, going into detail on the scope or purpose of an assignment, or drawing comparisons to other situations. Let’s look at some examples of ways to spin your experience:

• When your professional experience is limited/basic:
  • Instead of saying you “filed and made copies” when you worked as an administrative assistant, tell your interviewer that you “supported the productivity of the department by owning regular administrative duties” or “provided the assistance necessary for the sales team to reach record-breaking sales.”
  • Instead of saying you “answered phones” or “took notes in meetings” during your last internship, tell your interviewer that you “shadowed various areas of the company, learned about organizational operations and decision-making by supporting regular meetings, and established relationships with customers and other stakeholders as primary point of contact for incoming communications.”
• When you don’t have professional experience at all:
  • Instead of telling your interviewer you’ve “never had a real job,” try to find value in other experiences you’ve held. For example, if you worked as a sales associate at a retail store, talk about how the fast-paced environment required you to think on your feet, problem solve, actively prioritize, remain organized, and provide excellent customer service.
  • Another approach to this situation could be highlighting your academic experience. Maybe you had a major group project in your Marketing class, participated in a business plan or case study competition, or worked as a course assistant for your department. While these experiences may not directly translate to work in the professional world, they can still show an interviewer the work you completed and value you created in other areas of your life.

Notice that in each of these examples, you’re not lying about your tasks and responsibilities or making up completely fake achievements. Rather, you’re focusing your interviewer’s attention on tangible examples of your competency and qualification for a job. You may not meet requirements like “2 years of experience in a client-facing role,” but if you can communicate similar or equivalent value to your employer, they may begin to see you as more qualified for the position.

Responsibility?

If you find yourself in a situation like one of those described above and need to “spin” your experience to show an interviewer your qualifications for a position, PLEASE remember to do it responsibly. Lying in any form will not help you.

If you massage the truth too much in an interview, you could end up in a role you are under-qualified for and therefore destined to perform poorly in. More importantly, though, you demonstrate a lack of respect for your interviewer and a lack of respect for yourself. Don’t make me finger wave you.

Another thing to watch out for is the style with which you spin. Your goal is NOT to sound like a political spinner. They sound ridiculous and their responses are often taken with a grain of salt. Your goal is to eloquently communicate your qualifications for a job, particularly those that don’t speak for themselves. This means no buzzwords, no using terms you don’t know the meaning of, and PLEASE no lying.

Like with athletic spinning, real results require real effort when it comes to qualification spinning. But with careful practice, you might be able to beat the system that requires experience before granting experience. So go forth and spin your hearts out! Just remember to wear a helmet.

The post The Intern’s Guide to Responsible Spinning appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Psst – have you heard? Word on the street is that if you haven’t had multiple internships, you’ll never get a good job!

As the Internship Coordinator at a small Californian Liberal Arts college, it is my job to get this message out to students.

But here’s where the rebel in me has a bit of a problem: Good experience doesn’t only come from an internship! And not all internships provide good experience. I tell my students, “Internship is only a word” and it’s the experience that counts. Why? Because, depending on a student’s major and ultimate career goal, an internship might not be attainable. Does that mean the student should forget about that career? Of course not! But how about gaining experience by taking a relevant part-time or seasonal job that doesn’t call itself an internship?

Undergrads wishing to attend law school or medical school have a really hard time finding internships in their field since most of them are ear-marked for grad students. The same applies to many other pre-professional degrees (Kinesiology, Health Science, Psychology etc. etc.) How can you get around this problem?

What I advise my students to do is look for part-time jobs (doing virtually anything!) in a company or practice that does what they want to do.

If you want to be a lawyer, try to get a job in a law firm; if you want a medical career, look for an opening in a doctor’s office. Even if you are only doing filing, scheduling appointments, or greeting clients, you are gaining relevant experience and learning a bit about how a law firm/medical practice is run. Maybe you’ll even get to accompany a lawyer to court, or watch while a doctor performs a procedure, or learn how to sterilize instruments, or check a patient’s vitals. And there’s no doubt about it, the experience will look good on your resume. (And in case nobody’s told you, a resume should show relevant experience, not everything you’ve ever done).

Another medical-related option is to volunteer at a hospital; some hospitals will even let you choose which department you will be assigned to.

Here are some other suggestions for students interested in careers that are not related to law or medicine …

Want to be a teacher? How about working at a summer camp, or tutoring?

Want to be a librarian? Work part-time at your school’s library, or volunteer at your local public library.

Want a career in retail management? Get a part-time or seasonal job in any store.

Want to be a writer or editor? Sign up with your college newspaper.

Want a career in athletics? Coach a school team, get a job with your college’s athletic department, or with a local professional sports team.

I could cite many more examples, but you’re smart so I’m sure you get the idea.

Where should you look for these opportunities? Start with networking—do you have a family member, friend, or friend of a friend’s friend who works in your chosen field? If so, ask for their assistance—can they give you the name of someone in the hiring department? If your school has a job-board, get into the habit of checking it often. If you know of an organization you’d like to work for, look on its web site for available openings and if there aren’t any, call the H.R. department and ask if there’s anything you could do there. And before you start any of this, make sure your resume is up-to-date!

Just remember that what’s important is that you gain RELEVANT EXPERIENCE before you graduate, so don’t get hung up on the internship thing… After all, “Internship” is just a word!

The post Internship Is Just A Word appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Chronicles of the student worker:

This is my first update since writing  “Life of an Intern — Week 1.”  So much for keeping a weekly update.

I thought now would be just a nice time to reflect at my time at Nordstrom. For those that don’t know, I was/am the Social Media Marketing Intern at Nordstrom in downtown Seattle. As a senior marketing student at UW, this was my first real-world experience in a LARGE company. I was scared, nervous, not quite sure what to expect. I had plenty of online marketing experience prior to this position, but would they actually let me own my own work? What if I make spelling and grammar errors while writing a tweet?

Turns out, being an intern is amazing. Arguably, much better than actually being an employee. I’m fortunate to have had my internship extended to stay on with the company part-time while I am finishing my degree. Some lessons I have learned at my time in Nordstrom:

You will mess up. Own it. Learn from it.

One of my main projects this summer was to take on content curation for Nordstrom’s Twitter account. Now I have tweeted for more than a handful of businesses and company accounts, but none with over 500k followers. I was excited, but nervous. Needless to say, my first typo arrived about 3 weeks in. And what a stupid one it was…I misspelled “plaid” with “plad.” I remember the my heart racing after receiving the email that there was a typo on the tweet that was sent out. Needless to say this was a learning lesson and I owned up to the mistake. Mistakes happen on every level of the business, and it is ok as long as you make effort to learn from your mistakes.

Take Risks and Don’t Give Up.

One major project I’ve had the pleasure of doing at Nordstrom is launching and executing our presence on Reddit. As an intern, I was told to think of some new social platforms that Nordstrom could be on. While Reddit is not ‘new’ per say, there is a ton of fashion conversation happening on the platform. Reddit is not a platform that encourages marketing or brand accounts even so it was a very tricky, and scary, place to go into. We had to be more transparent with our verbiage on that platform vs. our normal verbiage on twitter or facebook. The users didn’t like to hear from ‘Nordstrom’, rather they wanted to hear from ‘JB on the Social Media team at Nordstrom’.

To help provide value to the Reddit community, we decided to do some AMAs with some of most popular buyers. Our first AMA, while great in traffic and numbers, was brutal. Users called us out as being too corporate and it didn’t go as expected at all. We learned from this and continued to do more AMAs and have found a way to be transparent enough to provide value to the Reddit community. Just shows that you can’t stop trying if it doesn’t work once. Because if you stop, your work may never be picked up by the press and show up in multiple articles.

Be prepared and eager to learn.

I have learned more about marketing holistically in 6 months at Nordstrom than I have all in my college years. You are not in a classroom anymore where you and your peers are equal, your in a company with smart, diverse backgrounds. To get the most out of your internship, or job, be eager to speak with everyone. I’ve met with folks who have been with Nordstrom for 20+ years and folks who are new to the company with backgrounds in Amazon and agencies.

We hold a monthly online marketing meeting and during the first meeting I was able to attend, I was in awe at the breadth of information I took in. All those buzzwords you learn in college courses, all those abbreviations, those came in handy. The meeting was like a condensed version of an entire marketing class to me. All in all, be ready to learn.

The life of an intern isn’t so bad after all. It is actually pretty damn amazing. You can mess up, make mistakes, ask questions, look stupid, as long as you learn and come back the next day better. Last but not least, HUGE s/o to the amazing social team at Nordstrom for teaching, supporting, and pushing me.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions are my own

The post Life Of An Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

There are few things more rewarding for a college student than tacking an internship onto the resume. After networking your way to meaningful professional relationships (or slogging through commuter traffic), you’ve earned it.

So why is your boss still calling you?

The unfortunate reality is that interns often complete menial tasks for an organization. Just the term ‘intern’ is inherently telling – a surefire way to notify everyone in the office that you’ll do any project that slides across your desk. Should you be eager to take on anything? One-thousand percent yes –  for the duration of the internship. Your responsibility to your employer applies for the time period you’ve mutually committed to – nothing more, nothing less.

To clarify: this isn’t about skating by on the bare minimum – there will always be interns who aren’t truly invested in the experience (though I have an inkling our readers are not those people.) If you want to make the most of your internship, respect yourself enough to set boundaries with your boss.

If a former supervisor stepped over the line habitually, keep in mind these tips for your next internship.

Lock in a schedule.

Many internships offer flexible hours – that doesn’t mean your availability has to be  all   hours. Avoid telling the line-stepper types “My calendar’s wide open!” or “I’ll be here anytime you need me!” Establish an agreed-upon schedule from the get-go, and stick to it.

Start your day early.

Just about every career expert out there recommends working after close to demonstrate a commitment to the internship and the company – but doesn’t getting a jump on the day demonstrate the same thing?  If a line-stepper insists you stay late, make it clear that you have a prior engagement and you’ll be up with the sun to finish the project tomorrow.

Dish out enthusiasm in moderation.

Remain eager when you’re assigned a project, but don’t overcompensate. Most bosses will think you’re full of it, but the line-steppers of the world may think you  enjoy   burning the midnight oil.

Maintain a firm stance when it comes to your cell phone.

It may seem like a minor concession, but line-stepping supervisors  will  call you after hours. If you sense that your boss might take advantage of that information, a simple “I don’t give my number to anyone but family” will politely suffice.

How have you set boundaries with your boss?

The post Set Boundaries with Your Boss appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you were able to balance an internship, a semester’s worth of classes, and a social life, give yourself a round of applause. Completing an internship alone is cause for celebration, but you deserve a medal if you are able to complete all three. Maybe your internship with a company ends after the semester finishes, but maybe, just maybe, they ask you to continue on for another semester. Over the duration of your internship, you were able to show your supervisor and fellow interns that you went above and beyond, worked hard, and met the goals laid out before you. Companies do not ask just any intern to continue on with them for another period, they only ask the best interns.

Before you accept the offer, there are a few things to consider and ask.

What else do I have to gain from this internship?

Sometimes you can only learn so much from one experience, which is fine, but you wouldn’t want to waste your time if you are no longer learning anything new. If there is still growth for you, then take the offer.

Is there another position or sector I can switch to this time around?

An internship has so much to offer you. You gain experience rather than learn about something in a classroom. You get hands on help from experts in the field. You make connections and contacts that you can keep for your entire career. Look around or consult your supervisor to see what new tasks you can take on the second time around, or if there is another department you can work with to maximize your learning.

Do I have time this semester for an internship?

It’s difficult to balance school, internship, and a social life. You are still in school, so that is your number one priority. Also, you are young still, this is the time of your life. Internships take dedication and time, and you have to decide for yourself if you can make time for your internship without stretching yourself too thin.

How does this benefit me in the long run?

Internships are always beneficial, I want to get that out of the way. The key part of this question is in the long run. How will continuing this internship benefit your career in the long run? Aside from having experience, what skills can you learn, who can you meet, and how will your career be furthered?

These four questions are very open ended. Apply them to your situation in order to decide whether you should stay, or if you should go.

The post Do I Stay or Do I Go? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This past school year, I was fortunate enough to have worked and studied in Paris, France. I managed to land a teaching assistant position just outside of the city and enrolled in Paris X, one of the city’s many universities. After finishing up my first semester, I opted not to return for my second in favor of having more time to devote towards a internship. It was quite the shock to me to see how many internships wanted an intern there full time, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to gain valuable work experience in one of Europe’s largest cities.

After months of countless CV’s, cover letters written in French, interviews and follow-ups, I couldn’t land squat. I was told I didn’t have enough experience more than a few times, and I thought to myself, “how can I get intern experience without first interning?” Then I came across a posting on this site for on open position for a native English speaking marketing/advertising intern at Kiwapp, a fairly young French start-up. My work visa was almost up but I decided to apply anyways. And low and behold, two weeks later I was scrambling to get the needed signatures and approval to extend my visa; I landed the internship.

I must admit, being that this was my first real internship, I was pretty nervous and didn’t know what to quite expect from it. Yeah, I read through the outlined duties and tasks, but I never actually performed these tasks in the real world, only as in-class assignments or homework. This time, my work wouldn’t be graded on a simple grading scale but rather measured by its real world performance. And being that this was a start-up, there would be no training session; I was expected to hit the ground running and start contributing. This is why I recommend to anyone looking for internships to look into start-ups.

Start-ups a great place to intern because they expect you to start contributing immediately. I know a lot of you might be turned off by the low to non-existing pay that usually comes with start-up internships, and I feel you. I was lucky enough to have interned in Paris, where employers must pay interns a set minimum wage, but that fell far short of covering my living expenses, so I taught English on the side. But that’s aside from the point I wish to make. Start-ups employ interns because we are a form of cheap but skilled labor, and it works out to be beneficial on both ends. The start-up gets a qualified employee, and the intern finally gets a chance to put their skills to real use.

At my internship, I wasn’t doing office work or fetching coffee. Instead, I was put in charge of writing the company’s entire English copy text, including their blogs, newsletters, and product descriptions. I even sat in on and contributed to meetings with the marketing manager and the CEO, talking over possible company slogans and marketing direction. I wasn’t just some intern in a corner; I was an actively contributing member to the team. My manager was more of a colleague than a manager and regularly asked for my opinion on marketing projects. Yes, I was pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, but not once did I ever feel that way because of the actual work I was doing. I could see my exact words appear on monthly newsletters, and I can still see my words appear on the company’s site. But the best part, for me at least, wasn’t so much the on-hands experience I got, which is undoubtedly valuable, but the camaraderie.

There were at most thirty people working in that office, and everyone not only knew everyone but hung out as well. I had direct contact with the sales and acquisition team. I sat behind our mac developers and programmers, and the android team was right behind them. We all would go to the cantina for lunch and talk about the latest Game of Thrones episode. Once the World Cup rolled around, we would go and watch the matches, sometimes even in the office, after hours of course. I actually wanted to be there. From my experience, the mixture of hands-on meaningful work and camaraderie are why I recommend to anyone to do at least one internship with a start-up.

The post Why You Should Intern At A Start-Up appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This time of year, students are overwhelmed with final exams, projects, preparing for next semester and advising…oh my! For those who are also balancing an internship with their course load, this is a great time to evaluate your internship and see how this time and work has shaped your collegiate experience. Hopefully it has been a positive experience and you are interested in returning to this company or organization again in the future.  So as you wrap up your time at your internship, here are a few suggestions on how to leave on a good note:

• Put 100% effort into any final projects or presentations you have been asked to complete
• Express your interest in returning should an opportunity arise
• Stay in touch with anyone who has become a mentor
• Ask questions and seek advice on what you could improve
• Update your LinkedIn account (or create one if you haven’t already)

The last thing you want to do is leave on a bad note so by taking into account the above items, you will not burn bridges and leave your workplace better than you found it.  You will also put yourself in better a position to acquire other beneficial internships and experiences.

Another task you will want to do once your internship is over is to update your resume.  While the experience is fresh in your head, be sure to list all of the responsibilities you held.  Be very detailed so that future employers will get a good sense of what you did and how you can contribute to their company or organization.   After your winter break is over, make an appointment with your Career Services office so they can review your resume and ensure the content is easy-to-read and encompassing all of your experiences, strengths and relevant coursework.  These are all important sections to include and update at the end of each semester.  Students do not realize that projects and courses, especially when they get to the upper division electives, add an incredible amount of value to one’s qualifications.  Practice your elevator speech about your past internship so that you are ready to promote yourself at future career fairs.

The post Wrapping Up Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Trying to dress up for work as a girl is a little more time consuming, though roughly the same guidelines apply to guys as well. Look around your office and see what everyone else is wearing. If everyone is in pants and a jacket, then go with that and add a colorful top, watch or necklace. The fact that girls have the opportunity to accessorize makes all the difference if they want to glam up a boring outfit. If you see co-workers dressing more casual with leggings or cardigans, then it’s a sign to dress more laid back.

One important rule for both guys and girls is to wear good shoes. It is not stressed enough how crucial this is. Shoes put together an entire outfit, and many times it’s worth it to spend more money on a good pair that will last you awhile. Imagine a guy wearing a really nice suit to work but then you look down and he is wearing a pair of really beat up Sperrys, it takes away from the entire ensemble. Or even for girls…imagine a girl with a really nice dress and blazer, but then old and worn out flats. It’s not ever a good look.

The last thing to keep in mind for both guys and girls is the company culture. If the company you are interning for has more of a chill environment, and you see your boss and co-workers wearing jeans, then it’s probably ok for you to do that as well. However if you’re at a corporate company and everyone is dressed very seriously, then that’s what you should follow. Either way, be mindful and observant. Getting a feel for the vibe at your company will go a long way when trying to pick out what to wear.

The post Fashion in the Workplace: Intern Edition appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Imagine going to work at your internship site. You have been working there for the past three weeks and each time you go you feel energized. The work that you do is intellectually and personally stimulating. Your coworkers and managers are supportive and sincerely want you to grow and achieve your career goals. Each time you leave work, you feel a sense of satisfaction.

Now, let’s imagine a different scenario. You decided to work at an internship site that you thought would provide you with the skills and experience that you need to advance in your career, but something doesn’t feel fight. Your coworkers all seem too stressed and busy to help you out. You’re doing meaningful work, but your boss pressures you to make your productivity standards. You feel as though you’re not learning anything. Each time you leave your job, you feel empty.

Job satisfaction has been one of the most studied concepts in psychology and business. Job satisfaction is often defined as a person’s satisfaction at work (Spector, 1997). As illustrated in the scenarios above, your work environment can be an important factor in your job satisfaction.

Why should job satisfaction be important to me?

One reason why your job satisfaction is important to consider has to do with your self-esteem. Finnøy (2000) conducted a study which looked at the relationships between several variables in a mental health professional’s work environment including their self-esteem, clinical practice routines, and job satisfaction. It was found that there was a relationship between employee variances in job satisfaction and self-esteem (Finnøy, 2000). While it is important to note that correlation does not equal causation, the relationship between the two is significant and can bring insight as to questions you may have had, but did not know the answer to. For example, when I was an intern myself, I was not satisfied with the work I was doing. Day after day, I went through the grind of work, not knowing just how much it was impacting me until one of my friends said, “Hey, you really talk a lot of smack about your job. You never used to be that way. You’re not as confident as you used to be.”

That was my wake-up call. I didn’t know it at the time, but my work was affecting my self-esteem. My job satisfaction could have been a clue as to what was going on.

Why should job satisfaction be important to my employer?

One reason why job satisfaction should be important to your employer has to do with turnover intent. Turnover intent, an employee’s intention or plan in quitting their job, is negatively related to job satisfaction (Chou & Robert, 2008; Cunningham & Sagas, 2004). What this means is that the higher the job satisfaction, the less likely an employee will express turnover intent.

The reason why this is important for employers is due to the fact that turnover is costly to an organization. Very costly. Studies have asserted that turnover costs the company though both hard costs, such as paying overtime to make up for vacant positions (Selden, 2010), to soft costs, such as low employee productivity (Lambert et al., 2012).

What can I do about it?

If you are experiencing low job satisfaction at work, exploring what characteristics of your work environment are contributing to it is the first step in solving the problem. For example, if you feel that your work is not as intellectually stimulating, take note of it. If you feel as though your coworkers are not supportive, take note of that too. If you feel as though you are not a good fit for your job or position, that can also be something to take note of.

Once you identify what is contributing to you low job satisfaction at work, then identify whom you can talk to in order to resolve the problem. Perhaps you feel comfortable talking to your supervisor or manager. If not, then perhaps you can talk to human resources personnel about your situation and what they can do to help you resolve your problem. If you are experiencing low self-esteem, then consulting with your medical doctor, counselor, or mental health professional can help you get on the right track. Always keep in mind that there are resources available out there to help you achieve your goals and never forget that your own job satisfaction and success is important.

