Have you ever heard the expression, “Make sure you keep all your balls in the air!” You’re going to be juggling a lot of tasks during your summer internship. While having a lot of assignments on your plate may be stressful, it’s also an indicator that your manager and co-workers have faith in you to get a lot done. You’ll be a stronger intern when you carry more of the company’s weight, so here are 5 tips on how to manage your workload.

1. Make a list.

• At the end of each day, write down all the assignments you hope to complete the following day.
• Write down the meetings and events scheduled for the week.
• Organize the day’s assignments from most important to least important going down the page so you complete the most important tasks first.
• Estimate how long it will take for each assignment so that you will know how to divide up your time throughout the day.
• Write down the week’s goals and assignments, and make sure you’re on pace to finish them by the end of the week.

There’s nothing more satisfying than checking off the assignments on your list as you go through the day.  Wunderlist, Things (for Mac), and OmniFocus (also for Mac) are useful task-management tools.

2. Discuss your schedule with your manager.

Ask your manager which assignments are most important to the company. Get advice from your manager on how to balance your time.  Express that you want everything you produce to be excellent.

3. Strive for quality over quantity.

At the end of your summer internship, your co-workers are going to remember the few extraordinary projects you blew out of the water, not the high number of tasks you completed.

4. Stretch your capabilities.

As long as you’re doing quality work, challenge yourself to see how much you can be responsible for during your summer internship. Your enthusiasm to take on more assignments will impress your manager and encourage your co-workers.

5. Get to work early.

A recent study posted on the Harvard Business Review showed that university students are more productive and confident when they get up early. The majority of jobs work on a 9-5 schedule, so it will benefit you to be accustomed to the morning routine. If you arrive early and stay late, your manager will be more understanding if you can’t complete all your assignments.

Ask yourself this week:

• “What is one thing I could spend less time doing to make my day more productive?”
• “What is one thing I can start working on tomorrow morning before the rush of the day begins?”
• “Where in my work am I striving for quantity over quality instead of the other way around?”

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 Ways to Manage Your Workload This Summer 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.

This article is sponsored by Aramark, which is currently hiring for Facilities Management, Hospitality Management, Direct Sales and Distribution, and Finance and Information Technology  (for Annual Programs) on WayUp now.

Things that can be really scary:

• Gigantic spiders
• Sharks
• Your first internship

We can’t help you too much with the spiders or sharks, but we do know a thing or two about crushing it at internships, and we’re here to help. Taking on an internship for the first time is daunting for anybody, but luckily, there are some key principles to keep in mind that’ll make you stand out from the crowd.

What are the five biggest things you need to know to be your best self at a first internship? Read on and get ready to rock it.

1. Stay Organized

Whether it’s managing your company email account or just keeping your desk clean, one of the most important things you can do during your first internship is stay organized. You may feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the work you’re taking on, but you’re the one who controls how well you schedule your day, manage your to-do list, and keep your work area tidy.

For example, how can you start out each day right? When you get to your desk, make sure you grab your notebook, and start listing out all the things you need to do. Every time a new task comes up, make sure to write it down. There’s no better feeling then crossing off an item on your list!

The bottom line? When you come into work knowing what you’re doing each day and have a clear plan of attack, it’s easier to get every task done and show your manager your results.

2. Think About Your Boss

When you’re new to the workforce and interning for the first time, it can be difficult to figure out how to prioritize work and plan ahead. Luckily, there’s a very simple question that can help guide you during your time on the job: “What would make my boss’ job easier?”

Whether that’s organizing your department’s most important records or finishing that data entry your boss has mentioned, taking on a “no task is too big or small” approach and putting your boss first makes a huge difference. Even if it’s your first week in the office, don’t be afraid to ask your manager what you can do to help! By the end of your internship, your supervisor should be so sad that you’re leaving; that’s when you know you’ve become irreplaceable!

3. Ask for More Work

Maybe your boss is extra busy or your internship role was undefined from the start, but a common obstacle for many interns (particularly first-time interns) is what to do if you’re not assigned enough work or if you finish a task early.

The answer? Ask for more! Don’t be afraid to check in with your supervisor and see if there’s anything else you can do, and if he or she doesn’t have anything, feel free to hit up other people around the office.

Pro tip: Come up with your own projects if you see a need in the office, like working on an updated Facebook page or organizing an Excel spreadsheet of PR contacts. Be the one intern who creates a system that the team implements forever, and then they’ll think about you every time they use it!

By keeping an open mind and taking initiative to make the most of your experience, you’ll meet new people and learn new skills. You’ll also become the office’s go-to intern.

4. Befriend Your Fellow Interns

No matter how competitive your internship program may be, it’s important to be kind and be courteous to your fellow interns. It’ll go a long way to making your internship more manageable from the start.

Think of it this way: While they’re fellow interns today, your peers could be big-time executives tomorrow (okay, not tomorrow in most cases, but you get what we mean). Regardless, they’re great professional contacts to have! You don’t necessarily need to become besties with everyone you work with, but leaving your internship with people’s contact info and a promise to meet up in the future does wonders for expanding your network.

5. Ask Yourself What You’ll Walk Away With

When you’re hard at work, it’s easy to get so sucked into the everyday shuffle that you forget why you’re at your internship in the first place. Now and then, take a step back and ask yourself what you specifically want to gain from this internship. Whether that’s a tangible product (like an app you built or articles you wrote) or something more abstract (like better marketing skills or a bigger network), it’s important to keep that in mind as you grow and make sure you get the most of our your experience.

See how there’s tons to gain from your first internship! By staying organized, keeping an open mind, and meeting as many people as possible, you’ll  walk away with a great experience, helpful skills, and lot of incredible professional contacts.

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 The 5 Most Important Tips For Rocking Your First Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

These Unilever BRAND MANAGERS are responsible for getting AXE products into grocery stores across the country.

Unilever has a simple but clear purpose – to make sustainable living commonplace. They believe this is the best long-term way for the business to grow.

Check out all of Unilever’s open jobs!

Transcript; 

Kevin: From a brand manager standpoint it’s probably the closest you can get to really being be the center spoke of wheel and working a little bit on everything.

Sophie: It’s definitely challenging at times but it’s really cool to see everything come together at the end

Kevin: I think the that Unilever’s is actually a house of brands right is something as kind of not always thought about. You’ll think about the Axe company or the Dove company, but actually we are all working at Unilever.

Sophie: I was looking to marketing like throughout business school and really liked the idea of something more entrepreneurial that was both creative and quantitative.

Kevin: So there are two ways that we look at marketing and Unilever. There’s local marketing and then there’s global marketing. so I work from the local side where I’m very close to day and a P&L. So are we performing. How much are we selling. How much profit are we actually making.

Sophie: I love interacting with people so working with all sorts of different people and they’re kind of the experts in their field.

Kevin: I have individual goals for my campaign is on your campaign meeting its business case. But also are you pushing the brand in certain areas so you know you may be doing well and how that brand situated now, but are you pushing us from a digital standpoint or are you making sure that we’re hitting our target customers.

Sophie: Everyone knows what AXE is when you talk about it, it’s a huge brand. So it’s really fun to work on and see like a different part of personal care and what male grooming is like.

Kevin: Well I mean ultimately I’m a competitive person.

Kevin: So to be in a space where you don’t live in a vacuum like you live in this fluid environment where there’s always something happening I think it’s something that you Unilever cherishes because that’s the nature of what it is that you want to do want to compete. You want to make sure that you’re working on a business that successful.

The post Video: What does an AXE Brand Manager do? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Coming out to anyone is a big deal, especially if you’ve never done it before. And although your professional relationships are different from your personal ones, feeling comfortable enough to be open with your co-workers is important. If you’ve been following the #NationalComingOutDay posts on Twitter and Instagram today, you know that it’s National Coming Out Day, an annual holiday created in 1988 to raise awareness for the LGBTQ community.

Whether you’re ready to come out to your co-workers or you just want to learn more about how to do it, here are three things to keep in mind about coming out at work.

Start with your closest co-workers

One of the best ways to ensure that you feel comfortable opening up is to talk to your closest co-workers first. Set up some time to grab lunch or coffee with them (preferably one-on-one) and use this as an opportunity to share more details about your personal life and deepen your existing connections. Having allies among you co-workers will not only make you feel more comfortable about being your authentic self, it will also help you feel supported in the workplace.

Practice what you’re going to say

Talking about sensitive subjects at work can be a bit nerve-wracking so it’s important to figure what you want to say ahead of time and to spend some time practicing. While it’s not necessary to go over each conversation before it happens, having a few things that you want to mention is a great way to ensure that you feel at ease as you start to come out to your co-workers. Not sure where to start? That’s okay too. You can use National Coming Out Day as a way into the conversation and explain why it’s important to you.

Be confident in yourself and stay strong

Being comfortable and confident with who you are is just as important in the workplace as it is in your personal life. One of the best ways to do that is to open up only when you feel comfortable and to do it in a way that gives you control over the situation. Although you can’t predict the outcome of each interaction, trust that your co-workers are going to be supportive and accepting of you who are and that opening up to them will help to strengthen the bonds of your relationships.

Coming out at work (like coming out anywhere) can be intimidating, but it can also be a great way to connect with your co-workers and get them to share more about their own personal lives.

The post Considering Coming Out at Work? Here’s How to Do It appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

A tech incubator? At a global beauty company? Maybe the Internet of Things and wearable technology aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think of L’Oréal, but the company’s Research and Innovation division is hard at work advancing research and launching new products.

Here’s an inside look at three recent inventions from the L’Oréal tech incubator:

1.  An Internet-Connected Hairbrush

Hairbrushes have officially gone digital. L’Oréal created a “smart” hairbrush that, when connected to the internet and brushed through your hair, can analyze your hair type and provide customized tips, tricks and products.

The hairbrush connects to your phone via bluetooth or WiFi and has several incredible features, like a special microphone to pick up on frizziness and damage,  sensors to detect how much force you’re using to brush your hair, and whether your hair is wet or dry. From there, the brush sends a “quality score” to an app on your phone, along with ways to improve your hair quality.

2. A Shade of Makeup for Every Skin Tone

L’Oréal’s products are used around the world, and the company is committed to making sure its makeup is a match for every single consumer. To make that a reality, the Tech Incubator got creative.

The result? Lancôme, one of L’Oréal’s brands, now features a product sold in Nordstrom department stores called Le Teint Particulier Custom Foundation. To get your shade, a makeup associate scans your skin with a special sensor that uses algorithms to pinpoint your exact skin tone. That information shows up in a complexion profile, where you can also customize the amount of coverage you want and how much moisturizer you need.

3. A Patch that Monitors UV Exposure

Skin cancer is a global health concern, and L’Oréal is using technology to help its consumers be more proactive about their health. The company knew that more people would use sunscreen if they realized the real impact of the sun on their skin, so they created the My UV Patch—a stretchable skin sensor that shows you how much you’re exposing yourself to UV radiation. The patch is connected to a phone app, where you can monitor how much UV radiation your skin sees every day.

These are just a few ways L’Oréal is pushing the envelope every day. Ready to join them? They’re hiring now, so head over to WayUp and apply!

The post We’re Taking You Behind the Scenes of L’Oréal’s Tech Incubator appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Are you a college student who is looking to get PAID while adding awesome experience to your resume?

What is a campus rep?

A Campus Rep is an individual who represents and promotes a company using their on-campus networks, online networks or both! Our reps get paid to work on their own time and have fun while doing it!

Getting started

As a Campus Rep for WayUp, one of the fastest growing tech startups in the world, you’ll have access to all the materials needed to execute any ideas you have to promote the brand. Your program manager will send weekly updates, provide you with helpful resources and unlimited optional training, as well as answer any of your questions.

You have creative control

The best part? You control how you market WayUp. Some successful reps in the past have given presentations to classes and clubs, reached out to their campus career center and posted in Facebook groups. Take advantage of YOUR skills and networks to strategize what works best for you.

How payment works

Your pay is directly related to your performance. Reps are paid $1 per verified signup and we offer several other bonuses throughout the semester. You have complete flexibility in your schedule and the more time and effort you put into the role, the more money you will make. It’s that simple. Best of all, there’s no cap to how much you make — past reps have earned more than $3,000 per semester. We encourage you to be a WayUp BOSS and make as much money as possible!

Other perks

In addition to cash rewards, there are a ton of perks of being a WayUp campus rep! For example:

• Add experience to your resume
• Receive a resume and cover letter critique from our Head of Recruitment
• Receive a letter of recommendation from WayUp CEO, Liz Wessel
• Work with some of our biggest clients such as Starbucks, Unilever and Under Armour
• Select top reps will have the opportunity to tour the NYC WayUp campus and have a 1:1 with the CEO!

Interested in being a WayUp Campus Rep? Apply here!

The post Why You Don’t Want to Miss Out on the WayUp Campus Rep Program appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Internships have become a necessary part of the college experience. In fact, according to NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 65% of college graduates in 2015 had an internship while in school.This percentage will definitely keep rising, especially given that employers are looking for more and more experience from entry-level employees.

But while internships are great, there are definitely problems that can arise. One common one? Not all internships are what they seem to be. Here are five steps you can take if your internship isn’t what you expected.

1. Assess the Situation

As soon as you realize that your internship is not going in the right direction, take a step back and think about what is happening. Why did you expect it to be different? Were you promised a lot more than you are being given? Are you not getting the hourly pay or stipend that was listed on the job posting? Did you think you were going to get hands-on public relations experience, but you actually spend most of your time cleaning and taking out the garbage?

Make a list of what you feel is wrong. Writing it on paper will help you come to your senses, so jot down an old-fashioned list. You might realize that some of those “problems” aren’t as bad as you originally thought, or maybe there really is something suspicious going on here.

2. Ask Around to Other Interns

If there are other interns in your office or building, you should definitely reach out to them or observe what they’re up to. If they seem to be having the same experience as you, maybe you can go through the rest of these steps together.

However, if they are having a positive experience, you should find out what they are doing differently. Maybe they are taking more initiative or being more social. If you change those little things while you’re on the job, there is a good chance that your experience might change for the better. Your fellow interns can help make your internship better, and now you might have a new friend too!

3. Make the Most Out of Your Time

Everyone hates hearing this, but maybe it’s you that needs to change, not the internship. If you act like you’re not happy to be there, then you will probably never be truly happy. Try your best to be motivated, and act like you want this job. Staying on top of your assignments is so important, but interns are often left with extra time. Ask for extra work (most supervisors would love to have more help!), and request time to take employees to coffee to learn more about them, their roles, and their career paths.

4. Talk to Your Supervisor

If you feel that you are not learning the skills that you had hoped, your supervisor might be able help. While you might not want to flat-out say that you aren’t happy with your internship, talk to him or her about what you were expecting to learn. Your boss might be able to find responsibilities that are in line with what you’re looking for.

If you have any other questions or concerns, make sure to bring them up! If your boss isn’t open to allowing you to do other work, at least you will realize what kind of internship you want (and don’t want).

5. Network With Employees

Networking is a huge part of getting new jobs and opportunities. At every internship you get, make sure to stop in and say hello to all of the employees. Since they have actual positions at the company, find out how they got there. They might even have suggestions for you. Even if your experience at the internship is not the greatest, at least you will leave knowing that you made as many connections as possible.

While it is definitely unfortunate if your internship is not what you expected, following these five steps will help you make the most of it.

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 Steps You Can Take if Your Internship Isn’t What You Expected 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.

When it comes to internships, many of us often forget that there’s more to being an intern than just being someone’s assistant, and you really have to come prepared if you want to go above and beyond what’s asked of you. What do you need to prove you’re ready to get down to business? Here are seven things that the most successful interns bring to work every day.

1. The Right Planner

Having a planner that meets your specific needs is important if you want to stay organized and on time. Look for one that has both monthly and weekly spreads. You can put general reminders and events on the monthly pages, while writing down other assignments on the weekly pages.

Some websites even offer customizable planners, like Agendio and Erin Condren, where you can choose your own designs and layouts. Would you prefer a reasonably small-sized planner so it’s easy to take everywhere? Or would you rather have a larger planner, so you have plenty of room to write your daily schedule? There are so many options out there, but just make sure you pick one that works for you.

2. Extra Pens

You are probably going to lose your pens, even when you try so hard not to. We drop them while walking, we let the person sitting next to us borrow one, and we accidentally take them all home. Just be prepared by always having a ton of extra pens. You don’t want to be caught off-guard in an important lecture or meeting without a pen to take notes!

3. Lotion

If you ever find yourself unable to sleep or stressed out to the point where nothing can relax you, then you should try using some hand lotion. Bath & Body Works sells travel-size aromatherapy lotions that will make you feel better instantly, and who doesn’t feel better with softer hands?

4. Post-Its

Post-Its are one of the best ways to make reminders for yourself, and they definitely beat writing on the back of your hand like in middle school. You can literally stick them anywhere, like your computer, desk, or notebooks. The bright colors are easy to spot, so you’ll never miss a note. Post-Its come in all different colors and sizes, both lined and blank. The larger lined notes are perfect for to-do lists. Try assigning different colors for all of your commitments so you avoid getting confused.

5. Vitamin Boosts

Chances are that if you’re running around between school, work, extracurriculars, and friends, you’re going to be exhausted by the middle of the day. Even though most of us often turn to coffee when we need more energy, vitamin boosts are a better alternative.

Olly Nutrition has plenty of options, like Endless Energy vitamins for endurance and focus, which contain caffeine from green tea, B vitamins, and amino acids to give you an energy boost. If you’re one of those people who is constantly sick in the winter, they have Ultimate Immunity vitamins as well. These vitamin boosts will keep you going throughout your busy schedule.

6. Mints and Gum

Besides saving you from bad breath, having mints or gum in your bag might even be able to help you network by offering a piece to the other people around you. It will give you an extra opportunity to introduce yourself to your coworkers and supervisors that you might have not had before.

7. Positive Attitude

Probably the most important thing that every intern should bring to work is a positive attitude. At this stage in the game, we’re still trying to find our place in the real working industry. We need to love what we’re doing in order to get the most out of our experiences as interns. If your employer sees that you’re going above and beyond, so many other opportunities open up (like even a position after you graduate!). You’ll never know until you put in the extra effort.

From planners to vitamins, these things will help you make it through your long days of class and work. Now that you know the seven things that the most successful interns bring to work every day, all you need to do is make sure that you find a bag, purse, or backpack that you love to carry them all in!

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 7 Things the Most Successful Interns Bring to Work Every 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.

Whether you want to make extra cash or add experience to your resume, there are several reasons for taking on both a part-time job and an internship at the same time. You might need the extra cash from a part-time job because of an unpaid internship or you might be trying to increase the amount of money you can save by working two paid positions at once. Whatever your reasons, it takes a lot of time and energy to do both. In order to maximize your time in each role and prevent yourself from burning out, check out these tips to help keep your schedule manageable.

1. Speak to your supervisors.

Working two jobs will inevitably lead to a busy schedule so  it’s important to be upfront with your supervisors at your internship and your job about your other obligations in order to avoid conflicts. If your internship requires you to be in the office on weekdays, see if you can take night and weekend shifts at your part-time job. Although most employers will understand that you have other responsibilities outside of work, sometimes an overlap is unavoidable. Having a packed schedule almost always results in a conflict at some point or another, so if your supervisors are aware of your situation, things will go much more smoothly when an issue arises.

2. Be realistic about your time.

Good time management skills are a must when you have a part-time job and an internship. Because your days are planned around your work schedule it’s important to make sure that you use your spare time well. This could include doing homework, studying, going to club meetings or hanging out with your friends. You don’t want other aspects of your life to fall to the bottom of your priority list. You know yourself best, so if you find that your schedule is getting to be too much to handle, you may need to rethink your situation.

3. Take care of yourself.

Self-care often becomes nonexistent when you’re running around every day, but it’s something you need to prioritize if you want to maintain a balanced life. Since your body is constantly moving, you need to recharge yourself. Eat healthy meals, sleep seven to eight hours per night and take breaks throughout the day. Although those things can seem trivial compared to what you have on your plate, ignoring your physical and mental health is not the answer. The busier you are, the more necessary it becomes to take care of yourself, because no matter what you’re doing, your well-being comes first.

Finding the perfect balance can be challenging and frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, you’re going to have great experience, a top-notch resume and hopefully some financial security. Just keep your eye on the prize, but remember not to stretch yourself too thin. Follow these tips and you’re already on the right track.

The post Top 3 Tips for Balancing A Part-Time Job & An Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The popularity of brand ambassador programs is on the rise and a campus rep role is the perfect way to gain experience and connect with other students on your campus. The best part of all: You’ll not only get to be part of a company’s brand innovation and growth, you’ll also get to add the experience to your resume and possibly make some money while you’re at it.

Thinking about trying it? Check out some of the benefits of becoming a brand ambassador below.

1. No experience necessary.

There’s nothing worse than filling out job or internship applications and feeling like you’re underqualified, because you lack the necessary experience. However, previous experience is typically not required to become a brand ambassador. Because most companies look to hire college students for their programs, they are simply looking for energetic and outgoing students to talk up their brand on campus and on social media.

2. The chance to make some money.

Although not all brand ambassador positions are paid, there are many paid rep programs out there! Whether you’re paid a specific amount per signup for an app or website or you receive a commission for an order on your campus, being a brand ambassador is a great way to make some extra money in addition to any other part-time jobs or internships you might have.

3. A flexible schedule.

Because the majority of brand ambassador positions are done remotely, you decide your own hours, so you ultimately decide how much (or how little) you’re going to get out of your time in the role. You can either make a set schedule for yourself, deciding how much time you’re going to dedicate per week, or you can talk to students and post on social media whenever you have spare time. Though you will have to check in with your supervisor or manager about your progress, you are ultimately the one who is in control.

4. An awesome resume booster.

You learn a number of skills as a brand ambassador because you have to make your own decisions regarding your work. You learn excellent oral and written communication skills and you also learn several marketing and sales skills, like planning and strategizing, all while building your own network at your university. You’ll quickly start to understand the ins and outs of social media branding, and most of all, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you’re an independent self-starter. Even if you don’t plan on working in business after graduation, having the ability to market and sell a product, which will in many cases be yourself, is essential in any field.

5. The chance to build your network.

In order to spread the word across your campus about the company you’re representing, you’ll talk to a variety of students, professors, and administrators at your university. Being a brand ambassador can help you build your network, because introducing yourself to so many people opens up the door for opportunities in the future. A student that you met may be able to recommend you for an internship and an individual at the career center might have a contact at a company you’d love to work for after graduation. The more people you know, the better your chances of finding that dream internship or entry-level job, so don’t be afraid to reach out to as many people as you can.
Ready to get started? There are several brand ambassador positions on WayUp, so if you’re looking for a new, engaging, and flexible experience, you can start applying today.

The post 5 Benefits of Being a Brand Ambassador appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve made it through your first day and your first week. You’ve met everyone in the office, familiarized yourself with the location, and gotten a grip on the commute. So, now what? You’re still in the early stages of the internship, but your responsibilities and projects are beginning to kick into high gear, and you want to ensure that you succeed. Now that the work has really begun, check out these tips to keep up the positive impression you made during your first week.

1. Understand your deadlines.

This step is critical. As you begin getting assigned projects, you will be expected to turn them around by a specific date and you don’t want to be rushing to get something done at the last minute. Make sure to keep track of your time in order to prevent yourself from getting overwhelmed or frustrated. If you find that you’re struggling with something, talk to your supervisor. The last thing you want is to be asked for your progress and have nothing done, so make a to-do list, prioritize what needs to be done first and check off items as you complete them. This process will be much easier than crossing tasks off in your head.

2. Expose yourself to as much as you can.

If you have the opportunity to do a variety of projects or assignments, you should take advantage of it. Internships often don’t last very long, so you want to use your time wisely. If there’s an aspect of the business that you’re really interested in, ask your supervisor if you can try out something new for a day or even for an hour. Although it can sometimes be intimidating to speak up, an internship is a learning experience for you and if you don’t ask, you’ll regret it later when your internship is over.

3. Ask questions when you’re confused.

As an intern, you’re almost always going to have questions, because you don’t have a lot of real-world experience yet and that’s okay. As long as you’re not asking the same questions repeatedly, there’s nothing wrong with doing so. In fact, your employer would probably be more surprised if you didn’t have any questions. If you’re working on a project and you need a little clarification, ask. While there are some things that you can figure out yourself, don’t sit there for hours because you’re afraid to ask for help. You’ll wind up wasting time, and most likely you’ll have to end up asking the question anyway or redoing something because you did it wrong the first time. Asking questions is a good practice — it’s the only way you’ll ever learn!

4. Put forth your greatest effort.

Although you may be challenged and you may find what you’re doing difficult sometimes because it’s all new to you, the most important thing you can do is to try your best. Whether you make a mistake or do something perfectly the first time around, your supervisor will be able to tell if you put a lot of work into it or if you just threw something together. Your work ethic will show, so be sure to always put your best foot forward and your dedication and determination will be respected.

You’re going to have a few pitfalls during your first month, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a good intern. The first month consists of almost entirely new experiences, and once your first month is underway, you’ll be better prepared for the second, then the third, and so on. Try to keep in mind that practice makes perfect.

The post How To Tackle The First Month Of Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

While there are many steps you can take to make yourself an all-star intern, there are also mistakes you can make (sometimes unknowingly) that can have the opposite effect. In order to avoid these, it’s important to remember why you’re at your internship in the first place. Although it should definitely be a fun experience, you are receiving college credit and perhaps other forms of compensation to contribute your time and effort to the organization, so staying motivated and productive is a must.

To avoid landing yourself in hot water, check out our top tips about what not to do at your next internship.

1. Don’t spend time on your phone or on social media.

Unless there is an emergency or you’re expecting an important call, there is no need to be on your phone throughout the day. You’re at your internship to learn and to work and if you spend your day slacking off and not accomplishing your goals, it will not go unnoticed. Surfing social media sites or texting all day will make it seem like you don’t care at all about the position and that you don’t want to be there. The last thing you want to be known for at your internship is being lazy or unproductive.

2. Don’t contribute too much or too little.

There’s an important balance you want to reach between making your voice heard, yet knowing when to just sit back and listen. As an intern, you’re still relatively new to the industry and you don’t have as much experience or knowledge as your fellow coworkers. That being said, if you’re asked for input or if you have a suggestion that you think is worth contributing, then by all means, do it. You just want to make sure that you’re not overstepping your place or coming off like a know-it-all.

3. Don’t be closed-minded.

An internship is meant to be a learning experience and you want to gain as much knowledge as you possibly can, so never say no to a project or a task because you don’t want to do it or because you think you won’t like it. Give everything a chance, because not only is it your job as an intern to follow instructions, but it will ultimately help you decide what you see yourself doing as a future career.

It can be difficult to know what not do in a new position, especially as an intern, but by following these tips, you’ll knock a bad habit before you even start it.

The post 3 Things You Shouldn’t Do At Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Your first week at an internship is extremely important. It’s when expectations are determined and you learn even more about what you’ll be doing throughout your time at the company. You’re setting the course for the remaining weeks, so you want to make sure that you do everything you can in that first week to make yourself stand out to your coworkers and your supervisor.

Follow these tips below to showcase your talents and be the rockstar intern that you are!

1. Come in early and leave late.

While punctuality is expected, coming in early will make a positive impression the second you step foot in the door. This is especially important on your first day, but throughout the first week and even throughout your internship in general. If you’re working eight hours per day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., don’t show up at 9 the dot and leave at exactly 5. You’ll be much more respected as an intern if you arrive earlier than necessary and leave around the same time, if not later, than everyone else, because you’re going above and beyond the minimum requirement.

2. Introduce yourself to everyone.

Your first week is the perfect time to get to know the people that you’ll be working alongside. Meet everyone and anyone you can. Getting to know your fellow interns and coworkers will make you feel comfortable in your environment and it will give you the chance to learn from many different people. Grab coffee or lunch or even just set aside time in the office to chat. This is your time to ask questions about an individual’s position, background, and experience at the company. Your internship will be so much more rewarding if you engage and interact with those around you.

3. Familiarize yourself with the office.

Within your first week, make sure you know the location of the bathroom, the kitchen, supply closets, etc… As a new intern, you’re not supposed to know where everything is yet, but if you don’t take the time to navigate the office early on, you’re going to feel awkward asking someone questions about it later on down the road. It doesn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with the surrounding area as well. Maybe take a walk outside during your lunch break to find restaurants, stores, or anything else you might be looking for at some point. You’re going to be in the office for a majority of your time, so you want to know what’s around it too.

4. Get organized.

Even though you may not have begun any projects yet, because the first week can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, staying organized is key to being productive. Make sure to complete any tasks you may need to do to get you started like setting up your computer or desk or filling out forms. You want to have everything ready and prepared for when you start diving into your work and you don’t want to run into any issues before you even really begin.

5. Be positive.

No matter what happens on the first or second day, remain positive. Your coworkers and supervisor especially will be able to gauge your attitude, so avoid complaining or talking negatively. Wearing a smile on your face, especially during your first week, shows everyone in the company that you deserve to be there and that most importantly, you want to be there. In order to be a successful intern, you have to be willing to take on any tasks that are asked of you without hesitation. Plus, staying positive will make your time much more enjoyable.

Your first week is extremely significant, but don’t forget that an internship is meant to be a fun, learning experience for you as a student, so don’t get too caught up in any mistakes you make along the way. Just keep working hard and doing your best. Good luck!

The post 5 Tips For Rocking The First Week of Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In our fast-paced society, nearly every day consists of a busy schedule and it’s all too easy to become overwhelmed. Whether it’s school, work, your social life, or other responsibilities that are stressing you out, taking breaks is a must. They are good for your health and they give you something to look forward to during your hectic day. Even if you don’t have that much time on your hands, you can take a deep breath and relax in only 10 minutes. You wouldn’t believe the impact it will have on your mood and then when you return to work or class, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to take on your next task.

Check out some of our tips below to relax when you’re on the clock!

1. Go outside and take a walk.

A breath of fresh air truly is the cure for anything. If you begin to feel stressed out or you just need a minute to breathe, taking a walk outside will do the trick. It gives you a chance to remove yourself from your environment, gets your blood circulating and allows you to declutter your mind, which will help lift the weight off your shoulders. Basking in the sun (or even a little rain) for even just a short period of time will rejuvenate you.

2. Drink a cup of tea.

Tea is meant to soothe you and help you relax, and even if aren’t a fan of tea, it’s the relaxation element that counts, so grab yourself a cup and savor the taste and the time to yourself. Enjoying the little things in life is what’s most important when you’re tense or frustrated because it serves as a reminder to not let a bad day get the best of you.

3. Write in your journal.

Journaling is a wonderful stress reliever. Write about anything that comes to your mind or maybe even write about what’s bothering you. Letting it all out on paper is incredibly helpful and a great way to get past the things that are stressing you out. And remember, your journal is yours only so no one else will ever read it. In this case, you really have the ability to let your thoughts loose, so that you’re not keeping everything bottled up all day and letting it grow even more.

4. Listen to music.

Bring your headphones with you everywhere you go, so when you have a few minutes to spare, you can go off in your own world. It’s the perfect way to unplug completely, because it’s just you and the music. Listen to your favorite song or listen to a song with a slow melody. Music is extremely powerful and hearing a song you like almost always puts you in a better mood, with a smile on your face.

It’s natural to experience stress now and then because it’s a part of life, but when you feel like can’t handle it anymore, take a little break and remember that it’s only temporary.

The post 4 Tips To Help You De-Stress In Only 10 Minutes appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Now that it’s almost summer, internships are the hot topic for college students. Maybe you’re starting your first internship in a few weeks or you’re in the process of applying and you’re worried that you don’t have enough experience. There’s no need to fret. Remember that summer job you had as a lifeguard at the local pool or as a camp counselor at a daycamp? They both helped you gain valuable experience and what you’ve learned as a result has prepared you for this next step. So, how exactly do you highlight those skills in a way that helps you land the job?

Focus On Your Soft Skills

Communication and problem-solving skills are necessary in any work environment. Although you might never have had a sales internship at a marketing agency, your previous experience as a camp counselor has provided you with customer service skills. Think back to the countless times you interacted with campers and their parents and helped defuse any potential problems as they arose. When you reassured parents that their children would be in good hands, you put them at ease. If you make a customer’s life less stressful by selling them a product or service at your new internship, you’re using that same skill, just in a different setting.

Highlight Your Ability to Be Productive

Punctuality, efficiency, and productivity are crucial skills for a successful employee and a successful intern. Through summers jobs, you have grasped the importance of being on time each and every day and working diligently and productively while on the job. Following instructions regarding mealtimes and bedtimes for the children you have watched as a nanny enables you to follow a timeline of deadlines for a specific project you might be working on at your accounting internship. This connects directly to having a strong work ethic and showing initiative. Working, in any capacity, illustrates your commitment and dedication to your role, your co-workers, and your company, whether this is at a part-time retail job or an internship at an engineering firm.

Emphasize the Fact that You’re a Team Player

The ability to work as part of a team is perhaps the most important skill you need to flourish anywhere. Hiring managers and recruiters actively seek out individuals who can get along well with others and who can contribute to a team effort. Working as a barista requires a lot of teamwork, because some employees take orders, while others actually make the drinks, and others still are working in the back, cleaning and doing inventory amongst other tasks. The customer wouldn’t be able to leave the coffee shop with a drink in hand if the employees didn’t work together. The same goes for launching a new brand, idea, or concept. Without the ideas of several team members and a sense of team cohesion, the project may never see the light of day.

Though these skills are only a few of the many skills that will give you a leg up in the professional world, what’s most important is how you accentuate your experience on your WayUp profile. First and foremost, do your research and figure out what qualifications companies are looking for in their candidates. Make sure to highlight any and all skills that describe you and use similar terminology, so that your skills aren’t hidden. Next, make sure you use action verbs when listing what you have done in your previous roles. Instead of saying, “I was part of a team,” say, “contributed my ideas to team project ABC, where XYZ was accomplished,” and make sure to be specific. If you created new activities for the camp where you worked, include the results of your effort. If you increased the amount of sales in your store by suggesting a reorganization of the product setup, provide numbers or percentages. What matters most is the outcome of your actions. Include a few bullet points of your key responsibilities as well as what you accomplished throughout your time in a particular role. You want your WayUp profile and resume to stand out, so sell yourself.

By honing in on your skills and following these tips, you’ll be on your way to your first internship interview and offer in no time. Good luck!

The post Transferable Skills From A Summer Job To An Internship 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.

From Dove soap to Degree deodorant, odds are you’ve got more than a few Unilever products at home. A household name for more than 100 years, Unilever isn’t just dedicated to keeping you clean; it’s also committed to helping the planet while enriching people’s lives. Thanks to something called the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, the company is doing great things for the environment while helping its employees succeed in their careers.

Excited to work for a company that’s passionate about earth-friendly innovation? We bet you are! It’s a great chance to make a difference in the world. Here are 11 reasons why we love Unilever’s approach to sustainability.

1. Unilever’s products are used by 2.5 billion people around the world every day and the Sustainable Living Plan covers all of those products and countries. Talk about a big commitment!

2. They’ve got big plans to change not just the way products are made, but also the way people use them. How big? Unilever plans to cut their environmental impact in half.

3. And it’s working already. In 2015, Unilever’s waste impact went down by 29 percent per consumer use.

4. If people don’t have a place to recycle, they won’t do it, so Unilever is helping to improve recycling centers across the country by investing in more technology in places like Baltimore and Chicago, and small towns that may not otherwise have the resources to set up or promote recycling.

5. Unilever is also creating smarter materials and designs to help the planet.

6. … like the incredible MuCell™ bubble-powered molding tech that’s reducing the amount of plastic in bottles by as much as 15 percent.

7. That means the 33 million people who buy Dove Body Wash every year are now using 275 tons less plastic every year, and that’s just one product.

8. Oh, and it also means lower shipping costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

9. Plus Unilever takes the phrase “sharing is caring” to a whole new level by giving other companies access to its MuCell™ technology so they can use less plastic too.

10. When Unilever realized just 14 percent of Americans recycle bathroom plastics (versus over 50 percent in the kitchen), they collaborated to come up with this clever “I Want to Be Recycled” campaign.

11. They also created this addictive “Super Sorter” recycling game. Excuse us. We’ve got some playing to do.

Bet you didn’t know you could celebrate Earth Day by applying to work at Unilever. Head over to WayUp now and check out open positions at this planet-friendly company.

The post 11 Ways the Makers of Dove, AXE and Ben & Jerry’s Are Helping the Planet appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Most of us can name a favorite teacher, someone who made us actually look forward to class and who had a knack for keeping us awake and interested, even when we couldn’t wait for other classes to be over. Let’s face it: an amazing teacher is basically a superhero. If you’re passionate about education and want to become an amazing teacher, we have some great news! A teacher can have a bachelor’s degree in any subject, it doesn’t need to be an education degree.

What you do need to have are the four traits below.

You’re Itching to Make a Difference with Your Career

Maybe you realized it during that spring break volunteer trip or it might’ve been working with kids during your summer as a camp counselor. Somewhere along the way, you realized that the career path that will make you the most fulfilled is one that will make a difference in other people’s lives. And ever since then, you’ve been racking your brain to figure out what that career might be.

You Never Back Down from a Challenge

Are you someone with some serious courage? You’re not the type to give up if something is hard or doesn’t work out the way you planned. Instead, you make a point to learn from everything you do (the successes and the not-so-successes), and you keep working at any problem until you find a solution. In fact, you’re happiest when you’re growing and learning new things.

You Have a Knack for Explaining Things

Whether it’s giving your parents a crash course in using a new iPhone or showing a friend how to do his taxes for the first time, you’re a natural at helping people learn new things. When someone asks a question, you’re the first to step up and help out. On top of that, you’re articulate and patient, and when you say there’s no such thing as a silly question, you mean it.

You Believe That All Children Should Have Access to a Great Education

You want children to reach their full potential and believe that a great education can make a big difference in a person’s life. It doesn’t matter if a kid lives in a leafy suburb or the inner city – you are passionate about putting students on the path to college by inspiring a love of learning. You revel in the idea of being a role model and a role model for what’s possible in education.

Sound like you? We bet you’d be an amazing teacher who can help students continue to cultivate their love of learning. If you’re feeling inspired to dive into a life-changing career, check out Success Academy on WayUp!

The post 4 Reasons You’d Be an Amazing Teacher (No Education Degree Required) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you were making a new signature scent or dissecting a pig, lab day in science class was always exciting. Now remember that feeling, enter the real world and say hello to Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo Fisher Scientific is a multi-billion dollar company whose business is bringing that science class to life. From genetic testing to food chemistry examination, they are providing science that makes a real difference in the world.

Now meet Lauren Miller, a scientist in the Research and Development group of Thermo Fisher. After graduating from Boston University in 2014, her goal was to make the world a healthier place, and after interning at Thermo Fisher Scientific she knew that was where she wanted to begin her full-time career. Here’s why she thinks everyone, regardless of their major, should consider starting their career with Thermo Fisher Scientific.

You do real work

Lauren expected her first job as a scientist to consist of cleaning bleekers and running machines. However, at Thermo Fisher she’s been given real work from the get-go and has been thrown right into the thick of it. She even got the chance to travel to Scotland to help a customer on site on the company’s dime.

You are changing the world

Thermo Fisher is trying to change the world for the better through science. By joining their team, you can be rest assured that your work will be put towards the greater good. As Lauren said, “it’s very exciting to see something go from the lab bench to real solution. It’s an amazing feeling.”

The company will help you figure out what you want to do

Since Thermo Fisher is such a large company, there truly is a spot for everyone. Thermo Fisher realizes that not everyone graduates from college knowing exactly what they want to do, so they’ll support you in figuring it out. Lauren shares, “especially if you don’t quite know what you want to do, [Thermo Fisher Scientific] is a great place to start. It’s a huge corporation and there’s a place for everyone.”

Want to do good in the world? Click here to learn more about Thermo Fisher and apply for open roles on WayUp!

The post How Thermo Fisher Ensures That All Their Employees Make a Real World Impact appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This article is sponsored by CohnReznick, which is hiring on WayUp now.

“If you do your best to serve faithfully your community, your clients, and your associates, success will most surely follow.” — Julius Cohn, founder, CohnReznick.

For some of you recent grads, we know trying to spot the differences between the big accounting firms can sometimes feel like the most excruciatingly boring game of Where’s Waldo—just swap the classic red-and-white stripes for a sea of indistinguishable black and grey suits or green-and-white Excel sheets.

For CohnReznick, one of the companies hiring for internships and entry level positions on WayUp, its people-focused spirit defines their culture. At the professional level, it means that the firm encourages its employees to find creative, dynamic solutions to problems that don’t always come right from the textbook. And at the personal level, that dynamic spirit translates into some of the most important work the company does—at the public service and community level—through programs like CARES, Pay it Forward, and Golf Invitational.

CARES: Making accounting acronyms mean something.

Like any good accounting firm well-supplied with acronyms, CohnReznick’s CARES stands for Community, Education, Responsibility, Education and Service. Formed by the company’s National Social Impact Committee in 2013, CARES acts as a direct call to action to motivate its employees to embrace the dedication to service and find ways to give back to their communities however they can.

Now in its 10th year is the company’s ‘Pay It Forward’ movement, which is loosely based on the premise of a movie that came out in 2000. Basically, before he was terrorizing the Washington elite as Frank Underwood, Kevin Spacey played a social studies teacher who tasked his students with forwarding every good deed they receive to someone else, creating a continuing chain of good will that ends up changing the world (it’s hard to imagine, especially after the end of Season 3 of House of Cards, but you’ll have to trust us).

CohnReznick’s take on it is similar—each December, the company provides a little something extra to employees’ paychecks, encouraging them to “Pay it Forward” to the organizations that have been positive, contributing influences in their life. A creative take on the traditional means of encouraging giving, Pay it Forward helped the company receive honors for its “Impressive Good Works” by the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.

Your Golf Game That Keeps on Giving

Over the past twenty five years, CohnReznick has led a charitable charge through its annual Charity Golf Invitational, which provides charities with donations from benefactors across the community. Last June, the firm donated $150,000 to the Special Operations Warrior Fund (SOWF) and the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, coming from the CARES program as well as the CohnReznick Foundation.

If you’re looking for more than just a job, but for something that helps the people who need it the most, then check out the internship and entry-level opportunities at CohnReznick! It’s a wonderful place with even more wonderful people, and the perfect place to kickstart your accounting career!

The post Being Accountable: How CohnReznick Gives Back to the Community appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

A career in financial services was never really a thought for Laura Kang. After graduating from NYU with a journalism degree, she was more interested in pursuing her dream of becoming an investigative reporter. But after discovering that she could put the skills she’d learned to good use as part of the Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) department at Deutsche Bank, she’s never looked back.

We talked to Laura about her unconventional path to financial services, what she enjoys most about it and how she feels she contributes to the success of the business.

Tell us about your background and how your career at Deutsche Bank started.

Laura Kang: I got my degree in print journalism and worked as a writer and editor at a couple of high-profile magazines. A few years after 9/11, I started looking for something a little more meaningful and wanted to find a role that made me feel like I was contributing to a greater good. So, when a friend told me that the Legal Department of an investment bank was looking for a journalist to conduct Anti-Money Laundering (AML) due diligence I was curious to find out more.

I had no idea what AML or due diligence even were at first but as I researched further, I was hooked. It’s like being an investigative reporter, which is something that has always appealed to me except now there was an opportunity to catch the “bad guys.” I didn’t have a business, finance or law degree but the skills I had established as a journalist – writing, editing, researching, investigating and analyzing – enabled me to seamlessly pivot into this role. I have been in the AML industry for over 10 years now and at Deutsche Bank for just under two.

What do you do in your position?

LK: Every day is different. Providing AML advisory means I work directly with Client Onboarding, the front office (the business side) and many other departments such as Anti-Fraud Bribery & Corruption or Sanctions & Embargoes Compliance. I try to ensure that any kind of business Deutsche Bank is doing around the world (that touches the U.S.) is the kind of business we want. This involves a lot of background research and analysis so I can make accurate assessments and recommendations. It’s my job to try to ensure that if an external or internal auditor or regulator decides to look into our reasoning in the future, everything is clearly documented with sound justifications that are within Deutsche Bank’s policies and U.S. regulations.

What else do you particularly like about your role?

LK: Another aspect of my department that I find really interesting is how timely it is. Events like 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis have transformed the regulatory environment, so what we do in AML and AFC is not only crucial to conducting business, but more important now than ever. We need to look at everything in such fine detail while maintaining the bigger picture and really think about who our clients are and why we’re choosing to do business with them. Does the client fit with Deutsche Bank and is it the kind of customer we want?

The other part I love is the people I work with and the culture here at Deutsche Bank. I have direct access to senior leaders. They are so approachable that whenever I have a question I know they’ll happily answer it for me. Everyone is calm, level-headed and rational, and they’re always prepared to give me the support and resources I need. Also, having worked at a variety of banks throughout my career I can honestly say that the Deutsche Bank culture is very welcoming. They want you to succeed.

How do you feel your role gives you a sense of purpose?

LK: This is a big job with a lot of responsibility, but I get an immense amount of satisfaction from getting the job done right. Being AML Compliance Officer at Deutsche Bank, and throughout my career, is more than just a job. It has given me a real sense of purpose and the opportunity to do what I can to protect the U.S. financial system.

What kind of person do you need to be to work in AML?

LK: Curiosity is key. You have to ask the right questions to uncover pertinent information. If something doesn’t seem right to you or doesn’t make sense, you have to listen to that gut feeling and keep digging. Having a strong interest in business is also essential, and to a certain extent, a sense of creativity; criminals of all kinds are known to be quite creative, so you need to be able to keep pace!

It’s not the typical kind of profession that most people know about while they’re considering their career choices. And as far as I know there is no such thing as an AML or Compliance degree. But if this sounds interesting to you, I would suggest checking out ACAMS – the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists – and it will tell you how to get certified. There are other certifications out there but if you’re CAMS certified, it’s a great start.

There may not be immediate graduate roles available in AFC at this time. However, there are plenty of opportunities for curious, investigative minds in Deutsche Bank’s other divisions. Does this sound a place where you can make your mark? Head over to Deutsche Bank’s page on WayUp for more information!

More from Deutsche Bank:
How to Get a Tech Job at a Global Bank
Q&A With a Deutsche Bank Summer Intern
These Interns Forecasted Revenue and Helped Finance Solar Power

The post My Unconventional Path to Financial Services appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Calling all the shopaholics out there: We’ve found the perfect company for you where you can not only be valued as an ambitious professional but also get discounts on an amazing clothing collection too.

Sound too good to be true? It certainly isn’t; this dream company is none other than leading clothing retailer, Charlotte Russe!

Charlotte Russe offers amazing benefits for corporate and store employees alike, so check them out and get ready to apply to their open roles on WayUp now!

1. Chat With the CEO

Think that you have to be an executive to get face time with the CEO of a major company? At Charlotte Russe, think again! New team members working at Charlotte Russe’s corporate offices get to meet inspiring CEO Jenny Ming during their first couple of months on the job, so you know you’re valued from the start.

2. Employee Appreciation Weekends

Need a new wardrobe without spending too much money? Charlotte Russe can make that happen. Throughout the year, the company gives back to its team members with Employee Appreciation Weekends, where employees get extra discounts on top of their usual 40% discount. Not only does Charlotte Russe want you to be a boss, but they want you to look like a boss too.

3. Casual Work Environment

Charlotte Russe offers a number of great benefits to store employees, but two of the best ones to take advantage of on a daily basis are the flexible work schedule and the casual dress code.

4. Conferences

Team members at Charlotte Russe’s many locations nationwide are offered an amazing opportunity for their work: Top store managers get invited to attend brand leadership conferences, which allows them to meet with corporate leadership and go over the company’s direction, strategies, goals and results.

Even cooler: These conference have taken place at amazing locations like Las Vegas and Disney World, and they’re all-expenses paid!

5. Contests

Like a little motivation? Charlotte Russe’s store employees can win prizes like FitBits and iPads for meeting sales or conversion goals throughout the year, especially during peak times. A little incentive goes a long way!

6. Sample Sales

If you’re a shopaholic and you’re somehow not sold on working for Charlotte Russe, this will seal the deal: The team has sample sales every quarter (yep, four times a year!) for employees, meaning you can update your wardrobe on the reg.

Love what you see with Charlotte Russe? It’s time to apply to their positions now!

The post Consider Yourself an Ambitious Young Professional AND a Shopaholic? We’ve Got the Perfect Company for You appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The world of financial services is broader than you might realize – and your degree subject isn’t the most important factor when considering a career in finance. Take Abigail Carras, for example. She graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree from Columbia University and now works at Deutsche Bank, a leading global bank. Originally unsure of her long-term career path, she found her way through the bank’s rotational analyst program.

We got to hear more about how Abigail gained a comprehensive overview of the industry, built her personal network across different divisions and found a role that best fit her work style and skill set. Read on to hear her story.

Tell us a bit about your background and why you chose to work at Deutsche Bank?

Abigail Carras: After spending two summers in internship programs – one at a hedge fund and one at a State Department – I wanted to find a full-time role where I could merge those two sets of interests. I have a quantitative background but I’m also stimulated by learning about the world around me, and I like to interact with people.

Knowing that I wanted to build a strong foundation in finance, I started looking for a structured training program at a bulge bracket bank. While the summer internship program is a more typical path, I instead joined Deutsche Bank through the full-time recruiting program. I really connected with the people I met while interviewing and rotating through placements with several different teams helped me realize Global Markets was the best fit for me.

What do you do in your position and what is your division’s role within the larger business?

AC: I work in Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets division, which is our Sales and Trading business. My team is responsible for originating structured finance transactions for the bank. This means I speak with institutional investors to understand their strategic needs – things like higher returns, increased flexibility, or other tactical challenges – and help solve those problems.

What is something about your role and department that students may not know about?

AC: My role at the bank is a great example of the benefits of Deutsche Bank’s full-time rotational program. Since my position is not the typical role you would associate with Sales and Trading – for example, I am not trading equities or selling bonds – I probably wouldn’t have known to apply to this team right out of college. Instead, I realized I enjoyed the problem solving-oriented work in this seat once I was able to spend a month rotating with the team.

I work on a diverse range of unique transactions – from financing aircraft leases to securitizing auto loans to selling construction loans for solar panels. I feel like I’m constantly learning new things and getting exposure to different industries; it’s incredibly exciting.

What is the most rewarding part of your role and why?

AC: The transactions I work on can take many months to complete, and there are many points along that timeline when things can go wrong; the feeling of overcoming those challenges successfully is incredibly rewarding.

How do you feel your work gives you a sense of purpose?

AC: Having interned in other industries before deciding on a career in finance, I feel more of a sense of purpose in this role than anywhere else, and for me that comes down to the people. I work in a collaborative environment with colleagues who are incredibly intelligent and hard working. For me, it was important to find a job where I could discuss interesting issues and surround myself with people who pushed me to be the best I could be. That’s what I found at Deutsche Bank.

If someone was interested in pursuing the same role you currently have, what would be your advice to them?

AC: There are three things I’d advise:

1. Don’t be afraid to start networking and building your personal brand early-on! I spent my freshman and sophomore years of college going to all sorts of career information sessions on campus. Even if you are not applying for the internships yet, you will get to meet helpful people who can guide you. Networking not only helps increase your opportunities, but also helps you learn about yourself; hearing about others’ experiences can help you understand what you want out of your own future.

2. To stand out amongst your peers, it’s important to seek out opportunities that show you are genuinely interested in this industry. Internships are not the only way to do this; for example, consider participating in a stock pitch competition a club at your school is holding, or assisting a professor who needs help with their research.

3. The most successful people in a role like mine are those who have a perpetual hunger to learn about new things and a drive to chase opportunities. While you will need both quantitative acumen and strong communication skills in many of roles available in finance, it is really the hard workers and go-getters who I have found to be the most successful.

Does Deutsche Bank sound a place where you can make your mark? Head over to their company page on WayUp to learn more!

The post Here’s How One Industrial Engineer Landed a Job in Banking appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

What if we told you there was a company where you could work with the latest technologies and some of the brightest minds in the industry, all while receiving on-demand professional development training to hone and grow your skills?

If this sounds right up your alley, then it’s time to take a closer look at Capital One. The company prides itself on being the place for recent grads to start their careers, and once you hear about the experiences of a few newly hired recent grads, we think you’ll see why.

Five of Capital One’s recent grad associates gave us the lowdown on the company culture, why they chose Capital One and what advice they have for students:

Q: What drew you to working at Capital One?

A: Jibby, Associate Software Engineer (Carnegie Mellon ‘16): The two things that drew me to Capital One were the culture and the Technology Development Program (TDP). Being an intern at Capital One last summer, I could see that everyone was respected no matter how new you were to the company, and that was the atmosphere I wanted to be in. As part of the culture, the company really ensures great work-life balance and we have great work hours. I always feel encouraged to take advantage of out of office activities and even chances to travel to other colleges to help out with recruiting! As for the TDP, I don’t know all of the cool new technologies out there, but with this rotational program, I have the opportunity to follow where my curiosity is leading me. This program allows me to be with a team for one year learning a whole stack of technologies, and then rotate to a completely different team with different technologies the next year to increase my learning opportunities.

A: Linett, Associate Auditor (North Carolina State University ‘14): The top reasons why I chose Capital One to start my career:

• The people: From recruiters, to my current team, everyone is just truly awesome.
• The flexibility: Capital One fosters a very flexible environment that helps their associates achieve the work life balance they want.

Q: What is your biggest learning from your first year at Capital One?

A: Linett: Don’t be afraid to “own” your career; ask for opportunities! People are always willing to expose you to more and it’s a great way to showcase your talents, take on a new leadership role, or enhance a certain skill.

A: Preet, UX Designer (University of Texas-Dallas): When I was still in college, I didn’t understand how people of different disciplines would communicate and work together to deliver a product or experience. Learning about it through Google searches wasn’t enough to understand the ins and outs of it. Now I get it. I get how business works and how my role as a designer fits into it. It’s really something to see different people from technology, product, design, legal, and more all come together and participate in the art of creation. Learning to communicate with people from different backgrounds and with different roles is one of the most valuable learning experiences I’ve had. Having this more holistic view of business is not only helping me understand Capital One and design better, but it’s also helping me understand the world better.

Q: What advice do you have for students applying Capital One?

A: Jibby: My advice to students applying to Capital One would be to study for the interview! For me, it went really smoothly because I had already been through tons of technology and behavioral interviews so I had a lot of practice. [Use your school’s] practice interviews or just have a friend ask you questions so you can practice talking about yourself and problem solving with an audience.. Another tip would be to connect with current associates and ask them about their experiences; it really helps to get all of your informal questions answered.

A: Mamadou, Software Engineer (Dickinson College ‘16): I would recommend keeping an open mind, being curious, driven, and willing to learn fast. The tech industry is evolving at a very fast pace, and we have to continuously learn and innovate in order to stay up to date. Bring your creativity and problem-solving skills into play.

A: Preet: Do you. I mean, still be appropriate and all that, but don’t compromise yourself to get the job. Channel your passion, find a way to harmonize it with your personality, and let that guide you. If you’re thinking of applying, that means that there’s something in you that cares about design (or whatever field you’re looking to apply in). Extract it out of yourself, learn to be confident in who you are, and soar. If you realize you aren’t actually interested, that’s okay. There’s something out there for everybody. Do a little more soul-searching. You’ve got time.

Q: How did you know you were performing well during your first year? How does Capital One track and measure success in this role?

A: Jibby: Capital One has end-of-year and mid-year reviews, where each associate meets with their manager to formally discuss how they have been performing against their goals. I also have bi-weekly meetings with my manager to touch base informally and check in about my performance and ways I can improve.

A: Mary Kate, Human Resources Rotation Associate (University of Virginia ‘16): In my case, you can get a good pulse on how you’re performing based on how your clients respond to your work, and if you get pulled into new work. I can tell I’m performing well due to the fact that my scope has expanded and I get to work with an increasing number of people on a variety of different projects, which I’ve really enjoyed. Capital One has fantastic performance management; I just went through my first performance cycle, and my manager solicited feedback from every single person I worked with and had an open conversation with me about it, in addition to a follow-up. It’s always helpful to know what you can improve on, and managers help you think through your development goals twice a year.

Q: Tell us about any professional development training you received during your first year.

A: Mamadou: Capital One University is our go-to platform for learning and training. Since joining Capital One, I have taken multiple courses to help accelerate my learning and broaden my knowledge base. Additionally, as part of the Technology Development Program, I attended a full week training on software craftsmanship. The training taught me about best coding practices and tools that I can leverage to advance my professional development. Currently, one of Capital One’s central technology strategies is to build our applications in the cloud. In order to help advance this goal, I have taken courses to learn about AWS and its cloud services. I recently became an AWS Solution Architect Certified and I am working on getting my AWS Developer Certification.

A: Preet: I’ve traveled a lot more than I expected to for design training. Within my first month working here, I was flown to San Francisco to attend a user experience workshop. I learned a lot about different facets of design and made new friends from different parts of the country… It was a whole lot of professional and personal growth in a very short amount of time. I’m looking forward to the next few conferences I’m signed up for, where I’ll be learning things like Designing for Voice, Putting Humanity into Chatbots, and more. I’m kind of geeking out just thinking about it.

Q: What’s something surprising about working at Capital One that most people wouldn’t know?

A: Jibby: Technology is at the forefront of the company’s goals, which honestly surprised me, because it was “just a bank” to me before joining the company. But the technology culture at Capital One is just what I would expect to see at a technology company. It’s exciting to know that I joined a company that prioritizes being a leader in the technology field, which has opened so many doors for learning new technologies.

Q: What makes Capital One an incredible place to work?

A: Mamadou: I would have to say the work culture and the opportunities to give back to our community. The collaborative work environment at Capital One allows you to contribute and learn from one another. I have learned so much from my co-workers and have built great relationships with them. Additionally, I get to volunteer through work and am encouraged to give back to our local communities, which really makes a differences in peoples’ everyday lives. .

A: Mary Kate: One of the things that makes Capital One an incredible place to work is the learning culture. All associates are encouraged to learn more about anything that piques their interest or might assist them in a future role. What makes learning here special is that everyone views themselves as both students and teachers. In my first few months, I helped teach an analytics training to some HR associates much older than me. There was no stigma because I’m fresh out of school; people recognize I may have studied these topics more recently and have some new ideas to bring to the table.

Sound like the right place for you? Head on over to WayUp to learn more how you can launch your career at Capital One.

More from Capital One:
The Unexpected Way One Recent Grad Found Her Way to Capital One

The post How One Company Is Helping Young Employees Succeed appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, you’re probably pretty focused on the game itself, the food at your viewing party or the halftime show. (Can we just say that Lady Gaga killed it this year?)

But what’s it like to actually work the Super Bowl? If you’re an employee at Aramark, there’s a good chance you could be one of dozens of team members working the big game and making sure the stadium is ready to accommodate thousands of spectators and the millions of people watching all over the country. Aramark personally handled the merchandise, food and beverage services for the 2017 Super Bowl and the week leading up to it. This included items for the stadium as well as an entire convention center hosting the NFL Experience, a week-long interactive theme park offering games, youth football clinics and free autograph sessions from NFL players!

Another fun fact: Aramark’s responsibility over the little details isn’t just about food and drinks; the company also had to keep track of 3,200 rolls of toilet paper and 580 gallons of hand soap on game day.

Want to get a feel for what it’s like to be at the Super Bowl on game day? Four recent grads – Michael Bamford (Bloomsburg University), Alicia Thompson (University of Kentucky), Lindsey Havican (Florida State University), and Katie Beattie (St. Joseph’s University) – from Aramark take you behind-the-scenes of what it was like preparing for the event.

And if you want to be like them next year, here’s a hint: Aramark is hiring for their Direct Sales & Distribution Step Up to Leadership Program, Direct Sales & Distribution Accelerate to Leadership Program and their Facilities Management Accelerate to Leadership Program on WayUp now!

The post How Aramark Lets Recent Grads Tackle The Super Bowl appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We know it’s important for you to work for an organization that believes in the same values that you do. If gender equality is one of the most important movements in your life, we have the perfect company for you: Unilever, which is empowering women to go into leadership roles and achieve their goals.

They Took the White House Equal Pay Pledge

In August 2016, Unilever, the company behind rockstar brands like Dove, Axe and Ben & Jerry’s, became one of 29 companies to sign the White House Equal Pay Pledge, where they committed to conducting an annual company-wide gender pay report, reviewing hiring and promotion processes to ensure that there’s no bias or structural barriers, and making sure that equal pay efforts are part of larger equality initiatives amongst its teams. In simple terms, all employees will be paid equally.

By doing this, Unilever is actively including women in the workforce and promoting them up through its ranks. The company is already at 49% gender balance for managerial roles and above, but it still strives to lead conversations on gender, equity and inclusion.

They Make Sure Men Are Part of the Conversation, Too

Moreover, Unilever understands that men should be involved in the conversations and actions around gender equality and empowerment for women.  Unilever partnered with He For She to more actively bring men into the conversation around issues women face in the workplace and empower them to directly contribute to the solutions and support their female counterparts in the office and even in our customer base. Through this organization-wide movement, Unilever has opened up the conversation around gender diversity to all people in the office.

More specifically, Unilever is particularly interested in gender diversity at all levels of the company, from new hires and managers to senior leaders and board members. In fact, the organization has a personal customer-facing goal to empower five million women by 2020, and it’s leaning on the men in its workforce to help with and lead the initiative.

They Promote More Gender Equality in the Industry

Additionally, Unilever strives to do good for gender equity outside of its company too. In the past, its executives have advocated for more gender-equal ads for women that eliminate bias and stereotypes against women as part of the #SeeHer campaign, challenging every advertiser in the industry to think more critically about the messaging they create.  

Unilever also helped to change the conversation about women’s image through the Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign: a collection of authentic images that beautifully portrayed real women. Talk about making a media splash. This most-talked about campaign gave women confidence in a whole new way.  And they’re helping men bust stereotypes too. The Axe Find Your Magic campaign is a perfect example of bringing men into the conversation around how both men and women are stereotyped in their interactions with each other.

Does Unilever sounds like a company that believes in gender equality like you do? Now’s your time to join them: They’re hiring full-time, interns and co-op participants on WayUp now!

The post Here’s How This Company Makes Sure Every Woman Knows Her Value appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Picture this: You’re a recent college graduate looking for an amazing role that’ll give you leadership experience and skills to succeed in sales, operations, and IT. The problem? You feel like you don’t even have enough experience to start a job in any of those fields.

Enter leading transportation services company Penske and its Management Trainee Program. Penske’s program searches for the next great leaders and trains them to be successful managers through hands-on learning and mentorship. And Penske knows what it’s doing, because 87% of all leaders in the company started in this program.

So, what’s it like to be part of Penske’s Management Trainee Program? We spoke with six amazing employees who shared their favorite parts.

1. You’ll Enjoy Your Work

“I go to work every day excited about getting to run my facility the way I want to, to make sure it’s the most profitable location in my district. I’ve also enjoyed interacting with Penske leadership during this program. It’s very encouraging to touch base with people who were once in my shoes and are now in leadership roles. Penske is a wonderful company to grow with. Starting off as a management trainee has opened the door to so many opportunities in my life.” – Ress, Hartford, Connecticut

“I really want my days to feel like a drag!” said no employee ever. At Penske, each day can be different as you’re operating and building your district, and you never know what will come up. You’ll also get to work closely with a variety of different team members, so you’ll feel excited to learn something new every single day.

2. You’ll Get Actual Experience (and Don’t Need Any to Start!)

“Before coming to Penske, I was in sales. I was attracted to the Management Trainee Program because of the training opportunities it offered. When I was job searching, I had problems getting a job because I didn’t have experience in an operational role. Penske offered me a chance to get that experience. I’ve learned so much in my time here, but I’ve also built so many amazing relationships with customers and with co-workers. Working at Penske is not work for me. Every day I go to work and I work hard, but when I go home, I don’t feel like I just spent all day at work. It’s probably the most rewarding career I’ve ever had.” – Santiago, El Paso, Texas

Ever heard the joke that too many entry-level jobs require three to five years of work experience? Penske knows that with the right tools and mentorship, anyone can succeed, which is why they don’t require team members in the program to come in with lots of prior knowledge. That’s right, Penske is going to help you build the skills you need to become a successful leader.

3. You’ll Learn Many Different Skills

“Penske is more than just renting trucks. There’s a lot of logistics, a lot of planning, a lot of marketing that goes into it. I have a lot of exposure to leadership in my role. On a daily basis, I get to work with some of the senior managers in central reservations. They’ve personally trained me on profit-and-loss reports. It’s been really nice that I’ve been able to network with them in my time here. I love my job. It’s something new every day, and it’s rewarding.” – Jenna, Green Hills, Pennsylvania

If you become part of the Penske Management Trainee Program, one thing’s for sure: You won’t walk away with just one skill set.

4. You’ll Gain Real and Meaningful Responsibilities from the Start

“Being a management trainee can be challenging, but you learn so much. Problem-solving is 98% of your job at Penske, so you have to learn to think on your feet. Along with that comes a lot of control. I have control to really manage my fleet and manage my Penske location. That’s something that’s unheard of for an entry-level position like this. For anyone thinking about the Management Trainee Program at Penske, I’d tell them that if you want to come work for a great company that’s going to give you opportunities to move anywhere in the country and opportunities to grow, not only as a person but in a business, Penske is the place for you.” – Brian, Evansville, Indiana

Many entry-level jobs have the same issue: They don’t give people enough work to do! At Penske, that isn’t a problem. Management trainees are encouraged to take the reins from day one and to learn as much as possible.

5. You’ll Exceed Expectations

“I think it’s important for other women considering the Management Trainee Program at Penske to know that it’s about learning how to run the rental department and sales. It is a true management training program, and you get to learn the company from the bottom up. If you work hard, you will see results. Being a woman in the transportation industry was difficult when I first started. The customers didn’t know I could move a truck. But I knew I could do what any other guy working there could do.” – Janae, Montebello, California

Some industries are difficult to break into, but Penske knows that by giving all team members equal opportunity to shine, they’ll rise to the occasion.

6. You’ll Be Part of A Team

“I first came to Penske as a summer hire. I worked here every summer during college and then came back here after college to start my career. What brought me back were the connections I had made with my coworkers and my manager. We have a great team environment here. Everyone is on the same team. There’s competition, but it’s all friendly competition to help the company be successful. Being in the Management Trainee Program has given me the chance to really learn the ins and outs of the industry. You learn something new every day. To be constantly learning can be a challenge at times, but it’s also very rewarding.” – Ben, Green Hills, Pennsylvania

When it comes down to it, most people want the same things out a job: They want to feel like they’re part of something and they want to walk away with more knowledge and skills. At Penske, you get the chance to work alongside team members who are as smart and excited as you to accomplish something amazing together, and you’ll all learn so much by the time you’ve completed the program.

If Penske’s Management Trainee Program sounds like the perfect fit for your post-grad life, now’s your chance: Apply to work for Penske now!

More From Penske:
87% of this Company’s Leadership Went Through This Program First

The post What It’s Really Like to Work for Penske, As Told By 6 Employees appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Are you looking at entry-level job after entry-level job, but they all say, “Must have at least 2-4 years experience to apply”? What’s the point of something being entry-level if people just starting out their careers can’t be a part of it?

The people at Penske, one of the largest truck leasing and logistics companies, feel your pain, and that’s why they have a program that’s truly meant to give entry-level professionals the tools they need to not just find a job but start a career. Penske’s entry-level Sales and Operations Management Trainee program offers the opportunity to gain sales, operations and leadership skills in one experience, and even better, there’s a good chance you could continue your time with Penske after the program ends.

Even more importantly, once you take a look at what makes this program so great, you can head on over to WayUp right now and apply!

You Join a Structured Program

Why is Penske’s Sales and Operations Management Trainee Program such a success? They’ve helped so many people get started on successful careers that they have it down to a science. The program has four core components:

• Field experience. Trainees get to learn on the job as well as through further online and in-person programming.
• Structured learning. Trainees get to travel to Penske headquarters and learn from executives at the company.
• Feedback. Trainees have the opportunity to participate in a constant feedback loop, so they can incorporate suggestions into their routines quickly.
• Promotion opportunities. Trainees receive everything they need to begin successful, long-term careers at Penske from day one (but we’ll get to that in a sec!).

You Get Full-Time Employee Benefits

Penske doesn’t leave its trainees hanging, offering a wide variety of benefits including competitive starting salaries, three weeks of paid time off during their first year, flexible scheduling options, health insurance and healthcare plans, wellness programs and discounts.

And if you’re not sold, here’s something for all the overachievers out there: Top performers get bonuses and even company cars! You can ride around in style.

You Have the Opportunity to Build a Career

Here’s an amazing stat: 87% (almost nine out of 10) of Penske’s current leaders started out in this program, so they know that the team members coming out of the Sales and Management Operations Trainee Program are the best of the best.

Penske doesn’t leave you hanging once you complete the program; upon “graduation,” you get the opportunity to become an assistant rental manager, giving you the chance to flex your leadership skills while also getting more support as you grow and develop as a professional.

Like what you see? If you consider yourself to be entrepreneurial, motivated, and hard-working, and you’re looking for a company that’ll invest in giving you a serious hands-on professional experience, you need to apply to Penske’s program on WayUp right now!

The post 87% of This Company’s Leadership Went Through This Program First (and They’re Hiring!) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

 This article is sponsored by the Center for Audit Quality and Discover Audit.

When you think about what an auditor does, we’re sure you’ve heard the stereotypes:

• They just look at numbers all the time.
• Everyone’s afraid of them.
• They just sit at their desks all day.

To set the record straight (and show why auditing might actually be the perfect career opportunity for you), here are the top five myths people in the profession deal with and what the world of auditing is really like.

Myth #1: You Spend All Day By Yourself

When you think of working with numbers, you probably conjure up images of Excel spreadsheets in the dark corner of an office. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth with auditing!

In reality, auditors spend a lot of time with other people, including team members and clients, to ask questions and gather the information they need to provide an accurate, detailed, and proper assessment of a person or company’s financial framework.

Even when you’re back at the office or hanging with your team and not on-site with clients, it’s truly a collaborative process. You’ll have mentors and supervisors standing by to answer questions and check your work to make sure it’s top-notch.