References

Chou, R., & Robert, S. A. (2008). Workplace support, role overload, and job satisfaction of direct care workers in assisted living. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 49(2), 208-222. Doi:10.1177/002214650804900207

Cunningham, G. B., & Sagas, M. (2004). Examining the main and interactive effects of deep- and surface-level diversity on job satisfaction and organizational turnover interventions. Organizational Analysis, 12(3), 319-332.

Finnøy, O. J. (2000). Job satisfaction and stress symptoms among personnel in child psychiatry in Norway. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 54(6), 397-403. Doi:10.1080/080394800750061379

Lambert, E. G., Cluse-Tolar, T., Pasupuleti, S., Prior, M., & Allen, R. I. (2012). A test of a turnover intent model. Administration in Social Work, 36(1), 67-84. Doi:10.1080/03643107.2010.551494

Selden, D. R. (2010). The effects of staff turnover on psychiatric rehabilitation programs. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 34(1), 71-73. Doi:10.2975/34.1.2010.71.73

Spector, P.E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The post Being Satisfied at Your Internship Matters appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s been almost four months since I first shared the story of how I nailed a six-month Co-Op in London. And while it seems like yesterday that I started working at one of the world’s largest private asset management firms, it’s always interesting to look back and see how much I’ve grown on a professional, personal and social level. Anyone who has ever done an internship or Co-Op knows what an amazing experience it is to immerse oneself in a work culture for a few months and soak in as much information, skills and expertise as you can. Even though I’ve yet to reach the end of my Co-Op, I would like to share my four main takeaways from my time in London. 

1. Stop focusing on the ‘how’ and start asking the ‘why’

It’s really hard to tell what to expect from an internship before you start. Most of us have this tendency to think that we are going to get a job and change the entire company and make millions of dollars over the course of two months. And while this is possible, it is highly unlikely. The truth is, most internships are designed to be on par with entry level positions and, like many things in life, you have to build trust with your supervisors and colleagues before you can move up. Put yourself in their shoes, they just hired someone in their early twenties, do you really expect them to send that person out to close a deal that they’ve been working on for months with a potential client? I didn’t think so either. You are only there for a few months — half a year max— and my advise is that you find better ways to make a strong impact on your team. Whatever it is that you’re working on; find a way to be the best at it. I know it sounds obvious but don’t take it for granted. Do things with a purpose and an impact. Find why it is that you’re doing something and always seek to go the extra mile. Get into work before anyone else on your team, take on broad projects outside your comfort zone and always strive for higher ground. Stop asking the whats or hows and start digging into the whys and what ifs.

2. Make yourself memorable. Stand out.

Building off my previous point, my second piece of advise is to be ready to challenge your daily tasks with a humble and proactive attitude. This is extremely valuable in large companies that are more corporate and have a well ingrained system and way they go about things. My suggestion is to study up on your job with excruciating detail and learn everything there is to know about your tasks or processes, then start working towards hacking it and finding ways to do it better, faster, cheaper. Maybe your coworker sends out a report that builds off something you could do for her; offer to help out and do it for her. Or why not take a shot at building a macro or do a little bit of data mining and come up with some conclusions that can add value to the team. Read at least one WSJ article a day, watch Khan Academy or take a start-up class.

3. Learn as if you’ll live forever.

No generation has never been more interested in internships or work experience than ours today. We are always on the look out for new things to learn, and with a world more connected than ever, opportunities are available to those who have the will and drive to get after it.  In my opinion, the real value behind an internship is not in the work that you do but rather the skills that your learn, the people you work with and the resources available to you. Getting your foot in the door at a well established company or start-up is an opportunity for you to expand your network. On the one hand I would encourage you to reach out to your colleagues and invite them to join you for a coffee, lunch, or one-on-one where you can get some valuable career advice. On the other hand, I would encourage you to take advantage of  the resources a company invests in acquiring knowledge and research. Take a look at some of the research that has been put together by experts about the how the company operates, where it’s going and why the market is evolving the way that it is. 

4. Make lemonade.

My final piece of advise is to enjoy everyday of it while it’s there. Internships and Co-Ops are not meant to last forever and that is precisely the beauty of it. You’re only committed to a couple of months worth of work experience so make the most of it even though you may come to realize that this isn’t what you see yourself doing in the long term. Be grateful for every opportunity and look at it as a learning experience, even if it isn’t for you. Focus on what you learn everyday and sharpen the skills you might use in the future, like those Excel tricks you can list as “advanced” on your resume. Or instead of email, practice calling people inside the company and try conveying your message via phone – you’d be surprise at how challenging this can be. If you get up for coffee or water, ask the people around you if they want anything from the kitchen. Always greet people in the elevator, the sound of a ‘good morning’ and ‘have a nice day’ has a louder echo than you might think. Bake a batch of cookies and bring them into the office, or get a bag of treats for Halloween. Take a breath, work hard, build connections, appreciate and never forget to look back and share your story.

The post Four Takeaways from my 6 Month Co-Op in London appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Congratulations, you have gotten your internship! This happens to be one of your first roles in a professional setting. How you handle yourself and how others perceive you will play a large role in your success during this internship and may have lasting effects for the future.

For example, if you ignore the receptionist every time you arrive to work, there is a pretty good chance that this will negatively impact future references and any chance at employment at that company.  Did you know that at most companies the receptionist, secretary and/or the executive or administrative assistants have a huge impact on their bosses and most definitely serve as a part of the leadership team?  These are not people to ignore.

Before you start your internship or if you are in the middle of doing your fall internship it is not too late to learn some basic office etiquette skills to help develop you into a real professional.

Here are five tips to get you started:

1. Smile. 

   If you meet someone for the first time, or you find yourself on the elevator with another person, smile like you mean it and say hello.  The impression you make on others is reliant of 55% of what they see and 38% of what they hear!

2. Say please and thank you. 

   Yes, mom was right; always use good manners. Listen to others, do not interrupt and ask for help politely.

3. Write professionally. 

   In the work setting, you are not texting.  In fact, you will most likely have to learn how to send emails to clients and co-workers, and in some cases how to write proposals, memos, reports and more.  These documents not only need to be error free, but they also must be written with correct grammar.  Emails should never contain emoticons J, all caps or emojis.  Please make sure there is a subject line and that attachments are included.  You should also never send an attachment without a short message to the recipient, even if they know what it is about.

4. Put the cell phone away. 

   Your professors and parents complain about your cell phones being visible, and so will your co-workers and supervisors.  We can see you when you are texting, even under the table or desk.  Yet, in some work settings it may be acceptable for cell phones to be out and even have the volume turned on.  But remember, you are the intern who is trying to make a good impression; leave your cell phone in your bag or desk, shut off the volume, do not take personal calls at work.  If you have a genuine emergency and you find yourself at a meeting where you need to have your phone on you, let the lead of the meeting know about your situation beforehand. Nothing is more annoying than cell phones ringing during a meeting.

5. Treat others with respect. 

   In the workplace, it is important to show respect no matter how busy or stressed out you are.  Shake hands and stand up when someone enters the room, knock on office doors before entering. Do not curse, watch your tone of voice, and do not gossip.  If you make a mistake, own up to it and then fix the problem.

Who knows, these small steps may largely impact your future career path.  Good luck!

The post Office Etiquette and Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Internships present a unique opportunity to students and recent graduates. Not many people can enter a company, work closely with multiple areas of the organization, and then leave on good terms a few weeks or months later. So how do you screw up your internship when provided such a small window of time? Sure, you could leave a typo on your presentation, send an email without the attachment, or miss that important conference call. But what is the worst, most unconscionable thing you can do in as an intern?

Do exactly what is expected of you. 

I know, I know. There are probably worse things you could do (burning down the office, throwing up on your boss, and losing a client, for instance), but I had to grab your attention somehow. Now that I have it, though, let me tell you why you should never simply meet expectations.

Most employers know to keep reasonable expectations of their interns. It is understood that your time with the organization is limited and that your experience level is lower than that of most of your coworkers. It is also normally assumed that an internship is a learning experience. In other words, you’re not expected to know everything. This helps relieve some pressure for most interns, but it has also created a stigma about us. Interns are popularly portrayed as anonymous, voiceless, and often clueless assistants who appear and disappear largely unnoticed.

You might be thinking, “What’s so bad about being quietly sufficient?” Indeed, most interns follow this approach, and the world hasn’t ended as a result. But careers aren’t built by being a “sufficient” employee. Technology isn’t advanced by being “meh.” Advancement is driven by disruption. Going against the expected. Challenging and exceeding pre-conceived notions. Turning traditional thought on its head. This way of thinking has produced history’s greatest leaders, most innovative products, and most progressive policies, and should guide your approach to any new opportunity, regardless of the size.

Does this mean you should stage sit-ins to protest company policies or disregard instruction in favor of doing your own thing? Absolutely not. But there are many ways an intern can exceed expectations and still follow the rules.

Take Interest

One of the easiest ways to exceed expectations is to display authentic interest in your work. Ask your manager if you can shadow a few employees throughout the week. Sit in on meetings, even if your attendance isn’t required. Take your coworkers to coffee or lunch and ask them about their experiences in that company or industry. Rather than check your phone during your free time, conduct research on the company, its competitors, policies, and positioning. Take everything you learn during your internship and use it to your advantage. A well-informed opinion or question can really challenge perception, especially when coming from an intern.

Go Beyond the Requirements

Sure, meeting minimum requirements has worked for you in college. But in building a career, you aren’t just trying to finish something. You want to be constantly improving, learning, and advancing. So if your boss asks you to complete a task and you finish with time to spare, keep going. Add more research to the appendix, add more data to the spreadsheet, come up with an additional concept or prototype. Try to make your work as professional and in-depth as would be expected from a full-time employee. After all, isn’t that the goal of an internship – to become a full-time employee?

Make Yourself Indispensable

My first internship was in a fundraising role with a nonprofit arts organization. My coworkers had very reasonable expectations of their interns, and my tasks reflected that. Stuffing envelopes and filing copies wasn’t exactly the sexiest thing I could be doing with my summer, but I took pride in my work and held high standards for my performance. My coworkers noticed this attention to detail and began assigning tasks with more and more responsibility. Eventually, I became an indispensable member of the team, and my 12-week internship quickly turned into 12 months, followed by a summer as a regular, full-time employee. If you can find a task or responsibility that you can take ownership for, your employer will begin to see you not just as an ancillary, but as a leader. Streamline a process, perfect a system, demonstrate expertise, extend your internship—do something that will force your employer to see you in a different light.

Sure, you can be successful in a role by meeting expectations. And in some positions, it may even be recommended to play it safe. But if you want your internship to be more than another bullet point on your resume, challenge yourself to do the unexpected. Who knows what it could do for your career.

The post The Worst Thing You Can Do in Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As an intern, I thought staying quiet and on task was the best thing to do all day to impress my boss and show I was working hard and not procrastinating on Twitter. I learned this can come with a price, and sometimes that price is skipping lunch.

While most people argue that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I like to think that every meal is pretty important and that lunch is a valuable time in the workday. Of course, there will be days when you are so busy that a granola bar will have to do but it is very important not to skip lunch!

The Fears:

At my first internship, I was too nervous to take lunch because I didn’t know where to get food. Could I pack it? Was there a café? Was it okay if I used the fridge? I was worried about how long I could take lunch for (nobody wants to be the intern that is on mysteriously long lunch breaks during peak work hours) and whether it would be disruptive if I ate at my desk.

The Reality:

Despite having many reasons to avoid lunch and trying to make it through 9-5 with just my bottle of water, I was actually hurting my office more than helping it. My initial fears of missing time in the office or being disruptive were attempts at proving I could be a hard worker. Reality check. If I spent the second half of my day trying to calm my rumbling stomach and counting down the minutes until I could find something to eat- I’m not being as productive as I could be if I was full and my brain was able to think clearly.

It is important to take lunch. The actual fuel can help keep up your productivity on work related tasks and will probably make you feel a lot better then if you were dreaming of food. If you are like me and at an unpaid internship, there can be concerns about lunch because you don’t want to buy it everyday. Solution? I carry around a lunch box in my backpack with an ice pack and packed sandwich and snacks. If your office has a fridge or microwave, don’t be afraid to ask to use them! Taking a little break from typing away on the computer to eat lunch or walk to get a coffee helps clear your mind and get creativity flowing.

The Possibilities:

When I finally let myself accept that lunch was a necessary part to my daily functioning at work, I began to realize the possibilities that came along with the meal. For example, as an intern for the House of Representatives, a lot of briefings presented by Congressmen and organizations like NASA often offer lunch. This was a great opportunity not only to have a free sandwich or slice of pizza, but to get out of the office and learn news about upcoming legislation that I could bring back to the office.

Lunch is also a great time to get to know some staff in your office. I always tried to schedule a lunch or breakfast meeting with alumni from my University or staffers in my office to work on building my network and getting valuable advice. It sets up a great and casual environment to learn from others and ask questions.

The post Why an Intern Shouldn’t be Afraid to Take Lunch appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

No one signs up for an internship to make coffee runs and pick up their boss’ dry cleaning. Unfortunately many interns leave their internship experience with little to show for the time they spent. It is important that you use your internship to accumulate valuable skills that you can add to your resume to secure a desired employment opportunity. Here are 4 things to keep in mind to help you make the most of your internship.

1. Write down a list of skills. 

Your internship is a stepping stone to help you achieve your desired position. Before starting your internship, write down the skill requirements associated with an entry level position in the industry you desire. These are the skills you should look to acquire while interning. Once you have settled into your internship and displayed your ability to handle the tasks that are delegated to you, you may want to consider sharing your list with your manager to see if you are able to learn the skills you need to land the position you desire. You could even use this list to decide between multiple internship offers in order to determine which internship opportunity offers the most value.

2. Do what is requested and ask for more. 

Your internship manager is likely to write you a letter of recommendation if you do the tasks that are delegated to you. Be sure to execute every task (no matter how minuscule) in order to display a solid work ethic and respect for authority. Once you habitually complete the tasks assigned to you, attempt to expand your workload. Consider requesting additional tasks that either showcase your abilities or allow you to learn new skills.

3. Keep track of your tasks. 

During your internship you should keep a list of the tasks you complete. By having a list of what you’ve accomplished, you’ll make resume building process easier in the future.

4. Show your personality. 

Aside from your work, your personality allows you to stand-out and differentiate yourself from your co-workers. As long as you maintain proper work etiquette, showing your personality is an added bonus in the workplace.

The post Energize Your Internship Experience (Minus the Coffee Runs) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Marie Cheng for Contributor Platform. 

This past summer, I had the awesome opportunity of interning at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, CA. I served as a Production Intern for a pre-school show currently in development. The opportunity to be a “Nicktern” came to me after three attempts to be selected for the internship over the course of three different semester application timeframes. On the third try, I received the exciting call that I had been selected as an intern!

When applying, I tried to tailor my resume for a television animation production job, including my past experiences in the entertainment industry at Mattel and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The application process itself consisted of an online application, one phone interview with HR, and one more interview with a specific department/show. The interviewees are incredibly friendly and genuinely interested in who you are, your passions, and why you believe the “Nicktern” experience is for you.

During my summer at Nickelodeon, I had the chance to learn about animation production through a variety of classes offered to the interns, including lunches with executives, show creators, artists, and contributors from all facets of the studio. We also had special events, including intern game night and special screenings. We also learned about the process of how a television show is developed, produced, and marketed. Each show has its own culture and style, and it was amazing to see how colorfully different and entertaining each one is. The amount of collaborative effort behind each production is unbelievable and inspiring for someone like myself who aspires one day to contribute to a show as a storyboard artist.

For other students like myself, majoring in animation or another subject, I encourage you to consider applying to intern at Nickelodeon. A passion for animation and a thorough knowledge of past and current shows at Nickelodeon are helpful areas to begin when preparing your resume, cover letter, and going through the interview process. I also highly encourage students to have a general idea of which portion of the production pipeline they want to explore (i.e. development, television writing, storyboarding, design, production, executive, technical, etc.).

At the end of the day, showcase the best of yourself–who you are, what you do, and why you love to do it, and those qualities will ultimately make you a viable candidate for internship opportunities wherever you go.

Good luck and have fun!

About the Author:

My name is Marie Cheng, and I am currently a senior BFA Digital Arts-Animation major at Chapman University in Orange, CA. I grew up loving animated films and television because it pushed the boundaries of imagination and could visually connect with audiences regardless of their cultural backgrounds or language. Connect with Marie on her LinkedIn.

The post Nickelodeon Animation Studios: My Unforgettable Summer As A “Nicktern” appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

No one signs up for an internship to make coffee runs and pick up their boss’ dry cleaning. Unfortunately many interns leave their internship experience with little to show for the time they have spent. It is important that you use your internship to accumulate valuable skills that you can add to your resume which will secure a desired job in the future. Here are 4 things to keep in mind to help you make the most of your internship.

1. Write down a list of skills

Your internship is a stepping stone to helping you achieve your desired position. Before starting your internship, write down the skill requirements associated with the entry level position you desire. These are the skills you should look to acquire while interning. Once you have settled in and displayed your ability to handle your delegated tasks, you may want to consider sharing your list with your manager to see if you are able to learn those skills during your internship. You could even use this list to decide between multiple internship offers in order to determine which internship opportunity offers the most value.

2. Do what is requested and ask for more

Your internship manager is likely to write you a letter of recommendation upon the end of your internship. Be sure to execute every task (no matter how miniscule) in order to display a solid work ethic and respect for authority. Once you habitually complete the tasks assigned to you, attempt to expand your workload. Consider requesting additional tasks that either showcase your abilities or allow you to learn new skills.

3. Keep track of your tasks

During your internship you should keep a list of the tasks you complete. By having a list of what you’ve accomplished, you’ll make resume building process easier in the future. Did you help grow your company’s Instagram account to over more than 2000 followers? Track it. Did you write email campaigns that doubled the unique click through and open rate? Track it. If you wait until the end of your internship to recall the specific details of your contributions, then much of the concrete numbers will be lost. Those easy-to-read and understand statistics will enhance your resume.

4. Show your personality

Aside from your work, your personality allows you to differentiate yourself. As long as you maintain proper work etiquette, showing personality is an added bonus. Remember, although you are leaving the company for now, you may never know what lies down the road. Maybe you want to return to the company as a full-time hire after graduation. And even if you don’t pursue a career in the same field, it is very likely that your manager has connections with other industry professionals, who are looking for well-liked and personable students. Never underestimate the power of a smile.

The post 4 Must-Do Steps To Make The Most Of Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

My experience these past four months reminds me of a scene from Ryan Phillippe’s Crash. If you’re adventurous enough, crazy things will happen in New York. And I do mean crazy. Viewing my glass half full, I can say with absolute positivity that interning in the fashion industry and living in New York City will prepare a deliciously styled young professional to charge into the professional world like an iron-foot soldier.

As interns, we have the distinct advantage of reliving our first days of school, every day, for months, at our temporary jobs. I say advantage because, despite our cyclical do-I-don’t-I/will-I-get-yelled-at-or-shot mentality, we are sometimes taken in by one or two office superiors who generously spread their wings and induct us into their circle. These mentors are like Dumbledore doppelgängers; they’re there when you need moral support and there to push you headfirst into an elevator to pitch a project to your boss, casually winking before turning on their heels and disappearing. Specific, I know, but clearly I’ve enjoyed my fair share of mentors at my current internship with Pour La Victoire.

I’d like to acknowledge to all present and future interns an element of internships that is very common, if not unavoidable. As an intern, you’re usually brought in to help a specific individual, or a team of individuals. In fashion, there are a lot of egos that need to first be identified and understood. If you consistently interact with an ego that belittles your confidence in your job, there comes a time, and trust me, it does happen, that you will need to endure this experience in one way or another. Conflicting egos should not be perceived as a major issue: these are experiences that will shape you into a graceful professional who will not back down. Instead, you will find a way to renegotiate your surroundings and acclimate to the egos around you. Mentors are especially helpful in advising what the proper course of action—usually a brief and very candid conversation with a challenging ego—that you should take. The benefit of handling this experience is walking away a more articulate, confident, and knowledgeable professional, ready for the next challenge, because there will be more.