Myth #2: You’re Stuck at a Desk

Auditors need to invest in great suitcases, because they’re constantly on the go. They have the opportunity to work out of a different place every day, and depending on the type of auditing they end up doing, they could be traveling all over the country (and even the world) to help provide financial assistance.

Myth #3: You Only Deliver Bad News

In the movies, you’ve probably seen auditors as people who come in and show that companies are corrupt. You may remember the comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic, which involves a debt officer coming after the main character, Rebecca. Yikes, are all auditors like that?

Good news: that’s not what the actual profession of auditing is like! In fact, auditors are often credited with saving companies from future problems.

One of the big services auditors provide, for example, is risk assessment. An auditor could give a company a detailed report highlighting which parts of the organization are most open to fraud or similar issues and offer solutions for how to protect against them. Talk about superhero status.

Myth #4: You Just Do One Job

Fact: Days as an auditor can actually include lots of other tasks, like sitting for in-depth interviews with clients to hear more about their processes, monitoring a facility to gather intel, writing up financial statements, and so much more.

Because there are many responsibilities, that also means there are expansive opportunities for career advancement and professional growth.

Now that we’ve debunked all the big myths, it’s time for you to get started thinking about that career in auditing!

The post 4 Myths About Careers in Auditing That Couldn’t Be Further From the Truth appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

 This article is sponsored by OnDeck®*, which is hiring summer interns on WayUp now.

In a perfect world, a company offers day-to-day perks like great food and social hours, loads of professional development training, ongoing mentorship, a productive work environment, and the chance to make a real impact.

This magical company does in fact exist, and its name is OnDeck®. The financial services platform helps thousands of small business owners secure loan financing, changing people’s lives and empowering the economy along the way. To do that, the organization realizes that keeping its team members happy and healthy is integral.

Feel like we’ve hyped up OnDeck enough? It’s time to check out the five biggest perks of working for the company, and then you can head on over to WayUp to apply to OnDeck’s summer internship now!

1. A Productive Work Environment

OnDeck understands that people work best in different environments, so it allows team members to work in an open floor plan and encourages them to create the best work environment for their personal preferences. Employees can choose from standing or sitting desks, private work stations or group spaces however you like to work best, you can.

OnDeck doesn’t just offer an environment that fuels your work habits, but it also makes sure you’re fueling your palette too! OnDeck has the best food perks with a fully stocked kitchen at all hours (yes, it even has healthy options!)  As a team member, you also get a credit for an online food delivery service (!!!), so there are several days where you’ll never have to pack a lunch or pay money for food.

2. Social Events and Entertainment

In addition to in-office foosball and ping-pong tables (weekly tournaments, anyone?), OnDeck offers a weekly budget for online food delivery, monthly social hours and annual summer and winter parties to give team members plenty of time to socialize. There are also a number of OnDeck sponsored sports & community groups for team members to join so that you can continue the friendship with your team members outside of the office too!

And speaking of your life outside of the office, OnDeck offers weekly yoga classes, gym memberships, tickets to local entertainment and sporting events, and car rentals for all team members at corporate rates. Yes, that’s right: Gear up for a company that supports work-life balance!

3. Real Impact

If you’re wondering whether or not your role affects real lives, we’ll keep it short: At OnDeck, it does.

OnDeck lets the numbers speak for themselves: The company, which had economic consulting firm Analysis Group conduct a study in 2015, has left an $11 billion (Go OnDeck!) impact on the economy and helped create 74,000 jobs nationwide through its work financing loans to small business across the country and through its other products and initiatives with clients. Since we help people finds jobs, we couldn’t more be happy for OnDeck helping to create these opportunities!

4. Career Development

OnDeck has an in-house career coach who provides one-on-one career coaching and support to any team member and manager. All team members and managers have access to a suite of customized tools and resources to support them in their career conversations and development. The company also offers a number of classes for team members who want to up their professional game, like Leadership Essentials, Unconscious Bias Training, and Presentation Skills.

Additionally, their career coach hosts monthly office hours for all team members and people managers. Team members come to share what’s on their mind about their career and discuss together how they can put a plan in place to achieve their goals. People managers come to discuss how they can continue to create meaningful experiences that help their team members grow, develop and continue to drive the business forward.

5. A Supportive Environment

Support at OnDeck starts on day one: Newbies get a “rookie” t-shirt on their chair as a way of letting the rest of the team know to say hi and lend a helping hand.

Then there’s a two-day onsite orientation with the senior leadership team, an online team member playbook that outlines OnDeck’s values, a guide to expectations for the first 30, 60, and 90 days, and site-specific guides at all of OnDeck’s office. And if that already sounds like a warm welcome, OnDeck steps it up a notch by giving every single new hire an “onboarding coach” to make sure each person feels settled in and on track for success.

But support doesn’t end once someone has been on the team for a few weeks or months. The company has a number of initiatives to keep morale up and achievements recognized. One of these is its online rewards platform, where people can get a shout out from team members for a job well done. When you rack up “points”, you could win anything from a gift card to a one-on-one lunch with OnDeck’s CEO.

We don’t really know why you wouldn’t want to work for OnDeck, so we’ll make this easy: You can apply for their summer internship program on WayUp right now!

*OnDeck, the OnDeck logo, OnDeck Score and OnDeck Marketplace are trademarks of On Deck Capital, Inc.

The post 5 Perks of Working at Mission-Driven Financial Services Company OnDeck appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

 This article is sponsored by the Center for Audit Quality and Discover Audit.

When you’re thinking about some of the fastest-growing careers, we can guess which field you’d be surprised to learn is on the list: Auditing.

For those who might not know, auditors have the opportunity to examine an individual’s or organization’s financial well-being. This means making sure that an individual or business is following the “rules” when it comes to taxes and finances, operating with financial “integrity,” and being strategic with time and money.

But even if working on this side of finance isn’t something you’ve been considering, auditing can be a great career path for anyone with extremely great organization and analytical skills.

Why are so many young people turning to auditing as a career path? Here are the top five reasons they’re loving it.

1. You Get to Learn About a Variety of Industries

One of the coolest parts of auditing is the fact that you have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to work in so many different industries as you’re meeting with lots of clients. You’ll learn quickly that every field works differently, and because of that, no two days will ever be alike.

So, that great sports team you love or tech company you admire? Both use auditors to help them monitor the financial health of their organizations.

2. You Build a Diverse Professional Network

Think about it: As an auditor, not only will you get to connect with people on your team, but your work also exposes you to people from all different industries and fields.  You will get to spend time gathering the information you need for your audits and conducting your analyses while you meet new professional and make tons of new friends.

3. You Can Work Autonomously

Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, you’re provided with a great deal of autonomy in the field of auditing. While you do have the support of a team when you’re working with clients, you’ll also have the opportunity to work on your own when you feel like you’re most productive.

4. You Get Top Secret Clearance

Because companies are providing you with sensitive information and giving you access to their finances, facilities, and other important assets, you get to have clearance that most people who actually work for those companies don’t even get. Organizations know that this access is crucial to having a successful audit.

Think about it: You could have as much knowledge about a major corporation’s finances as its CEO and board of directors.

5. You Get Lots of Professional Development and Promotions (aka More Money!)

Auditing is the perfect career for people who love to constantly improve. Auditors are typically set up with mentors and more seniors team members to help them with each client. When an auditor finishes an “engagement” (i.e. an audit), they get helpful feedback with a supervisor to make sure they’re doing the best job possible.

Many auditing firms offer professional development training in everything from technical accounting strategies to client success techniques, so that team members feel confident going into any situation.

Additionally, auditors are regularly and quickly promoted in the profession, meaning that your responsibilities (as well as your salary) increases at a faster rate than many other occupations out there. Let’s be real: Who wouldn’t want a little more money to go around?

If you want to work in an industry where you’ll not only have many viable career options and loads of great perks, then jump on the band wagon and check out more about auditing at Discover Audit!

The post 5 Reasons Why Auditing Is Becoming One of the Fastest-Growing Professions appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The holiday season is quickly approaching and that means an onslaught of party after party. Some you look forward to, like your Friendsgiving dinner. Some you dread, like your weird second cousin’s ugly Christmas sweater party that you only attend to be polite. Then, there are some that are harder to navigate, like the office holiday party. When in doubt, here are the definitive Do’s and Don’ts of the annual office holiday party.

Don’t dress too revealing…

Holiday parties are appealing because it’s an opportunity to dress up in something nicer than your coworkers normally see you in, but even if you think that low-cut dress is tasteful and on-trend and therefore acceptable, it’s not. Save revealing outfits for non-work related parties, and choose something more professional for work shindigs.

…Do dress up

But that doesn’t mean you should dress in the same old pantsuit you wear to the office! Whether you work in a business formal environment or at a super laid-back startup, you should make an effort to dress to impress, always.

Don’t be on your phone the whole time…

Snap a couple photos then put your phone away for the night. That means leaving your Snapchat and Instagram stories alone. Why? You don’t seem approachable or in the moment if you’re constantly on your phone and you’re ignoring people. Also, it’s not very professional and can make you appear vain and immature. So tuck it away. You’ll be OK.

…Do network

Forego social media for in-person social networking! It’s the perfect opportunity to talk to your coworkers about whatever outside projects they may be working on and a chance for your boss to get to know you more outside of the hustle and bustle of the workplace.

Don’t get drunk…

Obvious, right? A few free drink tickets or an open bar may sound like a good opportunity to load up on alcohol, but it’s not. Remember that even though you’re off the clock, you’re still at a work function. You don’t want to get tipsy and say something inappropriate.

…Do enjoy a drink or two (if you want)

By all means, have a drink or two. Just know your limit and be cognizant of when ‘having a good time’ turns into ‘speaking a little too loudly’. Getting a little buzzed may be acceptable on a night out with friends and family, but remember that at work functions, it’s your professional reputation on the line.

Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want your boss to hear…

With the drinks, the food and the loud music, it might seem like an acceptable time to let your guard down and make a few off-color jokes. Keep in mind that these are still your professional peers and just because you’re off the clock doesn’t mean you’re off the record. A good rule of thumb is to not say anything you wouldn’t be OK with your boss hearing.

…Do loosen up

It’s a party, after all! While you should take your setting into account, it’s also important to loosen up and have a good time. Don’t hide in the corner with your date the whole night. Take it as an opportunity to get to know your coworkers. You might be surprised to find out that Shy Sheila from HR does roller derby on the weekends.

The post The Definitive Do’s and Don’ts of Office Holiday Parties appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When you’re in high school, you may take any number of odd jobs. You might be a waitress, busboy, dishwasher, cashier, etc. It’s a line between needing gas money and wanting to be able to buy a few nice things, right? Well, sometimes it’s a line between wanting to save money for college and needing to make payments on your car insurance on time.

The first job I ever took consisted of me changing diapers, running after screaming kids and dealing with more bodily fluids from toddlers than I ever cared to see. My parents told me if I wanted to drive a car, go to college or go out with friends, I had to work for all those things, so that’s what I did.

The second job I ever took was at a restaurant my senior year of high school. I cleaned tables off, did dishes and eventually was promoted to a cook on the weeknights. I learned a really harsh lesson with this job, though. I learned that I couldn’t work 20+ hours a week and concentrate on my schoolwork. I eventually had to quit the job because, in six months, I’d lost two scholarships. It wasn’t exactly something I was proud of.

Throughout the years, I’ve had third, fourth, fifth jobs. The list goes on. I’ve been unemployed. I’ve worked for almost no money. I’ve had jobs I couldn’t stand and jobs it was hard to leave because I loved them. I had coworkers I meshed with and other coworkers I couldn’t handle.

However, the most important thing I’ve learned in my years of going from one odd job to the next odd job is this: A job isn’t just a job. A job is, seemingly, much more than that. A job is what teaches you life lessons even if you don’t immediately see those life lessons. Sometimes it can take years for you to put the pieces of that puzzle together. Sometimes it takes seconds after you’ve quit a job to realize what the lesson was.

This is something I had to learn the hard way: I always looked at jobs I took as just another job, and I never looked at them as a learning experience. They were simply a means to an end, which is probably why I was rarely happy in any job I took. Not only was that job not exactly what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t looking at it in a positive way. I wasn’t looking at those jobs as something that was bettering me as an individual.

I babysat for years. I bussed tables at a restaurant. I washed dishes and cooked at that same restaurant. I’ve worked at grain elevators, a pharmacy, libraries and a livestock feed store, not to mention all the odd jobs I’ve had on the side throughout the last five or six years, like helping truck drivers with paperwork to helping power-wash buildings.

Even if you don’t want to do what you went to college for, there are jobs out there you can aim for. I went to school for English. All I’ve ever wanted to do was write. However, with that being said, I’m great with people! I’m a people person with extensive skills in communications. I’m great with customers, so that’s what I do. I work primarily with people while trying to maintain my identity as a writer. Someday, my writing will lead to the career that I believe I want.

I’d like to think of jobs before our careers as stepping stones, metaphorically speaking, at least. Jobs we take before we land on the path we feel we’re truly meant to be on are building blocks for our future. You might be cooking at a fast food restaurant, but in a year you might be a manager at that same restaurant. It’s going to give you experience.

I know how hard it is to think that a job isn’t shameful. I know how hard it can be to be proud of the work you do, especially when those jobs are so frowned upon by society. Trust me: No one is above any job regardless of their education, financial background or own thought process. Someone has to work at the gas stations, fast food joints and in janitorial positions. Those jobs matter too.

No matter what, though, a job is a great experience. We should look at it that way rather than being unhappy in the work we’re doing. If you’re going to flip burgers, make them the best burgers you’ve ever flipped. If you’re going to clean toilets at a school or Fortune 500 company, make sure those toilets sparkle when you’re done with them.

No matter what you do, make sure you do it with pride.

The post The Most Important Thing to Remember With Any Job You Take appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Investment Banking Analysts/Associates

Analysts should think of themselves as foot soldiers within an investment banking group. Your job is to roll up your sleeves and do the hard grunt work. Demonstrating that you are someone who can work long hours and take ownership for every piece of work that you produce is the key to winning during an analyst program.  The best way to set yourself apart as an analyst is to make the least errors possible on your work (i.e. produce “high quality” work). Analysts that can demonstrate good communication skills and ask thoughtful and insightful questions are also able to stand out. The analyst program is generally seen as two-years of “basic training” (with an option for a third year in some cases). Keeping a positive attitude about the work you are doing is also very important. After 2-3 years in an analyst program, it is very common for young professionals to be accepted into top business schools or get jobs in the corporate development or business development group at larger companies. Analysts can also be promoted directly to associates in rare cases. Overall, an analyst role prepares you for a multitude of other jobs because of the core skills gained.

Associates MBAs, law school grads, and others who have completed graduate degree programs begin their career in investment banking as associates. Unlike analysts, associates are generally placed in a specific industry group right away. However, working hard and staying late also serves associates well in their first year. Those who are able to mentor and help train analysts also stand out. Associates get more client facing time in the form of: due diligence meetings, drafting sessions and IPO roadshows. It is more important for an associate to have sharp communication skills and perform with confidence and poise in front of clients. Associates are promoted to VP after 3 years (sometimes up to 5 years).

Exit Opportunities for analysts and associates in investment banking are varied. Private equity, hedge funds, buy-side firms, corporate development at large companies, venture capital, or business/law school are the typical paths.

3 important things to note:

1. If you want to go into private equity (PE) then get into the M&A or Financial Sponsors group for a sure bet. You can get into PE from an industry group, but your choices will be limited to only PE firms in that industry. In general, M&A will leave the most doors open to you after 2 years.
2. If you want to get into venture capital (VC) then get into the technology group. However, only later stage VCs really care about investment banking experience (for example, the firms that invested in Facebook in 2009 — 5 years after it started!) If you are interested in VC because you want to find the next big thing then it’s probably best to go work for a startup as opposed to an investment bank. (For more info on the stages of VC click here).
3. When applying to b-school or law-school from investment banking, it is extremely important to make yourself stand out because you will have a lot of competition. These schools are constantly trying to diversify their student body and make sure they get people from all different backgrounds. You need to demonstrate an interest in doing something other than going back into banking/corp law to make more money.

Research Associates / Analysts

Research associates and other junior professionals (sometimes there are “assistant” roles) need to have good excel/financial modeling skills, but they also must be good writers. The research reports generated by analysts are usually handed down to an associate for editing or early drafting. Early on in their careers it is extremely important for research associates to build “quality” financial models with reasonable assumptions. In order to be promoted, a research associate must eventually become good at communicating with their clients (both investors from outside the firm and salespeople from inside the firm). They will have to field questions about what is going on with a particular company’s stock or bond. Additionally, they may have to assist in a due diligence mission to help with the next report, and they will have to ask pointed questions of company management.                         

Research analysts begin almost the same way associates do. They cover a variety of industries and perform a lot of writing and modeling to support the senior analyst. A more senior analyst is given a specific set of securities to cover and they essentially “own” those securities or that industry group (i.e. Restaurant analysts cover the stocks for McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, etc.). Their job is to create a series of reports that explain what is happening with a particular stock or industry. They also give recommendations about whether one should BUY, SELL, or HOLD a security.

To succeed as an analyst you must gain the respect of the investment bankers and sales/traders within your bank. If they do not trust your research and analysis, then your entire reason for existing is called into question. It is important to put out careful research and analysis because the other groups depend on this data to make recommendations to the firm’s clients (individual and institutional investors) and those clients are the ones who pay the firm. Which is how you get your salary!

It is also important to note that whenever a research analyst makes a call, somebody will be upset. For example, if you recommend against an IPO that you know will be bad – the investment banker will be unhappy because that is how his group makes money. However, the salesperson will be happy because that saves them from recommending a bad deal to a client. In another example, if you recommend that a company’s stock should be sold (sell rating) because you expect it won’t do well – then that company will be mad. If they used your firm for their their investment banking services, they may take their business elsewhere. In sum, good research analysts are like skilled politicians.

The most common exit strategy for research associates is to move to hedge funds, business school, the buy-side (mutual funds, pension funds, asset managers), or into institutional sales with an investment bank. Being promoted from associate to analyst is a waiting game. Analysts do not leave their post very often and there are not many of those jobs so you may have to wait until an analyst retires or moves on.  

Salespeople

Salespeople must have strong interpersonal and communication skills. Your job will be to entertain and make clients feel happy. To succeed in this role it is all about your personality and fitting into the group you work with. Depending on the firm, you will either be asked to “sink or swim” by being given new accounts to handle all on your own very quickly. However, larger firms give a formal training period (1-1.5 years) and handoff process to new sales assistants or associates.                                  

Success for salespeople means knowing how and when to contact their clients. The key here is to know each of your clients very well (what are their goals? what industries do they focus on? etc.) Also, note that your clients will be institutional investors while the private client group handles individual investors. Additionally, salespeople should always provide value to the client and not come off as though they are wasting their time. Providing timely, useful, and insightful information to the client is the ultimate goal. Sales people are promoted based on their own individual performance AND the performance of the group. If you are pre-MBA, it is harder to attain a management position in sales, but not impossible.

Traders

Traders’ formula for success is less concrete. To be the best at trading, it is important to have a good “market instinct”. This is the gut feeling you get about how the market will move. Of course, every risk that is taken within an investment bank has technical analysis and a lot of numbers to back it up. Therefore, being extremely comfortable with numbers is also a must. This role is not for those with a weak stomach because major decisions have to be made on the fly with limited information. Traders need to be well read and understand what drives the market and what external factors are affecting the market on a given day.

To be one of the best traders, an instinct about the market is key. Some traders look at technical indicators and numbers until they are blue in the face, but without a gut feel on how the market moves, they will never rank among the best. A trader must make rapid decisions at times with little information to go on, and so must be able to quickly assess investor sentiment, market dynamics and the ins and outs of the securities they are trading.

The Private Client Associate

The Private Client Associate must have a big picture understanding of all major aspects of the market and be able to communicate wide variety of investing strategies to clients. This person must know a lot about a lot – stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc. To succeed in this role it is essential that deep down you be a good salesperson, not necessarily a good data analyst. The end game for the private client group is to find and retain clients who have assets to manage. Much like salespeople on the trading desk, private client associates must understand their clients really well for this to go well. They must understand their goals and preferences so they can make the right recommendations.

The post Top 5: High Profile Roles On Wall Street And The Options They Give You appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Sometimes work can be a real drag. You get caught up in trying to be as productive as possible, and you end up making mistakes that are pretty embarrassing.

You’re by no means alone, so lucky for you, eight young professionals are sharing their most awkward first job horror stories so that you won’t repeat their mistakes. And let’s be real here: Reading about other people’s cringe-worthy tales is always fun.

1. The Handshake

“I was only into my first year of college when I happened to also be accepted into my first corporate internship at an accounting firm in Los Angeles. During the first day, I went around to meet my fellow co-workers and eventually worked my way up to meet the CEO. Given that this was my first work experience and I was ridiculously nervous, when he said hello to me and stuck his right hand out to me for me to shake, I stuck out my left hand in response and we both possibly shook the most awkward handshake in all of eternity. (Do this someone you know and you’ll see why this was the most humiliating experience ever to do to the CEO.) I made sure to tactfully avoid any interactions with him from then on. Did I also mention my hands were abnormally sweaty and clammy?” – David, Loyola Marymount University ’18

First, impressions are always important! Remember that firm handshakes are also a nice touch when you’re going around the office to meet people. Just make sure you use the right hand!

2. The Joke

“I worked at an aquarium over the summer and to get to know me better, my boss had me say a mini-speech to get to know all the workers better as well. We all grouped up in a big work room and started introducing each other, and everyone was just so friendly and humorous. Because everyone was in such a good mood, I thought I would drop some fish puns like “Whale hello everyone!” and “You guys are all the seal-iest bunch of people I’ve met.” Literally not even a chuckle. They looked confused and some smiles even faded. It became a very awkward summer.” – Tyler, San Diego State University ’19

Getting to know your fellow employees and connecting with them is a key part in setting a good atmosphere for your internship and jobs, but don’t feel like you have to force it.

3. The Diaper

“I had a daycare internship in Japan, and at a point, I started to feel more comfortable with the whole daycare process. Every day, it’s playtime, teaching time, and potty time—and of course, the little kids need help with changing diapers. One day, in the youngest class, Rainbow class, Sebastian, the cutest, yet easiest to scare of all the Rainbow kids, needed to have his diaper changed. While supervisors or more experienced helpers tended to help out Sebastian, I ended up scrounging up all my confidence, and took him to the changing room. The moment I coaxed him to change out his clothes, he started crying and was really not happy. Sebastian and I dealt with tears, poop, and soiled wet wipes. At one point, I just didn’t think I would make it out of that room because it was just unrelenting chaos. Somehow—we got through it. I’d rather Sebastian and I not go through that again though and leave it to the professionals. Even recalling it now, I still have mild war flashbacks.” – Brian, Stanford University ‘18

We all have hard days at work. While it may be scarring at times and implanted into your deep memories, don’t let it get you down too much because there will be better days!

4. The Bakery

“My first job was at a bakery for several months. In order to announce to the staff that fresh bread was made, one worker would yell out at the top of their lungs, ‘Fresh bread!’ and the other employees would follow suit and yell out, ‘Fresh bread!’ as well. Knowing this, my friends would sometimes sneak into the bakery and yell ‘fresh bread!’ and I, out of habit, would also shout the phrase, not knowing the amount of confusion and chaos it would cause among the actual employees who were actually trying to determine if the bread was fresh or not.” – Vanesa, University of California, Santa Barbara ‘18

There can be a lot of distractions while being on the job so it is important to be attentive during your hours, just so you know when someone can be potentially joking around or when something actually needs to be tended too.

5. The Bathroom

“I had the privilege of working with two of my friends for an internship at large television company. We were pranksters back in the day, so we would do shady, inconspicuous things every now and then to one another. One time, my friend was in one of the bathroom stalls, so my other friend and I wet some paper towels and threw it over, out of good humor. Unfortunately, we had targeted the wrong bathroom stall; my friend was actually two stalls down and we had accidentally hit one of our higher up co-workers with wet paper towels. My friend and I were terminated shortly after. Happy ending though because I’m actually working here currently now two years later.” – Mark, University of Pennsylvania ‘16

Practical jokes can be fun, but keep it professional in the office. That is not to say you shouldn’t have a fun time during work, but think smart and be aware of whom you’re joking around with.

6. The Hard of Hearing

“My ears have never been the best, as I listen to a lot of loud music through headphones and concerts. This certainly did not end up helping me during my first job as well at an adoption center. As I was working in the animal area behind the office, my supervisor began to call for me to work with a customer; however, I was pretty deep in the back area and couldn’t hear her. Soon, most of the animals (dogs, cats, and birds) became super out of control from all the shouting my supervisor was doing to get my attention and literally, some bird cages fell down and dogs became very aggressive. The customers in the back as well as the customers in the front left swiftly, scared for their lives (not really, but they were still pretty frightened). On a brighter note, I didn’t get fired!” – Ali, Arizona State University ‘16

While you can’t do much to fix hard hearing, being alert will serve you well in the office.

7. The Social Media Profile

“One time, I accidentally posted on my company’s social media pages through my own individual account rather than the company page. So it definitely looked like I was a huge fan for this random company due to the marketing/advertising content I was posting on my wall for all my friends to see. Also, one time, I tried to like my company’s post through my personal account to give added support and more feed on it, but I accidentally liked their post with their own company page. Social media is an enigma.” – Sarah, University of California, Santa Barbara ‘17

They say to keep your personal and professional lives separate, and that’s no joke!

8. The Cry

“It was the first day of a very stressful internship at an neurobiology lab, and I had not been able to complete a vital research assignment on time, even with an all-nighter prior. I legitimately thought that I would be fired and taken out of the internship program by the very intimidating supervisor and I began to bawl nonstop. Fellow employees tried to comfort me, saying that it’ll be alright and everyone misses important things every once in awhile, but none of it seemed to work and I just kept crying. Turns out, that assignment was for the other ‘Charles’ in the lab and I had no assignment to do at all, no reason for all-nighter and full out bawling. Rest in peace my career.” – Charlie, University of California, Davis ‘17

Work can get pretty stressful without a doubt, especially if a huge responsibility is put on you. Considering this, make sure not to stress over the wrong things or small incidents that won’t have a big impact on you in the long run.

What can all of these stories teach you? Embarrassing moments happen to all of us, and it’s about how you pick yourself up after that counts. If anything, you have a story to share with others now!

The post 8 Totally Embarrassing First Job Experiences (and What You Can Learn From Them) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Beginning a new internship, job or other opportunity can be nerve-wracking, whether it’s the challenge of adjusting to a new office, fitting in with your co-workers or taking on responsibilities you’re not used to.

Luckily, making a good first impression doesn’t have to be difficult; it’s all about understanding some basic office etiquette and politics. Here are nine things you want to avoid doing during your first day. 

1. Ranting About How Your Dream Employer Turned You Down

Talk about awkward. Don’t isolate yourself by turning your nose up at the job you got or badmouthing roles at your company. It’s not a good look. 

2. Arriving to Work Late

This one is pretty obvious, but a lot of people fall victim to it. You may not be used to waking up at the time required for this new job. Struggles with the snooze button, troubles with transportation and issues with roommates are all excuses in the eyes of your new boss, so remember: It’s always better to be early, waiting around, than to be even just a few minutes late.

3. Going Out (or Staying Up Late) the Night Before

No matter how tempted you are to celebrate your new position, don’t do it. You’ll look tired walking into the office, and you won’t start your role on the right foot. Instead, prep yourself with a good dinner and something to relax you (no Netflix though, that’ll keep you up late!); then get a full night’s rest before your first day.

4. Jumping in Too Quickly

Naturally, you are eager to prove your worth as the newest member to your boss and co-workers, but make sure you don’t end up in over your head. It is better to spend your early days listening and getting accustomed to the office environment than overloading yourself with work.

5. Embarrassing Yourself With Rookie Fashion Mistakes

I cannot stress how important it is to make sure you are presentable when meeting co-workers and company execs as the new hire. Coffee stains, an unzipped fly or a tag left hanging make for office chatter, so take a hard look at yourself before heading into the office. 

6. Messing Up the Onboarding Process

There are specifics to your first few days at work like bringing relevant documents and identification or staying cognizant during the onboarding process. These seemingly monotonous tasks may appear tedious and boring (no one likes filling out tax forms, for example), but that makes you look even worse when making a mistake during the process. Be sure to pay attention and pay your full respects to HR or you could come off as foolish and incompetent.  

7. Talking Trash in Front of Your Co-Workers

This is just plain messy and unacceptable, but we all know that one co-worker who does it. Aside from being unprofessional and gaining you a bad rap, this kind of language creates a negative atmosphere. 

8. Failing to Ask Questions

Asking questions does not mean you are incompetent. If anything, questions show you are invested and want to make sure you get everything right. It is perfectly okay to ask as many questions as you need, especially during your first couples days and weeks on the job. In fact, your boss will probably be more concerned if you’re asking too few questions instead of too many. 

9. Forgetting to Show Up

And lastly, actually show up. Don’t make the same mistake famed Barcelona footballer Ronaldinho did after being hired as the team’s ambassador. That’s right, for his first day on the job, Ronaldinho was actually on a beach in Catalonia. In a normal job, you would be told to not come in for day two after making Ronaldinho’s mistake.

Overall, the best way to ensure a good start to any new job is taking it seriously. Making any of these mistakes shows your boss and coworkers that you do not care as much as you should about your new job.

The post 9 Mistakes You Definitely Want to Avoid on Your First Day of Work appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Your semester plans are set—you’ve landed an amazing internship that will enhance your career prospects in the future. The only downside is it’s an unpaid internship. Luckily, you’ve also secured a great part-time job that will help you pay your bills. Now your only remaining dilemma is how to balance the unpaid internship, and all of the opportunities it offers in the future, with your part-time job that is paying your bills in the present. Below are five tips for balancing an unpaid internship with a part-time job:

1. Speak with your supervisors

The first step when creating balance is to ensure that everyone in your work life is on the same page. Speak with your supervisors at your part-time job and internship, and let them know about your other obligations. They will likely be understanding—your part-time supervisor will know the internship is important to your future, and your internship supervisor should understand that you still need to keep yourself financially afloat. Once they know about your other obligations, you can work with each person to make a schedule that will allow you to maximize your time at both places. Perhaps working evenings and weekends at your part-time job, and a more traditional schedule at your internship.

2. Be prepared to work hard

With dual commitments to an internship and a part-time job, it is likely that you will be working well over a normal 40-hour week. The best way to deal with this reality is to embrace the idea from the beginning, and be ready to buckle down and work tirelessly. The work will pay off in the end when you have completed your internship, opened up future possibilities, and didn’t take a heavy hit to your finances.

3. Be realistic

At the same time, make sure that you are realistic about your schedule. Planning to work more than 40 hours a week is one thing, but if you plan to work 60 or 70 hours, you’re going to be drained in no time. Know what you’re capable of and what will work for you, and set your schedule accordingly.

4. Set priorities

Even with the best time management and scheduling, it’s likely that you will have to pick a priority. What that priority is, is up to you. You have to determine how important the internship may be to your future. If you think it’s a unique opportunity that you’re unlikely to get again, don’t squander it. Place priority on it. Part-time jobs are easier to come by. You can always find another one if you aren’t able to work the one you’ve got into your schedule.

5. Think outside the box

If you do find yourself in need of another part-time job, keep in mind other jobs beyond retail and the food industry. You may be able to find a position that offers a more flexible schedule, or a one-on-one relationship with someone who is more willing to work with you. Remember to look at all possible opportunities.

It is possible to balance work and an unpaid internship—it is simply all about finding the right fit for you. Find an internship you love, so you have no problem making it a priority, as well as a flexible part-time job. Then, work with your supervisors to find a schedule that can work for everyone. Ultimately, communication is key to maintaining the balance.

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

The post 5 Tips for Balancing an Unpaid Internship with a Part-Time Job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I love studying and working from the comfort of my own desk, whether at home or in the office. Desks can function as a way to show who you are in a professional context, and designing your desk the way you want is a fun activity that can help increase productivity. Further personalizing this creative space can take it from a place you have to be to a place you want to be.

Acquiring new, unique office supplies also helps me feel comfortable while indulging in my online shopping addiction (it’s a win-win, right?), so if you’re in the market for new desk accessories, check out the 20 great ones below.

1. Tracking Keyring Tag, $40

You’re an adult now; you cannot afford to be late to work because you misplaced your keys after a long day of school or work.

2. Magnetic Super Putty, $14

Remember when you were a kid and the putty would get immutably stuck on your jeans (or worse, hair), and your mom got so frustrated that she banned it from the house? Good news is there are no moms looking over your shoulder in the real world!

3. Purr Our Conversation Desk Plaque, $30

What better way to introduce yourself to your new coworkers or roommates than by letting them all know about your unhealthy and somewhat not-socially-acceptable obsession with cats?

4. Live Plants

Plants are a total mood booster and really liven up a space. They are proven to have multiple benefits for your mind and health.

5. Ideas in Bloom Desk Organizer, $15

When your live plant dies, replace it with this fake potted plant. Pros: No dirt or water, and you can stick pens in it!

6. Memo Mountain, $15

Keep your notes from taking a hike with this mountainous memo board. Turn them into a cute landscape instead.  

7. Trendy Touch Jeweled Stylus, $4

What better way to let people know you are professional yet spunky than with a trendy jeweled stylus? Use it in your next conference meeting or study session to really establish yourself as the fashion-forward person in the group.

8. Funky Duster Pen, $2

Okay, this may not be the most adult accessory, but this pen is so stinking cute.

9. Smartphone Projector, $32

Talk about putting a smartphone to good use.

10. Mini Business Card File Cabinet, $13

Filing cabinets are usually a no-no when it comes to cute office spaces, but this miniature one is so adorable that I’m willing to make an exception.

11. Like and Dislike Stamps, $12

How many times have you needed one of these? If you’re like me, there have been too times many to count.

12. Banana Leaf Bookmark Pen, $10

You can stick these realistic leaf pens into your fake grass pen holder! OK, that may be too much, but regardless, these little pens look wicked cool, and they double as great bookmarks too.

13. 10-Piece Rainbow Pen Set, $17

Have the most colorful notes in the office with this assorted set of pens.

14. Elegant Document Organizer, $20

Love animals and geometric shapes? This organizer screams “urban jungle” and is the perfect piece for your office. Bonus: There is also a bear version.

15. Octagonal Sand Hourglass, $17

Measure the time the old-fashioned way with this sand hourglass. Be warned, though: Anyone who comes to your desk will be unable to resist the urge to flip it over and reset the timer.

16. Modern Wooden Cube LED Clock, $11

If sand hourglasses are not your thing, try this modern take on the classic desk clock instead.

17. Rhombin Desktop Organizer, $15

This cute, chic desktop organizer will match nearly any space and is probably the most necessary item on this list.

18. Whiteboard Laptop Cover, $11

It sticks to the back of your laptop and can tell people whatever you want. It is also a great (albeit passive-aggressive) way to silently get your point across in a meeting or class.

19. Big Ball of Whacks, $23

A unique desk toy that reassembles a seemingly endless array of shapes is just what you need to distract yourself from all the work you have.

20. Kitty Tape Dispenser, $10

I’m finishing up the list with one more cat item to complete a purr-fect feline trifecta. If cats are not your thing, there is also an incredibly detailed otter that is just as cute.