Attending young professional events in the city, I’m reminded of conversations that frequently revolve around “doing more.” But that phrase is elusive; there’s no charted path to advise us what “doing more” looks like. Usually, what my compatriots mean by “doing more” is accomplishing their professional goals faster; editorial interns want to make editorial assistant, and design interns want to get their first paying gig with Marc Jacobs or Zac Posen. And I balk at the phrase “wanting too much too soon,” because as interns, we have paid our dues. In these conversations, frustration is often met with helplessness, or fear, that we will forever be unpaid interns. I have a way around this issue that has worked in my favor. I’ll share the short version here in the hope that present and future interns can reinterpret their positions: not from helplessness, but from the power to do.

Instinctively, I know that simply doing one thing, and in this case, interning, is not enough to land my first entry-level gig. An internship takes up 20-45 hours of the week; in my case, around 40, Monday through Friday. Evenings and weekends have been at my disposal. This time translates into opportunities to do more. Most interns would use this time to call it day, go home, watch some Netflix, and most important, relax. In my case, I applied to a digital avant-garde fashion magazine for a writing position. A profile writer by nature and study, I have contributed a handful of stories since June, adding to my resume. My talent and interest is fashion editorial; I have found my “something more,” and the role has expanded into a permanent position editing with the magazine. Each time I have walked into an interview for my next role, my interviewers have consistently commented on my additional roles, “Wow. That’s impressive.” You see, the thing is, the most important way to achieve your professional goals is to do as much as possible while you’re interning. Your schedule allows for that extra something to add to your resume. Opportunities are there for you to benefit from, but you must first pursue them doggedly.

Graduating from my experiences in design, public relations, sales, and editorial, I have been invited to join a leading luxury womenswear label and succeed to fashion editor at Deux Hommes. Perseverance, talent, and conviction of future success is what, ultimately, has taken me to this point. I wish the same results for young professionals reading InternMatch.

The post Summer in New York: All’s Well That Keeps Going appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For the most part, internships are great – they offer real world job experience while letting you get a behind the scenes look and feel to a whole new field or the career path of your dreams. But, unfortunately, not all internships are created equal.

After I graduated college, I tried to get into the field of professional writing with no practical experience beyond my creative writing degree. When I stumbled upon a virtual internship for an online travel magazine that didn’t list experience as its requirements, I thought I had hit the jackpot. Little did I know that this internship wasn’t worth it. I stuck through with my commitment for almost the full length, but I honestly should have done myself, my family, and my resume a favor by quitting earlier.

If you encounter any of these signs or “red flags” during your next internship, take the time to consider whether or not your internship is worth it.

1. Your Skype interview is at unreasonable times. 

In today’s day and age, Skype interviews are becoming more and more popular, particularly for satellite or online work. One of the responsibilities of such work though is to reasonably accommodate both the potential employee’s and the employer’s time zones. As the intern, I wanted to accommodate my potential boss, but his request to have a Skype interview at 11:00am Indian Standard Time (1:00 Eastern Standard Time) showed a lack of respect. His lack of consideration at this initial juncture was a red flag for the many issues we would come to have throughout the internship.

2. You have a negative or uncomfortable feeling about the establishment before you even accept the position. 

It’s easy to feel as though you should accept any and every opportunity you come across, especially when you’re having difficulty finding any internship. I did this – even though, after reading some of the articles and finding them lacking, on top of already having mixed emotions with the editor, I accepted the internship.  Because I figured that I wasn’t going to find anything else, I set myself up for failure, because those negative and uncomfortable feelings never went away.

3. Your boss’s expectations for you change after you accept and on an almost-daily basis afterward.

In my case, my internship went from being shown as a flexible, 15-hour a week to rigid 25 hour per week commitment. I would present my boss work one day, having followed up on changes or corrections he wanted to see, only to be given a new set of expectations for the same piece. On the flip side, it’s important to be able to be flexible. Just make sure that your flexibility isn’t being pushed to you bending over backwards.

4. Your boss’s feedback is negative but vague.

You’re an intern. You’re going to get things wrong. It’s almost expected that you’re going to make mistakes because of the steep learning curve. But you can’t correct your work or improve it if you receive vague feedback on where you’re going wrong. It’s frustrating for you and your employer – you don’t learn anything, and the work you present for publication doesn’t get any better.

5. Your boss calls you stupid.

This incident still burns me. I was asking my editor for clarification on his instructions (dealing with a language barrier didn’t help us in this situation), and he got frustrated with me, calling me stupid. Interns may be entry-level, but you are giving your time and energy (typically for free) to a company. You deserve to be respected. Behavior like this, especially from a boss, should never be acceptable.

6. Your boss tries to keep making you do work after you’ve quit.

When I finally left this internship, it was because I was starting a new job, one where I would not have access to the internet on a daily basis. Though I explained the circumstances to my editor and completed my remaining projects to the best of my ability and transferred them over to him, he continued to send me emails, trying to get me to reformat documents, contact sources, and do the menial tasks he didn’t want to do. After ten similar emails, I had to point blank tell him (though it was obvious from the resignation letter that I had sent a month previously and that had been active for three weeks) that I didn’t work for him anymore. He responded that “if he had known that my work ethic was so poor, he wouldn’t have hired me in the first place.”

Your internship should be beneficial to both you and the company. When the relationship is skewed to one side, no one truly benefits. Make sure you are learning each and every day. Understand that internships are a two way street. You are helping them as much as they are helping you. So if you ever feel uncomfortable or an uneasy feeling of dread when you show up to work or present your project to your boss, for fear of public degradation, it’s probably time to find a new path. You’ll be doing yourself a favor.

The post When Your Internship Isn’t Worth It appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Liz LeCrone for Student Stories. 

Coast To Coast: How One Internship Lead To Another

Last summer, I had the amazing opportunity to intern for InternMatch. I still don’t know what possessed them to hire a nobody from the Midwest. I was just another applicant on their site from a state university, but I had passion and some good on-campus experience. And so I found myself in San Francisco for the summer. I worked on a myriad of posts and projects, and I put my journalism major to better use than a news publication ever could.

While researching a white paper for InternMatch about career fairs, I discovered a startup in New York, called Uncubed, offering a new kind of job fair. Uncubed events are designed to be casual and fun, complete with ping pong tables and an open bar. Naturally, I immediately signed up for their Chicago event, explaining how I had found them and why I wanted to go.

Upon arrival at the event last October, the Uncubed staff were excited to meet me. They had seen my registration and checked out the work I had done for InternMatch. Not only were they impressed by my writing and skill set, they offered me an editorial internship in New York City for this summer.

I was blown away. But what I didn’t realize was that this opportunity was just more proof of what InternMatch had seen in me from the beginning.

Once the excitement of being offered a paid internship in Manhattan wore off, I actually had to face the prospect of getting to, paying rent in, and affording to live in New York City. Getting there was relatively easy, thanks to the glories of air travel. But where would I live?

Like San Francisco, New York sports many neighborhoods, each with its own culture and attitude. And I didn’t know anything about any of them. So I took to the internet and, scarily enough, Craigslist, where I found a lovely shoebox of an apartment in West Village, Manhattan, which I shared with two other people for three months. All I will say is that it was better than a dorm room.

I fell in love with New York the way I fell in love with San Francisco—by diving right in. And the big city slowly evolved into home.

Just one week into exploring New York City, suddenly the buildings didn’t feel quite so tall, the sirens didn’t faze me, and tourists became the bane of my existence. I worked from ten in the morning until six at night in Chinatown. I drank overpriced coffee in West Village, I shopped in exclusive boutiques in Soho, and I partook in almost-reasonably-priced happy hours in nearly every neighborhood in Manhattan (and a few in Brooklyn). In short, I lived the dream.

I am just finishing up my internship for Uncubed, using the skills I developed while working for InternMatch and gaining a few more in the process. And without InternMatch, I would not be here, with two internships in booming cities and a professional network spanning the country. I wouldn’t be published on multiple sites, or have a well-rounded resume chocked full of experience. I wouldn’t have left a piece of my heart on both coasts.

And I would still think that I was a nobody.

Opportunities don’t always come when you want them to, or in the way you expect them to. And sometimes, it isn’t about what college you went to or what your degree is. It isn’t even about where you’ve been or where you’re going.

When you do good work, people start to take notice. And there comes a point when you have to start recognizing your own value and, more importantly, capitalizing on it. So go forth, and be somebody.

About the Author:

Liz LeCrone is a writer, marketer, freelance editor, and doodler. She is just finishing up her career at Michigan State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and journalism. She is a strong proponent of the Oxford comma and will willingly enter into verbal altercations about grammar in general. Learn more about Liz’s projects and experiences at www.lizlecrone.com.

The post From SF to NY: How One Internship Lead To Another appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It may seem like a million years ago, but at some point many of you went on a college tour and most likely, you or your parents asked about the school’s internship offerings and connections.  Hopefully, an Admissions representative or Career Services staff member rattled off the names of a whole bunch of high-profile organizations.  You may have even talked to professors about internships during your campus visit and gained a better sense of where students previously interned.

But how do Admissions, Career Services and faculty know this information? Do they know each and every student? Is that even possible? Well, I’ll give you the inside scoop in this blog.

Most of you know and understand the many reasons why internships are so important to your personal career development: industry knowledge, skill development, and networking.  Furthermore, some of you have come to realize that an internship will not only benefit you, but also the employer with whom you work.  For instance, employers get an opportunity to share industry knowledge, develop their own supervisory and leadership skills, get assistance with projects and tasks, and groom potential employees.

In addition to you and employers, there is a third party who benefits from your internship; your college.

Here are ten ways your college benefits from your internship and why it should be important to you:

Your college uses the list of places where students have interned to attract new students.  This will sustain or increase the reputation of your college.

1. Career counselors and faculty can determine if students are technically and mentally prepared for the “real world.”

2. When you use a myriad of skill sets, like leadership or problem solving, areas like Student Affairs and Activities can determine if their programs had an impact on your skill development.

3. Many colleges voluntarily seek out accreditation, which compares their college to established national or international standards determined by an outside organization. Many of these organizations ask for information regarding student internships.  So, if your program of study or individual school at your college is accredited, the more reputable it is on a national or international level.

4. Your college can now report to national publications (The Princeton Review, US News, and World Report) on the number of internships held, and with whom, in order to increase their national rankings. This therefore adds value to your degree and marketability.

5. Employers who have gotten great interns will more likely return to your campus to hire more students.  This is great for your peers and great for your school’s continued and growing relationships with employers.

6. If you recommend an internship to another student, you are directly impacting their career development and enhancing the career services of your college.

7. If your internship was not directly related to your major, it still helps your college.  Your academic department now has evidence about the skills you gained during your studies and how you applied them during your internship. This gives faculty information to better inform future students about the transferability and flexibility of that major.

8. Faculty and administrators gain a better sense of current market trends and employers’ needs.  This information allows them to improve upon curriculum and program content.

9. Your internship should positively impact your employment prospects after graduation.  As a result, the reputation of your college can be upheld and improved.

10. Remember earlier I posed the question about how Admissions, Career Services and faculty get that really cool list of where their students interned?  Well, here’s the answer: YOU!

So, hopefully I have given you enough reasons to report where you interned to your school. Here’s how:

1. • Fill out the surveys your college sends you – yes, we do really read and analyze the data.
   • Report your internships to your career counselor or career development office.
   • Tell a faculty member or department chairperson about your internship and what you have learned.
   • If your academic program requires an internship, make sure you provide them with complete and helpful information.

Let your college know about your internship – in the end, it benefits you, your degree, your college, the programs, and even future students!

The post How Your College Benefits from Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I was pretty confident that I could handle any type of commuting. I fly back and forth from school all the time and I’m constantly begging my friends to take road trips half way across the country with me. So naturally, when I accepted an internship in New York City, I thought the commute from my home in Long Island would be easy—Boy was I wrong.

Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t really research anything about physically traveling back and forth, or that my excitement to live at home with a full fridge for the first time in two years was unparalleled, but I have definitely learned my lesson: commuting is part of the job package.

My internship is located in downtown New York City and it takes me everyday about two or more hours to get to work, one way.  The cost of my commute is about thirty dollars per day and like many other college interns, my job is unpaid. While I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to work in such a great city, I have learned a lot about what other factors matter when deciding what jobs to take.

So, if you are living at home for the summer like me, you should consider if your boss will let you work from home for part of the week. After realizing that I was losing more money and time than planned, I cut down my in-office time to just two to three days a week , while I work the rest of the time from home. This means I’ve also realized how hard it is to turn off a Law and Order marathon and resist the beach when I should be at working on my computer, but if you really think you can buckle down everyday from home , it can save you both time and money.

Maybe I’ve just been hidden from the truth of real world commuting. Currently, I attend a college where if you don’t want to take the bus, you can walk to pretty much any class. I also lived and interned in the heart of Washington D.C. last summer, which required a five minute walk to the Metro, a ten minute train ride and a four minute walk to the office. But now, with my 40 minute traffic packed drive to the train, 51 minute train ride, 20 minute sweaty subway trip and 10 minute walk to work, I’m seeing a whole new side of things.

While I’m lucky enough to only have to do the expensive commute a few times a week for just a summer, I’m very aware of the people who do this commute everyday year round. Seeing this begs the question, could I do that? Definitely, not for  long. This has taught me that there are other factors to consider outside the 9-5 work day. Commuting becomes a significant part of your day so if standing at the sub way car doors like a Kentucky Derby horse ready to race to the train, only to find out the seats are full and you’ll have to stand for the next hour sounds fun, then commuting to New York is for you.

The post What I’ve Learned From My Summer Of Commuting appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Major American cities have their own distinct cultures. San Francisco, at least the southern portion, is a widely known utopia for tech corporations and newly graduated Mark Zuckerberg aspirers. Boston—home to Harvard and Wellesley—is all but trademarked in J. Crew, Brooks Brothers, and tennis whites on the weekends. New York City, my new home, claims power — what you accomplish while you’re young and able — as its dominant culture.

Chalk full of over-achieving professionals with an ingrained hedonistic streak (the Statue of Liberty should really read: Work hard, play hard), millennial culture in New York is as goal-oriented as Kim K is to staying relevant in the fashion community. Long story short: we’re all looking to dominate the workplace, show up earlier than necessary, and impress the skirts off our potential bosses scouting on LinkedIn.

What do I think of New York culture? It’s grand and I can relate to it; inherently it’s built in me already, even coming from the complacent West Coast. I understand the principles of business here: doing more than necessary will get you noticed, and will maybe even lead to a recommendation or a heads up regarding opportunities outside your bubble. Interns like myself are no exception to this rule; we are not excluded just because we’re on the bottom ranks (for now). We have our feet in our respective industries, and that’s a solid coup to build on.

In addition to interning and contributing to a column here, I’m now a contributing fashion writer to digital fashion glossy Deux Hommes. I meet emerging designers noted for their avant-garde aesthetic and profile them on a weekly, sometimes biweekly, basis. It’s a dream role, and one that I am proud to be a part of.

Ultimately, writing profiles comes naturally to me. Creating stories is a bit like riding through Splash Mountain at Disney World: there’s a lovely concept — innocent enough — of the designer’s world, but when you probe deeper, you see that designing amidst competitors and nay-sayers who want to eat you up for breakfast like rabid Rodger Rabbit is an intense experience. The design world is certainly another jungle, however concrete.

With a few weeks left to go at my internship with Pour La Victoire, I look back quite often at what I’ve managed to accomplish since May. Ever the curious one, I’ve taken the initiative to familiarize myself with the people who work nearest me, and then expand toward other departments, like sales, pr, and marketing.

I first offered my hand—doing “anything you don’t want to do”—to a second design director, to junior designers, and then eventually, to the sales team, a completely separate department. I was commissioned to create lookbooks. I then made my way to Pour La Victoire’s second floor—The Penthouse. Marketing and public relations were quick to embrace me as part of their team. Humility, kindness, and a cheerful disposition can get you everywhere. I was soon revamping PLV’s Pinterest page, producing copy for e-blasts, and even learning how to tie bows the Hermés way by, as you guessed it, a former Hermés intern.

Proving ambitious and equally hardworking as their summer intern, I have received gracious offers from a few of my bosses to put me in touch with their contacts at high profile fashion and publishing companies. Of course, I leapt at the offers. The uncertainty of my future post-PLV is a bit unnerving, but I am confident enough that I’ll land on my feet. The way my internship has been going, I know I have the professional intuition to recognize the right opportunities, and the willingness to work hand and tooth to achieve them.

The post Interning: Capitalizing on Your Power appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve decided to go abroad to complete an internship; awesome! Besides getting psyched about the incredible learning experience you will have (and all those professional skills you’ll develop), one other perk of interning abroad is the number of interesting people you’ll meet (and become lifelong friends with!) throughout the course of your internship.

However, be warned – not everyone in your program will be someone you’ll want to befriend. Here are few people to avoid while you are interning abroad.

1. THE NEGATIVE NANCY

Life abroad can be difficult to adjust to, even if you have visited the country before. The only way to truly survive many of the daily frustrations will be to maintain a positive outlook on life. Everything is a learning experience, afterall. Don’t let the “Negative Nancy” rain on your parade. If someone you meet constantly brings attention to what is going wrong instead of what is going right, you’ll want to keep your distance; their negativity can be exhausting, and nobody got time for that.

2. THE LAZYBONES

You are here to intern, to have a challenging work experience, to gain and cultivate new skills, and most importantly, to bring to life all of those lessons you sat through in your university back home. If you take that sentence to heart, then you will definitely want to avoid anyone in your program who is not serious about the learning potential of the internship. They may try to talk you out of going to work for a day, or encourage you to slack off on a project. This “Why bother?” attitude is detrimental to the overall success and will severely stunt your professional growth.

3. THE NARK

This might be a handy tip for life in general, but you’ll especially want to avoid any tattle-tales when you are interning abroad. Are you taking a “sick day” to do some sightseeing? You don’t want your coworker to rat you out to your supervisor. If you got a little out of control over the weekend, you probably don’t want to live with someone who is going to call their program advisor the instant they can to tell them of your “bad behavior”.

4. THE OVERLY COMPETITIVE

Yes, we are here to have an awesome learning experience, but if you are constantly comparing yourself to your co-interns and coworkers, you might end up feeling miserable. Of course, a healthy dose of competition never hurt anyone, but if there is one student who is constantly one-upping you or sucking up to your supervisor over and over again, you should probably step away.

5. THE HOPELESS

Some people just don’t have travel skills in their genes. These people end up getting lost 9 out of 10 times walking to the corner store, or repeatedly getting on the subway that’s  headed the opposite direction of their destination. These folks require a great deal of patience on your end, and will suck up a lot of your time and energy before long. Of course, being understanding and compassionate is important but if this person is constantly taking and never giving, it might be time to walk away from this relationship. You only have a few weeks here, after all.

So there you have it, a round-up of 5 types of people to avoid while you are rocking your international internship. What other types of people would you add to this list?

The post 5 Types of People to AVOID When Interning Abroad appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

No, this isn’t an article about traveling to China, France, or England for a summer internship or volunteering abroad in the developing world. This is about the culture shock that each and every intern experiences when beginning his or her first ever professional-work experience.

Culture shock occurs when you’re suddenly confronted with an unfamiliar way of doing things or a way of life that you’re unaccustomed. In that vein, it’s no surprise that students, coming from a 20ish hour week in the classroom, suddenly hit a brick wall when starting their first full-time internships. Coming to the working world may be no easy transition, but the good news is that the initial disorientation of the 40+ hour work week will wear off in no time at all.

Here are six tips that will help you overcome business culture shock.

1. Make yourself a routine.

The secret to adjusting more quickly to a new environment is to create patterns in your workflow. You’ll start to feel at home before you know it. The only missing ingredient will be time, so know that you will need to…

2. …Be patient!

No matter how gung-ho you are about making a difference, it takes time for both you and the company to fine-tune your presence. Like any longstanding relationship, you can’t rush the process from “first date” to “marriage.” Allow some time for all the pieces to fall together.

3. Stay ahead of the game with research.

Invest time in gathering info about your new work environment, your daily expectations, the scope of your work, and any tasks you anticipate being given. Manage your expectations properly. You’ll feel less out of place if you come in with an idea of what the heck is going on.

4. Embrace the new culture.

The easiest way to integrate yourself into your new working life is to embrace it fully, the challenges, difficulties, ups, downs, and otherwise. The sooner you recognize certain behaviors or attitudes as your own, the sooner you will feel at home in your new work environment. Avoid nitpicking the parts you dislike and instead focus on the parts you do like. It’s all about perspective!

5. Find some work buddies.

One way to turn a house into a home is to love the people in it. Your coworkers will undoubtedly affect your ability to “love” or “like” your internship. Invest time in forming appropriate professional relationships (and even friendships) with your new colleagues. Bonus, if he or she is new too; then you can combat the workplace culture shock together!