Desk aesthetics are thought by many to have psychological benefits, such as lowering stress and anxiety. If you are feeling a bit aimless or disorganized in your work, it may be time to change the environment you work or study in. 

The post 20 Fun Desk Accessories That You Absolutely, Definitely Need appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the famous celebrity feud was born when Kanye West stole Taylor Swift’s microphone during her acceptance speech for Best Female Video. Since then, the two of them have had several conflicts in the public eye, from Taylor’s response song “Innocent” in 2010 to Kanye’s more recent song “Famous”.

Both of them have seen an impact on their careers and public perception as musicians because of it, and as the Taylor-Kanye drama no doubt keeps rolling, there are key takeaways we can learn for our own careers because of it.

Don’t Take A Negative Experience With You

Taylor Swift has allowed Kanye to come back into her life repeatedly, and there’s no doubt he’s affected her career. Since then, their relationship is almost always tagged with the word “feud” even when the pair are on good terms with Taylor putting up a photo on Instagram of Kanye’s flowers.

The takeaway: Don’t constantly bring up unfavorable incidents in your public or work life, or they will come back to haunt you. Don’t put the job that you quit after two weeks on your resume, and don’t talk about the bad blood (TSwift pun intended) with your past boss during an interview. Once a negative experience has been laid to rest, don’t risk digging it up again, even if you feel like you were right.

2. Mind Your Words

With the release of the recording of Taylor and Kanye’s phone call, it’s important to remember that Taylor gave express permission to him to “go with whatever line [Kanye] thinks is better.” In context, it solely applies to an explicit song lyric, but taken as it stands, Taylor is providing implied permission for complete creative freedom for Kanye to talk as he pleases about her in the song. Many people believe that that wasn’t her intention, but in their phone call she never explicitly said that her permission was only for that line, so it’s within reason for others to take it as full permission.

The takeaway: To avoid making the same mistakes, make sure you think about what you want to say (and mean) before you enter into an important event or interview, and don’t be afraid to clarify what you’re talking about. Expecting one thing and getting another because statements were misconstrued can have you at fault and you don’t want to be “famous” for that.

3. You Always Have Another Shot

Whether you look at Taylor Swift repeatedly forgiving Kanye for his attacks or Kanye repeatedly apologizing, there is one thing that you can always take from their relationship: Even if you have blunders, there’s still a good chance you’ll get a second shot. If a job isn’t going how you need it to or you can’t start on your career path like you want, there will be more opportunities to start again.

The takeaway: Go into your interviews knowing you might screw up once or twice. Go into work knowing you might not work at 100% today. Move towards your career goal knowing that you can take experience from your mistakes and that for each time you mess up, there will another chance to build your career up.

Now “Imma let you finish” with this: Bumps in the road are sure to come up in your career. It’s all about how you frame them and move on that counts so make your mistakes but don’t let them follow you.

Cover image courtesy of Flickr.

The post 3 Important Career Takeaways From the Ongoing Taylor Swift-Kanye West Feud appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Picture this. You’re sitting down at your desk, getting ready to work. You look around your workspace, and all of your motivation disappears and work time turns into a Netflix binge. Why is this? How do you fix this issue?

1. Working in the Dark

Bad lighting is hard on your eyes and makes it much more difficult to focus on your work. Make sure you have a good lamp and use it. A good lamp is not too intense, but bright enough to focus! Check out this article on different lamps for moods. There is a list of good lamps to boost your mood, as well as lamps for the evening before bed and focus friendly lamps!  If you are able to place your desk where you get natural light, that is the best. Sunlight is a mood booster and is usually a very ideal level of brightness. It’s not too harsh and not too soft.

2. Refusing to Purchase Supplies You Like

Office supplies are a necessary accessory for your desk. For example, if you don’t have pens that you actually like to use, you are not going to want to use them. If you have to constantly get up to find a stapler every time you sit down to do work, it’ll get hard to stay focused.

A good pen will do wonders for your planning, writing and feeling of productivity. Target is my favorite place to find office supplies! They have so many cute and functional supplies. My all-time favorite pens to use are the Sharpie pens; they don’t bleed much, and they don’t smear easily. The Pilot G2 pens are another great option if you like the retractable or “click-y” pens. And, of course, you can’t forget the Papermate Flair pens that are great for color coding and using to write your headings on notes. For sticky notes, Target has some cute girly options and some fun options, but you also can’t go wrong with standard Post-It sticky notes!

3. Piling Up Stacks and Stacks of Paper

Those stacks of paper cluttering your desk? Get rid of them. It’s just clutter that doesn’t give you room to work.

My favorite way to get through papers is to make three piles: One pile is trash, one is to file and one is to work on. Sort everything into these groups. Now, immediately throw away or recycle the trash pile; shred anything if you need to. File the papers that need to be filed, and for the papers that contain to-dos, grab a pad of sticky notes and write down what needs to be done with that paper and stick it on there.

Now, find a place to put the “to work on” papers. I personally like to use magazine storage containers, but you could also use a tray. Anything that keeps everything neat and tidy works.

4. Using Your Desk as a Landing Space

It is so easy to throw your stuff down on your desk when you walk in the door and use it as a landing space. Try to avoid it! The clutter will build up very quickly. My solution to this? A catch-all basket at the door. It doesn’t completely rid you of clutter, but it is all contained and it isn’t all over your desk tampering with your productivity.

5. Tempting Yourself with Junk Food

Uh oh. See that chip bag? Mindless eating is no good for your health. It also doesn’t help you focus. Keeping healthy snacks at your desk, but out of sight, is best. Certain foods will help you focus and be more productive.

For example, blueberries can be great for memory as well as focus. Nuts and dark chocolate are a great snack as well. I know it is easy to sip on energy drinks to try and focus, but green tea is the best option. It has enough caffeine to perk you up as well as vitamins and antioxidants. So, toss that junk food!

6. Leaving a Mess of Electric Cords

Cords create a visual clutter that can be distracting, depending on your preferences. There are several different options to help with this (and you can find lots more all over Pinterest!).

For cords that you don’t have to ever unplug or take somewhere else, this option with a PVC pipe is awesome to tuck away those hideous wires. This command hook trick is great for lamps or coffee pots. My favorite and most dorm friendly option is this DIY shoe box with holes for cords. It allows easy access as well as the option to tuck the cords back in the box when you aren’t using them.

7. Letting the Few Random Scraps Become Millions of Scraps

Random paper scraps, wrappers, and other junk often clutter my desk. Try your best to keep that at bay by giving yourself adequate storage and having a trash can nearby. Dusting your desk off once or twice a week can also help a lot. That way, you have to keep all those other cluttered items off of your desk, and it’ll get rid of the scraps of paper and other things.

What items often clutter your desk? Do you have any must have items for productivity?

The post 7 Workspace Mistakes That Are Wrecking Your Productivity appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Let’s face it: We all have those random celebrities whom we admire and stalk regularly. Gigi Hadid is a high fashion supermodel and television celebrity from Los Angeles, and she is most definitely the girl to look up to.

While she’s known for her trendy Instagram and modeling experience, there is a lot more to Gigi that is worth mentioning. In fact, I strongly believe she can actually be a great life inspiration, and here’s why.

1.  She Stands By Her Values

About a week ago, a stranger picked up Gigi while she was walking in Milan during Fashion Week. She did not pretend that this treatment was okay; she elbowed him in the face and yelled at him as he ran away. Soon after she tweeted about the experience due to all the buzz claiming that her reaction was “lashing out.”

THANK YOU Rachel.
To unknown article writer: fan?!!! The ACTUAL fans that were there can tell you what happened. I’m a HUMAN BEING —

— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) September 22, 2016

and had EVERY RIGHT to defend myself. How dare that idiot thinks he has the right to man-handle a complete stranger. He ran quick tho 👊🏼😏🐱

— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) September 22, 2016

Some thought Gigi’s actions were unprofessional, but I think she handled the situation quite well. In this instance, Gigi is redefining societal norms of how a woman should “behave.” She is acting like the strong, confident woman she is and is sticking to her values, a great lesson for anyone.

2. She Knows How to Hustle

Some people might look at Gigi Hadid and think that many things were handed to her. Regardless, her list of most recent accomplishments prove she knows how to hustle:

1. She co-designed a new Tommy Hilfiger collection for this fall titled TommyxGigi.
2. In 2015, Hadid won Daily Front Row’s title as “Model of the Year.”
3. Hadid hosted the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Video Awards.

The bottom line? She’s working every opportunity she’s given and is expanding her work to not just include modeling but also fashion design and general entertainment. Regardless of the industry you’re in, it’s important to broaden your horizons, learn new skills, and take on different challenges.

3. She Treats Herself

Gigi lives by the motto “Eat clean to stay fit, eat a burger to stay sane.” Of course Gigi doesn’t just live off burgers and fries, but she’s definitely not afraid to take a breather. Gigi says that she cooks for herself all the time, but she would always prefer a double cheeseburger to tofu.

The point? Gigi knows the importance of treating herself, something we could all do a better job of. When you’re a college student or recent grad, it’s easy to get caught in your school work or entry-level job, other activities, and social life. It’s crucial to take a step back and enjoy the little things; if you love reading or exercise, for example, don’t deprive yourself of those things!

There you have it. If there’s anything you can grasp from this glimpse of Gigi Hadid’s life, it should be that strong values, drive, and a bit of indulgence can lead you to a successful, happy future. Hadid is a trendy, radiant, cheeseburger-loving chick; what’s not to love?

Cover image courtesy of Flickr.

The post This Celebrity Should Be Your Life Inspiration (and Not Just Because Her Instagram Rocks) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Network. Network. Network. This is one of the most common pieces of advice any mentor or career center will give you. Those words also strike fear in the hearts of many introverts. Since an estimated 80% of jobs are secured through networking, what’s an introvert to do?

Attending a networking event is typically a scary prospect for most introverts. The good news is that networking doesn’t just happen at networking events. Use your alumni network and your LinkedIn connections to make one-on-one contacts and request informational interviews with people who are working in your areas of interest. That being said, this doesn’t mean you should avoid networking events, as they are incredible opportunities to make multiple, meaningful professional connections in a short amount of time. Though intimidating at first, the more you practice navigating networking events, the easier it will be. Here are some tips for making the most of a networking event as an introvert:

Invite a colleague or friend to attend the event with you.

While you will have the comfort of having someone you know with you, make sure you don’t use this as a crutch to avoid meeting other people.

Set small goals for yourself.

Such as making a commitment to meet at least 4 people or stay at least 45 minutes, before you act on your urge to bolt. Focus on quality over quantity.

Do your homework.

If the event has an RSVP list, scan the list ahead of time and see if there are particular people you want to meet and do some research on their backgrounds. Conversations are much easier to start if you have a specific purpose or request: “I understand you work at Company X and I would love to hear more about your recent product launch.”

Develop and practice your elevator pitch.

Practice a brief introduction with your name, your school, your major, your goals, and if appropriate, a request.

Scan the group and watch for body language.

Do you see another lone person in the room? Chances are good that this person might be a fellow introvert and would welcome your initiative to talk. Likewise, if you see a couple of people and one looks disengaged, that is usually a good opportunity to enter a conversation and allow one of them to make a graceful exit.

Follow up.

This is where introverts shine since they often have a preference for written versus oral communication. Follow up with a LinkedIn invitation and an email that allows you to share more information about your background and goals and to make a specific request such as meeting for coffee or asking for a referral. The back of the person’s business card is a great way to jot down a few notes about the conversation you had with them on the spot so you can write a follow up note with specifics. Use LinkedIn to see if you have existing mutual connections.

Recharge after the event.

Remember that being around lots of people can be tiring for introverts and you’ll need to plan some time to recharge, especially if you are at a conference where you will be in an all-day networking environment.

As you develop your career and attend more and more networking events, you will become increasingly comfortable connecting with professionals in a meaningful way. You might also find that it’s far more interesting and enjoyable than hovering over the hor d’oeuvres table by yourself!

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 The Networking Playbook for Introverts appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Creating a brand or building a project outside of your studies can propel you into a great position after you graduate. Internships and extracurricular activities are desirable in today’s hiring environment but to build such an awesome resume as a student, you’ll need efficient time management skills.

Time is the one metric that is never in our favor when looking to be this ambitious as a student entrepreneur. As a founding member of any young entity, there are many hats to wear. After the endless hours and long nights of work put into your part-time venture, there’s class or studying to be done.

Here are a few realizations that I came across that helped me maximize my efficiency and save time as a student entrepreneur.

Do one thing well

A wise man once told me, “It’s not what can be built, it’s what should be built.” That man was my co-founder. We were in the pre-launch phase of our mobile news platform Bando, and at the time we’d created a list of about 20 different features that would work within the app, but not only would creating and managing those products require a great deal of time, it may also steer our customers away from the main problem our app actually solves.

In this case, we had to focus on one product mainly because of time—which was mostly allocated towards class when I was a student. Since you’re likely trying to manage an equally busy schedule, focus on building a quality project that you will have to show after graduation day. Stretching yourself thin and trying to commit too many hours to too many tasks can deter you from reaching either goal.

As your bandwidth allows, build your project around your class schedule and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Some of the best ideas are the simplest.

Automation

Gaining traction and initial users is both a fun and scary part of the early stages of any project. Doing these tasks well is a matter of understanding your customers and target demographic, but to gain that understanding is time consuming, so instituting processes that take marketing tasks off your hands is an important skill to learn and utilize.

The advances of automation have created a whole new way to discover and learn about customers. There are many tools to help you automate your marketing duties, the key is using them strategically.

If you generate leads through social media, automated services could help you increase your efficiency and ideally scale those communities with less work than you. Tools like Buffer, Instagress and Manage Flitter are constantly developing their product to cater your needs. These services should definitely find a place in your weekly work flow.

But the additional benefit comes in utilizing the data you’ve been able to get through these methods. How will you better engage your users and grow your audience now that you know more about their behavior on your platform?

Learn, Learn, Learn!

The best approach is an educated one. It’s hard to manage your eagerness and ambition, but to save time for someone who only has so much, it’s better to learn as much as you can before jumping into any project head first.

Learning through hands-on experience is the most fruitful, but there are also so many resources available online in addition to peers and faculty who can help you with the ideas you’d like to pursue.

While you have these resources available as a student, use them! Don’t hesitate to ask your professor for advice after hours, or use your university’s equipment to help the early stages of your project. Even after you graduate, the most valuable employees are resourceful.

Use these tips to your advantage when seeking to further your professional career through extracurricular projects and internships. These methods may seem peculiar, but as a student entrepreneur it’s about expanding your experience while managing your bandwidth.

The post How to Save Time as a Student Entrepreneur appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Happy summer, or should I say, happy summer internship season! July is here, so your summer internship is underway. If you’re just starting out, good luck; you will kill it! If you’re already in your groove, then keep killing it. No matter what part of your internship you’re at or what kind of internship you have, remember, remember, remember to be a good listener.

Being a good listener is more than being physically there. If you’re just physically there, are you really listening at all? Think about it, what makes a good listener? Yes, being there is a part of it, but there’s so much more to it than that.

Being a good listener means to be:

• engaged
• interested
• inspired

Being an engaged listener means to do more than just listen to whatever your boss, coworker or other intern says. It means to be an active listener. Take notes when your supervisor is talking during a one-on-one meeting. Take notes when you sit in on staff meetings with the entire team. Your department may not be presenting, but it’s still good for you to know what everyone is working on because it may affect your department. Taking notes will also help you out in the long run. You may forget the name of a program or location of a document you need, but if it was discussed during a meeting, bam!, you have it in your notes.

Being an interested listener means to actually pay attention to what is going on. Make eye contact. Yes, it might be scary to meet eyes with the head honcho or your big bad boss, but it shows that you are indeed paying attention and want them to know. Along with taking notes, understand what is being said and if you don’t, ask for clarification. Your supervisor would rather spend a few extra minutes in a meeting with you than having to clarify once you submit incorrect work, or even worse, have to spend time out of their busy day to correct it.

Being an inspired listener means to take something away from the meeting or from others. Contribute your ideas if you have them and if it’s the right situation. Your supervisor will be open to your ideas or may even ask you for your opinion. Once during an internship, the organization was looking for other social media scheduling sites because the current one they used was missing a feature that they desired, so I spoke up and offered options that I had used before. Not only did my supervisor want my help and I gave it to her, but I also showed that I was up-to-date and knowledgeable in the field we were working in.

Don’t float through the summer and count down the days until your internship is over. Spend the time you worked so hard to earn learning, growing and showing that you not only deserved the internship, but that you worked hard during it as well. Being a good listener is important because it shows that you care. Don’t be an average intern or an average employee; go above and beyond and prove that you are hardworking and a valuable asset.

The post Be a Better Listener appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I’ve had the fortune of working at multiple companies that are comprised largely of young professionals just beginning their career, like I am. From small startups to relatively new, but large companies, I’ve gotten the chance to work with young blood, as eager and naïve as myself.

There is something really invigorating about walking into work everyday knowing that people who aren’t yet jaded surround you. These people want to create and explore and prove themselves for the first time to their corporate peers and to themselves.

Camaraderie is strong in teams of fresh young talent. Sure, you may see each other as competition, but you can also see the fear, the drive and the raw energy pulsating behind that competitive exterior, and you recognize it because you possess it too.

As a young person, the friends you make in a workplace full of other young people are friends for life. You’ll have both professional and emotional crises and find that your coworker-turned-best friend knows exactly what to say and what funny cat video to send you to make you feel understood, if not OK.

Sometimes, though, it’s hard. What you miss out on by working in a company full of young people is mentorship, wisdom and time-tested knowledge. You receive unadulterated passion but sometimes lack people with the know-how needed to channel that passion. You have the freedom to think outside the box, but sometimes, the tools needed to execute those ideas are unavailable to you.

Working with other young people can be motivating, but it can also slow down your growth. At times, you may find yourself with unlimited possibilities but severely limited resources, and that’s OK. It’s not about whether working at a hip young company or an old school establishment is better. It’s about choosing one and knowing what it lacks so that you can take proactive steps to compensate.

The post A 20-Something’s Thoughts on Working With 20-Somethings appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you’re working towards a job in healthcare, then there is a high probability that you are juggling work, school and perhaps even an externship with the rest of your day-to-day responsibilities. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with everything on your plate and to allow your own health to suddenly take a backseat while you are caring for others.

Exercise provides many benefits to your health, including maintaining a healthy weight and also a healthy level of stress. I am all too familiar with the work-school grind, which is why I’ve put together a list of five tips for fitting exercise into your busy day.

1. Consider the location

If you are going to work out using equipment or machines, try to choose a gym that is close to your home or workplace so that you aren’t discouraged by traffic or the price of gas. Perhaps, there is a gym at your job or where you live that you could go to before or after work.

If you like to work out in the privacy of your own home, you might want to consider investing in some free weights or a yoga mat for stretching. There are a lot of great videos on YouTube that show different exercises that you can do – no equipment necessary.

You can also research some local parks or trails in your area where you might be able to walk, bike, run, roller-blade or do whatever it is you like to do, when you have time and the weather is nice. Getting outside is a great way to up your Vitamin-D and relieve stress at the same time.

2. Set realistic goals

You can maintain an active, healthy lifestyle without making it a do or die endeavor! Make it your goal to exercise several times a week and eat healthy meals as much as possible. Don’t beat yourself up if you “cheat,” just stay focused and remember how good and bad habits will affect you in the future.

Set short-term goals that are relatively easy to meet and long-term goals that are a bit more challenging. My short-term goal is to work out two to three times per week and once on the weekend. I don’t always meet it, but having a goal in mind keeps me motivated and gives me a sense of accomplishment when I do find the time to work out.

3. Choose a time that works for you

If you hate getting up at the crack of dawn, then don’t plan on exercising at six in the morning! Instead, try to pick a time when you will be at your peak level of energy for the day. For a lot of people, this is mid-morning, so if you bring your lunch to work, you can take a quick walk on your lunch break, or if you followed step one, perhaps even hit the gym for a thirty minute workout.

Personally, I can’t commit to being at the same place at the same time unless it’s for work or school. That’s why I give myself a window like Thursday evening or sometime on Saturday, and I don’t stress out about the exact time that I arrive or leave. If you are super busy, build some flexibility into your schedule, so you can prioritize working out with your other activities.

4. Exercise with friends

Working out with a friend is beneficial in more ways than one. Using the buddy system makes you less likely to cancel and risk disappointing your workout partner, but why would you want to cancel when it has the potential to be so much fun?! You can chat in between using the machines and also trade advice on what exercises to do.

The other great thing about working out together is that you can celebrate your successes. My friends and I sometimes like to go for a coffee or smoothie when we finish up. We’re working our way towards treating ourselves to something fancier, but in the meantime we just enjoy each other’s company.

If your friends don’t work out, you should encourage them to start! If that doesn’t work, consider hopping on a website like Meetup and finding a local group to join. It’s a great way to make friends and try different activities without having to commit to one activity or group of people.

5. Buy new work-out clothes

This one is not so much about time, as it is motivation. When I first started working out, I felt really self-conscious. I never played sports, and I always dreaded having to change for gym and be seen in anything other than my regular clothes. Dressing in stylish workout clothes has given me a boost of confidence in the gym and has made me forget about how much I used to hate going there.

When you can afford it, treat yourself to new workout gear. There are plenty of places to buy inexpensive, quality athletic clothes that are functional and flattering. Toss the free t-shirts.  An awesome outfit is a nice distraction from a lack of skill or general out-of-shapeness. Remember most people are focused on themselves anyway, and you should be too!

The post 5 Tips for Fitting Exercise into your Busy Day appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Flashback to one year ago today. It was my senior year of college and, like most students in my class, there were only two things on my mind: graduate and get a job. At the time, I already had a job offer from a company I had been interning with since the beginning of my senior year. Was I crazy about the company? Eh. Was I passionate about the role? Not really. Did I accept the job? You betcha.

Why? A couple reasons. For starters, I didn’t know any better. I had interned with other companies previously and even had a few other job offers, but none of them were really aligned with what I wanted to do, but then again, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Over my morning cup of coffee, I’d be applying to banking jobs in Chandler, Arizona, and by that evening, I’d be researching teaching fellowships in Taiwan. I was all over the place without actually getting anywhere and eventually lowered the bar on my post-grad expectations because of it.

I accepted an offer from the startup I was interning for as a Content Writer and figured, with the decision finally done, I’d sit back and enjoy some of that “senioritis” everyone had been talking about. Only, it wasn’t nearly as refreshing as I had hoped.

As graduation got closer, the days at work got longer and my quality of work weakened. My boss had adopted this “get it done” mindset that was inspiring in the beginning, but began to wear over time as expectations increased and transparency decreased. I began to doubt whether I was providing any real value to the company and increasingly wondered if it would provide me with any real value for my career development. From there, things continued to trend downhill. I would show up to work every day, pour myself an extra large cup of coffee and get to work without once losing track of how much time was left before I could go home. I started to think, “This is what the rest of my life is going to look like.”

Fortunately, I had the power to change that, and as hard as it was to go back on my word to my current company, I knew I had to do what was best for me. With only about two weeks left till graduation, I started applying to jobs again. When I came across Medallia, I immediately applied and ended up hearing back from a recruiter the following morning. We set up a phone screen for the next day, and things continued to pick up from there.

About two months, half a dozen interviews and one onsite visit to Medallia’s HQ later, I had received and accepted an offer on Medallia’s campus recruiting team. I have since been working at Medallia full-time for eight months, but as anyone working here will tell you, that number is about double if you’re counting in Medallia years.

Think back to the last time you lost track of time while focusing on a task. I’m talking about heads-down, 100%, all-hands, “what year is it” type of focus. That’s sort of what everyday here feels like. I don’t call them Medallia years because it feels like I’ve been here forever, although in some ways it does. I call them Medallia years because everything here happens so fast.

From my very first day here in our onboarding program, I jumped right into a hands-on environment that questions, challenges and pushes me not just to be the best employee I can be, but to be an all-around better person, and it should be no surprise that with the latter also comes the former. I’m not just talking about the cliche “go around the room and tell us a fun fact” spiel. Medallia wants to know your biggest accomplishments and your biggest failures as well as what gets you out of bed every morning and what keeps you up at night. We want to know why you are you, and it doesn’t just stop there.

About two weeks into my new role here, I was already working directly with candidates. One month in, I was able to get my job done with minimal supervision, just in time for our pipeline of roughly 1,100 candidates to open up during campus recruitment season. Two months in, I was balancing all the day-to-day responsibilities of my job with exciting new side projects. One that comes to mind involved reducing Travel & Expense costs by coming up with a solution to improve the candidate experience for those in their final round that are unable to fly out to our headquarters (If you’re wondering the solution we came up with, you’re going to have to apply!).

Now here I am eight months in and fully owning my role. More importantly, I’ve learned the difference between “owning your system” and simply doing your job. No one here is going to force you to get involved on side projects that pop up–but you can. More importantly, no one here is going to tell you to challenge and improve the systems your organization has in place–but you can. Even more, you’ll be provided with the resources and support to do it.

The company is growing quickly and constantly improving, but at the core of all that change, our culture still remains resilient. We aren’t perfect and we don’t pretend to be, which is why this was the ideal place for a recent grad such as myself to embrace my mistakes, learn from them and continue to grow–just like Medallia is doing each and every day.

Looking back, I see how foolish I was, after 16 years of hard work in school, to settle for the first opportunity to come my way that “didn’t seem too bad”. To any soon-to-be-college graduates out there–keep looking. You’ll find that job you gave up on thinking existed. Maybe for you it is that banking job in Chandler, Arizona, teaching english in Taiwan or maybe it’s Medallia. Whatever it is, make sure you’re happy; make sure you’re doing more than just what’s in your job description, and make sure you didn’t settle.

The post What I’ve Learned 8 Months Into My First Full-Time Job in Tech appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Winter break is quickly coming up, and most of us have one thing on our minds: enjoying the post-finals coma on the couch while eating copious amounts of holiday goodies. While this may sound like an enticing option, this 4-week period is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of a more obscure student experience: externships!

Externships are not the same as internships; they are a shorter experience that can last for a few weeks or even a few days. These opportunities are an easy way to take advantage of your winter holiday and give you a competitive edge when applying for a job.

While doing an externship may seem easy, it’s important that your level of dedication to the position is no different than any other opportunity. Whether you are doing work or strictly observing during your externship, you need to bring your A-game and treat the position as though it’s a real job. Here are a few important things to remember throughout your short time at the company in order to make the most of your experience and leave a lasting impression.

During the Externship

Make a Laundry List of Questions

These types of opportunities are mostly to help you get a look at the career you are looking to work in. For this reason, it’s a good idea to compile a list of questions you have about your future job and get them answered throughout your externship to gain insight.

Set Expectations and Goals

It’s important to be clear with your supervisor about what you are hoping to learn because your time at this company will be brief. However, be sure to set realistic goals. If you are going into a medical externship for 2 weeks, chances are you will not be seeing a patient through a whole recovery cycle, and you may be handling much smaller tasks than interns in longer-term roles. Remember that this is still an opportunity to observe a lot and gain respect by doing what is asked of you, no matter how important or large the task is.

Talk to Everyone

Since you will be working in a company for a short time and you are a new face, be prepared to answer questions about what you want to do and why you chose to work for that company in particular. You may be able to gain insight from individuals who are currently in that position and can offer you some tips on future jobs or graduate school. Do not be afraid to approach people to ask them about their experiences or if they have any advice for you. Build great connections you can use later on.

Ask for Feedback

While being evaluated by your peers can often be nerve-wracking, it’s a great opportunity to learn what your supervisors and coworkers think of your work ethic. They can offer great feedback that you can improve upon so that you can excel in your next internship.

Afterwards

Stay Connected

Keep in touch with your supervisors and any other people you met during your time. These can be great contacts in the future if you are looking for a letter of recommendation, need them to pass along your resume or have any follow-up questions about applying and interviewing for jobs in the future. Depending on which field you go into, the connections you have can be the deciding factor in getting hired or not.

Instead of binging on holiday food and Netflix this winter, consider doing something productive with your time that will help you get closer to the career of your dreams. Who knows, an externship could even land you a job, and you can’t say the same for Netflix.

The post Externships: The Winter Break Alternative to Netflix appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We all know the common saying, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” but are all questions created equal? When it comes to asking questions in the workplace, there is no doubt that your curiosity can help demonstrate your engagement, intellect and genuine desire to learn and grow in your position.

However, there are ways to improve the questions you ask that will help you appear like an employee with a promising future rather than someone who doesn’t have what it takes to get the job done. Here are four tips to tailor your workplace questions:

1. Ask questions you can’t find the answer to on Google. Asking basic questions in the workplace that you can easily find the answer to online may make you appear like you don’t know what you’re doing. If you have a question that does not need to be answered in the moment and can wait until you get back to your computer for a quick Google search, hold off on asking it. You don’t want to take up time in someone’s busy schedule and come off as lazy or unknowledgeable.
2. Ask for people’s opinions and personal experiences. Any question that begins with, “In your experience…” or “What’s your opinion on…” is a great question to ask because it shows that you value your mentor’s opinion. Gathering advice from your coworkers is invaluable and allows you to learn things that you can’t find in a textbook. People are often happy to answer questions, especially if the questions are personally tailored to them. Everyone likes to talk about themselves!
3. Ask questions at the right time. A question is more likely to be well received and more thoroughly answered if it is asked at the right time. If you notice that the person you are trying to ask is in the middle of doing complex calculations or is preparing for a meeting, hold off on approaching them. Wait to engage them until they return from lunch or do not seem distracted.
4. Ask questions that demonstrate what you already know. When constructing a question, try to incorporate some of your previous knowledge on the topic. It will help you appear thoughtful and allow you to come across as someone trying to build on his or her already existing knowledge, not someone who is completely uninformed. For example, “What should I put in the subject line of these emails?” does not sound as good as, “In order to increase the open rate of these emails, what would be most effective to put in the subject line?” The former wording sounds like you have no ideas on the topic; the latter is more specific and sounds more informed.

When it comes down to it, not all questions are created equal. Luckily, these tips will help you form questions that will make you appear inquisitive and engaged, like you’re expanding on what you already know.

The post Not All Questions Are Created Equal in the Workplace appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Finding happiness in the workplace can be a challenge if you absolutely can’t stand your job. For whatever reason, you’re at your current job and it is possible to find enjoyment in it — if you go about that in the correct way. This Mashable article shares three ways to help you find happiness and meaning in your current work situation.

The post Finding Happiness in the Workplace appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It all started my first year in college. I had discovered my passion for entrepreneurship and the beauty of being able to create something on your own and show it to the world ­with the purpose of offering a better solution than what is currently available.

It  didn’t take long before I realized that a great product is nothing without marketing. At the time the term “growth hacking” was fairly new, and I started to spend an immense amount of time reading up on what this new ideology of marketing was all about.

It requires analytical thinking, creativity and a lot of hustle — which was a description I felt fit me quite nicely. At age 19, I was able to secure venture funding for my company, a recruiting algorithm. Fast forward a year, I went from being a 19-year-old guy in Norway to traveling to the states as the first Norwegian company to ever be accepted into 500 Startups.

Ultimately my company ended up failing, and instead I joined a company called Studypool, which helps students get instant homework help. I’m currently in charge of growth at this company.

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from college students asking me how they can excel in this line of work, so if you’re interested in being a marketer in a startup, here’s my advice:

1. It’s all about hustle. Growth hacking is not about creating hacks, but instead about the process of how you go about making marketing decisions for your company. The people I see succeed at being growth hackers are the ones that continuously launch new ideas and experiments; they constantly iterate to come up with better solutions on how to acquire and retain users.

2. Product wins is another major one I try to emphasize. A lot of the marketers I talk to are spending large sums of money on acquiring users, but don’t have product market fit yet.  What this means is that they are acquiring users to their solution without having something that the users truly desire and want.  Invest time in talking to your users to realize why they love your product; really dive in and try to make sure your product gets your users to that moment when they go “Aha!” as soon as possible.

3. Love what you do is a common trait I see amongst the best marketers in Silicon Valley.  They spend their free time studying how other companies became successful and realize that they can’t just copy their tactics and expect success.  However, it can help you understand and think of new ways to improve your own product.  Being constantly hungry and having a will to learn is key.

Lastly, remember to put your  learnings into the world. You’ll never become an expert if you just read and consume  knowledge — use it and learn.

I’ll close with a quote that one of my favorite growth hackers has said: “If you fail seven out of 10 times at the plate, you’re still going to the hall of fame.”

The post How to Succeed as a Startup Marketer appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In this article posted on Viget’s blog, author Anna Lewis breaks down the casual culture that surrounds tech companies. From dress code to work environment, she explains why tech companies are known for creating the laid back feel that attracts so many young professionals.

The post Understanding the Casual Workplace in the Tech Industry appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For those who are interested in pursuing a career as a graphic designer, take a look at this article posted on Mashable about what it’s like to have that career, as told by a graphic designer. The author, who is now an art director, talks about how his interest in graphic design began at a young age and how he turned his passion into the career of his dreams.

The post Interested in Graphic Design? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Working remotely can have its positives and negatives, but it’s easy to make it into a simple and cool experience if you have the right tools. Read Mashable’s article for tips on how you can make your life easier if  this is your work situation.

The post What to Know When Working Remotely appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s week four of your internship. You’ve come to the realization that you dread going to work in the morning, and you are counting down the days until the internship ends. You were so excited about the internship during the first week—what happened? Clearly, the honeymoon is over.

If this scenario sounds familiar to you, the first thing you should do is take a deep breath and realize that you are not alone. Most interns progress through their internships in fairly predictable developmental stages. What you are currently experiencing is what Fred Sweitzer and Mary King refer to as the disillusionment stage of the internship, where interns often realize that there is a wide gap between their expectations about the internship or the industry they entered and the reality they are experiencing. Others are frustrated that they’re not getting enough direction or attention from their supervisors. Interns often stay stuck at this stage and just “ride it out” until the internship ends. The better option is to try several strategies that will help you move towards a stage of competency in your internship.

1. Schedule a meeting with your supervisor to discuss how the internship is not helping you meet the goals you set or the expectations that were set by the organization. If you are earning college credit for your internship, most likely you had to specify some learning objectives at the beginning of the internship and discuss those with your supervisor. Revisit that discussion with your supervisor to help focus the work that you would like to do moving forward.

2. Assess whether your frustration is due to a lack of skills or knowledge you need to do your job. Perhaps you don’t enjoy your internship because you are not very proficient with Microsoft Excel, but your supervisor keeps assigning you projects that require you to create spreadsheets. Check with your college or university to see if they offer free access to on-demand, online skills training through platforms like lynda.com or Udemy to develop your computer or other skills. Many platforms also offer monthly subscriptions. If you lack knowledge about your industry, ask your supervisor to recommend professional journals or associations where you can learn more about the field on your own. As an added bonus, you will also demonstrate initiative to your supervisor.

3. Supervisors are busy and sometimes don’t realize that a small investment of time with their intern can lead to greater productivity for everyone. If you don’t feel like you are being mentored, suggest to your supervisor that the two of you meet on a weekly basis at a set time, such as lunch every Wednesday. Use that time to review projects, suggest ideas and get your questions answered.