6. Know that everything is a learning experience.

Focusing on whether or not you have been given the exact work you expected undermines your overall learning opportunity. You may not change the world with your internship, but you are gaining serious insight and perspective on both the working world and on your personal professional goals.

What advice would you offer first timers shifting from the world of studying to the world of working?

The post 6 Tips for Surviving Internship Culture Shock appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Each semester, thousands of students complete internships in order to gain experience that will boost their employment appeal.  However, many of those students forget to do a few simple things to help them make the most of their internship experience.  Even if the internship is not what you had expected and you thought you had not learned anything from it, you can still make some yummy lemonade from the lemons you had been given.

 1. Connect With As Many People As Possible

The internship is designed to help you learn skills relevant to your future career.  But you can also make some great connections while interning.  By being helpful to everyone you meet at your company, fulfilling your responsibilities to the upmost of your ability, and taking initiative, you can prove to others that you are a valuable asset.  Don’t stay isolated in your cubicle the entire summer!  Initiate projects that will allow you to work with others in the company.  Your supervisor and immediate co-workers are obvious connections – but what about people from other departments?  Could you ask someone from another department if you could interview them about their job so you can learn more about their role in the company?  You never know – it may lead to a new career interest!  Consider buying coffee for another manager to get their professional advice.  Learn as much as you can from all of the people you encounter.

2. Get Some Action Shots

Have a co-worker snap some pictures of you on-the-job.  Get some good action shots that show you engaging with others.  If you are working at an event planning organization, for example, take photos of all of the event set-up’s you assisted in coordinating.  If you work in a hospital, ask if you can take a photo with a healthcare professional.  You can use these pictures on your personal web-site, on your blog, or in a portfolio.  Images convey more than words, so whenever you can pull out photos that show what you did in your internship, the more impact you will have in future  interviews.

3.  Learn Your Impact

Schedule a meeting with your supervisor to discuss the impact you have made on the organization during your internship.  Did you work on a team project that will be implemented into next year’s marketing campaign?  Did your financial analysis study lead to cost savings for the organization?  What did you do to help the organization?  This information will become powerful in propelling your resume, and interviewing for full-time careers.  Anytime you can show that you have made an impact – and how you made that impact – you are proving that you can do this again for any organization.

5.  Get The Basic Numbers

Before you finish up your internship, gather some quantifiable information about the organization and about your experiences there.  How many customers does the organization serve?  What are the key divisions you worked with?  What is the corporate value?  How much money did you save the company?  How many events did you coordinate?  How many patients did you impact?  Resumes should be filled with quantifiable information.  Take a look yourself; which statement sounds better on a resume?

“Worked on several corporate accounts that brought in new clients”

OR

“Worked on 10 key corporate accounts that resulted in an increase of 25% in per-client revenue”

5.  LinkedIn

If you do not already have a LinkedIn profile, now is the best time to create one.  You should include your current internship in your experience section; watch some tutorials or talk with someone in your university career center to learn more about the type of information to include on your profile.  Near the end of your internship, send personalized LinkedIn connection requests to the people you have connected with at your organization.  Be sure to delete the default message and write a personal one to each person reminding them of how you had collaborated together.  This way, they will have a frame of reference for who you are.  Ask your supervisor, a co-worker, or any other professional at the organization if they would consider providing a LinkedIn recommendation for you based on your work in their organization.  In the future, when recruiters view your LinkedIn profile, they will see the accolades you’ve received from previous supervisors. This boosts both reliability and credibility.

The post 5 Things To Do Before You Finish Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In my experiences of talking to employers and supervisors, I have started to learn to speak out in regard to what I want from the internship experience. In letting the interviewer know what I specifically want to do in the future, it will help me and the interviewer determine whether or not the internship is right for me. If someone asks me for tips on an interview day, I will say “just speak for yourself and don’t elaborate on things in order to please the employer“. In the long run, this will help you determine what you REALLY WANT in life.

Stop worry and second guessing yourself. This is what I say to people when they are nervous about talking to employers and supervisors. Sometimes in life, you are too afraid to take initiative and to talk to your boss about the possibility of starting a new project. Why? You feel intimidated when your boss tells you that it is not going to work. So? If I were you, I would initiate the conversation anyway. Through your mistakes and experiences, you will actually learn more about your true desires and broaden your already existing skill set, simply from asking. In other words, “Just do it”!

Employers and supervisors may not know what you want and may even forget what you want, so you need to take action. It is up to you to make the change and to pave the life that you want in the work field.

You may say that this sounds easy but doing so can prove quite difficult. We’ve all been there; the overwhelming butterflies and tense hands, all encompassed by an overbearing feeling of tight anxiety. However overcoming this weakness and challenging yourself is a simple part of life, one that we must all strive to overcome. As part of all successful people, we should continue to strive and to achieve greatness both in and out of the workforce.

The post It Is Never Too Early To Speak Out At An Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

My husband and I run a Hollywood internship program for our university, and the entertainment industry people we work with constantly talk about wanting “rock star interns.” Those are the ultimate interns everyone dreams of having; the kind that can turn into full-time employees if a position opens.

So, how do you earn rock star intern status?

Tip #1 – Focus on Service

While actual rock stars are widely known for their talent, rock star interns are more known for their thoughtful service—the little acts that impress. I know a student who earned his rock star title by washing everyone’s coffee cups in the company kitchen. No one asked him to; he just saw that it needed to be done and he did it. Months later, when the internship supervisor wrote the student’s evaluation, she was still referring to the coffee cups as an indicator of the student’s personality, hard work, and dedication. Small acts of service will speak volumes if they are sincere.

Tip #2 – Hold Your Opinion

While big rock stars are known as standouts for their showmanship, interns become stars by knowing their place in the background. Interns often feel at home at a company long before their bosses feel comfortable with them, so exerting opinions too soon is unwise. Pay close attention in meetings and be ready with a suggestion if you’re called upon to express it. It’s always a delicate balancing act—you want to be the intern who gets noticed but it’s risky to come off cocky. Rock star interns err on the side of caution and wait for their opinions to be asked for.

Tip #3 – Be Responsible

Finally, while famous rock stars lead notoriously wild lives of late nights, risky behavior and consistent hangovers, rock star interns would be wise to do the opposite. Getting a good night’s sleep, setting more than one alarm, and allowing a generous amount of time to get through traffic means you’ll arrive at work ahead of schedule and ready for a productive day. Rock star interns may occasionally be so far ahead of schedule that they can pick up donuts for the staff. Those may be the best few dollars you’ll ever spend!

The post Becoming a Rock Star Intern, Part 1 appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

There is perhaps no better feeling than that of your first day at your summer internship. You were probably wearing a nice shirt, or some new shoes, or a brand new smile that is synonymous to the excitement you were feeling since it is the first time you got to call a place your office. It takes a while to get used to your new environment, your colleagues, your daily tasks and it is inevitable to ask yourself questions like: “How long should I be taking for lunch? Are there casual fridays? Can I wear my favorite jeans to work?“

But in a matter of weeks you’ll feel like you’ve taken grasp of your responsibilities and you’ll soon find yourself on a countdown until it is all over. It’s bittersweet, I know, but do you really want to go back to classes? Probably not. Here are a few tips on what to do during the last few days of your internship.

1. Put your skills to work: Learn. Grow. Inspire. 

There is only so much you can learn during two or three months, but the skills you gain are yours to keep forever. During my first co-op (which is like an internship only that it is a full-time six months employment contract that is part of my degree) at Adobe Systems in San Francisco, I was assigned the role of Digital Marketing Specialist. I optimized the conversion rate of online campaigns for Fortune 500 companies on platforms like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter or Facebook. I realized that these weren’t skills I learned in Intro to Marketing, in fact, these were things I’d never heard before. I focused on learning as much as I could, and even pioneered the development of Twitter Ads on the Adobe platform. I thought that once my co-op came to an end, it was highly unlikely that I would be doing this in the future. I was wrong. When I returned to campus I found some of my friends building projects of their own like start-up companies, personal brands, or even trying to become an EDM DJ. I thought it was a great idea to put forward my skills I’ve learnt at Adobe and help them expand their brands online. It was fascinating and truly rewarding so when you return to campus, consider putting to work the unique skills you’ve gained in your internship or co-op.

2. Build relationships and keep in touch

Chances are you’re going to be working on a team, perhaps on a specific account. You’re going to be spending more than ten weeks with them and if you want to make the most of it, you should be making meaningful relationships with them; not only on the professional level but also on a personal one. They want to get to know you as much as you want to get to know them — especially if you’re an international student from El Salvador with a vibrant passion for Latin dancing and foreign cuisines. My advice is that you touch base with all of the members of your team and ask them if there is anything in particular you can help them with; perhaps something that isn’t related to the account you’re working on. At Adobe, I found myself translating internal decks from English to Spanish. This was completely outside of my formal responsibilities, yet it went a long way and made an impact on my colleagues; one that demonstrated diligence and commitment. You could even go the extra mile and send a flower bouquet, a box of cookies or a twelve-pack of crafted beer for the team to enjoy. I guarantee you that such a form of gratitude will make you memorable. And when you’re about to start classes next semester, shoot them a message thanking them for everything you learned from them and even sharing a little bit about the classes you are taking this semester.

3. Pay It Forward

Getting an internship, whether it is your first, second or even third, is no easy task. In fact, most students are under a lot of pressure when applying to these positions in the efforts to build a better resume, get work experience, and if they’re lucky, make some cash. But think about this: Next year that same company you worked for will need to hire other interns, and if you’ve done a terrific job, you could offer a viable referral for a friend. One of the best feelings in the world is the ability to pay it forward. If you know someone who might be interested in your position, then refer them to the team. Give advice to other students, especially younger students, on how to go about the application; what sort of skills they’re looking for or what was the whole relocation process like. I encourage you to write a blog post reflecting on your whole experience, from your commute, to your tasks, to your perceptions on the company’s culture. Whatever it is you can help with, be sure to lend a hand to your fellow students.

4. Life is a journey. Never settle.

I’m not a big fan of popular quotes but a great man once said that you should “learn as if you were to live forever.” My last piece of advice for you is to never stop looking for better opportunities. Once you finish your internship, make sure you update your resume highlighting the tasks and responsibilities you were assigned. You can also ask your co-workers for recommendations, especially if you’re building a Linked In profile — which you should. You can even go a step ahead and build an online resume website with all your relevant work experience. Don’t settle with this one experience, in fact, start looking for better ones. Go out of state — California is great during the summer. Or why not go abroad? I’ve heard there is an awesome tech start-up scene in London and Tel-Aviv. Start planning your next big adventure but don’t forget to look back and be grateful for the trail you’ve left behind.

The post What To Do Once Your Co-op Or Internship Is Over appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Too often students are reluctant to take the initiative when they are at an internship.  If I was a recruiter or employer, I would  look for individuals who asked questions, wanted to reach outside of their comfort zone, and take charge of a project.

My advice to current and future interns is to do just that—take charge.  Do not act in a way that would step on the toes of your supervisor, but in a way that would show them you are willing to take chances and make a name for yourself.   This is a time to reflect on your strengths and how to best utilize them for the company.  Use the knowledge you have gained in the classroom and from your professors and apply it to the internship.  Because in the end, the point of the internship is to gain applicable, real-world experience.   Do not be afraid to seek out advice and exposure from other departments.  If you are an HR intern but want to learn more about the Public Relations side of a company, ask your immediate supervisor if you would be able to visit with the company’s PR staff.

When given a project by your supervisor, be sure you completely understand the expectations before you get too deep into it.  Your supervisor would much rather you ask questions than attempt completion based on a hopeful guess.  If there is an opportunity to create a presentation and share your work with a group, jump on it.  This shows initiative, communication skills, and creativity.

Having a great attitude about your internship and putting 100% effort into each assignment will show that you are willing to go above and beyond.   This is an opportunity to learn how to collaborate, work as a team, and grow as an individual.  You never know where this internship could lead to, perhaps you could be asked back for another internship or be hired on as a full-time employee.  Remember that the little things you do make a difference-the way you dress, act, and carry yourself will help you stand apart and get noticed by those in upper level management.

The post Take Charge of Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The post Do’s and Don’ts for Art Student Internships appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In New York, you need to know a lot of things:  how to swipe a MetroCard (I’ve yet to master the public art), what your privacy rights as a tenant are, and even more so, where to find the best happy hours for YPs— young professionals. You can look high and low, though if you’re like me and prefer a decent place to sit and a certain ambiance filled with likeminded fashion, media, and finance kids, sometimes you’re just going to have to suck it up and dish out $20 for a cranberry and vodka. The added bonus is that you’re young, hot, and carrying a bag that’s not even out yet. That black AmEx will come sooner or later, maybe when you’ve learned to fold your towels in three neat folds like Mum showed you or make your own dinner instead of ordering Seamless. Regardless, you’re living the ultimate: you’re bright-eyed, posh, and broke.

Four weeks have gone by since I’ve arrived in New York. When recalling back everything I’ve done, everyone I’ve met, and everything I’ve heard, I can compare the past month to being on a road trip with Zach Galifianakis. Only in New York can you wake up one bright Saturday morning, swallows chirping by your pre-war windows with Lorde and Lana del Rey serenading you via MacBook Pro and take note of BeautyConNY via Joe Zee’s Twitter. Yes, you got that right: I went to that BeautyConNY event and met the Joe Zee—newly departed ELLE Creative Director/ recently inducted Editor in Chief of Yahoo Fashion, TV host/star, and all-around FASHION KING of 21^st century American dress.

“Let’s take a selfie! No, let’s take TWO!” Mr. Zee said, grabbing me, bubbly and flattered, since he was my number one must-meet-or-die icon in this life. We took two selfies and I instantly uploaded them to my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds. IT. WAS. AWESOME. It would be rude of me not to mention that I was also able to snag a one-on-one chat with ELLE’s Beauty and Fitness Director Emily Dougherty and Associate Features Editor Seth Plattner, where on both counts, we laid out my professional path as an up and coming editorial Madonna in New York.

Zeroing in on my design internship with Pour La Victoire, the people and the events—not to mention beaucoup de shoes and handbags—have been equally moving on a tectonic level. As an intern, my assignments and interactions are never limited to the design department. The studio houses two other brands—I like to think of them as sister brands—and we work literally a foot apart from each other in the studio. That means that exposure to other designers is regular and I am able to expand my assisting role from one designer to another, and from one brand to another, all in a given week! The sales team—the people who pitch to buyers like Piperlime, Nordstrom, and Henri Bendel—are also constantly talking shop with the designers. Every person in the studio has a job to do, and it’s fascinating how each one unites with the department over to deliver a final product to the masses. See this gorgeous product wall that the Pour La Victoire sales team landed at Henri Bendel! An #Insta-worthy coup for the PLV team, right!?

In fashion, there are so many characters in a creative space. Where one creative may be living a rock and roll lifestyle with a vocabulary as colorful as Sharon Osbourne, another may be an Instagram queen with a gift for laying down Mindy Lahiri witticisms. You just never know what you’re going to get when you walk into an innovative environment, and that’s truly where the fun can be had. Designs may be scrapped, mistakes can be made (look here), people may get pissed off at one other, but at the end of the day, we all belong to the same team with the same goal: embrace women in our heels!

Over the next several weeks, I’m looking forward to learning about how Pour La Victoire manages itself as a successful high end brand, and even more so, expanding my role so that I can walk away with knowledge about designing footwear, selling to buyers, and evolving social media channels.

The post Fast Fashion In A Fast City: My Journey As A Design Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

After landing the spring internship position, there was this sense of excitement, one that comes along whenever something new comes into my life, that swelled into the pit of my stomach. To prepare myself, I binge watched The House of Cards the weekend before my start date so I can better understand exactly what a member of congress does on a daily basis.

Upon arriving at the San Francisco Federal Building, I had to go through security, similar to an airport, which made the experience feel all the more “legit”. I then secured a Federal Government badge so I can come and go as I pleased, just like in the show. When I arrived at her office, what I had imagined, or rather what I had been influenced by 18 hours of Netflix, did not coincide with reality. The district office was quite small and had a comfortable feel to it, like something a Mom and Pop restaurant would have. Despite this surface gloss of a depiction, the constant buzz of business would soon enrapture myself and the other interns.

We went straight into learning how to conduct ourselves as reflections of Congresswoman Pelosi, whom all the staffers referred to as “The Leader”, conducting Veteran Affairs and IRS casework, and even inputting voter’s concerns and suggestions into an internal database.  Upon completion of my semester at the office, I have learned much about the public sector and how representatives interact with his or her constituents. I have boiled it down to 5 distinct lessons so that you too can gain from my experience.

1. Keep Calm During Stressful Times

Whether it is handling angry constituents, multiple immigration files, or inputting voting data all at once, it is crucial to remain poised. No matter how difficult it is to talk back to an ignorant caller, I have learned that it is the best to simply listen to the constituent’s concerns and direct him or her to the appropriate channels without letting my emotions get the best of me. This not only affects my internship experience, but also affects Nancy Pelosi’s reputation in the political sphere. What an intern does at the office is a direct reflection of the company or political figure.

2. Take Responsibility For Your Actions

At Leader Pelosi’s office, there were three to four interns working at a time. This meant the office assignments were split up evenly. Each person has a specific role, or a specific person to report to for the day. This is similar to a kitchen staff where each person has a specific task, and if one person fails to take responsibility for his or her role, then the meal would not be complete. Individually, the Interns have the responsibility to do our own part and complete the tasks that were assigned.

3. Professionalism In And Out Of The Work Place

One of the major lessons of working in the San Francisco Federal Building was professional behavior. As stated earlier, the Interns were an extension of Leader Pelosi and the way we behaved in meetings, conferences, and briefings were a constant reflection of whom we worked for. When dealing with constituents or visitors coming into the office, we had to always be both welcoming and well-mannered. Coming from a more startup culture, it was a great learning experience for me to behave in a more formal setting.

4. Take Everything Seriously…Literally

Another major lesson I learned during my tenure at the office is to take every phone call, email, and message seriously, no matter how outrageous or possibly comical they may be. Whether or not a bomb threat is serious, a caller is from a major sports facility, or an officer is claiming he or she is from Air Force 1, all potential callers should be taken seriously. Compared to other internships where jokes can be shoved to the side and easily forgotten, a congress member’s office has serious consequences for ignoring such urgent matters. You definitely do not want to be the Intern who ignores a phone call from the President of the United States of America (this actually happened).

5. Importance Of Timeliness

As with every internship, deadlines and punctuality are very important attributes. However, in a governmental internship, one in which we must coordinate times with the Washington D.C. office, submitting assignments on time becomes more crucial. Besides arriving on time and making sure that lunch breaks are not wasted, this internship has showed me how important time management is throughout the day. It has improved my multitasking abilities and has given me the ability to concentrate on various projects without wasting precious time.
Overall, working at the office of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has set me up in various ways that will not only help me in political positions in the future, but in any professional environment where punctuality, professionalism, and responsibility are important aspects. Wholeheartedly, I recommend students to pursue governmental positions so that they can both learn more about how our government operates and how constituents are helped by political representatives. It was also an added bonus to meet and chat with the honorable Leader Pelosi while we worked at Small Business Week in Twitter’s headquarters. To put it shortly, she’s brilliant.

The post Lessons I Learned Working for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

There may be some confusion with what exactly an intern does. Everyone knows the stereotypical horror stories of simply fetching coffees all day or doing random assignments that just-so-happened to be excluded from the job-description. So what is the answer to the all important, “why am I here?” question?

Answer: Your purpose as an intern is to help improve the company.

As a fresh new face, this is the perfect opportunity to really showcase your skills to the company. The company that you are working for found something outstanding in your resume; so prove it! Utilize those skills that you consider your strong suit and contribute to the company.

You may be a new intern but you certainly are not the first. This means that the company already expects you to perform certain jobs.

So how do you stand out and improve the company?

Go above and beyond what you are expected. Improve your position. That is your purpose isn’t it?  Find more efficient and more effective ways to do your position. Do not be afraid to ask questions–they will ultimately lead you to finding the most effective way to perform your tasks.

Just because you are an intern does not mean that you are unimportant to the company. You have new ideas and new perspectives that can sometimes be overlooked. So make them known. Companies will be impressed when they see this type of work ethic.

This is your opportunity to make a lasting impression on the company so you have to make the most of it. If a company appreciates your contribution and work ethic as an intern, you can only imagine how they can later see you as an actual employee within the company.

The post Your Purpose as an Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Congratulations!  You have landed a summer internship and if you haven’t already started, you will soon.

So how can you make the most of the comparatively short time you have working at a summer internship?

Here are my 5 suggestions!