4. Finally, acknowledge the gap between your expectations and reality and use it as a learning experience. If you have discovered that you really don’t enjoy making sales calls all day or that a start-up environment is too chaotic for you, explore potential career paths or environments that might be a better fit. Use the networks you are creating at your internship to get connected to other professionals for informational interviews. Learning what you don’t like doing can be a valuable outcome of your internship as you further clarify your career path.

An internship might be your first step into the professional world, but it won’t be your last. Whether or not the internship turns out as you expected, you can develop as a professional if you view each experience as a learning opportunity. Or as author Roger Crawford notes, “Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”

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 When the Honeymoon is Over appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For those of you who may have worked a job in retail, consider it a valuable experience that can transfer skills into your work and personal life. Take a look at Elite Daily’s article about why working in retail may be one of the best work experiences you can have.

The post The Value of Working in Retail appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In the late 1990s I was a chemical engineering major at the University of Colorado with a minor in business. I’d taken the business minor at my father’s suggestion, and it wasn’t until the end of my undergraduate career that I realized out of the three core elements I’d studied at CU (chemistry, math and business), I actually enjoyed math and business the most.

I applied to the Operations Research departments at various grad schools because OR seemed like an interesting area that applied mathematics to complex business problems in various fields, including finance. I was accepted into Stanford’s OR department, which now goes by the name of Management Science and Engineering, and decided to head to Palo Alto, Calif., to pursue a Master’s Degree.

When I got to Stanford I noticed that almost all of my classmates had some kind of prior work experience, which seemed to give them a lot of context around the material that we were learning. It felt like they were getting more out of the educational program than I was, so I decided to get a job to gain some experience. I took a part-time position as a Financial Analyst at a company called Confinity, which was creating a system to allow people to beam money to each other on Palm Pilots.

It’s worth noting that during my initial breakfast meeting with the CEO of Confinity, he asked me what books I had read that summer, and later joked that my reading list was one reason he hired me.

Professional Life Lesson #1: Be Yourself

During my initial interview I was so concerned about whether I had taken the right courses or done the right projects. In the end, what this employer liked most was what my reading list said about who I was. I’m sure it helped that I had gotten good grades and done interesting projects as an undergrad, but a lot of other applicants had done that too, so those things didn’t really set me apart.

On my first day at the company nobody knew what I should do. A chemical engineering major who knew a little about business? It turns out that I did have one really valuable skill at that time: I knew a lot about Microsoft Excel. One of my undergraduate professors, Dr. David Clough, had insisted that we all learn a lot of the more powerful (and sometimes obscure) features of Excel. When I started working at Confinity I was kind of a whiz at it, so they asked me to start tracking data, distributing metrics, building financial models. Because I was so good at it I could do the work really quickly, which meant I had time to then sit in on meetings where senior executives were discussing the data I was preparing. That kind of exposure was incredibly valuable for me at the time because I got to learn how people communicate in a business setting, how they share and debate ideas, and how they work toward actionable conclusions.

Professional Life Lesson #2: Know Your Hard Skills

In most entry-level positions you are doing tasks that require hard skills (proficiency with a software program, etc.). If you are able to do these things quickly and accurately, your boss will (at least they should!) allow you to use the remaining time in your schedule to attend meetings and begin learning the soft skills of doing business.

After several months, I was increasingly impressed with the caliber of people at Confinity and the company’s growth as a whole. They were impressed with me, too. The CFO offered me a full-time position that would require me to drop out of my MS program. Drop out of Stanford?! Was he serious? I thought about it and weighed my alternatives, and I confirmed with Stanford that if things didn’t work out with the company I could go back to finish my degree. I eventually decided that the downside was limited and took the job.

Shortly after this, Confinity merged with a company called X.com and the combined entity changed its name to PayPal. The three years that followed were a whirlwind of excitement, with incredibly long work hours and an unbelievable amount of learning. I eventually grew into an important role in the company’s finance team and got a first row seat in an Initial Public Offering process and then the acquisition by eBay in late 2002.  This learning and exposure set me far ahead of my peers in similar roles, and really launched my professional finance career.

Professional Life Lesson #3: Take Calculated Risks Early in Your Career

I made the decision to leave Stanford and work for Confinity at a time when my downside risk was really quite limited. As you get older and advance in your career, it becomes harder to take risks like this because you have more responsibility: family, financial commitments, as well as other things that start to constrain your alternatives.

I met and worked with an incredible group of people at PayPal, many of which went on to create globally important companies after they left. I feel honored to have been a part of that group at that time, and many of us still collaborate on business projects to this day. Through this network I have been exposed to some amazing ideas and given opportunities to work on projects and companies that are literally changing the world.

Remember that CEO who liked my summer reading list? That was Peter Thiel, who is now a global iconoclast and one of the most successful venture capitalists of our day. Peter has been an important mentor to me and has had a major impact on my life and career. He is the one who, after seeing what I had learned and contributed in those early years at PayPal, eventually offered me my first role as a Chief Financial Officer (at Palantir Technologies.)

Professional Life Lesson #4: Don’t Over-Plan Your Career Path.

You really don’t know what opportunities are going to be presented to you, at what times, and who will present them. If you over-plan your career you may miss out on unexpected opportunities that cross your path, instead of recognizing when you are in the right place at the right time and seizing them.

The post 4 Lessons I Learned from Building a Career in Finance appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Part 1

RECESS and NowThis sat down with Tom Montgomery, Co-Founder of Chubbies, to discuss the clothing startup and entrepreneurship. Check out the video to see how Chubbies hired their first employee!

Part 2

Montgomery explains what he learned from emails exchanged with his fraternity brothers at Stanford.

Part 3

If you’ve ever had trouble deciding when it’s the right time to quit your job, you’re not alone. Listen to Montgomery explain when he knew it was time to go.

Part 4

Have you ever wondered how Chubbies got its name? Check out the video to hear Montgomery’s explanation for it.

The post RECESS and NowThis Present ‘Office Hours’ and Interviews with Chubbies Co-Founder appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It may seem like a luxury to work in a casual setting where dressing down is the norm or is maybe even required. Who wouldn’t choose a comfortable pair of jeans over an itchy tweed skirt or stuffy suit pants, but are we sacrificing productivity for comfort?

Research done by Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky seems to suggest that this may be the case. In their study, they found that participants wearing a doctor’s coat performed better on tasks designed to test their attention versus when they were not wearing a doctor’s coat or were told that the coat they were wearing was a painter’s coat. Adam and Galinsky call this “enclothed cognition” and suggest that what we wear affects how we think.

So what could this mean for workplace wear?

In offices where causal wear is king or for those who work from home or in more creative spaces, the lack of distinction between work clothes and relaxing clothes may be taking a toll on both your work productivity and ability to wind down after a long day at work. Without the clothing distinction to signal when you are on or off the clock, it may be harder to focus at work.

What can be done to boost workplace productivity?

If you work in a setting where you are required to dress down, there are a few things you can do to differentiate between your work wear and out of office attire. First, buy clothes that are work-specific that you will only wear in the office and not on the weekends. It will help you identify what you are wearing as “getting down to business” attire.

Second, once you get home, change out of your work clothes and into your home clothes. It might feel kind of silly changing out casual clothes into other casual clothes, but the physical act of getting out of your office wear will signal that the work day is over so that you can enjoy your relaxation time.

Lastly, even if you don’t normally care about what you wear, make sure to pick out a work outfit that makes you feel good and confident. Even if it’s just a color you think looks great on you or a shirt that fits you particularly well, it is important to make even a small effort in choosing your work outfit. It will help you feel better about how you look, and putting a conscious effort into your ensemble will help you associate what you’re wearing with work time.

The post Does Dressing Down Diminish Productivity? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

At WayUp, we’re all about professional advice, but sometimes the personal and professional mix. We recently stumbled upon this 2013 survey that says that 15% of adults are okay with dating coworkers  and got a little curious–how does the Millennial generation stack up? So, we did what we always do and asked the WayUp community for their thoughts on dating in the office. Here are the surprising results:

Millennials Are OK With Blurring the Line

Millennials are much more open to the idea of office romance. Our survey found that 57% of students said they would be fine  with dating a co-worker (although only 14% said they had already done so).

Why?

We don’t have all the answers, but our guess is that for millennials, the lines between personal and professional have been blurred for a long time. As millennials, we all maintain numerous online profiles (from Facebook to Snap) and have come to terms with the fact that hiding all these profiles from employers is next to impossible. Furthermore, with smartphones and laptops now the norm, we all bring our work home with us, on vacation with us, and just about everywhere with us, so it seems natural that our personal lives would also come to the office with us.

Employers Are Changing with the Times

The good news is that many employers are changing their policies to create flexible office dating rules in 2015 that accommodate these changing values.

The same WayUp survey found an overwhelming amount of employers allow interns to bring +1’s to company events.

Employers know that work spreads into all aspects of our lives. With this in mind, they want to become more than a 9-5. One of the most controversial recent examples of this kind of change is when companies ranging from Apple to Citigroup went ahead with supporting employees to freeze their eggs. Employers in 2015 want to be there to support the diverse lifestyles of the employees that make up their company, and this extends to dating in the office.

Outside of allowing interns to bring +1’s to work events, we are seeing more employers adopt looser guidelines surrounding dating in the office. The vast majority of employers strictly outlaw dating of one’s supervisor (for obvious reasons) but many are now allowing inter-office romance as long as they are declared to HR and kept professional.

Here is one quote from a Lifehacker article that helps highlight this new change:

“Our employer is totally fine with relationships in the workplace as long as those involved keep things professional in the workplace. My wife and I pretty much treat each other just like coworkers at work. There’s no physical affection, no “I love you’s” at work. It’s almost like we’re different people at work, which is a good thing and has only gotten easier the longer we’ve done it.”

Conclusion

So I guess–congratulations millennials for continuing to challenge our workplace norms, striving to have your cake and eat it too and navigating the murky waters of romance wherever it is found.

The post What Millennials Think About Dating in the Workplace appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We all hear incredible stories about how some of the biggest names in the world got to dizzying heights of success. I’m sure you’ve heard that the enviably famous Bill Gates ditched college for Microsoft and that Wolfgang Puck left school to become a cooking apprentice at 14.

The timeline of the success of such people is peppered with impulsive decisions and following dreams, but have you ever wondered how these leaders manage to stay at the top?

Let’s see what they have to say!

They are doers

It’s all well and good to have ideas and spend ages talking it over. However, “the critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something.” That’s according to Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s!

People have great ideas every day, but Mr. Bushnell believes it’s the doers, not the dreamers, that keep the ball of success rolling.

They have a plan

Yes, people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg had to make risky decisions when starting their companies, but they had a plan that they were focused on. Successful careers are not created overnight; they are achieved and maintained because there is a plan and a method to the madness.

Even young graduates can benefit from career plans like the ones offered at career institutes like Porter and Chester that help you look at (and paint) the bigger picture.

They stay healthy

In order to be productive and actually make a difference in their work each day, business leaders and entrepreneurs need to stay healthy. Ariana Huffington, president of the Huffing Post Media group, advocates “dropping everything and going to sleep,” while Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, has stated that working out gives him at least four extra hours each day to be productive.

“Impossible is nothing!”

This means that failures and setbacks are nothing to those who refuse to quit. Even when you’ve reached the pinnacle of success, failure is just around the corner, but there are plenty more corners and as Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, says, “It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”

They manage their own meetings

Warren Buffet, the third richest man in the world, pencils his meetings into a datebook himself. In an interview with Levo, he said, “You’ve got to keep control of your time… You can’t let other people set your agenda in life.” Larry Page, Google’s CEO, has taken the same route by not having an assistant and thereby not having any unnecessary meetings.

They remain accountable to friends and family

If you’re at the top of your field, it’s probably easy to let it go to your head, but staying true to those who are important to you keeps you grounded. In fact, the CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, lets her daughter decide what time she should be back home.

Fresh graduates and aspiring entrepreneurs are often given career advice and tips on career success, which involve finding a mentor. It’s all about having someone you can trust to help keep your feet on the floor.

Does it surprise you to learn that the key to a productive career is not money and fame? The business leaders and moguls of today’s world instead focus on staying healthy, turning their ideas into plans and plans into action and refusing to give up when failure stares them in the eye. Most importantly, they live on their own terms – honoring the ideals and the people that they firmly believe in.

The post How Successful People Stay on Top of Their Game appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Sean, reached out to our team about how he could politely resign from his internship. Read on to see what challenges he faced and the advice offered to him.

Sean:

Hi everyone,

I’ve been at this startup since mid June (about two months now). College classes start in about a month and I don’t know if I can handle four to five classes and do my internship. Also, since my friend who has been driving me won’t be here when classes start, I won’t have a ride to work.

So my question is: How do I resign politely? My boss is out of town a lot and work isn’t very interesting anymore. I’m not learning as much as I was before.

Sonya Sharififard:

Hi Sean,

You’ve taken an important initial step in evaluating your position’s long-term potential.

As a courtesy, provide your boss with a two-week notice to implement succession time, and arrange a meeting.

At the meeting, provide your boss with your resignation letter that states your official resignation and appreciation for the tenure.

Before you confirm the decision to resign, you would want to ensure that the bridges aren’t completely burnt, as you may need the employer for other opportunities.

Best of luck to you!

Nathan Parcells:

Sean,

Good question and some interesting challenges to navigate there. Here is my take:

It sounds like you have identified two issues. The first that simply being able to get to work and make the most of it is becoming too big a challenge with the start of school. Second, that the position itself is not what you expected and is not providing you valuable experience or being well-managed.

If your only issue was the first point, I would say simply schedule a time to speak with your boss and explain the added challenge you are facing with new class constraints and see if it is possible to setup a more flexible or lower hour work schedule.

That said, it seems like your bigger issue is the position itself. If this is the case, does your position have a set end date? If so, you might want to consider waiting until that end date which you committed to in taking the job (you by no means have to). If you did this you could consider talking to them about an interest and readiness to take on more serious projects and a desire to meet with your boss once a week to discuss more specific goals (we call this managing up when you need to do the work to get your boss to manage you appropriately). If you don’t have a set end date or want to get out no matter what, then I agree with Sonya above; explain how the change in your schedule makes it so you won’t be able to continue with the internship and give your two weeks notice. I would be open to working a bit longer than two weeks if they need to find someone to replace you, or you need more time to wrap up projects, so that you prove that you are willing to meet half way to make the transition smooth.

Good luck on this process. It’s always tough to leave an employer but if the position is so loose that you feel you are getting little to nothing out of it, that is a problem in how it is structured.

-Nathan

Judith Ayala:

Hello,

I have a similar problem. What if the reason you need to resign is not because of school, but because you received a better offer with more secured opportunities?

I’m currently doing an internship but I just got offered a job. I really don’t want to burn any bridges! I’ve done an internship before, so my current one was more of a trial stage; they want to make sure I’m a good fit and if they are a good fit for me, which I’m not too sure they are.

I’m really stuck here because I’m afraid to do the wrong move. If I leave for another opportunity is the bridge completely burned?

Thanks.

Nathan Parcells:

Judith,

This is a tricky question and one we hear a lot.

Every situation is different, but first you need to decide whether or not it is possible to finish out your current role or push back your start date. If so no bridges will be burned, and you can inform your current employer that you have another offer that you plan to take at the end of the internship, which lets them know they need to consider making a counter offer ASAP, or else you will be gone.

If you definitely can not make it to the end of your internship, you need to consider how comfortable you are with breaking things off with your current employer prematurely. Are you in month one of a hard six month commitment? If so, you will need to balance breaking your word (and making a bad name for yourself in industries that are always smaller than you think) with looking out for your own interests. Ideally you have a good relationship with your employer, and they understand the importance of a full-time role for you and you can help by finding your own replacement, helping with the transition and not making this a huge hassle for them.

The final option is that you have a good relationship with you current employer and when you talk to them they will want to make a counter offer. This is obviously most ideal, and depends a lot on how you have proven yourself thus far, being professional in your conversation with them, and them having the ability (funds, an opening, etc.) to make a future hire.

I hope this all helps. Resigning from an internship commitment is always a careful balance between getting what you want, but not being so entitled that you leave your current boss in a lurch. Small things, such as being amenable to a longer exit period, can all go a long way.

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

Have you ever wished you could figure out peoples’ emotions?

Microsoft apparently has, and they’ve recently received a patent for goggles that would be able to detect the emotions of others, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the patent, the goggles would be able to recognize the emotional states of others by comparing that information with a database of gestures, expressions, and speech. The information would then be provided to the wearer of the goggles in real time.

At the time, it’s unclear whether or not Microsoft will go through with developing this product.

The post Microsoft Seeks to Capture and Read Emotions appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The prevalence of startup companies serves as a new alternative for places of employment for many people. Their innovative and fresh approach on business makes them a desirable place to work.  While Facebook and Uber are well-known examples of successful startups, Forbes and TrueBridge Capital Partners compiled  a list of the 25 startups that they think have the potential to grow into large, profitable companies. Check out their list here!

The post A Forecast of Startup Success appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For a long time, I struggled to understand exactly how my unique skill set would translate into a career. I watched everybody around me seem to find their bearings relatively quickly, while I was still swimming around in my own head trying to find the vaguest clue as to what I wanted to do with my life.

I started to think about my personality and my interests, and I came to the conclusion that while I love analytical work, I also need to balance it out with something more creative. I like to employ both the left and right brain in everything that I do. This clued me into the fact that the advertising industry is perfect for me, and after extensive research on the field, I was dead-set on getting an advertising internship.

I was beyond excited to begin applying for internships, and admittedly, my enthusiasm might have gotten the best of me at the beginning of my job search – I may have been a bit overzealous in my cover letters, but as I continued applying for more positions, I noticed many common themes across the applications, all of which point to the notion that most of the rules for a typical application process are out the window when it comes to the advertising industry. Here are a few examples:

• One of the applications asked me to ship an item that best represented me to the company, and they would then post a video of them opening it up as part of the deliberation process.
• I was asked at one point t0 describe why I was the right candidate for the position – but my response had to be in the format of a Tweet (140 characters or less).
• On multiple occasions, I had to submit a video of myself answering various questions instead of applying traditionally.

The advertising industry is notorious for rule-breaking when it comes to the norms of the job search – and this is the most appealing aspect of it. In this age, the job market is more competitive than ever, and potentially great candidates can get lost in the crowd. The beauty of advertising is that the unique application process can help any candidate stand out, because there are few things that are off-limits.

Don’t be afraid to change things up a bit if you’re interested in advertising. Try something new. Break the rules. There is a good chance the hiring manager would rather see creativity than conformity.

The post The Quirkiness of the Advertising Industry appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

During my 10-year television career, I worked as a correspondent, reporter and producer for top networks including NBC, PBS, BET and Nickelodeon. I’ve interviewed Grammy and Oscar Award winners, top CEOs and entrepreneurs and even a former Head of State, but before I found success in front of the camera in New York City and Los Angeles, I used to sell cheese.

After graduating from Western Michigan University with a marketing degree, I accepted a job as a sales representative at a food company. The company provided me with tons of binders filled with product descriptions, a laptop, a brand new Ford Taurus and the reins to 25 grocery stores that I was now responsible for.

I had no idea what I was in for, but month by month, I learned three valuable lessons selling cheese that can be applied to any situation.

Being A Self-Starter Isn’t Optional

The good and the bad of my experience as a sales representative was that I didn’t have an office to go to everyday. Unfortunately, our regional office was over four hours away from my base in south Florida. This meant that I was left to my own devices to create structure where there was none. My office was my car, my apartment and various coffee shops.

With this autonomy and no one looking over my shoulder, I figured I had two options: one, just go with the flow, and see what happens or two, stay on top of things, and get super organized. I chose the latter and am glad I did. I was incredibly detailed and plotted out my weekly sales calls, target sales goals to hit, which grocery store managers needed more attention than others and new product presentation schedules. Without this structure, I would have flailed and struggled.

To this day, one of my strong suits is organization, which has been a great benefit throughout my career. I realized early on that the only person responsible for me is me.

Oddly enough, structure creates freedom.

Focus on Demand, not Supply

Sales can be a tough industry, especially when you’re trying to sell something that no one wants.

Early in my sales representative days, I remember being pushed to increase sales of pectin. Unfortunately, there was a major problem. Many store managers couldn’t care less about pectin, because their customers couldn’t care less about it. I got that message fast, so instead of trying to sell what they didn’t want, I learned to focus on what they did want.

Instead of pushing pectin, I pushed other items that sold well in their stores like cheese, hotdogs, coffee, cereal and a slew of other items that performed well. Periodically, I’d sneak in some other products to promote, not pectin, but mostly I focused on what they wanted.

This is a great lesson as you approach your career. Identify what’s in demand, and identify how you can fill this void.

Listening Is An Art

Grocery store managers are unique. It’s a tough job, and no two managers are alike. I learned this the hard way by approaching each manager the same. Plus, early on, I was always in “sales mode” trying to sell them something or obtain great product placement for key events. Bad mistake.

The smart thing in the beginning would have been to go in, be quiet and ask them how I could help them accomplish their goals. Then, listen, and then, listen some more. It took me a while but I finally got it. Then, an odd thing happened. Over time, the more I listened to them, the more they started to listen to me and learn more about my goals.

The axiom, “the most valuable thing you can give someone is your attention,” is true.

I barely lasted a year as a sales representative. Shortly thereafter, I moved to New York City with less than $700 to pursue my goal of working in television. Though sales wasn’t for me, to this day I have fond memories of that experience and lessons learned that I use regularly in my career today. Occasionally, I even find myself in grocery stores organizing products, just not pectin.

The post 3 Lessons That Took Me From Cheese Salesman to Television Reporter appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In the last 5 weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of beginning two new but completely different jobs. Despite the enormous difference between the two positions, I have come away with a unique insight into what it’s like to begin your first job right out of college.

Like so many recent graduates, I struggled to find a job related to my field of study after graduation (Marketing and Advertising, for those who are wondering). I was searching for a good 3-4 months before I decided to take an open position at my local high school district as a special-ed instructor. I had previous teaching experience, gained from teaching English abroad in Germany and France, but that was a far cry from what I encountered at my new job. Simultaneously, I was still sending applications to every marketing agency I came across that had an open position until I was fortunate enough to find a position at a local Orange County firm. In only one month, I went from an instructor for special needs students to a digital marketing analyst, but as I’ve said earlier, despite the unending list of differences between the positions, I couldn’t help but notice some striking similarities in how I interacted with my new supervisors and co-workers. For example:

• Be ready to go over A LOT of paperwork: Working for a school district requires that you go through multiple levels of security, both legal and medical. The pre-employment package from the school district must have been around 100 pages that was meant to go over your past employment and medical history. To top it all off, we finished our pre-employment screening by submitting our fingerprints. Working for a marketing agency doesn’t necessarily entail nearly as much paperwork as working for the government, but it also isn’t as simple as a field trip application. My suggestion, as with all legal documents, is to take it home and go over it.

• No one expects you to literally hit the ground running: My first day working with special needs students will undoubtedly remain unforgettable. I met my supervisor and was put in charge of the care of paraplegic and autistic students. Naturally, I had the necessary and proper training prior to the start of the job, but training in a classroom and having to possibly perform the medical actions are two different things. To my relief, I was only left alone with the student for the first fifteen minutes after which the rest of the veteran instructional team arrived and told me to relax because no one is left alone with a student on their first day. Each student had their little nuances that had to be learned so that we could better work with them, something a first-timer would never know. On a much lighter end, my first day at the marketing agency followed along the same vein. I was familiar with Google Analytics and AdWords before the start of my job, but those were only the tip of the iceberg. My first week was filled with non-stop studying of various UI’s of other marketing platforms and shadowing my co-workers and director as they completed daily tasks. Again, no one expected me to know everything; there are just some things that they don’t teach in school.

• Know that you’re not the only one adjusting to your new workplace. Your employer is also adjusting to you too: Employers know that despite how much previous experience you have, there will always be a learning curve, and with that learning curve comes adjustments from both ends. Your employer is not going to set you up to fail; it’s completely counterproductive to hire someone and then set them up to be fired immediately. Instead, your managers/supervisors are trying to figure out what’s the best way to bring you up to speed. They already decided you were the right candidate for the position; now, they are going to try to figure out how you best fit in with their teams. Nowhere else was that more apparent than working with students who have special needs. My supervisors there realized that to bring  a new person into their classroom would present a major change for not only them but their students as well. Therefore, the senior instructors and teachers worked closely with me to figure out how each student would react, and then, we would adjust accordingly. Currently, at the marketing agency, I am figuring out my natural strengths and doing my best to contribute immediately to the company based on those strengths, but at the same time, my director and co-workers are constructively finding and pointing out my weaknesses, so we’re working to improve them.

• Most importantly, relax. It’s new, exciting and can sometimes be nerve-racking, but remember to relax. Unless you do something completely idiotic on your first day or week on the job, your employer will most likely not fire you. As I’ve said before, they decided that you were the strongest candidate for the position and have already decided to invest their time working with you, so just take a deep breath and have fun!

The post Fresh out of College: What to Expect During Your First Days on the New Job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Imagine yourself working as an intern at a company that you tried hard to get into. You worked for hours on your résumé. You spent hours in front of the mirror, practicing for your face-to-face interview. You bought a pair of new shoes and business attire to give you that extra mental boost on your first day of work.

A week passes by, and you feel more comfortable at performing your job. You are learning new skills and making connections. One day, while you are working on a presentation for the afternoon meeting, your supervisor asks you to work in the front office greeting customers and answering the phone. While you would be happy to do so, you know that you will not be able to complete your presentation on time. You tell your supervisor that you want to concentrate on your presentation. The supervisor says, “Well, figure it out. Working in the front office is part of the deal of working here. We all have to pitch in when needed.”

What do you do in this situation?

How would you feel?

Role conflict occurs when incompatible demands are given to an employee and completing both of these demands would be hard to do (Katz & Kahn, 1978). Interns are in a unique situation because, about half of the time, interns are not monetarily compensated. Interns are there primarily for the practice and experience that they gain from their work. Role conflict can impact the type of experience that an intern receives from work and this impact can be magnified when the only compensation that an intern receives is that experience.

The amount of experience that an intern has can also be a factor. Olk and Friedlander (1992), found that role conflict is a challenge for more advanced interns. As interns gain more experience, they may be exposed to role conflict because their skillset increases. In other words, more experienced interns can do more things, which increases the chance that their employer may ask them to do things that are incompatible simply because they have the skillset to do them.

Role conflict is a problem. The question is: what can you do about it?

One of the most important things you can do in reducing any role conflict that you may be experiencing is to reduce the amount of conflicting demands. One way you can do this at work is to talk to your manager or supervisor, and clearly explain how the role conflict is affecting you and the quality of your work. Talk to your manager in a respectful, objective manner, and provide clear evidence of how conflicting demands are impacting you and your productivity. You can then work with your manager to create a plan of action to minimize role conflict and maximize productivity. Most supervisors and managers want you to be at your best and most productive. They will welcome any strategies to improve your performance if they are brought up to them in a clear and respectful manner.

References

Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations 2ed. New York City: John Wiley.

Olk, M., Friedlander, M. (1992). Trainees’ experiences of role conflict and role ambiguity in supervisory relationships. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol 39(3), Jul 1992, 389-397.

The post You’re Doing Too Much at Work—and It Shows appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, while speaking at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, shared his hiring rule: “I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person. It’s a pretty good test, and I think this rule has served me well.”

What Zuckerberg has done is put the second question of every interview into plain language. All interview questions, no matter how they are worded, are trying to answer two basic questions: the first question is “What skill value do you bring?” and the second question is “Do we want to work with you everyday?” The first question is what most job candidates focus on – how to prove their skills, experiences and achievements qualify them for the job. It’s critical to do that well, but question number two can also make or break you. The questions that focus on what is called “cultural fit” are typically behavior-based questions. That’s what Zuckerberg is getting at: Do you and I share the same philosophy/values, and would we work together well as a team? So, would you work for you?

With behavior-based questions, the interviewer is probing to find out things like how you respond to stress, how you handle conflict, whether or not you’re a community-minded team player or you’re all out for yourself and whether or not you work well independently. They want to see how mature you are, hear evidence of dependability, learn something about your value system and generally try to determine if you are going to be a colleague that they’re happy to see coming through the door each morning.

This is why networking remains the number one way people find jobs. Hiring managers rely on their professional contacts to give them honest recommendations regarding a person’s skills as well as whether or not the person would be a good cultural fit. Are you a team-player who shares the organization’s values?

If you don’t have a strong network (quality matters much more than quantity), I urge you to start developing one. Of course, professors count here, but be sure that the professor really does know who you are as a person and isn’t just someone who knows that you did well in his/her courses because that professor will say something like, “This person is a good student, but I don’t know him/her very well.”

Make sure your references can speak to who you are, and be confident that they will say positive things about you. I know that seems obvious, but you’d be surprised by what people will report about someone. Silence and hedging also speak volumes. If you have any doubts when asking someone to be a reference, ask if they are comfortable with it and if they feel they know you well enough to do it. Then, be bold and ask if they believe they can give you a positive reference. Ask your mentors and teachers if there are ways you can improve how you communicate who you are. It shows maturity to ask for and accept constructive criticism, and it could be the thing that tells them you are willing to learn, improve and grow.

To help build positive references, make sure you keep in mind that networking is more than building contacts and getting advice: There is an element of ‘giving’ in it as well. Send interesting articles that your contact might find helpful or intriguing, let them know you are listening by responding thoughtfully during conversations in a way that contributes something of value to their work (a chance to let your critical thinking skills shine), show yourself as teachable and thank them for their mentoring, etc. You’ve heard these things before, but hopefully, you have a better understanding of why it’s important. You are developing your professional reputation even as a student; the idea is to become someone you would want to work for.

The post Would You Work for You? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

What exactly is “company culture” and why should you care about it?

You don’t hear about it much in job search strategies. Career development centers at your university probably don’t have information about it posted along with their sample interview questions and resume writing tips.

In my experience, it can be the single most important consideration in job searches for both the employee and employer, as well as recruiting and employee retention post-hire. There are entire websites devoted to it and Harvard Business Review articles about it. So what’s up?

Company culture, also called corporate culture, relates to everything from how a company’s mission carries through to its day-to-day operations, to how its values are reflected through employees and policies, to whether communications within the company are formal or informal and even whether dress is formal or informal. It tells you A LOT—including whether or not a company might be the right fit for you.

I. The Job Seeker

There are generally 4 types of job seekers, and no matter which group you might fall under, you can use company culture filters to your benefit.

1.  The job is the destination.

These people know exactly what they want to do and frequently have known since childhood. They have a direct path to a specific role. The key consideration proves to be whether or not the company is the right fit.

If you fall into this group, ask yourself questions like this:

• Do you agree with the company’s mission statement?
• Do you share the same values? Do you prefer a formal work environment or informal work environment?
• If you know anyone at the company, do you like them?
• If you’ve interviewed there, what is your impression of your interviewer(s)?

2. The industry is the destination.

These people are clear about the industry where they want to work in but still need to define the role based on their interests, strength and weaknesses. These people often identify with a specific image or association of the industry. Once interests, strengths, and weaknesses have been assessed to focus on specific roles that would be a fit, the next step of the decision-making process is finding the right company within that industry.

If you fall into this category, ask questions like:

• What is your impression of this company?
• How would you describe the company?
• How would you describe yourself and your values? (It’s also a good idea to ask someone you trust, a mentor or favorite professor at school, how they would describe you.)
• Does this organization’s values, work environment and people fit with who you are and what you value?

3. The idea of choosing just one is way too limiting.

This group has it narrowed down to two or three potential roles or areas, but they are interested in a number of different things. It’s just too hard to choose one! You might find people in groups 3 and 4 tend to be more “industry agnostic.” They develop technical and soft skills throughout their career, but they might not be devoted to one industry. Finding the right company, often one that allows for growth and movement around the company, is critical to any chance of success with group 3.

If you fall into this group, along with the questions above, ask yourself:

• Is there potential for growth or movement within this company that would allow you to explore different areas of interest?
• Does this company make employee development a priority? If so, how?

4. The job is completely elusive.

This group just doesn’t know where to begin.  Even after deciding on a major, going through college, and sometimes even graduate school, they still don’t know where to start. For the undecided types, start your job search by choosing 5 companies you like, respect and admire. Think about those companies you identify with when you see their advertising, social media or products. What is it about them that draws you to them? These can be your first clues about what type of company cultures is the right fit for you. This can be the starting point for your job search. It doesn’t have to be the actual “job.” You may not know what role you are destined for, but if you find that company you are passionate about and can support, that is a great beginning.

II. The Job Search

So how can you identify the right company culture?

1. Research the company, obviously… but no, really research the company.

Look at their website, read ALL of the company information they post.  Most people read their “About” or “Mission” page and stop there, thinking they have the idea. Nope, can’t stop there. You can find many nuggets of information scattered throughout a company’s web pages that, when combined, create a pretty telling picture. Things like how the company is performing, what their goals are for the next 1-5 years, what type of images they show on their website (and how you respond to the images you see). Read any posted news releases. If they sell products, what are the price points? Do you even like the products they sell?

Once you’ve scoured their website, look at their social media. What stories are they telling? Do those stories engage you and why? Once you’ve scoured their social media, Google the company name and see what comes up, but don’t just stop at page 1. Google their executive team and board of directors, if the company is large enough to have these positions, and see what comes up. Again, you may need to go 2-3 pages into the Google search results depending on how publicly visible or common the name of the executive or board member might be.

2. Interview the company as much as they interview you.

If you score an interview with the company, now is your chance to really understand if they could be the right fit for you. You have the opportunity to meet some of the people that work there. Do you like your interviewer(s)? How were they dressed? What kind of language did they use, i.e. formal or informal, were there company buzzwords used, etc? You have the chance to ask some questions that could reveal helpful information you need to make your decision. Remember, it is as important for you to interview the company as it is for them to interview you.

If there is an opportunity for you to ask your question naturally in the flow of conversation, or your question is a logical follow-up to one of your interviewer’s questions, go for it. If not, there is usually a chance at the end of the interview for you to ask questions. Don’t feel like you need to grill your interviewer(s). No one likes an interrogation.

Here are a few interview questions you can ask to find out about company culture:

• If you could describe your company’s culture in three words, what would they be?
• How would you describe the work environment at xxxx company?
• Are things like training and professional growth encouraged here, and assuming they say yes, how?
• What are your top 3 priorities for this year?
• How do you see this role working within the team? (or department, division etc. depending on how they describe the unit where you would be working)
• How would you describe a typical day here?

Be sure to write your questions down ahead of time, and don’t be afraid to pull out your notepad with your questions during the interview. Your interviewer(s) will appreciate appropriate, well-researched, and thoughtful questions. It’s as important for them to find a person that is the right fit as it is for you!

The post Company + Culture = The Right Fit (Pt. 1) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve done it! You landed your dream entry-level job out of college as a Production Assistant and skipped the mail room. This, in and of itself, is a big deal. But now that you HAVE the job, here are some tips that will help you excel, and set you apart from your peers. Who gets promoted first? Not necessarily the PA who hustles MOST, but the one who LEARNS and works strategically!

Schedule smarter

When you set an appointment on your boss’s calendar, have information about that meeting for him/her. Why does this person want to meet? What is the meeting about? Can it be moved if needed—and if so, what’s the last date it can happen? Which days of the week/times (lunch, or after work drinks/dinner) work best for the other person?