1. Talk to your supervisor

About what you should expect to be doing over the next few weeks, and – since an internship is supposed to be a learning experience – what will you be learning?  Try to get this in writing, then check off the tasks you complete, and note the new skills and knowledge you acquire during the internship.

2. Keep a journal

Detailing every task you take, every project you complete, and every new skill you acquire.  Why should you do that?  Well, if you are interning for academic credit, this information will help you to write a meaningful reflection paper, and, of course, you don’t want to forget anything when it comes to updating your resume!   You will want to leverage your experience this summer to help you obtain your next internship or full-time job.

3. Always go the extra mile

This is a cliche, admittedly, but nonetheless very important!  While I am not suggesting you put in hours of overtime, it will definitely make a good impression if you ask for more work once you’ve completed a task.  After all, it’s no fun for you if you’re bored, and you never want to be caught tweeting, texting or Facebooking at work.  Asking for additional work shows that you are hard-working and can complete complete tasks in less time than expected.

4. Be friendly and outgoing with the other staff

Making friends with your co-workers will bring you many benefits!  They can help you when you encounter problems, teach you about the company culture, tell you the best places for coffee or lunch (maybe even take you with them) and far more besides.  You don’t want to come across as stand-offish or antisocial.  There may be times when you have questions that you don’t want to bother your supervisor with, so who better to ask than your co-workers.  And quite apart from those considerations, isn’t it always more fun when you get along well with people you spend so many hours with?  You don’t want to be an outsider, you want to be part of the group, the team.

5. Don’t get involved in office politics!

If your co-workers try to make you take their side in a dispute with other colleagues, just say no!  Be assured that nothing good will come of it, and it could ruin your reputation, not to mention the rest of your time at the internship.

So, once you have taken all this wise advice and acted upon it, enjoy your internship and the rest of your summer!  If you are returning to college in the fall, be sure to schedule an appointment with your career center as soon as you can to get help with updating your resume in order to show your internship experience in the best way possible.  If you’re lucky, you might make such a great impression during the internship that your employer will offer you a full-time job after graduation.  And what could be sweeter than that?

The post 5 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I consider myself the luckiest man alive. Not because of the opportunities that have been present at such a young age, not because of the adventures that I’ve lived through or the fantastic places life has shown me, but because at the age of twenty-one I’ve been fortunate enough to have learned the most important lesson in life.

The post How I Landed Two Internships Without Relying on Titles, Awards, or Degrees appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by an Altay Otun student for Student Stories. 

On a hot and humid summer’s day, I found myself wandering around Kim Il-sung Square in the heart of Pyongyang. Surrounded by portraits of Lenin and Marx, I felt as if I had just stepped onto a set of some Cold War era spy movie. But this was no movie set and hundreds of North Korean school children practicing for the annual Arirang Festival were no extras.

When most students take the summer after their freshman year in college to reconsider their fateful decision to major in mechanical engineering, Skype with their new girlfriend or boyfriend- that they met while living in dorms -about their future plans to move in together (we all know how that one ends), or backpack through western Europe and take a selfie of themselves propping up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I decided to travel to North Korea.
My trip to North Korea was part of an internship with the Pyongyang Project, a Canadian non-profit, that took me and a dozen or so undergraduate and graduate students to Beijing, Pyongyang, and Seoul. Our aim was to analyze the highly interconnected nature of Northeast Asian economies, cross-border interactions between China and North Korea, and political as well as social relations between China, North Korea, and South Korea. At the end of our trip, we authored a memo on our findings and recommendations on how to ensure peace and stability on the Korea Peninsula, which we presented at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul.

But here’s the catch: I didn’t know much about North Korea or Northeast Asian politics when applying for the internship position. For many students, that would be enough to discourage them from applying for a great opportunity. But I am here to tell you that you don’t have to be a perfect fit to land the internship that you want.

Let me explain. While I did not have any expertise or in-depth knowledge on North Korea or the surrounding region (prior coursework, fluency in Korean or Mandarin, past internship experiences on the topic, etc), I was able to tailor my skills and past experiences to fit the internship’s requirements. Having a previous internship experience in Cyprus, a country also divided between two communities, I highlighted my experiences working and researching in such an environment and this ultimately worked in my favor.

The main takeaway here is that you don’t have to match-up with the internship’s qualifications exactly to be a great fit for the position. Just because you don’t have experience in Asian politics doesn’t mean that your experience analyzing politics in the Middle East couldn’t be an adequate substitute. Your primary goal should be to look hard and long at the experiences and skills that you do have and communicate to your interviewer about how they fit with the internship’s requirements – even if they don’t match up with what’s written on paper.

If I had let the fact that I was not extremely knowledgeable on state Northeast Asian politics discourage me, I would have missed out on the internship of a lifetime. Make sure you don’t let your fears cost you the position of your dreams!

About the Author:

Altay Otun is a senior majoring in Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He has held numerous internships with the State Department, the Obama Campaign, US Congress, policy think-tanks, and non-profits. He is also the founder of Canada’s first student run policy think tank- the Policy Scholars Forum. He is passionate about politics and innovation. Find him on LinkedIn and Facebook.

The post Summer in North Korea appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Rachel Markle for Student Stories. 

After having made my decision to take a break from college for a year, I figured it was time to find some experience and paid work that would sustain myself for the long, hard stretch of time ahead of me.

My first option was to search online via my personal laptop for tutoring jobs in my community. With my registration complete, I was ready to go and start scheduling lessons in French, ESL, English, and Spanish with incoming students. Somewhere in between my second and my fourth lesson, I met the son of my future internship boss.

His mother, my soon-to-be internship supervisor, had hired me to tutor her 8^th grader in French. After 2 months, she offered me the added responsibilities of tutoring him in even more subjects including: English, reading, history, and science. That same evening after lessons, she gave me the following 2-line consideration: “I am looking for an intern in Human Resources and Administration. If you’re interested, let me know in the next week.”
Needless to say, I was extremely flattered, and of course decided to take her up on the offer. Because she had initially hired me to be a part-time tutor, I knew she trusted me in a larger sense and was comfortable enough to give me additional work responsibilities. Having a previous rapport with her reflected my work for her in a very positive sense. The internship lasted 6 months, giving me lots of paid (resume) experience that carried on to me other tutoring jobs and future career interests. In fact, she sat me down personally every 3 months and expected me to present to her my individual goals for the future. Her guidance allowed me to continue to work for her, while also keeping my own personal purpose in mind.

After the internship ended, I quickly was able to return to school seamlessly, while also balancing part-time work and another internship, all with the aplomb of a veteran intern able to think critically, organize one’s work, and plan effectively for the short-term and long-term. I will forever be indebted to this person who gave me so many tools for success because of the strong trust and relationship I had managed to build with her.

I highly recommend taking the following steps before you begin searching for your next internship with InternMatch.

Write down your short-term plans for the next 3 months and your long-term goals for the next 6 months or more. Be specific and include personal goals, school goals, work goals, or internship goals. Recruiters will often ask you in your interview what your goals are, and this is extremely important to review and prepare beforehand.

Also, assess your organizational skills to determine what kind of internship best meets your needs and individual skills. Some internships are virtual, which means that you can work from home and sometimes you can even set your own schedule. If you require flexibility with deadlines or personal space, this internship might meet your needs. Using the same logic, you might be better suited to apply to a social media or marketing internship if you have online experience and access to a personal computer.

Lastly, make sure you understand the needs of your potential employer, before your interview. A hiring manager wants to get to know your personality, qualifications, and experience. Likewise, you should try your best to get to know the company from which you are requesting a job. It is only fair — would you be more likely to honor a Facebook friend request if that person were a close friend or a complete stranger? Respect is a two-way street and doing your research can earn you brownie points later on in the interview process.

 Author Bio:

Rachel Markle is a private tutor in the Chicago area specializing in ESL, French, Spanish, and special education. She currently attends classes at Loyola University Chicago and expects to earn her B.A. in French by May 2016. She lives alone with her feline child Foo Foo and spends her free time singing in her church choir. She has a strong work ethic and always appreciates a new challenge. Feel free to visit her online at:

www.linkedin.com/in/rachelmarkle

The post My First Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Colombia provides fantastic conditions and opportunities for students looking for internships or volunteer in South America as the country is still relatively unknown to foreigners while the need for high-quality interns is higher than ever.

As many people that do not know much about Colombia, we came to Medellin, the country’s second largest city, with some negative presumptions in mind.

However, we were pleasantly surprised to feel at ease straightaway, feeling very safe and immediately fell in love with Medellin and its 3.5 million people.

One of the aspects that blew our mind is the blooming business culture in the city.

The entrepreneurship spirit is strongly developed. For example, Culture E, a program funded by Medellin city government, sponsored the creation of 1,843 new enterprises with 3,025 new employments between 2008 and 2010 alone.

This internationalization and dynamism of both Colombia and Medellin attract many foreign companies which can rely on Colombia’s attractive foreign investment policies, a strong GDP growth (a 4.6% annual GDP projected growth in the next five years according to the Economist), Colombia’s improved security (Bogota has a lower murder rate than Washington DC) and increase in tourism.

However, while the country’s need for English speakers is growing, Colombia’s workforce does not have an adequate level of English. This provides amazing opportunities for international students and/or graduates who will have access to an unique professional experience abroad. Students will also learn or improve their Spanish skills in a country which has the clearest Spanish of South America.

Additionally, local companies highly value foreign student’s education levels.

Moreover, Colombia, unlike some other South American countries, has not attracted many interns or volunteers because of its past violent while the need for foreigners to contribute in the country’s fast development is bigger than ever.

This exceptional vacuum secures great opportunities that can be offered to volunteers and interns nowadays. US influence is big in Colombia and many companies In Colombia have US based clients. They are very interested in having American students doing paid summer internships in Colombia.

An experience in Colombia is unique and extremely valuable. It shows the adventurous spirit and adaptability of the student.

International students and/or graduates will also have the opportunity to visit a country with the second most important biodiversity of the world : pristine beaches (i.e Tayrona Park with beautiful beaches close to 19,000 feet mountains), 3 ranges of mountains, the Caribbean sea,the Atlantic and Pacific ocean, the coffee region,…

All these factors convinced us to launch Internships Colombia an interactive platform between companies located in Colombia and foreign students looking for an exciting adventure abroad.

The post Why and How to Get an Internship in Colombia appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Brace yourselves! Fall is here, which means that the perfect storm of chilly weather, midterms, and internship application anxiety is swiftly approaching. While we may not be there to keep you warm or make flashcards with you at 2 a.m., we can help you with that last bit.

We know that applying for internships can feel like spelunking in a dark cave—full of missteps, uncertainties, and the occasional dead end. To illuminate the process, we went straight to the source and asked employers to send us their best #interntips about applying for internship positions.

The tips that we received were honest, insightful, and sometimes surprising. Many of them stressed that personality and enthusiasm are just as important as skills on a resume. To the employers who participated, thank you for contributing your time and knowledge in the name of great internship matches!

And now, without further ado, here are the top thirteen internship tips:

Pay attention to the details—nothing makes me throw away a resume faster than glaring spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes. Putting care into how you present yourself shows that you want and deserve to be noticed.
– Sarah Swidron, HealthCare Data Solutions

The first thing we tell our interns is to go buy your FirstNameLastName.com.com/net/etc. Control your reputation online.
– Jay Lohmann, TagTeam Creative

Put 95% of your energy into the cover letter for the companies that you really want to work for. A well-written, creative, clearly individualized—and most important of all—FUN cover letter stands out and can even make up for a weak resume. The most critical skill for an intern to have is an indomitable attitude, and when that sense of excitement and determination is conveyed in the cover letter, that application leaps to the top of the pile.
– Bombfell

If you are applying for a design internship, and your resume is a word document in Times New Roman, I won’t even consider you
– Zoli Hhonig, Chalkable

I often hear “I’m the perfect match for your internship.” Really? How do you know? It takes time for everyone to figure that out. Few internships will truly speak to your skills/goals/passions, but they’re out there. Connect with companies early so you have the time to learn if it’s truly “the perfect match.” Be curious, get to know the people behind the company, and be more selective than anyone else in the process.
– Anna Lewis, Viget

Best tip for hiring interns—paint the vision of the company and the importance of their part in that vision.
–Vincent Turner, Planwise (@vinaeco)

Keep it real. To stand apart, be entirely authentic in every form of communication with a potential employer. Leave canned resume copy and interview responses to those who aren’t interested in a great internship. The best companies seek out people who are honest, emotionally mature, and trustworthy.
– Tom Seery, RealSelf

Stay on task and keep record. Break your internship responsibilities into three main categories (i.e. build relationships internally, create content for website, develop marketing campaign). Daily, write out the activities under each category that need to be done, and give each a time slot. At the end of the day you have a record of what you’ve completed, and you can transfer the incomplete items to the next day.
– Philip Witcher, Santander Consumer USA

When I am looking for an intern, the first thing I look for is whether or not they followed the directions on applying for the position. If I ask for a cover letter and resume and only receive a resume from a candidate, that candidate is automatically disqualified.

It is very important that all communication has correct spelling. If you are sending an introduction email along with your resume, spellcheck it! If you are not sure if your email, resume, and/or cover letter is grammatically correct, ask someone!
– Brian-Ray McConnell, Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing

A positive attitude can go a long way…just remember, skills can be taught, but an attitude can’t!
– Viacom (@viacominterns)

Get the name right of the employer and follow up with a warm phone call unless specified otherwise. Do your research on the company before the phone call, and talk about the value you want to bring, and what you are excited to learn about.
– Tanya Menendez,
Makers Row

Be conversational, give your elevator speech in a natural way, and make sure your resume is formatted professionally.
– Big Eye Creative (@bigeyecreative)

Research the company before your interview. Understand what they do, ask about interesting aspects of the business, and let your enthusiasm shine in person. Above all, make sure you are excited about the company, the internship, and the possibilities ahead.
– Rebecca Rodriguez, Parties That Cook

I would recommend looking at any possible internship not as a way to pad a resume but rather to use the opportunity to expand into something that is possibly on the fringe of where you dream of being in the future. Internships are one of the safest ways to test the riskiest, yet possibly the most rewarding, paths your career could take following graduation. Most people are not in a position ten years down the road to test a path that leads to their dream jobs, so take full advantage and dare to be risky when choosing an internship today.
– Bill Hipsher, USstoragesearch.com

We chose these thirteen internship tips because they do a terrific job of highlighting professionalism while also framing the importance of finding an internship that both excites and challenges you. If you’re invested in what a company does, let that enthusiasm show! It could be the je ne sais quoi that puts you ahead of the game.

Now that you’ve studied up on these internship tips, it’s time to put them to work! Start your search and “wow” employers with a flawless resume, an engaging cover letter, and impeccable follow-up etiquette.

The post Top 13 Intern Tips from Employers appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Katy Utter –  a senior at the University of Dayton.

Big company or small? Knowing the kind of environment you will work best in can make applying to jobs a lot less overwhelming. If you’ve never considered working at a small company, here are 5 things that I’ve learned after spending the summer working for a small non-profit.

1. You may be the only intern.

For some people, this can be scary. You don’t have built in “friends” in your work environment that you commiserate with. On the plus side, you are much more likely to develop meaningful relationships with other employees. These people have been in the workforce for a few years so they lots of contacts in their industry. They already know their way around the office and are likely to become mentor figures.

2. You’re likely to get cross-divisional experience.

Not sure what you want to do yet? Small companies may be the best atmosphere for you. Since the company divisions contain a lot less people, you will probably get asked to help with something outside of what you were hired for. This provides you the opportunity to network with other employees and learn more about how the company runs.

3. Easier lines of communication.

I worked in social media and our marketing department consisted of 4 people (including me). If I had a question on a project I could go directly to the Director of Marketing. Many interns at bigger companies struggle with communication. Sometimes they have to wait days for answers to questions or approval on projects since they have to go through so many more people.

4. You become a team player.

Many items on this list can depend on the industry or culture, but if you are selected to be an intern at a small company it is because they think you will fit in to their team. In my experience, I felt much more like a regular employee. I was invited to meetings, on calls, and asked to share my research. I felt like I was adding value with what I was doing instead of just being a cog in the wheel.

5. More face time.

Bigger companies tend to have employees located all over the world, so you spend a lot of time pinging and emailing someone you will never meet. I loved having face time with all of the employees on a regular basis. This was especially important with the higher ups. The executive director knows my name, where I go to school, and what I did last weekend. Bigger companies just aren’t able to do this.

For me, the biggest challenge was not having other interns. It was my first time in the area so it was hard to make friends outside of work. I ended up becoming better friends with my roommate than I expected and taking lots of recommendations from my co-workers on stuff to do in the area.

I am very happy with my experience at a small company. I wanted to get the most out of my internship and my small company allowed me to learn and network from a group of passionate and intelligent people. Because it was so small, I was able to learn something from everyone there. Many students go into internship hunting thinking that they need an experience from a large and recognizable company. I’ve found that it doesn’t matter as much about where you work, but it matters more about what you learned not just in the industry, but about yourself. If any of the above 5 things interests you, take a look at some of the smaller companies on WayUp.

Check out other internships at smaller companies.

The post 5 Things to Know About Interning at a Small Company appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We’d like to congratulate Lean In and Sheryl Sandberg on their decision to set up a formal paid internship that does justice to their mission as a company. Here was the official statement concerning their somewhat controversial job posting from August 13th and subsequent move to rectify it.

I am Rachel Thomas, the president of LeanIn.Org.We recognize there is an ongoing public debate on the appropriate use of unpaid interns. So we want to share the facts with you and our community.

Like many nonprofits, LeanIn.Org has attracted volunteers who are passionate about our mission. We’ve had four students ask to volunteer with us. They worked flexibly when they could, and often remotely.

These volunteers helped support our message and community, and gained valuable experience doing so. They did not displace or delay the hiring of paid employees. The posting that prompted this discussion was for a position that doesn’t fall within LeanIn.Org’s definition of a “volunteer.”

As a startup, we haven’t had a formal internship program. Moving forward we plan to, and it will be paid.We support equality – and that includes fair pay – and we’ll continue to push for change in our own organization and our broader community.

Anyone considering setting up an internship program or converting their unpaid internship program should follow Lean In’s example and plan for equality.

The post Update: Lean In Makes the Save appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Sheryl Sandberg, founder of the nonprofit organization Lean In, published her best-selling book, Lean In, on March 1st, 2013. All proceeds from the book go to fund the nonprofit, and Lean In recently announced that over 1 million copies of the book have been sold so far. But despite this literary success, Lean In apparently can’t afford to pay its interns.

In a recent posting on her Facebook page, Jessica Bennett, editor-at-large for Lean In, put out a call for an intern, unpaid, to start as soon as possible. The unpaid internship debate has finally reached the nonprofit sector, and it did not make a quiet entrance.

“Wanted: Lean In editorial intern, to work with our editor (me) in New York. Part-time, unpaid, must be HIGHLY organized with editorial and social chops and able to commit to a regular schedule through end of year. Design and web skills a plus! HIT ME UP. Start date ASAP.”

The post immediately sparked controversy, generating 250 comments so far that declare interest in the position (few and far between), express outrage (Bennett earned herself some unflattering nicknames), and even cite labor codes and laws.

Not three hours after Bennett first posted the position, she put up yet another status, apparently trying to appease the internet community.

“Dear What Appears to Be My Entire Facebook Feed:

Want to clarify previous Lean In post. This was MY post, on MY feed, looking for a volunteer to help me in New York. LOTS of nonprofits accept volunteers. This was NOT an official Lean In job posting. Let’s all take a deep breath.”

Unfortunately for Bennett, this in no way helped her case. Suddenly, the position in question is not an official Lean In job posting, it is not an internship, and it is really just a volunteer position for Bennett herself. Which begs the question: “Why call it an editorial internship in the first place?”

Lean In, based on the book of the same title by Sheryl Sandberg, is an organization dedicated to supporting women, as their website says:

“We are committed to offering women the ongoing inspiration and support to help them achieve their goals. If we talk openly about the challenges women face and work together, we can change the trajectory of women and create a better world for everyone.”

But if they’re so determined to make the world a better place, how can they participate in a practice that carves a deeper rift between the haves and the have-nots, keeping opportunities held aloft and reachable only by those who can afford them? Women are 77% more likely to accept an unpaid internship, and this organization’s message to them is to “lean in” and demand more money while simultaneously expecting them to work for free.

Bennett’s retraction only makes the situation worse, calling into question the ethics of a company that can so easily shift from calling a position an unpaid internship to making it an unofficial volunteer position in a matter of hours.

Of course, Lean In is not the only nonprofit business to offer unpaid internships. In fact, 40.7% of all unpaid internships in 2013 were done at nonprofits, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. And, despite recent court cases against companies for unlawful unpaid internships, 47.8% of internships are still unpaid.

Unpaid internships are causing a great strain, both on students and the economy as a whole. And though it’s safe to say that everyone has a responsibility to kill the unpaid internship and get on the right side of history, the idea that nonprofits are still profiting off of unpaid labor is especially grating. Those businesses whose very purpose in life is to help the less fortunate—to lessen the gap between the classes, to support equal opportunity for everyone—are the ones at the center of the issue, perpetuating inequality by offering opportunities only to those who can afford them.

Conveniently enough, nonprofits are protected from the Department of Labor’s criteria for legal unpaid internships, along with our own government. The hypocrisy thickens. Well, interns are fighting back, and their message is pretty clear: You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Now, we understand that nonprofits don’t always have the funding for hires, and at the same time often have high demand for volunteers. But this issue has led to what is called the leaky bucket phenomenon:  skilled workers are given low-skill volunteerships and ultimately have a high drop-out rate.

Add to this that only 37% of unpaid interns get jobs out of their experiences, as opposed to 60% of paid interns, and it’s clear that we have a problem.

Many nonprofits can afford paid interns. And they should, because it is the right thing to do and the best way to bring in the kind of talent that will move core goals and not just be a burden to manage. And while nonprofits across the country will cry out that they really can’t afford to pay their interns, Lean In seems to have offered a solution: just call them unofficial volunteers.

The post Unpaid Internships for Nonprofits: Lean In Joins the Controversy appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Wouldn’t it be tragic to leave your summer internship saying, “Man, I wish I had done (fill in the blank)?” That’s why you need to have a checklist during your hectic final week to remember to do these 5 important things.

We even made a downloadable checklist for you, so no excuses for forgetting.

Click “Final Week Checklist” below for a document that allows you to check off these activities as you go through the week.

*Final Week Checklist*

1) Hand-write thank you notes to everyone at work. Writing thank you notes is an incredibly effective way to communicate. A hand-written letter is more personal than an online message.  People will keep the note and think of you whenever they come across it.  Studies show that thank you notes will also help you reflect on your experience and appreciate the people you’ve worked with.

2) Set up meetings with at least 5 people in your office. Show them your appreciation for what they taught you and how they encouraged you. Ask for their feedback on your personal and professional development, so you can continue to grow as you return to school.

3) Meet with the people you met outside your office who work at different companies.  Tell your new friends that you plan on staying in contact with them through social media.  You never know when you will want to reach out to them about a certain job or other arising opportunity.

4) Write about your experience in your school newspaper or in a blog. Give back to your company by helping them recruit for next summer.  Potential future interns and the recruiters at your company will thank you and remember you for writing an excellent post detailing what you learned and how you grew this summer.

5) Set up a Google Alert for the company you work for so you can receive updates about them when you’re back at school. Shoot them a message every couple of weeks complimenting them whenever they have success. This will remind them of who you are and let them know that you’re passionate about the company.  Even if you wouldn’t choose to work for them in the future, you may end up being in a situation where it’s your best option.  A Google Alert will also allow you to know when you’re company is hiring so you can be the first to apply.

Mark off all 5 items on this checklist during your final week and you’ll leave your summer internship smiling, with no regrets.

Want to find out more about National Intern Day and how you can win a cash prize? Head over to nationalinternday.com to get the scoop.

The post 5 Things You MUST Do Before Leaving Your Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve landed an internship for the summer and you are super excited. There’s just one problem: your sister is getting married in some obscure location on a Thursday night. Or your family has a pre-planned vacation to Mexico sometime in July. How do you go about getting time off?

Whatever the reason, most employers understand that life doesn’t stop when you get a summer internship. Don’t stress too much about asking for time off, but there are a few things you can do to make the process easier.

1. Check yourself.

Make sure that you’re asking for time off for a reasonable request. If it seems silly to you, it’ll seem silly to your boss, and chances are your manager will say no.

2. Who should you ask?

Find out the official policy on time off, and make sure you know who you should ask for the vacation.

3. Actually ask.

This is simple enough, but always ask for leave, don’t just assume you have it.

4. The earlier, the better.

Give your boss as much notice possible. Obviously, this won’t work if you come down with the flu, but for events planned six months ago, it’s best to be upfront with your boss as soon as possible. Have the exact dates you want off ready to present.

5. Plan for your workload.

If your vacation time is going to conflict with a major project or coincide with a particularly busy time of year, ask your boss who should cover your work or assignments while you’re gone.

Bonus:

DON’T ask for time off too many times, your internship is only so long. DON’T lie about the reason you need time off. DON’T be demanding about your request, it’s just that: a request.

An internship is meant to be a learning experience, and one of those experiences might be dealing with asking for time off. It only becomes a big deal if you let it. Don’t sweat it and follow these tips, you’ll be relaxing on your time off in no time at all.

The post How to Ask for Time Off During Your Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Last week, we asked you to divulge what topped your Intern Holiday Wish List, and you responded with a list of gadgets, accessories, and event tickets that would make anyone’s season brighter. In the spirit of sharing, and to jog your inspiration for that special student or intern in your life, here are a few items that caught our eye!

Yaeeun Chung from Virginia Tech asked for a Himalayan Salt Lamp. This sleek and chic lamp releases negative ions, counteracting the air impurities released from electronics.

Hailing from UC Berkeley, Samantha Chan is eyeing a Capresso Espresso and Cappuccino Machine for those midday pick-me-ups, a Longchamp Tote to trek to the office in style, and a Logitech Wireless Keyboard for her iPad.

Carolina from Old Dominion University unwinds after an intense work day with a full body massage.

A reader from CUNY City College named Danniella retires to a Williamsburg loft and wakes up to a wardrobe styled by Rachel Zoe. Sharing the wealth, she wishes $10,000 be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

What about you? Have you thought of the items that would enhance your internship or student experience? Let us know in the form below!

The post The Intern Holiday Wish List, Part I appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, the holidays are bound to bring about some wishful thinking. Here at WayUp, we want to know what it is that interns covet most—is it a double wall, vacuum insulated Hydro Flask to keep your coffee hot? A Spotify Premium account so you can jam to Frank Ocean? The power to summon Red Bulls from the fridge without having to leave your desk?

Inquiring minds want to know—share your intern holiday wish list below for the chance to be featured on the blog! To start things off, we compiled a list of what tops the list for WayUp staff this year.

Barring teleportation, Jenny could use a Clipper Card for Bay Area transit.

With these Arctic Fleece bodysuits, Rob’s canine buddies can tag along for backcountry routes.

Andrew would rather be skiing with his Tahoe Season Pass.

Ashley’s cross-body Chanel Bag keeps her chic in and out of the office.

Multitasker Ryan chews Jolt Gum to stay fresh and keep caffeinated.

Sports fan Thomas stays current on his commute with a subscription to ESPN Radio.

These Beats Headphones are just what Dr. Dre ordered for Vanessa.

Jonathan would delegate all his grunt work to UBotStudio.

These Blizzard Bonafide skis make sure Nathan hits the slopes in style.

Chulki wants a golden retriever—and the office would be happy to adopt it.

Raph escapes the city on his Santa Cruz Blur XC.

Now it’s your turn. Practical or fantastical, what do you hope to be unwrapping this season?

The post What’s On Your Intern Holiday Wish List? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Two weeks ago, we asked you to identify these celebrity mugs for a chance to win a $150 Chipotle gift card or a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre earbuds. We received hundreds of impressive submissions (perhaps you can add “powers of observation” to the skills section of your resume), and we had a ball looking over your answers.

One of you was convinced that every “guess-who” was actually Batman–except for Dick Cheney, who was the Joker (obviously). Hillary Clinton, who is a babe in her own right, recalled Scarlett Johansson for some of you; and now that you mention it, young Dick Cheney does look like Kevin Costner. As for the person who guessed “not Dwight from The Office” instead of John Krasinski, you were so close!

Drum Roll, Please…

That said, we’re excited to announce that Audrey Song from Harvard University beat out the competition by being the first to correctly name all 15 out of 15 celebrity interns! Congratulations, Audrey! You’re poised to either spend some serious burrito time with Chipotle or catch some bumpin’ tunes with Dr. Dre. Choose wisely.

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the answers:

1) Conan O’Brien
2) Hillary Clinton
3) Bill Gates
4) Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta)
5) Tom Hanks
6) Lauren Conrad
7) Dick Cheney
8) Jodie Foster
9) Kanye West
10) Sylvia Plath
11) Patrick Ewing
12) Betsey Johnson
13) John Krasinski
14) Condoleezza Rice
15) Steven Spielberg

Now that you’ve glimpsed the beginnings of these powerhouses from politics, film, fashion, and the arts, it’s time to get your start. Click through to find the internship or entry-level job that makes the most out of your talent. Who knows–maybe someday, someone will be squinting at your old photos and wondering what internship started it all.

The post “Guess These Celebrity Interns” Winner Announcement! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As many of you know, InternMatch recently hosted an Underclassmen Internship hangout with the Heads of College Recruiting from Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

The event was a huge success and the speakers shared some of the most nuanced and invaluable bits of internship advice that we have ever heard. Topics ranged from how to create a compelling story within your resume, to how to network using your peer and college contacts, to what kind of work you can do as a first year student to start feeling out the professional world.

Since many students weren’t able to join the day of the event, we are posting the video in its entirety below:

While we highly recommend watching the full video, we also pulled out a few key takeaways below:

1) Getting internship experience as a freshman or a sophomore is highly encouraged.

The sooner you can get practical experience, the better. Since younger students generally don’t have much professional experience, companies look for candidates based on extracurricular activities that show your abilities (hint: these are the kinds of things that should be on your resume!).

2) Take courses that you are passionate about.

Make sure you have the basics down first, but the classes you take should be something you can get fired up about.

 3) Tell a story in your resume.

Your resume should include your education and relevant coursework, but it should also tell employers about your skills and extracurricular activities. Make your resume shine with your passions.

Include a cover letter with your interests that highlights your personality. The cover letter often is a light introduction to your resume, it’s your first chance to make a written impression, so make it yours.

4) Make it personal.

Talk to students who have already interned at the company you want to work for. Attend a hangout or information session that the company is attending. Use social media to reach out to recruiters and alumni from your school who work at the company. Introduce yourself and talk about why you want to work there.

The post Underclassmen Hangout Video: Expert Internship Advice From Facebook, Google and Twitter appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Did you do any extracurriculars in college?

I had somewhat of an unorthodox college experience. I was there at TCU for 3 years and I actually played music in a band. We took off and toured for a few years and I came back and finished school. That being said a lot of my time outside of studying was devoted to my musical career.

Tell me about The Starr Conspiracy.

The Starr Conspiracy is more of a marketing company as opposed to a strictly HR company. We do specialize with companies that deal with human capital management and HR but what led me to the Starr conspiracy was their affiliation with marketing, branding and advertising as opposed to the fact they specialize in HR.

How did you get this internship?

I was very lucky. While I was in school I had an appointment to meet a professor and he was running late. While I was waiting, a different professor who I have taken a couple classes with, office was just across the hall. We just started talking about my plans after graduation and I just started asking if he knew companies that were hiring and he led me to the Starr Conspiracy. I had an interview set up and the rest is history. Pure happenstance and luck that I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

What is a typical day like?

To be honest I have yet to have a typical day. When I started I was more helping with the business and account side and I had some interesting writing and content generation roles. From there I just switched sides from accounts to creative. Laurie kind of adopted me as her social media intern and I have been social since, which basically entails helping out with our social media accounts and different client social media endeavors. Mostly blogging, where I will get a couple ideas for a blog or Laurie will have a couple ideas and I will just research it.

Most of the ideas come from Laurie, and I have had a few ideas as well. A lot of it started with Laurie who had the idea of Craig the intern talks about HR. A kind of newbie perspective, to the untrained eye, what all these complicated parts of the HR industry are and explaining it in a one on one perspective.

In Laurie’s blog post, she said she did not want an intern in the beginning, but now she seems to have endless praises for you. What did you do to make that happen?

One of the questions you sent me was “What was my proudest moment?” This blog post was it. I had stumbled upon the blog actually; I didn’t know she was writing it. As far as her taking me under her wing that was kind of something that happened by accident. I am actually not sure why she decided to call me, but she basically asked me if I was getting as involved as I would like to be. As far as an internship goes I don’t think you should turn down the opportunity to do anything or work with somebody, so I told her I am interested in writing and social media and asked what can you help me do? After, she had me start writing these blogs and our relationship continued to adapt. I had no idea she was not wanting an intern in the beginning of the relationship.

You never felt you had to prove yourself to Laurie?

Absolutely not, she has always been very nice since day one. In my own attempt to be hard working and diligent, she understood that I wasn’t there to make anyone’s life harder and I was there to help with anything I could.

What kind of HR trends have you picked up on that could help students out?

Having a completely 100% filled out LinkedIn, having an account on Monster.com and Careerbuilder, constantly networking with different people, all of those things end up helping. Since I have been working here, I have had a number of different opportunities meeting with different companies, who have all found me through LinkedIn, Monster.com and Careerbuilder. Before I had all these accounts fully filled out that wasn’t happening for me. There are a lot of recruiters and staffers out there who are actively seeking for people, which is something you don’t necessarily realize when the job market is like this. When you are actually making yourself available, then chances are you will find somebody who is looking for something you can actually do.

How would you make yourself available?

Making sure you have a social presence. Making sure you always have a resume ready to give to somebody. One thing one of my friends advised me to do early on was to have my own business cards, which at the time I thought was kind of silly because I wasn’t employed, but having a piece of paper that somebody can hold on to and reference has been really helpful to me. At the end of the day, I think it’s people that help people. With more people that know you’re looking for an internship, you will definitely increase your chances of landing something.

What’s next for Craig?

I don’t have it written on paper per say. For now it will be continuing my internship at Starr Conspiracy. Ultimately, I want to end up working full time at a marketing or advertising agency, that’s what I am passionate about. In advertising you can really tie together business as well as creativity. I always think there will be a need for advertising, and it’s a fun, work hard play hard atmosphere. Eventually I do want to get my MBA, but at this point getting experience is more valuable than going back to school.

The post Interview With Craig from The Starr Conspiracy appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Will: Welcome! I’m Will Barbour and I’m a Marketing Intern here in San Francisco. We have a very special guest with us today all the way from Nairobi, Kenya thousands of miles away is Sam Kiiru. He’s a Computer Science student at Princeton University and he is interning with a company called Africa’s Talking. So, Sam please tell us a little bit about Africa’s Talking.

Sam: Africa’s Talking is what you would call in Kenya a premium rate service provider. What we do is we interface with mobile service providers in the country and sell what we call premium services, which are essentially bug, sms and variations of that, services like ussb and other services like calling and many other services that involve playing around with any of those three.

Will: Why did you decide to intern there?

Sam: Last year I worked with IBM’s Global Business services. I was working at the Nairobi office that just opened and one of the things I realized is that there was a huge gap between the local development community for platforms to build on. We found that Kenyan developers had really great challenges in terms of infrastructure to build on.

Africa’s Talking has this really interesting concept that the infrastructure of the future, of web development and software development in Africa, is on the mobile phone. I was really interested in following up with my work from last year to this year, and I was also seeking the start-up experience, which I’ve got a lot of.

Will: What have you gained from your experience this summer?

Sam: I’ve learned that you work a lot in startups. I think it’s underrated how much work you have to do at a startup: working from 7 to 11 and not sleeping because you’re afraid something is going to break. That’s really awesome. Second, it’s really nice to see how leadership works in these really close settings. Being in a flat environment is also really nice.

I’ve also learned how when you’re a small company, bigger companies can really let you down. Processes that work on their side can kill you on your side and you need to deliver to your clients. I’ve learned the value of personalized client experiences. Clients are more willing to let something slip by if you’re small and you tell them what’s up every minute. And I’ve met really interesting people. This is just not the most conventional environment to be in.

Will: How has your internship impacted you and the way you look at your future?

Sam: I think my internship has changed the way I view my future in several ways in my life. The first is my relation to business. I think I’ll move more into business than academia. I think there are more real problems to solve there.

Also it’s influenced the choices I’ll make in my academic life. I think I will study Computer Science to enable people in the developing world to develop better software. And this doesn’t mean developing software for the developing world. It means focusing on layers in computer science that really can be leveraged by everyone, like cloud computing and networking. And I also think I’ll change where I settle. I want to settle somewhere with a large population or help my country get a larger population because from my business experience I’ve seen that a small company has a small market, which is a huge problem when you’re trying to build something important.

***This is an installment from the series, Mastering Summer Internships. These articles will show how to make the most of your summer internship experience and be a rockstar intern in your company. 

The post Africa’s Talking: Interview with Sam Kiiru appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This past Saturday WayUp went Berkeley Bound as part of its SF Summer Intern Program! Interns from companies across the Bay like Facebook, Cisco and Twitter teamed up to get a taste of the Berkeley lifestyle, from traveling up the Campanile tower at UC Berkeley, to cooling off with $1.00 cones at John’s Ice Cream to climbing the top of Indian Rock and catching a breathtaking view of the city’s natural landscape.

If you missed out on Saturday, keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for upcoming SF Summer Intern Program events! Check out the rest of our Berkeley Bound photos on our Facebook Page.

The post SF Summer Intern Program: Berkeley Bound Re-Cap appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Calling all Bay area interns: Join us for an epic field day full of obstacle courses, mental puzzles, free food and more. Whether you’re heading back to school or taking on a full-time job, end your summer on an awesome note — competing with over 200 interns from companies small and large throughout the area!

Key Details:

Date: Saturday August 4th, 2012
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Mission Bay Park SF

Who: Hackers, Hustlers, Marketing Gurus & all Rockstar Interns

To get signed up register below:

* Required

• Yes
• No

• I Want To Be a Team Captain

The post The Intern Games appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This past Saturday WayUp hosted SF’s first intern potluck & BBQ as part of its SF Summer Intern Program. Judging from the amount of food, smiles, and sunglass tans, everyone had an awesome time! Over 40 interns from big and small Bay area companies alike took over Dolores Park for an entire afternoon under the sun.

The post SF Summer Intern Program: Chill on the Hill Re-Cap appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We’re really excited to welcome our interns onto our team for the summer! Before running off to play FIFA in the game room, we sat each of them down for a quick Q&A – quizzing them about everything from food trucks and their personal goals to how/why they chose a summer job at WayUp. We only accept awesome interns and this group is no exception! Read along to discover how Sara found her passion from a Little Debbie cupcake and Will found his in a tent underneath the stars.

Alex – Software Development Intern

School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Major/Concentration/Minor: Computer Science
Campus Involvement: I’m involved with a few organizations at UIUC
Graduation Year: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Why did you choose this internship: I knew about it from a friend working here now and applied because I wanted to be in the Bay Area and work for a startup where I would be surrounded with fun people and do actually interesting development work.

I knew that I was passionate about: Programming when my dad walked me through the development of a tic-tac-toe game in C++ and I actually understood the code that looked like gibberish to me beforehand. That year I ended up building a few more simple games like that on my own.

Personal goal for the end of this internship: to be fluent in Ruby on Rails because it’s extremely useful for web programming and whether I end up here or at another company after graduation, there’s a good chance that they will be using RoR as well.

Piece of advice that you’re glad you did/didn’t take:  (Did) My grandfather’s advice that overworking yourself won’t make you more successful or happier. (Didn’t) Friend’s advice to choose the most profitable career path.

The last song you listened to: “Hillbilly Man” by Gorillaz

Three things that inspire you: My parents, Elon Musk and his fictional counterpart Tony Stark, and all types of music.

Is the glass half empty or half full: Half full, there’s too much to look forward to for me to be a pessimist.

If you owned a food truck, you would sell: Tacos, coffee, pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, Chinese food, Russian dumplings, macaroni, Kool-Aid and squirt guns during the summer.

Sara – Marketing Intern 

School: UNC Chapel Hill
Major/Concentration/Minor: Advertising, Entrepreneurship
Campus Involvement: UNC Entrepreneurship, Persian Cultural Society
Graduation Year: 2013

Why did you choose this internship: From the first time I used WayUp last Fall, I noticed its unique position not only as a source for amazing internships, but as an educational tool for mastering the entire internship process — searching, interviewing, finding housing and beyond. It became my go-to for anything internship-related and as I searched for my own internship in an entrepreneurial field, I realized there was nothing more that I wanted other than to join the WayUp team itself and expand the brand name so everyone can witness their amazing work as a start-up. Not to mention, there’s a FIFA room in the office and no dress code!