This took me a while to get the hang of. Especially when it involved the full production calendar and not just his personal calendar. The production calendar involved multiple people from numerous departments. When my Producer would look over the calendar for the day, he’d say, “Let’s cancel this 6pm modeling meeting tomorrow, so the Directors can go home a little bit early. They’ve had a long week!” In the beginning, I’d go back to my desk, send out a cancellation for the meeting, and 2 minutes later, I’d get a frantic phone call from that department’s Supervisor. She would explain that the meeting needed to happen tomorrow because they needed the weekend to turn that element around, in order for it to be passed to the next department the following Monday. This is info I hadn’t known or bothered to ask about, so I had to go BACK to my Producer, relay that time sensitive info so that he could make an informed decision about whether or not to have the meeting.

Over the course of the production, learning to ask these kinds of scheduling questions saved me a TON of time and energy! I had informed responses when my boss asked, “Why is this on the schedule for tomorrow instead of next week?” This made me look smart, protected the interests of the entire production, and also taught me about the chain of departments in feature animation. 

Remember the little things

Learn your boss’ preferences! Whether it’s standard lunch orders (chicken caesar salad? pasta?), allergies, or their regular Starbucks drink—make an effort to remember these things so you don’t have to ask all the time. Granted, some people change their minds each time, but most, when they are busy executive types, will have a ‘standard go-to order’ for when they don’t have time to think. Also keep a list of favorite restaurants that you can suggest when people call to schedule meetings or drinks (again, see point above about being one step ahead! If you already have options your boss likes, it will save you time calling back and forth). Make a hard copy list if you need to (many offices I worked in did)!

Remember bigger things

Learn the types of meetings/calls that are important to your boss. Even though you gave him a weekly print out of his calendar on Monday, by Monday afternoon, he may not remember all the things happening on Tuesday, or later in the week. If he needs to prepare a report for a weekly meeting (even though it’s a WEEKLY meeting) remind him the day before—or ask to make sure he doesn’t need you to make copies. Give your boss a heads up about notably important meetings throughout the week, and you will gain respect!

Remember more little things

Learn to recognize  your boss’ phone number and the numbers and names of people who frequently call/are important (cell number of his department head, spouse’s name and number, kids, etc). Almost all studio or production related phones have a digital reader board that will show the phone number, if not the name. Greet people by name when you can.

Help out where you can

Be willing to do things outside of your job description. This should be a no-brainer, especially for those in entry-level jobs, but lately, I’ve heard quite a few appalling stories. For example, recently one of my friends who works production said that a Producer asked an Intern to run some papers to the CEO’s office. The Intern (who was not aware of who the Producer was, and apparently didn’t see the value in getting to go to the CEO’s office) replied, “I’m the Intern for the XYZ department, I don’t do paperwork.” That Intern’s supervisor was notified and the Intern in question got a stern talking to. Production of any kind (film, TV, commercials, music, etc) is ALWAYS a team effort. People are tired, everyone is always busy. Do what you can to make the lives of your co-workers easier and they will remember! This is a big difference between low level employees who are retained/called back, and those who aren’t!

These may seem like small things, but they are HUGE in terms of memorability and setting yourself apart at the early stage in your career. Those who do these things consistently move up the food chain faster. So pay attention, and be a team player!

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

There seems to be a strong bias in many large companies toward assessing a product manager’s ability to perform based as much (if not more) on their technical ability, background, and knowledge as their real-world, market, and user experience. To me, this is an entirely backward way of approaching the problem, as the entire purpose of having a strong product manager is not to provide an additional technical resource to determine the “how”, but to  provide a strong and  knowledgeable resource that can accurately describe the “what” and the “why” of the problems that your product should be solving.

This means that someone who brings a lot of knowledge and ability to the table, but who lacks certain “check the box” background skills in the technical realm may be at a disadvantage. Here are some tips and tricks that someone coming from a non-technical background can use to excel as a Product Manager in nearly any company.

Know exactly what you bring to the table

The biggest issue that most non-technical PMs face is the fact that they can’t confidently and accurately describe to others the value that they do bring to the table.e It’s almost a certainty that you will start any PM role with skepticism on the part of the engineering and test teams with regard to who you are and what you do, but being able to clearly articulate the value that you do bring to the role, and how you plan to use that value, to communicate that value, and to leverage that value is  essential to putting your best foot forward. Obviously, you have to do this with a little bit of humor and a lot of humility, but you still need the people you work with to understand the reason you got the job and how your non-technical skills are going to help them and the product to succeed. Most technical teams  need someone with deep market insight and user knowledge in order to help them properly prioritize their efforts—they may not admit it, but this is what the non-technical PM brings most clearly to the table. Own it.

Don’t “Fake it until you make it”

I’ve seen some non-technical people make the mistake of taking a “fake it until you make it” approach, trying to hide the fact that they aren’t strongly technical by doing some quick studies and searches online to come up with words, technologies, and approaches that they think sound good and are at least tangentially related to the business that they’re in.  Engineers see through this charade faster than you can say “MySQL”.  Just don’t do it—there may be a time and a place to take a chance on looking like you know more than you do, but all this does in this context is to  accentuate your lack of technical ability, and undercuts your ability to establish trust…

Establish trusted relationships

…which is really the cornerstone of any Product Manager’s success. The  only  way that any Product Manager can be successful is by building relationships based on mutual trust and respect. You need to know that you can count on your technical team to fill in the gaps of your own knowledge, and that they will listen to you when it comes to the gaps in their knowledge related to the market and the end users’ needs. All relationships are give-and-take, and the non-technical PM has to accept this and work within the confines of their knowledge and ability. The PM has to demonstrate sufficient deference to the technical team so that they don’t feel like they’re being “pushed” by someone without a real understanding of what they’re doing—but at the same time be very clear about where the market direction and user definition is primarily coming from. Open and honest discussions are key here. If someone says something that you don’t understand technically, engage on it. Focus on learning how it meets the end goals, not on the technical details. Enable your teams to focus on the “how” while you focus on the “what,” “who,” and “why.”

Be curious and willing to learn

One of the quickest and easiest ways to build a relationship with your technical team as a non-technical PM is to demonstrate  honest curiosity about what it is they actually do and how they do it. Talk with them about the architecture and the technology in your product. Attend any technical training sessions that they have, or brown-bag lunches on technical topics. Some of it may go over your head—hell,  a lot of it may go over your head. But showing the team that you actually  care about them is far more important than feeding your ego by not showing weakness in front of the team. Ask questions when and where appropriate, listen to what they’re telling you, and learn a little bit about that technology that you knew nothing about previously. Technology isn’t scary, and since you’re trying to manage a product that has a foundation on this technology, you should probably learn at least a little bit about it, don’t you think?

Stretch yourself—try something technical

Last, and most importantly, if you want to build a career as a Product Manager, and you want to maximize the flexibility in that career, you’re quite frankly going to have to learn some technical skills at some point in your career. Fortunately, we live in a world where there are innumerable opportunities to expand our horizons and try out new and different things—particularly where technical skills are concerned. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of online courses that you can take to learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Object-Oriented Programming, MySQL database design, and any other technical capability that you might want to add to your toolbelt. Use your product management skills to identify a problem that you want to solve, and just do it. Build something, anything—it doesn’t have to be fancy, it doesn’t have to be pretty, it barely even has to  work. But by showing that you have the personal drive to expand your knowledge, to leverage what you  do know into something tangible, and by  actually doing it, you’ve just taken yourself out of the non-technical box and moved into another classification of Product Manager. I personally have three apps on the Google Play store—one of which is nearing 2,000 downloads. All because I identified a problem, idealized a solution, and just built it. They’re not super pretty, they’re not loaded with features, but they do solve a specific problem. And it was fun learning.

The post How To Be Successful as a Non-Technical Product Manager appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Some people swear by the soothing power of the whir of coffee makers, the cadence of background alternative music, and the soft noise of conversations when trying to finish writing a paper, finding  inspiration for their next novel, or working on a freelance project. But the coffeehouse work life isn’t for everyone. Here are some coffeehouse pros and cons for you to think about before you grab your laptop and head out.

PRO:  By removing yourself from your home environment, you can create a more focused area for yourself, free of the distractions and routines that are available to you at home. For example, it’s much more difficult to lay back and watch television on your couch if you’re not on or near your couch.

CON:  Other people can be distracting, whether it’s them bumping into your table or having loud, distracting, and strangely interesting conversations near you. Depending on your work style, the hustle and bustle of a coffeehouse may not be conducive to productivity.

PRO:  More stimulation = more creative inspiration. If you’re working on a creative project and are getting stuck, the chance to people-watch can help you garner new ideas and give you the push you need in your project.

CON:  Spotty Wi-Fi connection. Dependent on your coffeehouse of choice, the day of the week, and the time of day, you may be faced with a slow Internet connection, hindering your productivity and endangering your deadline.

PRO:  Meeting in a public space for group projects can be a lot more comfortable than meeting in a home setting, especially if you are not on close terms with your team or partner. A coffeehouse offers a neutral location within which to complete your project.

CON:  Fewer available wall outlets. If your project and work don’t require a computer, this isn’t a factor, but if you’re planning on writing a paper for several hours and don’t have the ability to charge your laptop battery, you’re out of luck.

Author Bio: Brittany Spear is a recent college graduate on a continuous search for meaning, fun, and adventure in her jobs and her life. In her spare time, she enjoys writing fiction and planning her next travel adventure. She currently works for a wilderness residential program, delving into life far outside of the office while cutting down trees and helping teenagers handle their emotional and behavioral problems.

The post The Pros and Cons of Working from a Coffeehouse appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When I graduated from college, I had the really cool opportunity to be part of Intuit’s Rotational Development Program (RDP) as a UX designer. To this day, I think it was the best way I could’ve started my career and here I’ll break down why. You don’t need to be part of RDP to get a great experience, but it naturally gave me the following components that made it such a great way to start my career. I’ll speak from a designer’s perspective but I believe these are relevant to anyone starting his/her career.

Mentorship

Mentorship helped me grow FAST. When I entered the program, I was matched with a design director (my “mentor”), another designer (my “buddy”) and was encouraged to find mentors and grow my network. Since my mentor was an experienced design manager, she was wonderful for elucidating company announcements and strategy or coaching me on design and team issues. My buddy, on the other hand, was my age and I could ask her silly questions (“Where is the best lunch place?”) and get more frequent feedback on designs.

Design feedback is incredibly important. You can learn a lot on your own but when you have people looking over your work or guiding your decision making, it can help take you even farther.

So when it comes to mentorship, think about it in 2 ways:

1. Career/personal development: Find people you can go to when you’re thinking about what you want to be when you grow up and can help connect you to the right people . (I know, the dreaded networking – I promise it’s really not that bad.)
2. Work development: Find people who can critique your work and make you better at what you do.

Another tip: more often than not, have a conversation goal when talking to your mentor because ultimately, they’re looking to help. It can be anything from hearing his/her career path to tweaking a design to brainstorming more ideas to feedback on your next career step. Just make it known!

Constant Learning & Reflection

It can be overwhelming, but take some time to think about your strengths, weaknesses and experiences. What is your “T”? For those who don’t know, the “T” is the breadth of experiences/skills and your depth in one particular experience/skill. Early on, I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I kept iterating on my “T” and asking myself, “What kind of design work haven’t I done yet?” just to get more experience and discover what my depth could be (“What do I like doing most, and what am I good at?”). Now, I’ve realized that I get the most energy out of connecting user research to design, but I still need to work on design fit and finish to be effective.

A few questions to help guide your thinking and how you can use the “T” to figure out where to even start:

• When do you feel the most energized in school work right now?
• Do you know anyone who is doing that? Reach out and ask about the good and bad about their jobs.
• Use your “T” when you talk to people. Tell them what you’ve done and solicit advice on what kinds of experiences would help you become a really good [blank].

Management

Having a good manager makes a world of difference. If your manager is looking out for you and giving you good projects and work, you’ll grow so much more. It’s related to the above two components—your manager can provide invaluable mentorship, help you think through your strengths/weaknesses and, most importantly, help get you where you’re going.

I’ve been so lucky to have had a few good managers who checked in on how I was doing and helped me realize when there’s a problem. I love it when I can bring my latest design problem (“This is my current design iteration. What do you think?” or “There’s something bothering me about this design”) and have a great back-and-forth on how to make my work better.

Of course, it’s hard to find a good manager, so wherever you land, make sure you find people who want to support you. When looking at jobs and projects, look for managers who are dedicated to spending some 1:1 time with you, are great at listening, and match your communication style.

Try lots of things – and I mean, LOTS of things

We’re young and don’t know what’s out there. Now’s the time to take some risks, fight for what you want and enjoy the heck out of it. If design has been something you’ve been interested in but never got a chance to do any of it, then jump right in, learn, do some projects and try to get that job. If in a year, you decide to do something else, that’s great. Now’s the time to try different things but just remember… Do it with intent. Do it because you love it or because you absolutely need to do it (and pair that with an exit strategy). If not now, then when?

All in all, just have fun with it and don’t worry too much. The journey matters too in your career. :)

The post Getting the most out of your first design job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Two years ago, I decided to step away from the public service career I was pursuing and founded a tech startup. I studied international relations in hopes of one day working for the government as a diplomat. After my Master’s, I ended up working in the non-profit sector and what I learned is that the fruits of my labor were not evident, they took months, if not years, to achieve, and depended on a handful, if not a dozen, other people.

Despite years invested in my international relations education and huge student debt, my husband and I decided to quit our jobs and focus on building our very own startup company,  CareLuLu, to change the child care industry, starting with simplifying the way parents find daycare and preschool. This issue was meaningful to us because at that time we had just gone through the pain of finding a daycare for our own daughters. It was also an untapped and massive market. Together with Gabriel, our third co-founder, we wanted to create a one-stop shop that allowed parents to search, filter, and compare licensed child care programs. And that’s exactly what we did!

It’s been nearly two years since my  career change and here are some of the things I love about my job as an entrepreneur.

1. My life is never boring. No week is the same. I’m constantly putting out fires, solving problems, and exploring new directions for our company to take. I love being a doer.

2. I learn something new every day. I have no doubt that I learned more building CareLuLu than I would have learned pursuing an MBA. In the process, I probably spent about the same amount of money.

3. My work has an immediate social impact. I always wanted to do public service, but through CareLuLu I found what I deem to be a faster way to help others.

4. I get to handpick the people I work with and surround myself with those whose company I enjoy. I know it’s not for everyone, but I co-founded this company with my husband and best friend. I don’t think I could have found better co-founders!

5. I work to the bone, but have the flexibility a typical job would not allow. I regularly stay up ‘til 3 in the morning working but every now and then, I can take 3 hours off for lunch to go to Malibu for a bowl of chowder and mussels. Or I can go to my daughters’ preschool performance in the middle of the day without worrying about what my boss might say.

6. I get to innovate, experiment and think big. From day to day my head may be in small operational details, but everything I and my co-founders do is driven by the big vision.

7. I love working in a space I can personally relate to. When you become a parent, there’s nothing closer to one’s heart than kids. Working in the parenting space allows me to contribute and take something away not just professionally, but also personally as a mom.

8. I get to travel a lot and meet lots of fascinating people. Traveling was one of the reasons I wanted to become a diplomat. It isn’t obvious, but as an entrepreneur you also can travel quite a bit. In 2014, my family lived in 4 cities (Washington, DC; Durham, NC; and Los Angeles, CA; before finally settling in San Francisco). Last year, I also traveled to Tajikistan (of all places!) to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Week, Las Vegas for a startup pitch competition, and Nashville TN, among a number of other US cities to attend startup conferences.

9. I am part of an inspirational and supportive community. Tech entrepreneurs are a pretty small bunch that for the most part pay it forward and offer each other help.

10. I now have more career opportunities than ever before. The skills I developed and the connections I made as an entrepreneur are guaranteed to lead to a more diverse and brighter career path than I would have otherwise had.

Being an entrepreneur is a hard and often lonely job. It requires perseverance through many failures along the way. It is not glamorous, but it is rewarding. Look at your entrepreneurial venture as a great learning opportunity. I love my job as a startup founder and Chief Operations Officer, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The post 10 Things I Love About Being an Entrepreneur appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When I started applying to jobs in my senior year of college, I found myself wishing I had taken classes like “Deciphering Startup Job Titles,” or “How to Know when the Startup You’re Applying to is Broke,” or “Is this CEO a Jerk or Just Really Smart?”

Since that wasn’t possible, I’ve had to give myself a self-taught crash course in startup success over the past few years as I’ve gone from Marketing Intern to Marketing Director at Magoosh—a profitable, growing startup in Berkeley. So if you foresee startup work on your career path, here are some steps to guide you through the grey areas in your job hunt and professional growth.

Step 1: Apply ambitiously and foolishly

No, seriously, apply and interview everywhere. My interview experience taught me the difference between companies who did interviews well and those who did not, Product Marketing and Product Management, “seed round,” “Series A,” and “bootstrapped.”

All my interviews, both good and horrible, helped me figure out that certain industries, verticals, or positions I thought I was interested in were actually not for me. And at least I found out through a few weeks of applications and interview rather than 6 months of unhappy employment.

Bonus tip: Nonstop job searching, applying, and interviewing will make the second semester of your senior year really tough, so plan ahead and take a lighter class load.

Step 2: Realize it’s okay to start small

If you want an opportunity to grow, here are two qualities you should look for when trying to find an ideal startup: 1. small and scrappy, and 2. open-minded leadership.

We live in an age of small to corporation-sized startups, so if you’re interested in accelerated career growth, target the small ones when you’re starting out. They’re much more likely to invest in training you to take on management roles instead of hiring more expensive people.

But it’s not lack of money alone that makes this opportunity happen! It also takes very patient, open-minded leadership. They have to care about their employees’ growth and happiness and prioritize “promoting from within” to give opportunities for growth. I was employee number 3 at Magoosh, so the CEO/founder interviewed me, and I got the chance to ask about his long-term vision for the company and the company’s philosophy on career growth.

Bonus tip: It’s a sign of a good company when you get interviewed by the CEO or founder at the startup. Especially for a small company (less than 10 employees), the personality and goals of the founder or CEO make up a large portion of the company culture and it shows that they care about each new hire.

Step 3: Learn

This step could have been labeled many other things—“be aggressive,” “lean in,” “take risks,” etc.—but all those really boil down to one thing: just learn. Learn as much as you can, as quickly as you can, as an investment in your own future. But that means you have to be okay with looking dumb and not being afraid of taking on new projects that are beyond your experience level.

Bonus tip: Work is not school! A B- job on something new for you is better than an A+ on something you’ve already practiced five times. Try things that are outside of your domain while you can. As you build up more years of experience, it is tougher to move “horizontally” (i.e. a VP of Business Development can’t just suddenly decide she wants to try learning Photoshop for a week), so the earlier the better for experimenting with different fields, which is especially easy to do at a small startup.

Step 4: Know when it’s time to leave vs. stay

At some point within a year or two of working at a startup you will know the following:

• There are/will be opportunities for career growth for me here.
• This company will be successful.

If EITHER of these isn’t true, you need to leave and seek out another company, even if it means “moving sideways” which is a terrible name for a perfectly good thing to do. Even moving “down” in startup land is actually quite great, especially early on in your career, and is just another opportunity to learn another breadth of skills in a different context.

However, if both are true, then you’re in luck :). That’s not to say the work will be easy, but you will at least be consciously deciding that you are in charge of your own path and you know that it’s possible for you to get there.

The post Marketing Intern to Marketing Director in 3 Years: How to Grow at a Young (Successful) Startup appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Searching for an internship can be a tedious task. There are so many opportunities out there, and the broad spectrum of possibility can be overwhelming. When searching for an internship, keep in mind what you would like to accomplish. Also, you must consider the source – who can help you accomplish these goals?

As my final semester began to wind down, I was ecstatic when I got my first return phone call about an internship to which I had applied. The internship was for a website that helped businesses increase their online access to their customers. While I was looking for any kind of internship I could get my hands on, I didn’t evaluate the position as thoroughly as I should have.

I knew that the internship did not offer any financial compensation, and decided to accept the offer anyway. When I met with the owner of the website, the interview seemed to flow smoothly. He asked me what I was looking for, and then told me who they were looking for. The interview went well, and he offered me the position. I accepted and he said we would be in touch via email.

That evening, I received an email address and a username to be used for all future correspondence. I was also given my first assignment. While I was excited to have my first assignment, I was shocked that he wanted it that day. I was informed that the assignment shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes to research and about an hour to write. The time frame suggested was not realistic. I knew nothing of the material for the assignment, and needed 500 words on it before the end of the day. I pushed my homework aside, then spent four hours researching and writing a paper for this website.

I felt proud and accomplished after completing such a difficult, unforeseen task! My feeling of elation dissipated after opening my email. I already had another assignment! It occurred to me that I hadn’t asked how much work was expected of the interns. I was told the internship would take about an hour and a half per week. I thought that meant I would have one assignment per week.

I wrote five daily blog posts for this guy before I put my foot down. I was getting behind on my homework, and I wasn’t getting anything back from this internship. These assignments took me anywhere from one to four hours each. The owner of this website didn’t even put my name on my work. Reluctantly, I sent him an email expressing my concern for the required workload. I told him I didn’t think I could keep up with what he was asking. He never said a word back to me. I was heartbroken. I felt like I’d been used for my writing, and the internship I’d looked forward to was over.

If there’s anything others can take away from this internship experience, it’s this: be honest with yourself about what you’d like to accomplish with an internship. Be realistic about what you have to offer someone else while you’re still completing coursework. If the person you are considering an internship with offers you an approximate time frame that you should set aside, ask them how they came up with that figure.

The point of an internship is to learn and grow in your field of study. Be realistic about the scope of work, the time you have to offer, and whether you truly feel the internship you choose will build your portfolio in a positive way. While there are countless internship opportunities for whatever your field of study, be picky! Don’t settle for the first company to give you a call. Be true to yourself and what you have to offer, and your hard work will pay off as you begin building a successful career.

The post Notice the Red Flags So You Don’t Have to Wave the White One appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In the late 1990s, I was a Chemical Engineering major at the University of Colorado with a minor in business. I’d taken the business minor at my father’s suggestion, and it wasn’t until the end of my undergraduate career that I realized, out of the three core elements I’d studied at CU (chemistry, math, and business), I actually enjoyed math and business the most.

I applied to the Operations Research departments at various grad schools because OR seemed like an interesting area that applied mathematics to complex business problems in various fields, including finance. I was accepted into Stanford’s OR department, which now goes by the name of Management Science and Engineering, and decided to head to Palo Alto, California to pursue a Master’s Degree.

When I got to Stanford, I noticed that almost all of my classmates had some kind of prior work experience, which seemed to give them a lot of context around the material that we were learning. It felt like they were getting more out of the educational program than I was, so I decided to get a job to gain some experience. I took a part-time position as a Financial Analyst at a company called Confinity, which was creating a system to allow people to beam money to each other on Palm Pilots.

It’s worth noting that during my initial breakfast meeting with the CEO of Confinity, he asked me what books I had read that summer, and later joked that my reading list was one reason he hired me.

Professional Life Lesson #1: Be Yourself

During my initial interview, I was so concerned about whether I had taken the right courses or done the right projects. In the end, what this employer liked most was what my reading list said about who I was. I’m sure it helped that I had gotten good grades and done interesting projects as an undergrad, but a lot of other applicants had too… So those things didn’t really set me apart.

On my first day at the company nobody knew what I should do. A Chemical Engineering major who knew a little about business? It turns out that I did have one really valuable skill at that time: I knew a lot about Microsoft Excel. One of my undergraduate professors, Dr. David Clough, had insisted that we all learn a lot of the more powerful (and sometimes obscure) features of Excel. When I started working at Confinity I was kind of a whiz at it, so they asked me to start tracking data, distributing metrics, building financial models. Because I was so good at it I could do the work really quickly, which meant I had time to then sit in on meetings where senior executives were discussing the data I was preparing. That kind of exposure was incredibly valuable for me at the time, because I got to learn how people communicate in a business setting, how they share and debate ideas, and how they work toward actionable conclusions.

Professional Life Lesson #2: Know Your Hard Skills

In most entry-level positions, you are doing tasks that require hard skills (proficiency with a software program, etc.). If you are able to do these things quickly and accurately, your boss will (at least they should!) allow you to use the remaining time in your schedule to attend meetings and begin learning the soft skills of doing business.

After several months, I was increasingly impressed with the caliber of people at Confinity, and the company’s growth as a whole. They were impressed with me too. The CEO offered me a full-time position that would require me to drop out of my MS program. Drop out of Stanford? Was he serious?! I thought about it and weighed my alternatives, and I confirmed with Stanford that if things didn’t work out with the company I could go back to finish my degree. I eventually decided that the downside was limited and took the job.

Shortly after this, Confinity merged with a company called X.com and the combined entity changed its name to PayPal. The three years that followed were a whirlwind of excitement, with incredibly long work hours and an unbelievable amount of learning. I eventually grew into an important role in the company’s finance team and got a first row seat in an Initial Public Offering process and then the acquisition by eBay in late 2002.  This learning and exposure set me far ahead of my peers in similar roles, and really launched my professional finance career.

Professional Life Lesson #3: Take Calculated Risks Early in Your Career

I made the decision to leave Stanford and work for Confinity at a time when my downside risk was really quite limited. As you get older and advance in your career, it becomes harder to take risks like this because you have more responsibility: family, financial commitments, as well as other things that start to constrain your alternatives.

I met and worked with an incredible group of people at PayPal, many of which went on to create globally important companies after they left. I feel honored to have been a part of that group at that time, and many of us still collaborate on business projects to this day. Through this network I have been exposed to some amazing ideas and given opportunities to work on projects and companies that are literally changing the world. Remember that CEO who liked my summer reading list? That was Peter Thiel, who is now a global iconoclast and one of the most successful venture capitalists of our day. Peter has been an important mentor to me and has had a major impact on my life and career. He is the one who, after seeing what I had learned and contributed in those early years at PayPal, eventually offered me my first role as a Chief Financial Officer (at Palantir Technologies).

Professional Life Lesson #4: Don’t Over-Plan Your Career Path.

You really don’t know what opportunities are going to be presented to you, at what times, and who will present them. If you over-plan your career you may miss out on unexpected opportunities that cross your path, instead of recognizing when you are in the right place at the right time and seizing them.

The post These 4 Lessons Propelled Me from Thiel Recruit to VC Fund Founder appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I had two internships in my college career in large offices. In that environment, it’s easy to avoid the people you don’t mesh with. However, I have been working for a company for the past 7 months in their small office in Queens, NY. When I say small, I’m talking three desks small.

This office functions solely for the purposes of air and ocean imports and exports. The office is generally quiet unless we all agree to a radio station or we chat about our weekend or plans for the night. I work directly with one other co-worker—we’ll call him Jim. Our jobs overlap and it’s a conveyor belt operation for the most part. The other individual in our office—say, Bill—works in sales. He was placed in our office due to the convenience of Manhattan being a quick subway ride away. Bill, however, creates a remarkable amount of office tension and passive aggressive behavior for one person.

On any given day I can walk into the office and be greeted with a “Good Morning!” or silence from Bill. It’s really a box of chocolates: never know what you’re going to get with this guy. After a while though, this becomes exhausting. Furthermore, as mentioned before, my job overlaps with Jim’s, and it is completely separate from that of Bill’s. So remaining professional and not losing my cool when Bill feels the need to chime in as though he knows how to do Jim or my job better than we can, or when he doesn’t give anyone a heads up about his sales meeting and shows up to the office at 2pm, or my favorite, when he complains there’s no coffee made as if I’m his barista. It truly tests one’s self-control.

So how does one refrain from their human instinct in such situations and remain professional?

Don’t Pounce!

As much as I would like to launch myself at Bill when he drops a passive aggressive comment, it would get me nowhere but in the unemployment line. Keep your cool and let their comments/body language roll off your back and remain focused on the job at hand.

We Have Two Ears and One Mouth For A Reason

Listen more than you speak, this way two things will happen; A) this office pain grows bored because you refuse to feed into his or her comments. B) You take in what they say and spit out something more professional, intelligent, and better thought out than their snide comment and leave them feeling like a stick in the mud by your verbiage alone. Additionally, do not under ANY circumstances gossip about this person in the office. It will come back to you.

When it Becomes Too Much

When you find yourself not wanting to show up to work because of a co-worker or you get anxiety in their presence, it may be time to talk to higher-up management. In this situation, one must approach the situation like a lawyer. Be professional, use your words efficiently and be direct.  Don’t do this person any favors by sugar coating their poor behavior. Remember that this talk with management not only reflects on the person but also reflects on your character and ability to deal with office tension.

Never allow yourself or your work to suffer because of a toxic co-worker. See if it’s possible to have this person removed from your office or your floor. If you report to this person, see if you can remove yourself from the situation and be assigned a new manager or position. There is always a way to change your situation for the better, you just have to look for it.

The post How to Tango With a Toxic Co-Worker appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Nearly every high school senior feels the pressure when choosing a major. You barely know how to make your own bed, and every application you fill out asks you to decide a major. You want me to do what? Decide now what I will do for the remainder of my life? How am I supposed to know that? If you weren’t lucky enough to know exactly what you wanted out of life at the age of 17, like me, don’t worry—it’ll work out. All I knew was this: I could write. I told myself “Start off with what you’re good at, major in Journalism, and then take your core classes–if something changes or if something sparks, change it.”

Fast forward to junior year of college, the toughest semester of my life, I lost my big brother 10 days before his 28th birthday. To keep my sanity through many low moments, I’d volunteer locally, in and around Atlanta. I quickly developed a love for helping others and a new appreciation for humanitarianism. Just four months after his passing, and only one more year left until graduation, I received an email from Colleen Perry, GSU’s Director of Career Services. The email said that CARE USA Atlanta headquarters were looking for a PR/Communications Intern, and that they were located right around the corner from campus.

I immediately began to do research on the CARE organization. Almost instantly, I fell in love. They were a very unique NGO. When you think of nonprofits that focus on global aid, you typically just think of care packages being dropped from helicopters, the helicopters fly away, then, eventually, the contents of that package runs out and the people need help again. CARE grabbed my attention because they dispelled that stereotype for me. CARE doesn’t give their recipients/beneficiaries a handout; they give them a hand-up—BIG difference. CARE provides lasting change by providing communities with not only tools, but knowledge on how to sustain their wellbeing even when CARE isn’t around. For example, to combat gender-based violence, CARE doesn’t merely council battered women; they hold workshops for men in communities where GBV is very prevalent and teach those men values that they were probably never taught before. Ultimately, CARE’s goal is to be out of business one day. I loved this idea. I loved this concept. So I immediately applied for the internship. On that day, my best friend was 10 minutes away from the library, on her way to pick me up for lunch. I stalled her and wrote the fastest, but most heartfelt cover letter I’ve ever written in my life. I quickly revised my resume, and sent my package off to Nicole Harris. My goal was to be the very first applicant, and I’m almost 100% sure I achieved that.

A few weeks later, I received an email from Nicole—I was elated. She asked when I would be graduating and I informed her that I would be graduating in December at the end of the year. After that, she asked if I would be available to come in for an interview, and I immediately responded “Yes!” I chose the first available day she had and showed up to the interview 15 minutes early.

The moment I walked into CARE, I knew that it was where I belonged. The lobby was filled with heart-wrenching pictures and for a visual person like me—that’s all it took. I sat down in the interview with Nicole, I immediately felt comfortable because she was a fellow New Yorker. I was very transparent. I told her my strengths, my weaknesses, I told her about hard times and good times. I walked out of the interview feeling good to have talked to such a warm person, I didn’t know if I had gotten the internship or not, but I just knew I was happy to even be in CARE’s building.

About a week later I was taking a nap in between classes and my phone began to ring. I didn’t recognize the number but I answered anyway—still sleeping a little bit. “Hello? It’s Nicole from CARE. I was just calling to let you know we’re going to offer you the internship.” Oh, needless to say, I was wide awake by then! I was so excited! After being in college for so long, I finally felt like I would get the real experience I needed to jumpstart my career, and to top it off, at CARE!

I remember when I first told Nicole why I wanted to work there, she worried that I would get bored, because I would be doing media measurement, and not field-work. Honestly, I worried a little bit too, and in the beginning, it was a little hard to come into work and measure media, but something happened after a couple of months at CARE. I began to obsess over metrics and media measurement. I began to realize how vital it was for a PR/Communications department. I could now talk the media measurement language, and even knew why PR people need to stay away from counting impressions, LOL.

When I was a junior in college, I made a goal to read the news more, and my internship indirectly helped me fulfill this goal. Now I read dozens of news stories a day. It’s my last semester of college, and I’ve learned more at CARE in 8 months than I have learned about Journalism/Communications in 6 years. All my teachers tell students in my class to come to me with any media measurement/metrics questions. I’ve even dubbed myself the “Princess of Metrics” (Queen was taken), and take pride in my knowledge of this sector of PR. And guess what? Media analytics as a career, is a newborn baby in PR and I can actually be a pioneer.

My professor told me that I’m the first student she’s ever met that has been interested (obsessed) with this part of PR. To think we thought I’d be bored. I have Nicole and CARE to thanks for helping me find what I was looking for on that very day, all those years ago, when I was a 17 year old girl with no answers, just trying to make it through my college applications.

Because of CARE I have become an advocate for data-driven decision-making, and now I am constantly saying nerdy things like, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure!” Because of Nicole, I know how to search for journalists and pitch stories to them…I can even write a press release! She has taught me all of these things a semester early, so now I’m breezing through my last semester of college. When my internship is over, I will confidently enter the job market, because I found my niche. I love it. I’m nurturing it. I say all this to say, don’t be nervous. Pick what you’re good at, and something will spark—trust me!

 About the Author

Chrystine Fox is a Brand and Communications Intern at CARE–one of the world’s leading international humanitarian agencies. She recently graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a focus in PR. Aside from her obsession with PR and media metrics, Chrystine enjoys hanging out with her daughter Bailey Sky, singing, and shopping! You can follow her on twitter @Cfox12 or check out her website at www.chrystinefoxpr.com.

The post How I found my niche (after several years in college) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Back in January 2014, my fellow classmates and I were faced with a daunting task. On top of our portfolio classes, senior projects, electives and an Advanced Multimedia class (where we had to teach ourselves a programming language we were never taught before), we had to find, interview and secure an internship before April.

Of course, we had the help of our career services department, but I didn’t rely on them. I like to reference the saying, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” But, I also like to advise, “know when to ask for help,” and “don’t be afraid of feedback.” I loved my career adviser. She helped me out so much by reviewing my resume, giving me internship leads, reviewing my cover letters and checking in on me. I was in her office at least 4 times a week during this time.

I am not the type of person to solely rely on one resource. While others waited and expected their career advisers to do everything for them, I was searching the internet looking for my own leads on internships. I wasn’t going to be the one without an internship. The one who didn’t graduate.

I looked through the internship postings and found a couple good ones in my area. I always jump on any opportunity I can find, so I signed up right away and applied to the listings I saw. I had signed up on other websites and applied on them as well, but no one ever responded to me. Even after I sent follow-up emails or calls: no response.