I knew that I was passionate about: Marketing when I was in elementary school. I used to buy Little Debbie cakes, re-package them in paper lunch bags, draw a new brand logo for them in purple pen, and sell them in my neighborhood. Operation “Swirlz Bakery” was born. Since then, my love for brand marketing has done nothing but grow. After being accepted into the Entrepreneurship program at UNC last year, my passion geared exclusively toward strategic brand development for startups.

Personal goal for the end of this internship: Connect interns like never before by organizing super fun events as part of our SF Summer Intern Program and encouraging interns to write about their focus.

Piece of advice that you’re glad you did/ didn’t take: Glad I took: “Go to the Mission District. Get a pastry to-go from Tartine Bakery and eat it on a hill in Dolores Park.” (If only I could do this every morning…) Glad I didn’t take: “Don’t live in Berkeley, it’s too far from the city.” (Livin’ in Berkeley and lovin’ it!)

The last song you listened to: “White” by Frank Ocean

Three things that inspire you: The view from an airplane window, A butt-kicking workout, Beyonce

The post Summer Internship Class of 2012 appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Summer internship season is just kicking off! Are you tired of hearing your friends and family ask about you summer job plans? Well don’t panic if you haven’t found your perfect internship yet, because there are still plenty of awesome companies recruiting for their summer internship programs.

Below are a few that you don’t want to miss.

Top Hat Monocle – Campus Business Development Associate

Top Hat Monocle is a web-based classroom response system that’s revolutionizing the way students and professors communicate with each other in class. They’re looking for a few awesome students to expand their real time mobile app across college campuses. This position is perfect for a student staying on campus and taking classes for the summer!

The perks aren’t bad either: sales commission, work remotely, weekly video conferencing with top-notch Silicon Valley thought leaders, an awesome letter of recommendation and the opportunity for a full-time position for the right candidate. Apply

MyGengo – Marketing Internship & Project Management Internship

As technology makes the world feel closer, our need to communicate with each other becomes that much more important. MyGengo provides high-volume language translation services for businesses to reach global customers. Their business isn’t the only thing that’s global, so are their internship! Students can choose from Marketing or Project Management Internships in their San Mateo, California or Tokyo, Japan offices.

Perks: Paid, get your foot in the door at a growing start up and the chance to learn from an awesome team, compensation, housing stipend (Tokyo) and the opportunity to take ownership of projects and ideas. Apply

Twilio – Community and Marketing Content Intern

Twilio is a well-funded (Bessemer Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, 500 Startups, Mitch Kapor & more) San Francisco-based startup with a pay-as-you-go service that empowers developers to build voice and SMS apps. They’re looking to hire a budding social media guru as an intern on their Marketing team. The ideal candidate is a great writer, knows a thing or two about APIs, comfortable with HTML, social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Quora) and has a blog of their own to prove it.

Perks: Paid, an Amazon Kindle on your first day, catered lunches, commuter benefits and awesome equipment to work on (Apple hardware) – just to name a few! Apply

The post 3 Summer Internships You Don’t Wanna Miss appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

There is an art to moving to a new city. Whether it’s for a season or for the foreseeable future for a full-time job, the amount of time it takes to settle in can vary greatly depending on the way you approach the move. In your first week, focus not on the events themselves, but how you face these events. Having a bright and optimistic attitude will go far in getting you connected with some really fascinating people – and trust me, there are a lot here!

Last Tuesday, I landed in SFO to start a new internship with not only two mammoth suitcases, but an air of pure exhilaration – an air much more pleasant than the blazing, sticky summers I’m used to in North Carolina. All I could think of were my firsts: my first time away from home for an entire summer, my first time in San Francisco, and most importantly, my very first internship – a giant step towards creating my future career. I quickly realized it was essential to take any anxiety or hesitancy and tweak it into a positive outlook on all that this summer has to offer. A sense of “emotional entrepreneurship” if you will – transforming nervous jitters into adrenaline and excitement for growth.

After all, what can I complain about? I’m in San Francisco! A city that thrives off innovation, fresh thinking, and talks of brand development over happy hour – all thumbs up in my book. Each morning, as I take the BART to downtown San Francisco and walk 0.5 miles to the office (thanks GoogleMaps!), I observe the crowd of people that surround me. I love the feeling of having so many beautiful things to look at on my walk to work that my eyes can’t scan them fast enough or that my mouth can’t form the right words to describe them quickly enough.

One thing I certainly see everywhere – interns! Just like me! But who are they? More than a venti chai latte to snap me out of my morning fog, I crave conversation with these students – I crave friendship.

“Where are you from?” “So…how’d you end up here?” “What do you want to check out in the city this summer?”

Call them as cheesy as your mom’s mac and cheese casserole, but these easy kind of questions can spark some truly worthwhile connections. In just one week I’ve met an amazing amount of people with really interesting stories. Walking down 2nd Street I met Marvin, a young entrepreneur making the exciting move into a new office space for his new startup Out of Milk – a grocery list Android app. Then there’s Samantha, a graphic designer who right off the bat was able to share my affinity for deep-fried southern concoctions after having studied at Savannah College of Art and Design.

One night over a plate of spiced lamb ragu, I listened to the lovely Gokce tell me of her journey across the globe from Turkey to San Francisco where she is now a marketing intern at Udemy. When I asked her for what should be on my must-do list this summer, she said, “There is so much in this city. Find your passion and then do and see everything that’s related to it,” – my favorite piece of advice so far. Last but not least there’s Kiwi, Udemy’s adorable pup who jingles around our shared office space with big fluffy ears looking, well, as sweet as a kiwi!

I owe a h-u-g-e thanks to all of the wonderful folks I’ve connected with this week. The internship scene in San Francisco is already shaping up to be an exquisite setting, full of the country’s coolest interns who are super willing to help out in whichever way they can, whether it’s directing you to the right BART station, offering advice on which neighborhood to find summer housing in, or inviting you to a game of FIFA during your office lunch break.

After all, it’s not always about where you are but who you’re with that makes any experience worthwhile. As interns, we work hard to demonstrate our most awesome skills in the office and in turn, we don’t want our free time to fall flat in a playground of a city like San Francisco. So next time you recognize the intern “look” on someone (big bag, cool shoes, headphones, cup of coffee, workings of a rockstar), stir up a conversation and ask them what their story is. You’ll both walk away with smiles, contact info and new weekend plans to check out that cool taco truck you’ve read about online!

The post No Fog in Sight: My First Week as an Intern in SF appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The big retail stores aren’t the only ones providing super cool “Black Friday” deals, WayUp is too! Last week we posted a story about our (free) Stylish, Professional and Deadly business cards and we wanted to remind you about it again today – because it’s a super cool deal that doesn’t require you to pitch a tent and stand outside in the cold.

Here’s how it works…

Sign up for a WayUp account (it takes 10 seconds and it’s free). Once you’re signed up for your account, pimp your card, pay for shipping and score! It’s really that simple. After you have created your card, tell a friend about this great deal! After all, who can resist sharing something that’s free?

10 people who should have business cards…

1) Your genius best friend

2) The photographer friend who tags you in the most “amazzzzing” photos on Facebook

3) The kid who comes to class carrying a briefcase and dressed in a suit

4) Your awesome roommate

5) The girl who tutors

6) The guy who thinks he should be president (of everything)

7) Your favorite barista

8) The teacher who gives extra credit

9) The kid who thinks he’s the next Mark Zuckerberg (it better top Zuck’s slogan)

10) Your mom

Business cards are an effective way to distinguish yourself from the competition, promote your brand and showcase your creativity – so get to styling!

The post Black Friday: WayUp Style appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

At WayUp we believe every student should have awesome business cards. They are one of the easiest and most effective ways to make yourself standout at interviews, career fairs, or whenever you meet a new professional contact. So for the rest of 2011 WayUp is giving away a pack of free business cards to every student who registers for WayUp through our ninja business card page!

Get A Leg Up:

A good business card let’s recruiters and interviewers know that you understand the professional world. It helps them put a check mark next to the box that says, this student is ready to work in an office, meet with executives and contribute to our team.  Handing out a business card might be a simple gesture, but it can mean a lot.  Also note that business cards are not just for the Jack Donaghy’s of the world, they are regarded well by everyone, from art museum managers to Peace Corps recruiters.

Personalized Design:

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”
-Jay-Z

Jay-Z is famous for saying he is a business, because he is so good at making money that he became a brand. While you’re not Jay-Z yet, a really good business card will help you build your personal brand by letting an employer know what you care about or excel at. 

Let’s say you are interested in marine biology, you put your favorite whale on the front of your card and I guarantee environmental NFPs will take notice at your next career fair or interview. Or lets say you are interested in finance, make a professional card with a quote from Warren Buffett on the back. There is just so much you can do to customize the look and feel of your business cards to ensure you make the impression you want.

(However, if you’re running out of ideas or don’t want to pigeon hole yourself with a single design, then a great fall back is to simply add your college crest to your card with your name, contact info, and a link to any urls or portfolios you have online).

Free Business Cards from Moo.com!

Whether you need business cards for an upcoming career fair or want them because they are a lot of fun to make and to hand out to friends; today is your lucky day.  Right now when you sign-up for WayUp you will get access to a special WayUp promo where you can get a pack of professionally designed business cards for free from Moo.com.  Moo is one of the leaders in business card design so whatever you decide is just about guaranteed to look great.

How to Get Your Free Business Cards:

To get your Moo.com business cards, visit our business card page, say hello to Ninja Fred (and try to figure out how you can contact him if you’d like) and take 10 seconds to sign up for WayUp. When you do you’ll be re-directed to a special page where you can build your new business cards and when you check out you will notice the price for 50 business cards is free (shipping is not included).

Get your free business cards now, because spring career fairs are just around the corner!

The post Stylish, Professional and Deadly, Get A Free Pack of Moo.com Business Cards When You Sign up For WayUp! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Jonathan Lau. An avid blogger (www.jonchiehlau.com) and world traveler, Jonathan is a senior at UC San Diego, where he is training to become a licensed people watcher (anthropology major). When not doing all the above, Jonathan works for Silicon Valley startup Wednesdays.com.

This post has been on draft for a while and recently, I have been inspired to complete it after being asked by a friend for a ride to an interview. For many, the beginning of school is marked by first time jobs and most people including me were incredibly nervous and unsure about how
to act on our first day.

I searched on Google on what to do for my first day and saw that it was a topic that has been thoroughly explored. However, no matter how much you read, it is always the same few things
that show up:

• Dress appropriately

• Arrive early

• Ask Questions

• Do your homework on the company

• Be positive/upbeat/have a good attitude

Following that advice you will be alright, you might even do very well! However, after working a few internships, that first day advice seems to be missing something. Perhaps, it is because I am anthropology major and was taught the value of personal connections, because to me those points of advice miss that very important aspect of being human. It is my opinion that the first day of work should be about laying the foundation for not only a professional connection, but a friendship as well in order to create a lasting relationship.

There are three things that I would recommend someone to do on their first day:

1) Be a chatterbox

As soon as you are shown to your desk/cubicle/place of work, immediately talk to the people around you. Remember how eager you were to make friends on your first day of college by striking up conversations with everybody? Capture that same mindset and use it to develop friendships on your first day of work. Revealing things about yourself through conversation, even something as simple as what you did that weekend, helps your coworkers find common ground with you and allows for the beginning of a relationship.

2) Be a great listener

In a conversation, it is important to take as much as you give, meaning that simply chatting away about yourself will get you labeled as annoying, conversely if all you do is listen it will kill the conversation. The key to being a great listener is not just to passively listen, but also actively ask questions and give affirmations as well. If you listen well, I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find how much people will tell you about themselves. A receptive ear is always welcome and the sooner you demonstrate you have one, the more quickly you will be able to
gain people’s trust and develop a relationship.

3) Keep it real

Genuine people are greatly appreciated and fakes can be spotted a mile away. Therefore if you do not have a genuine interest in being friends with your coworkers, your execution of the first two points I listed will fail. Stay honest and be yourself as you interact with your coworkers and
you will be making friends with them in no time.

In closing, remember to use you heart as well as your brain and I wish you a fantastic first day,
Jonathan.

The post Advice for your first day: Don’t be a robot appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Summer internships tend to be used as a resume builder, a stepping stone, and something to do for extra cash while waiting for the fall semester to roll around. Rarely do we think of them as able to change someone’s entire career path, and maybe this is causing us to miss out.

Adam O’Neal is a biology major at University of California, Irvine and was trying to decide which facet of biology interested him most to further his education, neuro or genetic, when he stumbled upon an internship program in radio. Thinking this internship would make him stand out amongst the vast sea of medical school applicants; he applied. 12 weeks later he had not only completed the program but found his career path had taken a 180 with his sights now focused on radio.

Wait, bio to radio? How could a summer internship have the power to alter a career path so drastically? It’s biologically impossible!

The cultural norm of viewing an internship as a resume builder, or stepping stone, limits a student in their search for an internship and solidifies their predetermined career path. On top of experience and skills gained, constantly stepping out of a comfort zone and into an entirely new industry is the essence of what an internship is supposed to do: open a student’s eyes to what could be, a.k.a. career exploration. In this case, the first time Adam heard his work broadcasted on the most popular local radio talk show in the United States, he knew, radio is where he belongs.

Interning with some of the top on-air radio talent has led to Adam pursuing his passion within the industry and now hosts his own radio show at University of California Irvine’s local campus station, KUCI. He calls his show the 2012 Update which airs on Tuesdays at 8 am in Irvine where Adam talks about the upcoming 2012 presidential election and any updates or developments that relate.

The internship program Adam completed is with The Bill Handle Show and consists of working in 12 different facets of radio over a 12 week time frame, giving the intern an elusive and thorough look into the industry.

• Week 1: Getting acquainted with the basics of radio
• Week 2 & 3: Research and Development
• Week 4: The ins and outs of Screening
• Week 5 & 6: Website Development, Editing, Social Media
• Week 7 & 8: Station Imaging
• Week 9: Production, Traffic & Continuity
• Week 10: KFI News Reporting
• Week 11: Sales & Promotions
• Week 12: AM versus FM & Overall Review

The power of a summer internship or any internship for that matter should not be dismissed, but instead embraced as an opportunity to diversify your skill set, add to your experience, and expand your career exploration. You never know, the right internship just might flip your career path on its head, helping to open your eyes to see yourself like never before. And, career path clarity, is bliss.

Special thanks to Adam O’Neal, Michelle Kube, and @billhandelshow we wish you all the best.

The post The Power of a Summer Internship: From Bio to Radio appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

“ You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

An exceptional photo not only captures great imagery, but tells a story that transcends the pixels on the screen. While we had tons of unbelievable photo contest entries, the two photos we selected as our grand and first prize winners, shared the story of how their internships were larger than life and directed their professional future.

Grand Prize Winner, Kunal Ajmera!

Congratulations to Kunal Ajmera of Johns Hopkins University, the winner of tis summer’s Ultimate Internship Photo Contest!  Kunal became interested in medical field and cloning well before going to college. He wrote about Dolly in his personal statement when applying to Johns Hopkins, and spent the early years of his academic career studying the underlying theories and concepts of cloning. His internship at the Center for Sensory Biology provided the opportunity of a lifetime — a chance to complete research that would impact the future of the field and after months of painstaking lab work, he got to see the fruits of his labor and understand the roller coaster of emotions experienced by professional researchers.

My happiness knows no Bounds. By Kunal Ajmera “Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Center for Sensory Biology”

Sure it’s not a classic-fun-happy-faces internship photo. Sure it looks like a bicolored sad-makes-no-sense-to-me picture. But it’s actually a picture which pretty much sums up my WHOLE summer internship. I had read all the cool – Dolly, Ian Wilmut, second creation, cloning stuff as far back as when I was in the eighth grade. I mentioned that in my SOP to get into college – that’s the kind of stuff that drew me into pursuing a career in Biotechnology. And it did get pretty boring until I landed this pretty exciting internship. The picture is the result of three whole months of hardcore wet lab. Cloning, animal tissue culture, ligation – all the contents of a today’s sci-fi movie – only real! All the things that I did, I only assumed they were happening, I could never see them actually happening. But taking that picture besotted me with internal calm. The culmination of three months of hard work. The work that I did is part of a bigger project that the lab was undertaking – the role of Fat3 cadherins and Amacrine cells in neuron development. What I was to develop was a transgenic vector containing the gene of interest and then construct a TAG reporter – if it worked, it turns green in the nucleus and red in the cytoplasm and membrane. The picture explains it all, it works ! What I experienced and am even now, is sheer joy knowing no bounds!

First Prize Winner!

At WayUp, we are believers that internships are vehicles not only for professional development, but career exploration.  Taylor our First Prize winner, interned for her school athletics department, a position that allowed her to not only explore new career skills, like creating creative ad campaigns, but also to transition from being a spectator at University of Washington sports events, to being a participant in all that goes on to make the events a success.  Not to mention getting to hang out with “Dubs” the school’s Husky mascot, as well as current and former athletes on the team.  Like all good internships, it provided challenge, excitement, and plenty of educational opportunities.

From the Sidelines to the Headlines, Taylor Raquer, “University of Washington Athletics Design Intern”

The BEST part of my internship is getting to be a part of all things athletic. I recently was asked to design a Go Green ad to be placed in our college football game day book. We didn’t have a good photo, so my boss decided to stage an awesome shot where I even got to meet the famous Harry the Husky Mascot! I could hardly contain my excitement throughout the shot.

Later, helping out at a football kick-off celebration I got to strut it on the Husky field, which I had spent 3 years watching from the sideline.

Finally, my dreams really came true when I got to take a picture with the REAL-LIFE Mascot named “Dubs.” He was the sweetest little fellow. The smile didn’t leave my face for the rest of the night.

Notable Mentions: Hootsuite & Dreamworks

The post Summer Internship Photo Contest Winners Announced! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Sadie Meaher from Tulane University and Uloop, a college housing and classifieds site.

Congratulations, you have just been offered an internship with a great company. The only problem is that you do not live or go to school in that city, so you have no idea what you are going to do about housing. This might seem like a challenge, but you can overcome it! Don’t let this scare you away from an internship experience.

Here are three ways to find internship housing in a new city:

1. Check out dorms at a local university:

This might be a good option, especially if you are doing a summer internship. For example, NYU offers housing to summer interns. Or,if you find a school in the city where you are going to be that only offers their dorms to students, then maybe you should think about doing a summer class. It would be a great way to get some extra hours and you can live in the dorms. However, if you decide to take a class while interning always check with your university to see if you will get credit for that summer class.

2. The internet can be your friend: There are sites out there that help university students find housing. 

Uloop is one such site that allows students to look for apartments, houses, and roommates with other college students as well as sublets from other students. Uloop can be a great tool if you are tired of living in a dorm or want to live with another student. Also, Uloop is a great source for student housing information if you are looking to do an internship during a semester and not just the summer.

3. Reach out to family and friends:

It might be helpful to see if that distant relative would let you stay with them. If not, they might have friends who have rental property that you could rent out during your internship. You never know when your family or friends might be able to help you out, so it is always worth asking. These are just a few ideas to help you start thinking about finding internship housing. And, if you decide you want to apply for an internship in another city, but you are a little unsure as to what cities to target, be sure to check out the most popular cities for internships.

Finding internship housing is not as daunting as you might think. Hopefully these ideas will help take the stress out of finding housing, so you can focus on your internship experience.

The post Finding Internship Housing In A New City appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For those who have been following the WayUp blog, this summer has been all about competitions — from our best photo to shadowing Dave McClure, we have been doing our best to make-up for a summer without Olympics. One of the most heated competitions was to win a mentorship lunch with tech icon Robert Scoble, who has a penchant for helping visionary entrepreneurs share their product ideas and goals with the world.

Today we are excited to announce Dimitry Lukashov as the winner of the Robert Scoble mentorship lunch!

Dimitry is a recent CS grad from the University of Tulane, an active user on Quora, and Twitter, and during his undergraduate career published a paper on reducing technical redundancy at large institutions. He stood out for his thoughtfulness on personal growth and a desire to do something big in the tech industry.

Tomorrow we are flying Dimitry from New York City to Silicon Valley and on Wednesday he will be meeting Robert Scoble at his home for lunch.  He will be getting the opportunity to ask him burning questions about his future, the tech world, and what he has learned from speaking to industry leaders like Mark Zuckerberg.

If you want to get involved, Dimitry knows he is not the only one with questions for Robert, and has decided to crowd source some answers, so if there are questions you would like him to ask Robert, feel free to tweet your questions to @shpiel and @wayup!

“Searching for World Changing Technologies”

There are a lot of reasons why we knew Robert Scoble would be the perfect candidate for this mentorship lunch, but perhaps the strongest is the parallel we see in Scoble’s self proclaimed quest to surface world-changing technologies, and the quest we see students going through in trying to make the right career decisions before leaping into the professional world.

Across the country students are asking big questions about their future and pondering trade-offs like: big salary vs. company culture? Work life balance vs. intense professional growth? Working on a small team vs. a large established company?

These are massive life decisions that require a great deal of research and reflection and we know that Robert, having spoken to thousands of entrepreneurs and executives and having traveled the world, can offer a great deal of feedback.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to get involved in the competition, there were more phenomenal entrants than I could count.  We are excited to share more about the experience on our blog next week and for those interested in seeing the footage of the interview, or who want to be part of any  competitions in the future feel free to join our non-spammy (we promise) newsletter updates on the top right of this page.

The post Competition Winner To Meet Scobleizer on Wednesday appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We know you had an amazing internship experience.

Or at least, took a ton of great photos. Now is your time to show them off!

As your internship comes to a close, snap that last picture and submit it to our contest! You don’t need to be a professional photographer: you just need to capture a fun internship moment, and write 300 short words about it.

What’s your incentive? A brand new iPad 2, valued at $500. 

How the Competition Works:

Submission:

• Submit up to 5 Photos by emailing them to tara@internmatch.com
• Subject line: Photo Contest, Last Name, Your Internship Company
• Email body: Be sure to include your Full Name, University, Internship Organization, and the best way to contact you.
• A 300 word description of the photo (should include why it’s amazing) Don’t be afraid to get creative (we like haikus!)

Deadline: 

All entries must be submitted by Midnight on August 26th 2011!

Review:

After the deadline, our selection committee will spend a week reviewing the submissions. We’ll be looking for entries that capture a great internship moment, whether is is a shot with a mentor, company CEO, out at a meeting or event, or something entirely different.

Prizes:

First prize is an awesome iPad 2!

Second is a $50 Amazon gift card!

Contest Rules/Eligibility:

• You must be in a summer internship in order to enter.
• The photo must be appropriate (you know what we mean).
• We maintain rights to publish your photo/description on our blog and facebook page

We can’t wait to see your submissions!

The post The “Best Photograph From Your Internship” Contest appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

College Candy recently sent the Harry Potter cast to colleges within the US: due to our love of the series, we couldn’t resist doing the same! The Harry Potter crew is getting internships and joining the working world-we know they can master Transfiguration, but is there a spell to help work an Excel spreadsheet? Microsoft calculatus, anyone?
Luna Lovegood-NASA Internship Program

Luna’s out of this world; working with the space program wouldn’t require her to travel much further. Perhaps she can launch a Dirigible Plum into outer space!

Fred and George Weasely- Funny Or Die

We think Will Ferrel and the Weasely twins would get along just fine-working at Funny or Die would allow their collective comedic genius to flourish. It would be great if the twins created a spin-off of their own–they do love entrepreneurship and creating their own companies.

Neville Longbottom- Duke Botanical Gardens
Let’s hope they don’t grow bubotubers and Mandrakes at the Duke Botanical Garden. Nevertheless, Neville’s knack with plant life will help him tremendously in this competitive internship program

The post The Internship Sorting Hat: The Harry Potter Cast Become Interns appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

 It’s an understatement to say that we love the Mythbusters-their experiments, including the Archimedes Death Ray, Catching a Bullet in Your Teeth, and the 22,000 foot fall, have simultaneously delighted us… and tempted us to try many dangerous things.

In fact, our love of Mythbusters has grown to an obsession: We have decided to create Mythbusters experiments of our own! In our experiments, we’ll discuss, bust, and confirm myths about common, really cool, and amazing internships. We’ve included internships in consulting, marketing, fashion magazines, journalism, politics, and many more arenas!

We can’t wait to answer everything you’ve wanted to know about those fields, give you insider information, and bust old wives’ tales heard on the street. Easy to read blog posts combined with mad science? Our favorite combination!

Our excitement about these upcoming posts can’t be contained, which is why we invite you to the  Intern Match Mentos and Coke Battle. We intend on battling, just like the Mythbusters, with crazy Mentos and Coke rockets!

While we do so, we welcome you to tell us about your  Mythbuster experiences via all types of media: Twitter, this blog, Facebook, videos, pictures, presentations and facts. We want to hear how you bust internship myths, take names, and even make Mentos and Coke rockets!

Stay tuned for videos of our battle, our Mythbusters posts, and news about our experiments! Are you ready for this?

The post Mythbusters, Mentos, and Diet Coke: Coming Your Way! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Are You Worth Your Salt?

The saying “worth your salt” has been used since Roman times when soldiers were given a certain amount of money to buy salt. Sometimes, they were actually paid in salt, a rare commodity when away from the sea, especially valuable as a necessity for the body’s physical survival. The word “salary” is derived from the Latin for salt. So to be “worth your salt” means to be worth what someone is actually paying you.

There are several ways of proving your worth even when the salt is not much by way of monetary remuneration.

The Big Mamma Salt that interns should be striving for includes proving that you are worth hiring after the internship is over, as well as securing great references for any other job you might wish to pursue. Other big payoffs can be a great grade that improves your GPA or fulfills a requirement that cannot be achieved any other way.  It is important to keep these goals in mind. It will make your work a lot easier when things get tough.

Employers universally say how important it is that interns perform their tasks cheerfully, no matter how simplistic, or distasteful those tasks are. Your colleagues have all paid their dues and will have little sympathy with the idea of you not paying yours.  In addition, performing your tasks with a smile on your face makes the work environment a whole lot more pleasant. Nobody likes sulking, complaining, or sighing in and around the workplace. Bring in some donuts, (everyone will love you), and perform that menial work as efficiently and pleasantly as possible.

Keep in mind that you are not ruler of the universe. In a recent, well researched, published study in the British journal Self and Identity, author Jean Twenge says that current college students are more self-centered, than past generations.  Her data shows that they also feel more superior about themselves than their elders did when they were young.  She also sees a growing disconnect between self-perception and reality.  Thinking and acting as if you are just so grand can have serious negative consequences when on the job. No one likes someone who thinks they are better than every one else. Acting as if you are capable of performing functions that you are not able to can also have serious consequences for the company.

Being bored on the job can be a real drag, but you may be able to parlay that into some big bonus points for yourself. Think of ways to increase your daily contribution. Volunteer to assume increasingly more responsibilities, and be prepared with a few suggestions on how to do that if they don’t have any ideas, themselves. Ask to shadow your boss or someone else for rotating parts of the day. You can learn a great deal about how jobs really work on a daily basis that way. Volunteer for a team project, ask if you can write a guest post for their blog or help with their twitter campaign. There are many ways of increasing your involvement that will show you are interested and ready to learn.

Take the initiative in preparing for the internship.  Don’t sit back and wait for someone else to tell you which tools will be needed for the task at hand. If you will need to be using a certain computer program, learn it. Professors who are specialists in that field might be able to direct you. If you need to familiarize yourself with certain technical terms or industry related buzz words, go to a library or start a search in Wikipedia.  Be proactive.  Research the industry you are going to be interning in. Research the company you will be interning at. Research the field of expertise your internship will be related to. Learn everything you can in advance, and then get in there and impress them.

The post Proving that you are worth your salt. appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Legal Issues Interns Should be Aware of

By John Richards, Guest Blogger, LegalMatch

In college or graduate school, choice internships are often some of the most coveted and competitive educational opportunities. If you’re in a field of study that’s going to produce thousands of graduates every year, most of whom have nearly identical credentials, every little thing you can do to set yourself apart from your peers matters, especially early in your career.

However, whether you’re aware of it or not, a huge number of legal issues swirl around the employer-intern relationship.

Most of these issues involve employment and labor law – particularly regulations concerning wages and hours. In general, if a person is hired by an employer, and does useful work for them, the employer has to pay that person at least minimum wage, and many interns do work that’s definitely useful to their employers, without collecting any direct compensation.

However, when you’re living on student loans, and are primarily concerned with building your resume and obtaining useful experience in your chosen field, presumably to give yourself an edge when you’re competing for jobs after graduation, you might not really care if your internship pays or not. And in the abstract, there’s nothing wrong with that. People make these kinds of value judgments all the time, and should be free to do so. However, what about students who simply can’t afford to do an unpaid internship?

Many students have no choice but to spend their summers working whatever paid job they can find. This is often menial work, which does nothing to boost a resume. If they have to work full time just to make ends meet, these students probably won’t have the time to do an unpaid internship on top of it, which puts less-affluent students at a significant disadvantage. After all, students with wealthy parents can get as many unpaid experience as they like, without having to worry about buying groceries or making rent.

Last year, the New York Times ran a story covering this very issue, and noted how the culture of unpaid internships might perpetuate wealth inequality, by ensuring that rich college students are able to pursue work experience far more easily than their less-wealthy classmates.

It’s pretty clear that many private, for-profit employers come extremely close to violating state and federal labor laws when it comes to hiring unpaid interns. Generally, if an intern is doing economically-useful work for the employer, that would ordinarily be done by a paid employee, they are subject to federal wage and hour laws. On the other hand, if the company receives little economic advantage from the intern, and the intern receives significant training and education from the job, it’s likely acceptable to not pay the intern.

But if you’re working at an unpaid internship, especially if it’s with an organization that’s extremely well-regarded in your chosen field, do you really care that your relationship with your employer arguably places you within the legal definition of an employee, and therefore entitles you to a wage? Probably not. And I’m all for letting consenting adults (the intern and the employer) make these types of arrangements, as long as the terms are clear from the beginning.

This doesn’t change the fact, however, that this system arguably favors the affluent, thereby perpetuating wealth inequality. Something should be done about this, but it’s very difficult to figure out exactly what. It involves a balancing act of several important, competing interests: freedom to contract, equal opportunity, and wide availability of internship positions.

For example, if we required that all internships pay at least minimum wage, this will in theory allow more people to pursue these positions, but companies will not be able to offer as many positions as they could before, which isn’t good for anybody.

On the other hand, this country tends to value equal opportunity, and there’s really no denying that a student who is just scraping by financially, and has no choice but to work at some menial job full-time during his or her summers, will be at a significant competitive disadvantage upon graduation, through no fault of his or her own.

I’ve proposed before that perhaps full-time internships should be required to pay at least minimum wage, or at least those that are at private, for-profit companies. This would allow far more students to pursue these opportunities, thereby leveling the playing field, and increasing the likelihood that the most talented and driven workers will enter their chosen field.

To ensure that internships aren’t priced into scarcity (the laws of economics apply to the labor market as much as any other market, after all), non-profit organizations should probably be exempt from the requirement that they pay their interns, or the pay requirement should be below the minimum wage, provided that interns are actually doing substantive, educational work, and not simply filling in for a paid employee.

The same rules that apply to non-profit organizations should apply to part-time internships. This would ensure that such opportunities are still widely available, and allow interns to work another part-time job to pay the bills.

There are no perfect solutions to this issue, and I don’t pretend that the solutions I’ve proposed would create a perfect system. However, I do think that they strike a pretty good balance between economic freedom, and equal opportunity.

John Richards writes on a variety of legal issues for LegalMatch.com and the LegalMatch.com Law Blog. The above material is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice to assist you with your particular situation. No two factual situations are alike, and if you require legal advice, you should speak with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

The post Is Your Internship Legal? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Our guest blogger this week is Michelle Rick of the FosterCityPatch.

This week I’ll be diving into the chilly bay waters of unpaid internships, otherwise known as free labor, otherwise known as the way it is. An unpaid internship is basically swapping work for a line on your resume and experience (cute little anecdotes you can mention in job interviews).

The National Association of Colleges and Employers also reported that 50% of graduating students reported having held an internship in 2008. That statistic was 17% in 1992.

Anyone who says you can’t put a price on experience clearly never paid $42,500 to work at Vogue – unpaid, although I suppose if you can afford to pay that price, money is only an afterthought. The Huffington Post and Vanity Fair were the respective runners up, at $9,000 and $2,900 through an auction by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

“It seems to me that for-profits are now using interns in place of employees and this violates federal wage and hour rules,” Martha West, a UC Davis School of Law professor specializing in labor law said in this article. “Because of the recession, companies are more interested in getting free help.”

The media industry is notoriously one of the worst offenders when it comes to paying their interns. You can work at just about any company you can think of – Viacom, Time Warner, Universal – so long as you are a currently enrolled college student who takes their compensation in the form of credit hours.

A sweet spot for those interested in scoring a big-name internship is an urban Mecca like New York City. Still, even if you manage to unearth a paid internship, rent and living expenses will likely have you paying for the experience to work.

There are six criteria that an unpaid internship is supposed to meet in order to be under official compliance with the United States Department of Labor.

The post Are unpaid internships fair? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So you are entering one of the most competitive job climates in decades (only slight improvements from last summer when unemployment for students aged 15 to 24 hit nearly 20% and the second highest since 1977). If you’re one of thousands of students still looking for an internship, don’t worry there is still plenty of opportunities out there.

Here are three suggestions to help you expand your internship search if you are still trying to find that perfect summer internship.

Use the tough market as an opportunity to explore new industries and interests:

For example if you are a student looking for an internship in marketing you may have already applied to every major marketing firm in your area without any luck. However, there are a large number of non-profits and small and medium sized businesses that need help with social media, collateral building, or marketing strategy. While such organizations may be off the beaten path, they offer great experience and are an ideal opportunity for those who are still looking for summer experience.

Make Your Own Internship Position:

Another option which was recently written about in the Wall Street Journal is to create your own internship position. While this sounds like a lot of work, it has actually been successful for a number of self-starters. So how do you do it?

During your college career you have probably developed a number of unique skills and interests that can add a lot of value to an organization. This could be a powerful knowledge of Photoshop, a great blog writing style, or any number of other skills. Meanwhile, many organizations right now are understaffed and over-worked, so if you can make a compelling argument as to how your skills could improve their mission, they just might be interested.

This approach requires you to be proactive and to call the organizations where you think you would make the best fit. I realizer cold calling can be intimidating, but remember that the person on the other line is simply a professional in your industry who most likely got their start doing something similar.

Apply, Apply, Apply:

Lastly, in the current job market it is essential to be persistent. If you apply to only a few positions and don’t hear back, or get turned down quickly, do not take this personally. We recommend that students apply to somewhere between 10-20 opportunities. However, I have seen other students find a great position after 30-40 application attempts.

With the number of days before finals and graduation dwindling, it is still not too late to find yourself a great internship for this summer. By thinking dynamically about what you want to do and being persistent in pursuing these possibilities, you will give yourself the best chance. In the end, mastering the application process itself is a valuable and lasting skill, so keep at it and try to enjoy the internship hunt.

The post Summer Is Here and the Heat is on For Finding Your Next Internship: Must Read End of the Year Advice appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Yesterday at noon eastern time the Economic Policy Institute released a report that looked at the unfair and often unpaid internship practices that help to perpetuate inequality in the job market. They followed the report up with a proposal that asked for initial federal funding of $500 million to financially support students in roughly 100,000 internships similar to the government’s incredibly popular (and overflowing) Americorps program, but with more flexibility. Like Americorps the supported positions were at non-profit organizations, but unlike Americorps the goal was to focus sponsorship on students with economic needs. This proposal in my mind should be fully supported for a number of reasons:

• The number of Americorps applicants has skyrocketed. In 2009 due to a poor economy and an increased focus amongst millenials to combine doing good with career building over 150,000 applicants applied to Americorps positions (according to a CNCS report) more than tripling applications from the year prior.åÊ With an acceptance rate at under 25% there is clearly a need (and one that is growing) for similar programs.
• The economic payoff is well worth the expenditure. Internships have become a crucial driver of the economy and job market.åÊ A subsidized internship that helps a student get educated in his/her career path, build job skills, and become a more capable future employee has tremendous long term payoff for the US economy.åÊ Not to mention the benefits accrued by organizations who could not typically afford this additional staffing.
• The social payoff is well worth the expenditure. Rather than spending government money directly on trying to address large scale social problems, supporting a work force for non-profit organizations who are individually experts in issues ranging from education, community development, and more allows for a flexible way to address a range of important social issues.
• Internships are now almost a prerequisite to the job world but are a far cry from being open to all. While non-discrimination, minimum wage, and labor laws have opened the door to more fair hiring practices, the institution of internships currently requires social capital and financial self sufficiency in a way that perpetuates inequality. As the importance of internships rises the noticeable need for a more democratized search and connection process is very apparent. Furthermore, full time unpaid internships immediately exclude students who need to be earning an income to support themselves or a family. Allowing economically needy students to be subsidized in their internships helps level the playing field for access to this important career gateway. In addition, I think organizations are going to benefit from the change as it expands the pool of possible applicants allowing student interns to compete based on skill rather than connections or a race to offer the lowest wage possible.

Looking forward to seeing how the proposal evolves — if you have any more information on the subject of unfair and unpaid internships, or economic benefits of government subsidizing of the internship experience, please send in your comments.

The post Internships, Equality, and the new Economic Policy Institute Proposal appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In my last blog post I mentioned that for a number of students the internship experience can be a somewhat awkward first trip into the job world and the idiosyncratic rituals of the office. If the college and the job worlds were two big circles in a venn diagram, internships fall into that center category, with college and professional mannerisms overlapping. We have noticed some interesting facts about how students apply to positions, occasionally bringing college habits into the job world. One big example: Late Night Applications!

Monitoring activity has been full of insight as we aggregate large scale application information for the first time ever. One noticeable contrast between interns and employers can be found in messaging and application process: nearly 50%of students applied to positions after 9 o clock and nearly every student applied for positions after 5 pm (end of business hours). While it is common for students to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning (either working or socializing), it’s interesting that most students don’t think about the difference between their college hours and that of a typical office. What kind of first impression do you think an employer gets when they see an email from John Doe with a time stamp at 4AM? John Doe are you going to be mature and awake throughout a day at the office? Not to mention most employers are typically swamped in the morning going through emails, so adding your resume to this batch is an easy way to get lost in the mix.

In thinking back to my internship applications I did not act much differently, and for the most part employers recognize and won’t hold such a detail against you. But, part of taking on an internship means consciously leaving behind college habits and learning as much as possible about the professional industry you want to make a career in. Maybe if you are applying for a position as a software developer (known for having nocturnal hours) applying at night is the status quo. What matters most is thinking about what the person who will be hiring you expects and looks for in an ideal internship candidate.

Recommendation: Apply for positions between the hours of one and four, when most employers are least busy and you can make the best impression.

The post Applying for Internships at 2 in the Morning! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Signs are showing that the decade beginning with 2010 will bring on a large shift in the internship landscape — from being the domain of brand name businesses and organizations to mid-market and even small non-profit and start-up companies competing for the best and brightest students. Working on the front lines of the internship world I have seen this trend evolve due to a number of factors:

As job markets tighten students are increasingly viewing internships as an important prerequisite for future employment. With competition for brand name internship experience on the rise students and other intern applicants are now actively seeking positions at a wider range of organizations.

The barriers to finding and hosting interns are being lowered. Previously the gateways to finding interns consisted of expensive career fairs or other time intensive search processes; however, online platforms (like our own) and social media spaces are allowing small organizations to become proactive and competitive in their intern hunt.

A societal shift in the values and interests of the y-generation is occurring. Students are now the second largest volunteering demographic (behind baby boomers by a hair), and a recent 2007 study polling students found that a majority indicated the ethics of a company is more important than starting salary. Students today are growing up in a more global and open world then in the past and are looking to achieve a work-life balance not necessarily defined by big bucks and big names.

Finally, I would like to touch upon a change that is hard to quantify but easy to sense in the working world. Internships have become entirely mainstream. Intern programs are no longer seen as a form of bartering mentorship in order to help the son or daughter of friends and family, but are now being taken seriously by organizations to gain impactful part-time employees and to vet capable future employees. Competitive internship programs that understand how to deliver an interesting and valuable experience are cropping up at a number of less known organizations.

While fortune 500 companies, big financial institutions, and name brand firms will always attract top tier candidates with lucrative summer positions and a shiny badge on a successful applicants’ resume; in a more competitive job market experience is king. Oftentimes it is at the smaller organization where interns are getting thrown into the mix, running full fledged campaigns (from marketing, to sales and outreach, and other large scale projects), and finishing internships with new skills and confidence that offers a powerful leg up in the job market.

Look forward to our upcoming series diving deeper into the state of internships at start-up companies, and the state of non-profit internships.

The post Are Internships at Non-Profits and Start-Up Companies Becoming More Desired than Internships at Fortune 500s appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.