Within a few days, I got a response in my email from the Chief Technology Officer of an advertising company. He wanted to schedule a phone interview with me. I was excited! I finally had a breakthrough. After the phone interview, came the in-person interview. I went to the office and was amazed of how beautiful it was. Everything and everyone looked like they belonged in a magazine.

A half hour later, I secured the internship and was the future Digital Services Intern for Elias/Savion. I was also the first one in my class to secure an internship. I had a great time there, but that is another story for another post.

WayUp is filled with real, legitimate internship and job offers. There are real people posting them and real people responding to them. But, the thing is, you have to make use of it. No one is going to do it for you. But, ask for help when needed. If you don’t know how to word a cover letter, ask for help. If you’re not sure if your resume is in tip-top shape, ask for feedback. You’ll be glad you did!

The post How I Launched My Career as a Software Engineer appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Buying a gift for someone you don’t know well

Giving anything that could be deemed inappropriate

The post Gift Giving in the Office: Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So you finally got the job… congrats! You’ll be so excited to get started, and will have so much to learn about your company, position, and industry. However, one thing that’s often forgotten when starting a new job is office safety. Ugh, the boring stuff, right?

It doesn’t have to be boring, especially if you’re Michael Scott, fictional, self-proclaimed “World’s Best Boss” from the hit NBC Show, The Office. Katherman Briggs & Greenberg put together the infographic below, which takes a humorous look at office safety. In addition to all the laughs, it does have a lot of great advice.

You’re Not As Safe As You Think  You Are

The top ten most dangerous jobs in America are:

1. logging workers
2. fishermen
3. pilots
4. roofers
5. truck drivers
6. refuse material collectors
7. structural iron/steel workers
8. farmers/ranchers
9. construction workers
10. electrical power-line workers

You may think that you’re safe if you have a office job where you sit at your computer all day, but that’s not completely true. The top ten most common workplace injuries occur because of:

1. lifting
2. slips
3. stress
4. muscle strains
5. workplace violence
6. toppling objects
7. tendon injury
8. carpal tunnel
9. hazardous materials
10. trips/falls

More than likely, you’re going to go into your new job without thinking about any of those things. Sure, you’d be aware of the proper techniques if you were doing hard labor that had you lifting every day. The real chance for injury is when your co-worker says “Hey, can you grab that old printer and put it on top of this bookshelf?” Many people have thrown out their back doing similar activities, which is exactly what you don’t want to do during your first week (or anytime, really).

How to Stay Safe

The main thing you can do to stay safe in the office is to be aware. Stay alert, especially when walking through the office, as you never know when someone may have spilled their coffee or mindlessly let their coat fall on the floor in the walkway. If you’re reading a report while walking briskly to the conference room, you’re putting yourself and others around you at risk.

Just sitting at your computer all day isn’t the answer either. Looking at a screen all day can have serious effects on your eyeballs. Try the 20-20-20 rule. It states that to reduce the risk of straining your eyes, every 20 minutes you need to gaze 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. You’ll save yourself a headache, and can use the time to think about what you’re doing next.

As for the lifting, always ask for help. Don’t be the macho guy, even if you want to impress the cute receptionist. It won’t be impressive to be hobbling around on crutches for a week after you fall.

An added bonus of taking safety seriously is that your boss might notice as well. If you care enough about the company to keep everyone safe, you’re probably a keeper.

It’s nice to have a little bit of fun with office safety, and this infographic is pretty humorous. It also gives some great tips on how you can stay safe at your first job.

The post Michael Scott’s Guide to Surviving Your 9 – 5 [Infographic] appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Ellen Huerta was keenly aware that she had most people’s dream job, if not life, as a recent college grad living in San Francisco working for Google. But something wasn’t right. She’d gone from an honor-roll high school student to an award winning college student to landing a coveted internship and then job. Everything in her life had propelled her towards getting (and liking) her career at Google.

But after a few years (and one large promotion), Ellen still didn’t feel truly happy. She had the nagging sense that if she stayed she would regret it later on, or feel unfulfilled because she’d been too scared to take a chance. So she left. Read the full story on Ellen’s decision to leave Google, and what came after here.

The post Breaking up with Google appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

1. Dress to impress!

Show up looking clean, like you made an effort to look your best when you got up that morning, no matter what side of the bed you woke up on. Even something as simple as putting on an ironed shirt—emphasis here on IRONED—can send the message to your coworkers and supervisors that you respect the company you work for enough to know that your general appearance reflects the company’s image. Even if you work for a startup or for a company where rules are relaxed and the average age is fairly young—showing up with a polished look tells others, from the moment you walk in, that you are a professional and that you care about what you do. Whatever you say and do after that first impression is up to you!

2. Be on time.

Personally, I hate the feeling of being late…and unfortunately, I know it all too well. No one wants to be the one person the rest of the office is waiting on for a meeting to start—or worse, walking into the meeting late after it has already begun and being called out on your tardiness. It’s just not good for you, your office reputation, or your company’s image when you’re late to a meeting or miss a scheduled phone call with a client. Do your best to be on time and if you cannot be on time, call and reschedule with the other party, at the very least letting them know that you are late. Make sure you give a realistic estimation for how late you might be so they can plan their day accordingly. Being punctual shows your loyalty to the company and client and lets them know they can depend on you for the tasks at hand. And, think about it—is the guy who’s always late going to get a raise or a promotion? Maybe if he’s absolutely exceptional, but in most cases, you need to show your employers you take your job seriously by being on time and prepared for work. So, get going and get to work already!

3. Eat.

…Is it lunch yet?

Hey, I get it. Maybe you are not a breakfast person, or every once in a while you skip lunch for a session at the gym or to pack in some extra time for a project at work, but come on—everyone gets hungry! You can’t deny that natural instinct to eat, even if you are on a diet. Make sure you take a break for a snack or to pick up a breakfast sandwich if you skipped it that morning. I know I can get cranky when I am hungry, and if you know you are the same. Do yourself and your coworkers a favor and make sure they don’t see the ravenous beast that can emerge when hunger strikes. Yikes!

4. Sleep.

Yes, I said SLEEP. You might think you can disguise your fatigue at the office with unnatural amounts of coffee or concealer, but think again. That can only work for so long for the vast majority of us. If you are not superman, you probably need to get a few more hours of sleep, which might be easier said than done, but what’s really keeping you from those extra hours? Maybe you really do have a lot of work and have trouble balancing that with the grocery stops and seeing friends and family, but we can all make a little time to sleep. Make a list of the things you need to get done for the day or the week and then number the items from most to least important. This will help you figure out what is critical to finish that day, helping you to prioritize and make sure you get that extra shut-eye!

5. Exercise.

Yes, when you exercise your body, you are improving your office image, too. Hey, I’m not being vain here. A lot of office jobs keep people confined to their office chairs for most if not all of their 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 jobs. ATTENTION: this is NOT a normal way to live if you are not exercising. Figure out what you like to do—run, exercise at a gym, dance, stand-up paddle board—hey, you decide! Just like when you were younger, exercise is still just as important and when you exercise you release endorphins in your brain that make you feel happier. The time you spend exercising allows you to take a break for yourself, clearing your mind and leaving you fresh for whatever else the day throws at you.

Essentially, office image is more than simply wearing the right clothes. It’s about respecting your body and your mind so you can show up to work ready to do your job to the best of your ability. How can you possibly meet your professional goals if you cannot take care of yourself? Admit it. It’s hard to finish a project when you are thinking about sleep, or food, or how uncomfortable you are from sitting in a chair for hours on end. Now is the time to take charge of your professional life, by taking personal care for yourself.

The post 5 Ways to Improve Your Office Image appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Christopher Dela Cruz for Contributor Platform. 

Courage. Persistence. Hard Work.

The Entertainment Industry is brutal to say the least. Full of “No’s,” some “Maybe’s” and that occasionally “Yes.” So what are you willing to put on the line to get to where you want? Taking risks requires making sacrifices and that is not so easy to do when it comes down to it. You sacrifice sleep, time, and even money, but are all the sacrifices worth the risk?

Many people move to the city and say, “I’m going to make it in the industry” but what is “the industry” you want to make it in? The first thing to do is decide what being in the industry means to you and then determine what the right sacrifices are.

Growing up I was told that I would have to make sacrifices in my life and learn to prioritize, but as time went on I quickly learned there was a fine line between making a sacrifice and making the right sacrifice. So what is the difference? That is the task that each individual needs to make in order to customize their sacrifices according to what they want and what career path they are trying to take.

In college I thought that I was a responsible adult that could make my own decisions. Little did I know the trial and error process I would endure on my journey. If there was something that I wish I’d had better guidance in it would be learning to make the right sacrifices. Having built my reputation in the entertainment business and fashion industry I know that sacrifices are always being made. Numerous industry professionals told me this, but they were always vague in telling me who or what to sacrifice.

Relationships, spontaneous trips to Vegas, the weekly Taco Tuesday – these were all things I did not want to give up during college. All my friends were doing them and I didn’t want to miss out. Every week I would somehow find a way to convince myself that participating in these events was a smart decision. Not only was I wasting money, but energy and time as well. I look back at these moments and although I had  fun, I wish I had not attended all the functions I did and instead stayed home now and then to focus on my career.

The biggest advice I can give you in making the right sacrifices is to think twice about the decisions you are about to make. Think about whether something is a necessity or a desire. Never do anything for the wrong reasons and always think twice about whether or not it will benefit you and your career. Based on that you will start to learn to making the right decisions to make the RIGHT SACRIFICES. 

The post Learning to Make the Right Sacrifices appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Most communication both during the job search and on the job will be done via email.  As such, professional email communication skills are vital to securing and keeping jobs. It’s important to effectively communicate soft skills  when crafting a professional email. You want to make sure your message is being delivered effectively and appropriately.

Emails are a way to set yourself apart from hundreds of other applicants. They can demonstrate good communication skills, professionalism, and a positive attitude. Writing professionally shows employers your ability to pay attention to detail.  How many times have you sent an email that said, “see attached” and you have forgotten the attachment? It is this failure to show attention to detail that can be a major derailment if you were trying to attach your resume to a recruiter or hiring manager.   Writing well shows your professionalism.  It can show how organized you are.  It can show your ability to communicate well.  These are soft skills that can be conveyed through a well-crafted email.

It’s important not to churn out emails so fast that you forget to proof them.  In addition to forgetting to attach documents, you could make embarrassing spelling and grammatical mistakes.  The whole “to” vs “too”, “your” vs “you’re”, and “their” vs “there” might not seem like that big a deal to you, but to your boss or potential employer it can be a deal breaker.  Remember that spell check will find misspelled words but it won’t catch typos such as Dear “Hiring Manager” when addressing a Hiring Manager in a cover letter.

Many of the other issues that can cause unneeded stress can be controlled if one just slows down and pays attention to detail.  Make sure the attachment is the correct attachment. Don’t send a cut off message by hitting “Send” before you’ve completed the email.  Don’t be that person that hits “Reply All” and sends your email to the whole company.

One should also understand the professional email is not your place to show your creativity. Don’t use an unprofessional email address such as an addresses that contains nicknames, numbers, or your birthday (why would you want to share that information in the first place in the professional environment?) Avoid typing messages in ALL CAPS.  Stick with a professional font and color. The use of emoticons is fine if you’re texting your BFF but not if you’re emailing your boss or coworker.

These are just a few tips to avoid the most common email mistakes.  The biggest takeaway is: slow down and proof read before hitting “send.”  Remember, email is the most common form of professional communication.   You don’t want to give a bad impression to the person you’re sending it to. Plus, it’s permanent.  Never send angry, gossipy, or threatening emails. An email’s eventual use is out of your control once you hit “send.”

The post Everything You Need to Know About Professional Email Communication appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Entry-level jobs in entertainment, or really in any industry, help you understand the nitty-gritty bits of daily life in that job. How you fare in the entry-level stage will often be a good indicator of whether or not you move forward in that same industry.

Countless folks of all ages migrate to LA each year with hopes of landing a job in “the industry.” But many are poorly equipped (skill/knowledge-wise) to compete with candidates who are already here in the area. Over the next couple of weeks, I want to share with you, from a both a Production and Recruiting perspective: a day in the life of an entry level job in film/TV, etc, things you can do to gain an advantage BEFORE  you move (or before you graduate), skills you should learn and add to your resume as soon as possible, and the benefits and negative bits of attending an arts school/graduate program.

This time around, let’s look at what a standard day at the office looks like when you’re the new kid on the block…

A large part of what determines your schedule and your list of responsibilities is the specific area of entertainment you get that PA job in (TV, Film, Animation, Reality TV, Assistant to a celeb in the industry) and where you operate out of (if you’re on-set on location, in a trailer on location, or at a fixed office or soundstage).

Generally speaking, all entry level jobs are some variation of an Assistant position. Some are more administrative in nature, while others are basically poorly paid chauffeurs. Because every job is slightly different, it is impossible to tell you exactly what you can expect from your first job in Los Angeles. I can, however share my own personal experience. So just to give you an idea, here’s what my first job as a Production Office Assistant at DreamWorks Animation looked like. (Notice that instead of writing the same thing multiple times throughout the day, some time frames overlap to indicate ongoing duties…).

8:30am  

Arrive and run to the commissary to get free breakfast! Pick up extra tid-bits in case Producer types want snacks later and/or breakfast is empty when they arrive. Then call IT and make sure all requested conference lines, projectors, online access requests for the day are in order.

8:45am

Print Schedules for the Directors, Producer types et al and tape them to their doors.

8:50am

Prepare main conference area for 9am meeting with Production Coordinator.

9am-6:30pm

Field all calls to the Directors (2) and VFX Supervisor, take messages and email to respective boss, provide additional coverage for main office phone lines, coordinate with Producer’s Assistant for office phone coverage during lunch and breaks, schedule upcoming full production staff meetings with Production Coordinator, run post-it notes into meetings with urgent questions, make sure all visiting artist have confirmed drive-on passes with security, order/pick up coffee or delegate coffee run to another PA, provide backup support to Executive Producer’s Assistant, help coordinate domestic and international travel and expense reports as needed, help Story and Editorial pin storyboards for meetings as needed, help prepare meeting spaces throughout the day, maintain VFX Supervisor’s daily calendar and report to her on possible conflicts throughout the day.

10am

Confirm lunch orders if we are ordering in. Make sure lunches are ordered by 10:30am for 12:30pm delivery and 1pm set up.

12:30pm

Pick up lunch delivery from the front gate and set it up in the office or in the conference area if Directors and Producer types are having a “working lunch.”

5:30-6:30pm

Take “finalized” schedule to Producers to sign off after it is completed by the Production Coordinator. Run additional drafts and notes back and forth.

6:30pm

Take Directors finalized schedules for tomorrow, in Editorial or their offices. Make sure to email them a soft copy as well.

6:30/7pm

Leave the studio. Sit in traffic. Get home around 7:30/8pm.

I would say this would be a “medium” or fairly standard day. There were many that were MUCH more stressful (particularly as you get closer to the film’s release date and final touches with every department have to be made). And there were many that were completely boring, where I literally had NOTHING to do between 11am and 5pm. It really is a game of “hurry up and wait” most of the time.

And I know that live action gigs tend to be much longer hours when they are filming. And Editorial (in whatever field) is pretty much ALWAYS busy and stays later than everyone else.

It can be absolutely fulfilling and exciting at first, but after a bit it’s a JOB, just like anything else. Hopefully a job you enjoy most of the time, but still a job that has to be done. At this stage in the game, you don’t have much power to negotiate in terms of hours or salary, but you learn a TON. It’s like a low-paid externship/training program. And that’s if you skip the mail room. All written out, it may not look like much. But most of the time, it’s plenty to keep you busy for 10-14 hours a day!

I intentionally used verbage that is common for an administrative job in the entertainment industry. If any of these descriptions seem unfamiliar – try looking them up, and add to your wealth of growing entertainment knowledge!

The post 10 Hours in the Life of a PA at DreamWorks Animation appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

With the growth of social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it’s become easier than ever to share your life with the World Wide Web. From where you work to what you ate for dinner last Tuesday night, the details of your life as you post them to these sites are available to the internet community. But what does this mean for your job and your career?

If you’re working in a field where confidentiality is key, namely the health or education fields, there are many facets of your work that you shouldn’t share on the internet so as to protect the privacy or well-being of your clients, patients, or students. Even if you don’t work within these fields, there are certain aspects of your job and career that are best left off of the internet, such as company policies or confidential projects and information.

To best secure the privacy of your customers and to best protect your company, here are some do’s and don’ts for how to manage job confidentiality in our over-sharing, social media world.

DO ask your employers if they have a confidentiality policy and what it entails.

Read it thoroughly so that you understand where the boundaries are, and ask questions if something seems unclear or contradictory.

DON’T use names of clients or patients online or offline without permission.

Instances of a client’s or patient’s name written on the internet can be found with a Google search and connected back to that person. Your patient or client is entitled to their privacy and should know and have given permission to have their name used in connection with you.

DO speak about your job/clients/patients in generalizations rather than specifics.

A good rule of thumb to follow is that any story told should not be able to be directly or quickly linked to the company or person you are discussing. Much like using names, generalizations in this aspect keep the privacy of your client or patient.

DON’T share funny but personal stories about your patients or clients.

Again, an outsider should not be able to identify the person you are talking about just by you telling the story.

DO consider your social media privacy settings.

Though anything on the internet has the possibility of becoming publicly seen, restricting the ease with which the public can access your updates or photos can help greatly reduce misconceptions and leaks. Caution should still be used on what you post – consider this as another protective layer.

DON’T post photos of clients or patients in a public online space without written permission.

If you are unable to defend that you have for permission, you are at risk for legal action, particularly if your pictures include minors. Photos can be a very explicit violation of a client’s or patient’s privacy if the photos are not used in approved settings.

If you’re ever in doubt about if your actions will breach job confidentiality, contact your employer with your questions to best protect the interests of your clients, your company, and yourself.

The post Job Confidentiality in a Social Media World appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You probably already know Disney (who didn’t dream of becoming a Disney princess or badass pirate when they were little?) but you might not know they have an internship program that is just as awesome as the movies you watched growing up. Whether you work at a Disney Professional Internship (spend your summer building a global brand? I mean why not) or in the Disney College Program (get paid to meet cast members from around the country and participate in unique career development classes–sure!) Disney’s internship program is an opportunity unlike any other. Click here to learn more about the specific roles and apply today!

The post Company Spotlight: Disney appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The daily grind in the office – racing to the next meeting and working your face off to nail the project. It’s a sweet relief hanging with co-worker’s for a quick chat. The company’s dinner party creeps into the conversation, and you’re suddenly questioned about the wardrobe and behavior conundrum. Company parties can feel like a Napoleon Dynamite school dance or a Napoleon Dynamite performance. (Know the difference).

1. Slashing Ambiguity.

Your first company party will be a bit ambiguous since the setting from office to venue shifts. Unfortunately, the switch-up throws little information you already know out the window…an airplane window. It’s fine, you’ll survive. Recently, I planned a big company dinner and after introductions we got to discover new sides of each other that we normally don’t share in the office.

Personal hobbies and eye-popping talents swirled it’s way around tables and minds of the party. I slowly pieced together the inner-workings of my company’s kooky culture. Understand you’re not the only nervous behaviorally-timid soul in the bunch, so simply ask your co-workers what deeply interests them. Promise, it’s an instant conversation starter, and it shows you want to know more than an email response.

2. The Drank…

Well first, in this country you must be 21 or over. And if you are, welcome to the party…the responsible party. There’s no beer pong and card sucking – Clueless style, here. Unless your job is pretty laid back, but I’d still suggest you absolutely mind your liquor intake while speaking with co-workers. When the manager angelically hovers down the staircase with a Mr. Grinch Grin presenting a tray of Fireball shots, be ready for a rush of fun. And it’s ok to say NO; it’s not hazing. Plus, people understand…so don’t be embarrassed to cheers that sparkling water!

3. Party Animal featured by the Feed

Many of you are self-efficient when making that first connection. However, maybe the other person knows a lot more of you than you realized. They bring up locations and friends you possibly know, and in your head, while of course smiling and nodding, you’re like “how in the world does this person know my life story.” Well buddy, it’s that good ol’ social media…it’s a blessing and a curse. I’m an avid user myself, and I sometimes see my Instagram followers dip and rise. Yeaaa, it’s a constant struggle, and I’m working to limit my feed bomb. Add to the conversation by stating you have a love for great people and fun. Then follow-up with a great story to close the deal and focus on the other person. As my best friend would say, “crisis averted”.

4. Keep Socializing

I think it’s about time to make those rounds, don’t you? Be mindful of the duration you spend with your safe haven group. Ya know, the table where the same humor and interests are shared. Actually that’s pretty golden to create, but shame on you if a social cult forms. Don’t exclude yourself from the party. Take your co-worker’s information and keep it movin’. The night’s goal is to touch about 85% of attendees with your charming personality. Those people will be of certain use to you in the future.

Lastly, go. Connections begin when we completely show our personalities. It is here, I believe we become closer. Bond and build a professional relationship that can become wholesomely beneficial to you.

Stay Intrigued and Keep Believing.

The post Solving the Company Party Conundrum appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Transitioning from the classroom to a full-time career can be difficult for many young professionals. It’s hard enough just getting a job in your desired career path that most can’t spare the time to worry about anything else. Once you find full-time employment, however, there’s a good chance you’ll face some culture shock when faced with the differences between life as a student and life as a career professional.

Here are ten ways you’ll have to adapt, and some tips on how you can help ease the transition.

1. From Essays & Exams To Jobs

Students have an array of assignments and tests for multiple classes. It can be a bit of a culture shock when you get your first full-time job and it involves a narrower assortment of subjects and tasks to deal with. Eventually, there’s a good chance that you’ll come to feel stuck in a rut.

Tip: Ask your boss if there’s a new type of task that you could handle. This can help you stay stimulated, gain a more diverse assortment of skills, and impress your boss with your willingness to work and evolve as an employee.

2. From Classes To Work

Your schedule as a student is flexible and constantly changing from day to day, term to term, and year to year. However, your job will have a fairly set schedule: 9:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday, for almost every week of the year—or something close enough to that.

Tip: Make sure you get plenty of sleep each night before work, or your focus and performance at work will suffer. Keep any late night outings for the weekends.

3. From Free Rein To Strict Priority

When you had a pile of assignments to finish and tests to study for, you decided what to finish first or what to focus on the most. That won’t be your call to make, not early in your career anyways. You can finish a task you thought was important, only to find out that your boss thought otherwise.

Tip: Make a list of all your given tasks to keep track, and when you’re given a new assignment just point to the list and ask your boss what your priority should be.

4. From Jeans To Suits

There might not be any expectations on you as a student when it comes to appearances—you could get away with wearing pajama bottoms and a hoodie to a lecture, with unwashed and unkempt hair. However, a much higher standard will be demanded from you at your job to be dressed and looking professional.

Tip: Look to your peers to see what dress code culture they use, and at the very least match them. If you want to build a strong reputation, take it up a notch in your dress and cleanliness.

5. From Slanguage to Language

Similar to how you look, there will be expectations on how you behave—how you speak to co-workers and clients, your body language, your manners, and so on. Being professional in this manner means being respectful at the very least, and friendly if you want to stand out.

Tip: Start being purely professional and respectful with your co-workers, and establish a working rapport with them. If you come across a casual conversation between colleagues on a topic you’re confident in, try to politely include yourself but don’t force it.

6. From Knowledge To Skills

In school, the emphasis was mostly on knowledge—gaining knowledge and then proving you have it through essays and exams. In the workplace, however, the emphasis will be on what skills you have, or what you can do. It still requires knowledge on your part, but only in terms of practical knowledge.

Tip: Many larger companies have training programs and might also sponsor outside classes you could take, ask your co-workers and bosses about them if you’re feeling out of your depth with anything.

7. From No Money To Lots

As a student, you won’t make a lot of money and what you make is used for school. It can be very exciting when you get your first paycheck from your full-time job, but it can be a distraction. You might make more money, but you’ll also have responsibilities and bills to consider, like car payments or student loans.

Tip: Make a list of your monthly expenses how much money you have left over for yourself. Consider setting a portion of that extra cash aside in every month to build up a safety net in savings.

8. From Care-Free To Responsibility

School gives you a lot of room to fail. If you miss the due date of an assignment, you only get docked a portion of the marks and can sometimes negotiate with your professor to avoid even that. You won’t have that luxury in your career, and missing deadlines will cost you a raise, a promotion, or your job.

Tip: Send a steady stream of updates to your boss about the progress you’re making. They’ll be more understanding if you let them know that you’re struggling with something as it comes up than they would if it’s too late.

9. From Your Age To All Ages

In school, your peers are all your age, but in the workplace your co-workers will be from all age groups. There will be some differences in professional and personal beliefs, practices and mannerisms. You’ll have to be understanding of this when you interact with them, or you’ll risk making a poor first impression.

Tip: During your first few months, do more asking and listening than talking. You can learn a lot from each of your co-workers, and eventually you’ll figure out how to interact with them in a friendly and respectful manner.

10. From Short-Term To Long-Term

As a student, it’s difficult to form lasting relationships, as you’ll have many different classmates and teachers in short bursts of time. In your professional life, networking is crucial to advancing your career, and the key to networking is to create strong, lasting relationships with colleagues, clients, and employers.

Tip: Every day, take a bit of time to build and maintain your network of relationships with past and present colleagues and bosses, and make sure you add all of your connections to LinkedIn!

The post 10 Adjustments Grads Must Make As Full-Time Employees appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Like all other things, there are pros and cons to working from the comfort of your own home. First, and perhaps most obviously, the commute is as minimal as it can get. A short walk down the hall is convenient and definitely good for the gas budget. You can be at ease and enjoy a more flexible schedule. Plus, office drama is at a zero.

However, it is certainly easy to become distracted or feel isolated when working from your home. Kids, pets, cleaning and a lack of face-to-face professional connection – are the things that can hinder your performance or lower your morale. If you’re one of the only ones in your company working from home, you might start to worry about getting enough one-one-one time with your boss. Will he think of you when a promotion comes up if he never sees you? Will he start to think you’re not worth keeping around if he never sees you around in the first place?

Here’s some ideas on how to have a blissful experience working from home while still impressing your boss:

Communicate well

Many tips to impress your boss require going to the office, having a professional presence and arriving early. From home, your ability to impress is based on your attitude and work ethic via phone and email. Like a person in a long distance relationship, you depend on these channels and want to use them amply.

Voice your questions and concerns openly, and get information to stay on top of what’s going on within your company. Knowledge is power, especially when you have no physical attributes like professional wear or arriving early to assert your presence. Respond to emails right away instead of putting them off to the end of the day. Offer to Skype into important meetings. Have instant messaging set up and make yourself available at all times. This is important if your boss is concerned that people who work from home spend time on the clock doing non-work activities.

Meet deadlines

Diligence and responsibility will go a long way, so you want to make sure to meet your deadlines. When your work performance is basically all that your boss sees of you – no smile, no teamwork skills – submitting things early or even on time will be remembered. Keep a calendar if you struggle with deadlines. Use automated email programs like Toutapp to stay organized and on task.

Take on more tasks

Again, your performance will speak for you, so take on tasks when asked to do so. Of course, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. But taking on more of a workload and completing it all to standard says a lot about you. If you can handle it, ask to take on more assignments.

Show your boss that you want to increase your knowledge and are hungry to learn more about your industry. If you’re in real-estate, offer to take some extra training courses. This will make you remembered as a dependable attribute to the company and someone who is going above and beyond. Your boss will see that you’re trying to improve yourself.

Stay focused

This is often tricky when working from home. Distractions can plague your work environment, so do things to overcome at-home disturbances. Separate your home and work spaces, and be clear with your family about work boundaries. They should not be disturbing you unless it’s urgent.

Be sure to develop a work schedule so that you know exactly when and for how long you can take breaks during the day. That way you don’t walk out to do laundry and return to your work duties many hours too late.

Maintaining a strict focus at home will allow you to do all of the things listed above: communicate well, meet deadlines, and complete more assignments. A distracted workplace, on the contrary, will leave you struggling to finish what’s already barely crowding your plate.

Now you can work from home and still impress your boss. Make up for your lack of physical presence by showing your boss what a diligent worker you are. You can enjoy working in your pajamas and be a star employee at the same time.

Scott Huntington is a writer and career expert who loves small business and social media. Follow him on Twitter @SMHuntington.

The post Work From Home and Still Impress Your Boss appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Working remotely: to some, these are shining words of magical freedom. To others, a reality of isolation in dark rooms brings involuntary cringing. After working remotely on and off for more than eight years, I currently work 100% with no actual “office”. Let me tell you, as with most things in life, working remotely is exactly what you make of it. However, here are some tips I’ve learned after years of struggle. Read, learn, and take what pieces of advice you can.

1. Know your sleep schedule, then set your hours. 

If you have the freedom and ability to set your own hours, then do so! Most people inherently know if they are morning people (or not).  If you wake up early and are gung-ho to start the day, then make sure you throw in the towel before it gets dark out. If you alternatively are up until 4am working, maybe you should sleep past lunch and only work during your most productive hours, even if they’re late at night. Knowing and accepting your body clock, or chronotype won’t change that much in a short amount of time, but it is key to discovering your most productive self. Even if you’re only able to shift your workday an hour or so in either direction, do it now and thank me later.

2. Set physical boundaries.

Separate your living and working areas. Don’t work from bed and try to set-up your workspace in an entirely separate room. Preferably, make sure you have a comfortable chair, a quiet place to take phone calls (away from a crying baby or barking dog) and reliable Internet. Let your family and friends know that you’re working and shouldn’t be disturbed for anything other than emergencies. Being strict with your time while working allows you to work less hours. You will be more productive and efficient!

3. Set mental boundaries.

When you sit down to work, actually work. Don’t check your social media accounts, don’t watch random youtube clips, and don’t call your friends. You can go crazy with distractions after work. While working, make sure you stick to your tasks for the day, interact with any coworkers you may have, finish projects and get through your thousands of emails that are piling up. If you set a mental boundary that work time is allocated to your professional life, you’ll be able to keep your work and personal lives much more separate.

4. Talk a walk or go on a lunch date: Get out.

You’re human, so you need to eat so make sure you stop and grab lunch. Better yet, if you have some extra time, invite a friend or coworker to join you. Stopping to take a short break and unplug during the day is one of the hardest things I deal with on a daily basis. I still haven’t perfected stopping enough to walk my dog, but it’s all about the baby steps. Maybe you do yoga or love to bike- so try that! Take advantage of your flexible schedule and make sure to engage socially or physically in the middle of your work day.

5. Stop! 

By far, this has been the hardest tip for me to master. It helps if you have a spouse or housemate who can hold you to your word, but stopping at a certain time is extremely important. Make sure to keep your work bounded by certain hours and not check your email during “off hours” if that’s an option for you. Unlike most people who go to an office, you’re creating your own “off hours”, so make sure you know when it’s time to really clock out. Not working weekends is a recent revelation that has allowed me to feel more rejuvenated when I turn-on my computer, excited to work, on those dreary Monday mornings.

The post Be Your Own Boss: 5 Tips To Best Work Remotely appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Every so often here at WayUp we like to take the time to highlight a company that is doing innovative work in their field, while simultaneously facilitating a fun and memorable work experience for employees. This week, that company is NetApp.
Who

• A $6.3 billion, Fortune 100 company, with 13,000 employees worldwide.

What

• Advanced storage and data management solutions.

Where

• Sunnyvale, California (HQ)
• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
• Waltham, Massachusetts
• Cranberry Township, Pittsburg
• Vienna, Virginia
• Vancouver, Canada
• Wichita, Kansas
• Boulder, Colorado

Highlights

• Exposure to senior management
• Fun and frequent intern events
• Real responsibility
• Great compensation
• Relaxed and collaborative work environment

Stay tuned for internship and entry-level job opportunities at NetApp!

The post Company Spotlight: NetApp appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Kristine Thomason for Contributor Platform. 

After explaining I’m a journalism major at NYU, a number of people have replied with the phrase I’d heard many times, “but journalism is dying“.  I admit, at times it is frightening to know I’m aspiring to work for an industry that is going through so much change. Many print publications are struggling and being replaced by digital alternatives, and writing is being condensed to make way for more visual content. However, my experience in the field has shown me journalism isn’t dying, but rather evolving.

After interning at both print and online publications, I’ve been able to see first hand how the two worlds diverge, and yet, at their core are still the same. Last spring I worked for Men’s Health Magazine, solely in print. I was thrown in head first with a writing assignment my first week. While I was shocked and slightly intimidated to be handed so much responsibility so quickly, I can’t imagine a better way to have learned how to handle the editorial world.

I quickly learned to juggle multiple projects while still meet my deadlines. This involved prioritizing assignments and figuring out what worked best for me to get everything done. For example, I’m not the best at writing first thing in the morning, so I focused on research or administrative work earlier in the day and saved writing for the afternoons.

While I loved working in print, as the semester was drawing to a close, I realized I wanted to explore the digital side of journalism. No, the “journalism is dying” naysayers didn’t get to me; I just wanted to see what it was like to work for an online publication. After applying to many summer internships, I accepted a position as a digital editorial intern at HGTV.com.

By the end of my first week at HGTV, it hit me – I’d done a complete 180 from my role at Men’s Health. On the most obvious level, the content I researched and wrote about was wildly different. Instead of health trends, I researched design trends. In place of fitness tips, I created clever home decorating tips. But what I found most interesting were the differences between the print and online editorial process. At Men’s Health, I’d submit a written sidebar that would then go through a series of editors before I’d hear any feedback. And this was all for a piece less than 150 words that wouldn’t appear in the magazine until months later. Yet, at HGTV, I’d write a blog post that could potentially be published that very day if my editors gave it the okay. It was fascinating to see the immediacy of an online medium.

These two internships were so different, and yet, the skills I gained from each will, without a doubt, help me in future journalism ventures. While there’s no way I could possibly condense everything I learned into a brief article, from pitching to researching to interviewing and everything in between, here are a few tips I‘ve found helpful for excelling in both print and digital editorial internships:

Do Your Research

Pour through as many articles as possible until you really have a sense of what the publication is all about. I was no expert on the latest fitness crazes for men before I interviewed at Men’s Health, but I was determined to learn as much as I possibly could about the magazine. Even after you’ve secured a job, don’t let your research stop! Continue to binge-read article after article until you’ve completely immersed yourself in that publication, and feel ready to effectively represent their brand and voice in your writing.

Find Your Voice in Their Voice

Learn to tailor your writing to the style and voice of the publication you work for. I know for writers this can be hard. It’s easy to get attached to a certain style of writing we call our own, but it’s important to adapt to the needs of the publication. This doesn’t mean you need to completely throw everything about your prose out the window; it’s all about balance. Stick to their style but also make it your own. Since finding this balance can be challenging, when you’re applying to an internship ask yourself– could I write in their style? Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, but also set yourself up for success.

Keep Your Eyes Open

No, I’m not referring to staying awake on the job. What I mean is be aware of the world around you, always. I’ve had so many writing teachers challenge our class to refrain from shoving headphones into our ears when we walk around the city. Instead, they encouraged us to pay attention to our surroundings. As a journalist, inspiration for an article can come from anywhere. But if you have your head down and mind closed, you could miss out on an idea for a truly great story.

Live What You Write

Find ways to live the brand your work for. For example, while I may not be a man, I did begin to embrace more fitness and healthy eating practices while working at Men’s Health. I even made a point to work out with more of my guy friends, for a different perspective on my usual fitness regime. During my summer at HGTV, I tried to make time for creative ventures, like working on decorating projects in my apartment. A lot of this will happen naturally, but whether it’s conscious or not, embracing different aspects of the publication will really help cater your writing to that world. You become enmeshed in the culture and consequently feel like you have a lot more authority to write about the topics.

Get to Know Your Colleagues

Last but not least, be social! Writing is a notoriously lonely occupation, but the beauty of interning for a publication vs. freelancing or working on a personal novel is there are people all around you! Get to know them. Chat with your editors, have lunch with other interns, and even reach out to colleagues in different departments. Your coworkers will most likely be very receptive and more than willing to give you solid advice. Since the journalism world is all about connections, it’s key to maintain these relationships after your internship is over.

I’ve loved every minute of both my print and online experiences. Journalism is a fast paced world that’s constantly changing to meet the demands of modern readers. While at times, it can be scary to know the journalism world will be different by the time I graduate, it’s also exciting to be entering an evolving industry. So if you love to write, do it. Whether it’s news on fitness trends, the latest kitchen appliances, political issues or late breaking news, there will always be stories to tell and a need for people to share those stories with the world.

About the Author:

Kristine Thomason is a senior at NYU studying Journalism and Psychology. She’s also a foodie, arts and culture lover, runner, and overall curious seeker of stories. Kristine has known she wanted to be a writer since she was 11 years old, and knew she wanted to be a professional journalist after writing her first non-fiction book From Senior to Senior during her senior year of High School. She is currently freelancing and will be working for Fitness Magazine this fall where she will be writing for both their digital and print platforms.  Read more of Kristine’s work at kristinethomason.wordpress.com.

The post From Print To Digital: How To Succeed In The Editorial World appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s very natural to get close to people you work with. You spend most of your time at work, so it makes sense to become friends and start inviting co-workers to gatherings outside the office. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you do have to keep in mind a few things.

1. Be aware of events with alcohol

Assuming you are at least 21, Happy Hours are a popular activity, particularly after a long week, or during a mid-week break. However, you have to be careful on how you conduct yourself, regardless if you’re not on the clock. People will always judge you, no matter the venue, so make sure you don’t drink too much and act outrageously, blurting regrettable statements like, “isn’t our boss so uptight?” or “geez, I can’t wait to leave this job”. If you are young, you don’t want to give others any reason to not take you seriously. Enjoy your time with co-workers and engage in fun conversation, but be aware of your alcohol consumption. You don’t want to look like a fool.

2. Try Not to Alienate Others

At times, the workplace can be like High School. Everyone forms their own cliques based on similar interests. However, be careful not to alienate certain co-workers from outside work events. People who aren’t included may feel left out which could cause tension and an uncomfortable environment in the workplace. I’m not suggesting you have to invite everyone all the time. However, I would be conscious of who you are leaving out and under what circumstances. For example, if you are going to a concert you may want to invite your close co-worker friends, but if you are going out to lunch or going for a walk after work, what’s the harm in offering others to join you? It gets a little bit tricky when it’s with a supervisor. They may not be able to objectively reward or punish you and some acts might be seen as favoritism by others. This could create some awkwardness at work too. Also, if two co-workers are of the opposite sex, it’s always a good idea to have a 3^rd person join to negate any office gossip of “romantic interests”.

3. Avoid Office Gossip

You might feel more relaxed and trusting with certain people, but you should always be alert. Don’t indulge in office gossip, since it can only lead to trouble. A good rule of thumb I typically use is any work related topics are off the table. This way, you’ll be focusing on enjoying people’s company rather than discussing the latest gossip in the office. You don’t want to get involved in a “He Said, She Said” battle.

4. Have Fun!

Bonding with co-workers after-hours is a great way to understand each other and form lasting relationships. As long as you keep the points above in mind, have fun networking! Some of my closest friends I met through work. After we all moved on to other companies we still maintain our friendships. These friends can be great listeners when facing work challenges because they can relate. Former co-workers and supervisors can provide great insight and perspective as well.

At the end of the day try to keep an inclusive mindset, be conscious of your surroundings, and most importantly, have fun!

The post Best Tips To Hanging With Co-Workers (Off the Clock) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This contributor’s post is written by Rochelle March, EDF Climate Corps fellow at Dunkin’ Brands

I remember visiting a college friend in Switzerland after my first undergraduate year, where we mutually declared, “I just want more skills!” At the time, I still had three more years of undergrad left, a couple years of work experience ahead of me, plus three more years of pursuing two masters’ degrees to acquire all these untold skills I felt sure I needed.

Well, looking back, I think my friend and I had the right idea.

This summer, I am an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps fellow working at the donut headquarters of Dunkin’ Brands, where I call upon a lot of skills, some of which I never thought would come in handy.

First of all, the application for EDF Climate Corps called for a wide range of skills. Not only were former test scores, syllabi and technical writing samples required, but also long and short answer responses to gauge the intent of candidates. I employed my writing and grammar skills, honed through long nights of writing papers and critiques from grammar-policing relatives, to write sound pieces of why I wanted to be an EDF Climate Corps fellow.

The Skype interview with EDF  consisted of an array of scenario-based questions, interpreting charts and graphs, answering technical business questions, and a detailed walkthrough of my resume. It was in one word, tough. However, I had done so many presentations in graduate school, answering questions on the spot came easily. Also, going through art critiques in my undergraduate studio classes, where I pursued an individualized degree in landscape architecture, conditioned me to handle scrutiny and to respond creatively. In the end, I got the job.

The EDF Climate Corps training week in Chicago was a great experience where I met other fellows and listened to lectures from energy efficiency experts. There also was a pitch competition on the last day, where participants had one minute to pitch an innovative technology idea to a large group. One of my favorite classes in college was an advanced poetry workshop. Channeling my inner Updike, I wrote a limerick poem for the competition about demand response. Not only did it captivate the crowd intellectually, but it engaged them creatively as well. I won.

While at Dunkin’ Brands, I am helping to roll out a new green building codes project that requires a ton of different skills, and I love it. When I’m not crunching numbers and researching energy efficient construction, I am creating content for their communications platform or developing an employee engagement sustainability strategy.

Although I work with a team, collectively replete with skills, it sure helps to have a variety of skill my own or, at least, have enough to understand where my team members are coming from.  Tackling the technical and business aspects of the project is very satisfying, but perhaps even more fulfilling, is realizing there is a place for all these other skills I’ve developed over the years—like graphic design, psychology, foreign language skills and, dare I say it, poetry.

Acquiring a variety of skill sets has only helped my career grow as I try to solve the often multi-faceted and interdisciplinary challenges inherent in sustainability issues. If I were to tell a newcomer to the sustainability field what skills they should have, I’d say as many as you can! There is the foundation of business, scientific, and technical knowledge that every sustainability professional should probably know, but the field is growing into so many diverse and applicable subsets so there will be place for everyone to play to their individual strengths.

The post What Skills Do You Need to Work in Sustainability? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This should be a no-brainer, but it needs to be said: work is not school.

It should, in fact, be much more enjoyable! This is your opportunity to decide to embark on a career path that matches your interests and aligns with your skills. You literally will have the whole world as your oyster, the hard (but exciting) part is to discover which direction you’re first going to dive-in.

One thing to keep in mind is that unlike in college where your classes will probably pertain directly to your major, in the real world no one separates job positions with employers. Keep in mind that some positions can be a great fit, but they may not be at the type of company where you’d be proud to be employed. Or on the flipside, your employer is wonderful, but the position you’ve just scored is anything but what you want to be doing for 40+ hours every week. Try to find a good fit in both the specific position and the company.

Although you’ll be expected to be an independent and productive employee, you aren’t expected to come in on day #1 knowing everything. You’re expected to run into problems, ask many questions, and you should be on the lookout for a mentor. Although you won’t have a career or academic adviser at your fingertips anymore, you can and should have supervisors or older peers with whom you can build a trusting relationship. Once you feel on comfortable ground, they can become your mentor(s) and professional role model. No one wants to babysit fresh out of college employees, but your boss should be very aware of the fact that this may be your first full-time position and will take steps to acclimate you to the 9-5 work environment.

Lastly, you should not be still be pulling all-nighters. Make sure to keep a work/life balance by having an end to your workday.  This is very difficult to maintain with the prevalence of 24/7 connectivity to media; however, I highly recommend turning your phone off or on sleep mode when you head home. This way, you’re not getting emails from your boss at the wee hours of the night. Remember, this is now your job and you’re not in school – enjoy the benefit of not having homework and looming finals to study for – so work to put up appropriate boundaries in order to enjoy your free time.

The post Remember, Work Is NOT School appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Quite possibly one of the most difficult things to do in your professional career is to change careers.  It’s been said a person changes careers an average of 3 times in his or her lifetime.   This may be by choice, often time it’s not, but nevertheless, navigating the difficult road on how to do so can be tricky.  I will discuss some of the best practices that I have found helpful in my own experience and in my client’s.

1. Take inventory

What are you good at? What resonates with you? What are you passionate about? These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself when deciding how you want to move forward.  Think back on the times in your previous professional experience when you felt most fulfilled.  What was it exactly about what you did that you liked?  Maybe it was not even part of your job but you did it anyway because you liked doing it.  You found it rewarding.  You felt fulfilled doing it and you were happy to do it despite it not being part of your job description. In short, what would be the one thing you would do for free if you could? Therein lies your sleeping passion waiting to be brought to life.

2. Positioning

It’s a good rule of thumb to have at least 6 months of salary saved up when you’re in the job search. This is even more important when you are transitioning careers.  Because you are transitioning into a new industry, in most cases it is going to take more time to develop the necessary connections and resources.  Before you enter into the unknowing job search, ask yourself these pivotal questions: Are you in a place in your life where you can make this kind of move?  Do you have the resources you need? If you don’t, what do you need to do to get the resources you need or to get to a place you need to be?

3. Network

Follow the age-old adage said by Robert Kiyosaki, “The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work”.  Essentially, the more people who know you, the better.   Of course you would want to tap into your own personal network which includes friends, family, and connections you have made professionally thus far, but you also want to get out there and make new connections, as many as possible.  People can’t help you if they don’t know what you’re trying to do; one of the best ways to get help is to offer your help without asking anything in return.  Others are more willing to help those who have helped them in the past.

4. Just do it

Volunteering can be a great way to bridge the gap of having no experience in a particular discipline or industry. Getting out there and just doing it, learning about it, and gaining valuable experience is a great way to know if the transition is right for you. For example, if you want to get into the graphic design industry, start volunteering your time shadowing a graphic designer at a non-profit.  You will both gain the experience and make contacts in that industry.

These are just a few things to consider before making the jump into a new career.  Above all, you must come to terms if transitioning is the right move for you. Use the resources available to you. Because in the end, doing something you love to do is the difference between “you have to get up and go to work” and “you want to get up and go to work”.

-Andrew R. Ko

The post 4 Best Steps To Transitioning Careers appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Working 8 straight hours can be tiring, especially for the young people in the room who love sleeping in and mixing homework time with impromptu frisbee games. A corporate schedule is far different than a college schedule.

These 5 tips (brought to you from the voice of experience) can give you a leg up and boost your energy on that first day:

1. Bring a mug

There’s something about the hum of florescent lights that lulls you straight to sleep. But if the caffeine scene isn’t for you, then try to…

2. Stand up!

A growing movement of research is showing how bad sitting is for health. And personally, sitting in a desk chair feels too much like sitting in a recliner. I start nodding off after a while. So give standing a try. From cardboard boxes to stackable letter trays (like myself), you can finagle yourself your own standing desk, like these creative folks. You’ll be the coolest, most actively-working person in the office.

3. Take breaks

In college, breaks are a natural part of life. Class only lasts so long and then it’s off to the next item in your day. But in a corporate atmosphere, you’re there. All day long. The first couple days of my internship I caught myself without looking away from my computer for hours. And despite our generation’s love for binge-watching on Netflix , this is not smart. Boost your productivity by giving yourself power breaks. Use the restroom. Pick up something at the printer. Fill up your water bottle. By creating useful breaks here and there, you can maintain productivity and sanity.

4. Sleep when everyone else sleeps.

Yes. That’s right. Go to bed before midnight. That 7 AM alarm is gonna sound really ugly if you stick to your nocturnal-college schedule where the early morning hours consisted of Breaking Bad and cookie dough. It’s in your best interest to go to bed at a decent hour. Especially because now there’s no time for a nap between 1PM Calc and 3 PM British Lit.

5. Relax

Believe it or not, even the CEO of your organization had his/her first day once upon a time. Many have gone before you. With some confidence and these tips, you’re sure to survive you first 9-5 just fine.

The post How To Stay Energized Through The 9-5 Grind appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When my supervisor found me, the office was in disarray – papers were scattered, books were overturned, a computer screen was flickering wildly – my eyes were crazy, hungry, tearful, and I was lost in a world of red disarray.

This scene describes the first hour of my first day of my first job. It also seems to portray the snafu experienced in war. Funny thing is that if there is a difference between the two – the beginning of a professional career and sanctioned bloodshed – I must’ve missed it in my boss’s look of disbelief and his gaping mouth that searched slowly for lost words. He looked as though he was suffering from shell shock.

Within that first hour I managed to turn a pristine, University-run lab into the helter-skelter makings of a drunken mortician’s office. Blood peppered most things, including myself. I looked at him, he looked at me, then the floor, then back to me, and I, as a true student of the teachings of professionalism, went to shake his hand with crusty brown fingernails and a smile that was stained ruby-red.

Jump back an hour later, and you will find a kid pretending to be a man with his stainless dress pants, his ironed dress shirt , and a wide smile for all who could see. I was excited to join the workforce. I was told that it was here where I would discover, change, and participate in some greater whole.

That exuberance leaked out of me in the first five minutes though. I sat in the lab and waited for my supervisor. He was late, or perhaps I was early. I checked my watch. Time passed. I opened a cabinet. Papers hung from dividers. I tried to read one – immunoisolation by the microencapsulation of prima… –  then closed it. I sneaked a glance at the blank computer screen, too afraid to touch the mouse lest I destroy some important research file. I opened a Ph. D. research file, and tried to wrap my head around the jargon. I then  twiddled my thumbs, sighed, and realized I was bored.

Wasn’t my first job supposed to be exciting? Wasn’t I supposed to be dancing around an office with coffees in one hand, files in another, and somehow balancing a platter of food on my shoulders? Wasn’t I supposed to be stressed? Wasn’t I supposed to be having fun?

An hour ticked away, and my boss still hadn’t come. Courage had bubbled into my fingers in the meantime. I clicked the mouse. The screen lit up. An error message popped up. It read: did not eject… data lost… error.

Oh god…

Somehow I had screwed up without doing very much. Of course, it wasn’t my fault entirely – someone forgot to properly eject their USB – but in my naivety, I didn’t think of the possibility. Instead, I saw immediacy. Action and reaction. Data lost. Data lost. Data lost. I read it again and again and again.

My imagination gave way to disaster after disaster. What if I had lost the cure to cancer? Or erased a million dollar grant? I had deleted Nobel Prize winning research. I had effaced the world of diabetes treatment.

Suddenly, I felt a steady tickle. I looked down to my hands and saw deep red driblets flowing into them. Blood. The stream was coming from my nose.

I searched for tissue paper. There was none. Searched for paper towels. Still none. A dirty, used napkin? Nothing.

With no other alternative, I grabbed the printer paper and tried to stop the torrent. The rough paper crinkled under my nose unevenly. It was glossy print. The blood, barely absorbed.  The ocean of red continued to pour onto the floor unperturbed.

Enter my supervisor’s contorted face of disgust. As I step closer, he recoils and finds his words, “Kacper, the bathroom is in the hall. Go.” It’s a command. An order.

I let my hand sag, shuffled my feet away, and spent an hour cleaning blood off my dress shirt, my pants, my shoes – everything.

Why tell this story you may ask?

Perhaps it’s a means for comfort that your first day at work can’t get as bad as mine. Perhaps it’s because since that day, I’ve realized the one can take the creed, “blood, sweat, and tears” a bit too literally.

But that’s not why. I tell it because I learned that in work, especially during one’s first job, anything can happen and one must be ready. Yet that’s not to say I should have brought an entire first aid kit with me (though that would’ve helped, and maybe a whole hospital too).

In dealing with professional faculty and staff, there will be times when unpredictable elements are out of our control. How one acts during these rare, chance encounters will therefore determine how we act throughout our future career.

From my experience, I chose to march along the steady footsteps of professionalism, even if I was anything but; because in the end, I chose to shake a hand, even if I shouldn’t have.

The post The Unpredictable Horror From My First Day At Work appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Bring on the first week’s handshakes, smiles, coffee tips and office secrets.  It’s like Dodge ball…you don’t want to be the last one chosen. However, once you’re on the team you feel like a winner. Building company culture fosters relationships and determines  personality matches. Here are five key principles to keep in mind when building office culture.

TIME

Friendships aren’t made overnight, so I had to understand learning my co-workers habits wouldn’t be an instant download. The time spent recognizing your fit into the existing coterie is vital. Think of it as observing each individual’s habits, mannerisms, and attitudes. This sounds very sociological, but assessment, during this timeframe can lead to the likelihood of personality match. Yes, that’s our goal.

DEVELOP INTERESTS

It’s easy to gravitate to those of similar interests. If you’re a gamer who’s absolutely thrilled over Xbox One – Titanfall or a fashionista who’s crazy over Kate Moss – TopShop collection then finding these similar interests in co-workers will help strengthen a potential bond. But who wants a perfect friendship?…boring. Yes, that’s right, I enjoy a healthy argument. Frankly, I learn much more from disagreeing counterparts. Former CEO and Management Thinker Margaret Heffernan advises the TED Talk audience to dare to disagree. “You must be prepared to change your mind … you think and think again,” said Heffernan. Constant agreement spawns nothing, but conflict is thinking.

AGREE TO DISAGREE

Let’s lay it out – when we disagree, we begin to collaborate and solve problems. It ignites change and mostly creates an alliance. Once silence is broken, people will gain respect for you and see you as a leader. When I’m vocal, smirks are like a gust of wind on the Santa Monica Pier – rapid and intense. Ha, I take pleasure in my antics, but I’m also very manner-able. My co-workers value this characteristic.

BE OPEN

Openness marks new beginnings. Now, you translucently view your cohorts and their working habits. One question I recently had floating around was how can I become open at work without losing my sense of authority. Even within my entry-level position, I desire to assert myself with power. I’m learning not to skew openness as a weakness. Openness means the ability to accept new and pivotal ideas and incorporate them into your own. Heffernan urges people not to label others as whistleblowers, but as individuals who evoke groundbreaking change. We can be the groundbreaking change who creates a movement. It doesn’t have to end world hunger, but maybe there’s a sleeker strategy for a current team project.

BE YOURSELF

Never hinder yourself from being yourself. Culture within the office is the foundation of success, and it begins with you.

Stay Intrigued and Keep Believing

The post Building Office Culture: 5 Principles appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s no secret that the fashion industry is competitive—it’s pretty much like The Hunger Games, except that instead of people savagely killing you with swords, they kill your ego and then ask you to come back for more.

This is an industry for the thick skinned crocodiles out there; this isn’t an industry where you can have mixed feelings, or worse, no sense of your path to industry power.

Last month, I introduced myself and my story thus far as an intern in the fashion industry to readers.

Since then, I’ve been graciously invited to cultivate a column– sharing stories and insights– and will no doubt be narrating the whole thing in my head as Mindy Lahiri from The Mindy Project. My premier goal is to help clarify just one possible path the fashion-inspired can take on their way to professional respect and success.

I’ll start by saying that before my current design internship in Manhattan, I had only visited the city once; I had no connections, no family, and no friends on the east coast.

Landing the Job

After graduating a year ago, my search for an opportunity had come to a dramatic end: someone, my current boss, was willing to take a chance on a 24-year-old baby with no design background, but plenty of other ingredients, that, when culminated into a Skype interview, was enough to land me my first break in the city.

And I couldn’t have done any of it—the cover letters, the interviews, the moving to a foreign land– without my supportive family, who continue to aid my ambitions and lay that golden parachute beneath me.

The easiest part of moving is buying the airfare. Everything else—it’s like going on a first date and you’re not sure whether you’ll come out as Jane Bennett or Jane Eyre. I limited myself to 2.5 suitcases: two checked and one carry-on. It wasn’t that hard to say goodbye to my old things; I’ve always been an “out with the old, in with the new” kind of person.

Moving to Manhattan

As a fashion girl, I made sure I had the essentials among the holy trinity: clothing, accessories, and beauty. I’m no different than anyone else who underestimates the terminator power needed to haul two oversized suitcases, a weekend bag, and a handbag. It’s not graceful, I thought to myself, but this is it. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.

My destiny will come through fire and through hail. I can be dramatic. So I saw an opportunity and I took it.

As Whitney Port once said to Mama Wolf (Kelly Cutrone), “I don’t wanna be an average person.” So I left for New York without any backup plan. I knew I didn’t need one. Conviction can be your best friend when the road is uncertain.

Renting in Manhattan is basically like paying a mortgage in any other city, except maybe Los Angeles and D.C. And until I was settled, I wasn’t about to put down heavy coin for a place that I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of.

Though just like everything else in the city, my plans to stay with a girlfriend changed quickly and I was back to square one, boarding a flight to JFK alone. I told myself that it’d be alright: I’m basically like Emma Stone in The Help, running toward my future with an insanely cute hairdo and a work ethic that’s laced with Red Bull and gravitas.

Slight admission: I did have one friend in the city that I could call up, and that was a girlfriend I had grown up with and that had just moved in with her family near Manhattan. After a bunch of circles and yearning looks toward the taxis trailing each other down the arrivals lanes, my girlfriend picked me up and I stayed my first night in Jamaica, Queens (that’s a whole other borough to the north of Manhattan: about a 10 minute train ride into uptown).

Let me tell you: the residential houses look just like they do in the movies: the facades are faded, there are single patches of tulips decorating the severed sidewalks, and everyone basically looks like they belong in a Clint Eastwood movie.

The next morning was a hustle: I stayed in a youth hostel located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—“cozy” is the term offered by the hostel’s website. East Williamsburg is a rough part of town. On showing me nearby train stations, my driver asked me if I was scared. It was at that moment that I realized that I was in a bit of a pickle. I remembered that one of my mother’s childhood friends has a son who lives and works in Manhattan. I quickly messaged her on Facebook and begged to get in touch with him. My new friend from the Financial District called me up and graciously let me crash on his sofa for what was theoretically supposed to be two days.

It’s been nine days, three new friendships, and a handful of inside jokes and new experiences. I’ve basically been adopted by three insane older brothers who dress in suits and ties. Chaos, but the good kind of chaos.

Starting My New Job

Now, a few words on my footwear design internship: I’ve completed my first week at a design house in the Garment District.

Your appearance does matter. Most will make an effort, I’ve observed, and interns are no exception, especially if you want your opinion to be asked.

Figuring out what time your boss usually arrives in the morning is a must: there will always be delayed trains and you must pick up the pace before you’re late—meaning boss lady has already arrived and you look ungrateful to be there. It happens, but it shouldn’t happen that often.

You’ll mistake your uptown trains for your downtown ones and you’ll throw your hand in the air, hoping a taxi will evaporate your negligent geography skills. Oh, and the weekends are for having fun.

Just make sure that you’ve got protective friends and Uber on speed dial.

The post Taking Risks: My Unpredictable Adventure To The Fashion Industry appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Sherry Zou for Student Stories. 

Have you ever thought about leaving your internship position for a better one? Tired of doing tedious and monotonous work over and over again? Do you not know how to approach your employer about the change of tasks? Are you afraid to speak out your work concerns and problems to the employer?

These are some of the questions you probably have in mind when you are in this situation in which you are thinking of leaving your internship position.

 Most college students stay at their internships for one year or two years. After the completion of their internships, some or few are offered full-time positions after graduation. However others are not and they leave for better opportunities in other places.

The reasons for leaving are varied from person to person. The most common reasons include the inability to attain new skills and expertise or the internships are unpaid. Other reasons may include issues such as the work environment and the quality of the internship. Whether or not interns choose to leave the position, most interns typically initiate the “expectations for the internship” conversation with the employer.

The “expectation for the internship” conversation is a formal or informal talk in which an intern speaks out his or her concerns and problems to the employer in regard to the internship. The employer would respond to his or her concerns and problems in the form of possible solutions. If there is a mutual agreement between the employer and the intern in terms of the solution, that would be the end of the conversation. If there is no mutual agreement, the intern would most likely consider leaving the position in order to pursue a better one.

So when should an intern tell the employer that he or she is leaving?

There is no right or wrong answer to that question. It all depends on the situation, the position, and the employer. If an intern is in the middle of finishing a task or a project assigned by the employer, an intern should delay the letter of resignation. The reason why I say this is because this shows that an intern is responsible for what he or she is doing. Even though an intern knows that he or she is leaving soon, he or she would never know that the employer would be related to your future employer. In other words, leave a good impression and display professionalism!

How to leave an internship?

First, an intern would write some form of letter of resignation to the employer. In the letter, an intern would first thank the employer for his or her time. Then, an intern would write about his or her positive experiences and attained skills. Lastly, an intern can write about the ways of staying connected with the employer either through social media or email.

Whether you are deciding to stay or to leave your current internship, you should consider the benefits and the drawbacks of staying or leaving. You want to always have a plan about what to do next. Mostly, you do not want to anger or aggravate your employer even if you do not like him or her. There is a road ahead of you and you know that the termination of this internship is not the end of the story. It only leaves more opportunities and possibilities for a better future!

About the Author:

My name is Sherry Zou and I am currently studying Experimental Psychology at Saint John’s University located at Jamaica, New York. My career goal is to become a clinical psychologist with an emphasis of treating children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. My hobbies are knitting, crocheting, painting, and drawing.

The post Why, When, and How to Leave Your Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Meredith Whye for Student Stories. 

That’s right, three internships between May 2013 and May 2014.

My internship career started off high up in the Rocky Mountains, working for a summer camp as its media intern. After that, a small campus nonprofit recruited me for PR and social media work and I eventually became its student director. Later on, I applied to a local Internet marketing agency on a whim and was offered a position.

These internships were all equally good and bad in a variety of ways. They gave valuable work experience, but more importantly, they taught me lessons.

One thing I learned from them was to own up to my mistakes so here they are: three lessons I learned from multiple internships in my last year of academia.

1. Get out of your comfort zone

What a cliché lesson but seriously, it’s important. Working at the summer camp, I was surrounded by happy children and hilarious camp counselors. However, I rarely participated in camp games or activities because I felt like I didn’t belong. I was just the girl in the background with the camera.

That was probably my biggest regret of the internship. I wish I had stuck my neck out more and joined in the fun, instead of holding back. Otherwise, this internship was probably my best; I was always neck-deep in work—either shooting pictures, blogging or editing videos or photos. I really immersed myself and got a great impression of what this type of work was like.

In any internship, putting yourself out there is crucial. Sometimes it’s scary, especially if you’re shy at first like me, but ultimately rewarding. With internships, it’s important to show your boss and co-workers that you’re not afraid to join the company culture (whether that culture be an office or summer camp full of children).

2. If you’re going to bail, bail early

At my internship with the nonprofit, I loved the cause and people we worked with. I was passionate about creating outreach opportunities and educating others about what we were doing.

I did not, however, like my boss. He gave me an authority position in the nonprofit as student director but rarely let me have any control or say in decisions. I felt like I was always on unstable ground with him.

When I finally got the nerve to quit, I was eyebrows deep in my job. I had contacts, an office and a marketing contract with a client. I would lose them all by quitting. I should have decided to leave when I first got the gut feeling of uncertainty.

Instead, I stayed because I couldn’t pull off the metaphorical band-aid. The relief I felt, however, when I finally quick was worth it.

Bailing early applies to any internship or job, honestly. If you feel like you shouldn’t be there, consider leaving rather than sticking it out. I assume anyone reading this is young, so get up and do it! Don’t waste time with an awful boss or work environment.

That being said—have a backup plan. I made my mind up to quit on a certain date and started looking for other jobs. I had a job interview the day after I quit and was offered a position a week later. Quitting can be exhilarating and very scary, but having a backup makes it less uncertain.

3. If you’re not passionate, don’t do it

The job I was offered lead into my next internship, which may have been the most valuable. I came in excited; the company seemed like it had such a laid back and fun atmosphere. I was pumped to finally work in an agency, not a small organization where I was literally the whole marketing department. Instead, I ended up doing almost nothing I was passionate about.

The agency wanted me write blogs and marketing materials about construction, a.k.a the driest material in the world. Plus they only gave me one blog post a day, which went by quickly in an eight-hour workday.

Don’t get it twisted—I love to write. But I can’t force myself to write about something I don’t have my heart and soul in. The feeling of unhappiness escalated. I knew I was frustrated with the lack of real work and my boss obviously sensed it too—calling me while I was on spring break in Vegas. Hearing him say, “You just don’t seem passionate about what we do here,” was a relief to me.

He was right. I wasn’t passionate about construction and never will be. It felt empowering to be able to realize that and walk away happy.

Overall, if you are stuck doing something that doesn’t feel right to you, and it isn’t giving you what you want, speak up.  I wish I had said I wasn’t happy earlier. If you are only getting coffee or writing bland blog posts in your internship, speak up or look for other opportunities.

All of my internships, while not always an ideal situation, let me tailor my needs. I realized what makes me happy, what I am interested in doing. My internships have all led to me to where I am now—about to graduate and move to Sydney, Australia for a job.

Make sure your internship fit your needs, don’t just take whatever you can get and settle.

About the Author:

Meredith Whye is about to graduate with a degree in PR & Marketing. She’s worked with everyone from mom & pop stores to Fortune 500 companies. She is currently preparing to move to Sydney, Australia after graduation. She doesn’t use Twitter, but check out her site meredithwhye.wix.com/mawhye.

The post Three Lessons from Three Internships in One Year appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Rob Sutter for Student Stories.

Amongst the many types of art that can be talked about, it’s easy to say that theater is one of the most demanding. Not only do actors and actresses have to look certain ways in order to land roles but they have to be able to portray characters as well. As one can imagine, this is more of a challenge for some than it is for others. If you would like to truly excel in either drama or theater, art schools will have you covered.

 Here are 5 ways to ensure that your presence on stage is as strong as possible.

1. Immersion.

More specifically, you want to become lost in the role that you are given. To put this into perspective, third graders acting in a play might be endearing but it’s clear that they do not have the developed skill sets to ensure that they can get lost in their roles. College students should be more aware of immersion. Instead of coming to terms with the fact that you are simply playing a character, try to get into the mind of said character and go from there.

2. Physicality.

Since you will be working on a stage in a large theater, not everyone is going to be able to see your face clearly. Instead of relying on facial expressions to get your point across, you have to be comfortable enough to act in the physical sense. What this means is that, as an actor or actress, you have to exhibit body language in order to convey happiness, sadness, disgust, along with other emotions. This will allow your audience to become more immersed in your performance overall.

 3. Projection.

As stated before, working in a large theater means that you have to amplify certain actions several times over. The same can be said for your voice as well, so make sure that you train your vocal chords in such a way that it can handle a more amplified projection. According to any acting teacher or coach, body language is important but unless you can speak your dialogue in a way that everyone in any given venue can hear it, your performance won’t stand out. It’s recommended that you practice in your room in order to, for lack of better words, find your voice.

4. Audience.

As much as you may feel as though you have your lines down to a science, what someone else will see has a chance of being entirely different. For this reason, you should take it upon yourself to act in front of a smaller audience, whether it’s in front of your family or a group of friends. In fact, art schools in California, amongst other areas, will have perhaps the best audience. Whether you are interested in the Art Institute of California or what have you. It’s clear that you will not only have an audience but the most knowledgeable source of feedback as well.

5. Rehearsal.

Even though the aforementioned institutions will be able to help you better understand your lines, art schools around the world will tell you about the importance of constant rehearsal done after school hours. This can be done whether you are preparing your dinner or just before you go to sleep at night. Depending on the kind of role that you have to play, the amount of work needed on your part will vary. Regardless, rehearsal is seen as the most integral part of theater and repetition will ensure that you understand your lines as best as possible.

About the Author:

Rob Sutter graduated from Farmingdale State College with a bachelor’s degree in Professional Communication. Writing is his preferred art form, as he has written several blogs in the realm of social media.

The post 5 Ways to Excel in Drama and Theater appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Julia Lucia for Student Stories. 

5:45am –Wake up and roll out of bed.  I like to have time to fully wake up, get ready, and eat breakfast; I hate the feeling of being chaotically rushed in the morning. Then I go through my usual primping regimen: the most detailed part being my make-up routine, which has been perfected over the past 8 years. I consider myself to be somewhat of a connoisseur of mascara, an eyelash architect, if you will.

7:45am –My train leaves for Penn Station. I have 3 playlists for my commute that I go between, depending on my mood: 1. A mix of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday for when I’m feeling romantic, which is more often than not. 2. Norah Jones, for when I’m feeling nostalgic. 3. A variety of pop music: Mumford & Sons, Lorde, The Lumineers, which basically covers all of my other moods.

9:00 am – Make a stop by one of Stone & Strand’s designers’ studios to pick up the jewelry for the day.

9:30 am – Grab my second cup of coffee at my favorite corner café in SoHo, Gasoline Alley, and go directly to the office to start the work day.

10:00 am – I start each day by spending 45 minutes on Stone & Strand’s Pinterest; pinning everything from new products on our website to fun and inspiring photos.

11:00 am – I begin each weekly photo shoot by setting up all of the jewelry that will be shot for the day. We start with on body photos and I’m proud to say I can officially add “hand model” to my resume. Complimentary weekly manicures have become a standard, a definite perk that I was not expecting; my go to color being Essie’s “Ballet Slippers.”

1:00 pm – We flex our creative muscle and take fun Instagram shots for the Stone & Strand account; playing with props, textures, themes, etc. We try to find inspiration in anything, from sassy colored lipstick tubes to old wooden doors on the streets of SoHo.

2:00 pm – Mid-day I’ll return to my desk to work on our current online marketing campaigns.  This could range from re-designing a product add for a Facebook campaign to completing a marketing analysis of a Retargeting campaign.

3:00 pm –Head with the team to a meeting with a potential new designer to check out his/her collection. It’s amazing how quickly one gets used to trying on $10,000 rings or $15,000 bracelets.  At any given moment I could have a hand full of Crow’s Nest Feather Rings on totaling over $50,000.

5:30pm – I leave the office to drop off the daily orders at USPS/FedEx/UPS and head uptown to attend a networking event. I’ll usually stop to grab a slice or two of pizza for dinner, after all it is NYC.

6:00 pm – While walking to the train, I make my daily “How was your day” phone call to my boyfriend, whom is 6 hours away in Pharmacy School.

7:00 pm – The networking event starts and I settle in sipping on a glass of complimentary wine and nibbling on some fruit and cheese. I have gotten to rub elbows with the Global Creative Director of Revlon Cosmetics, the co-founder of the marketing website Contently and one of the founders of EasyBib, just to name a few.

9:00 pm – After the event wraps up I head to Penn Station to catch my train home. I normally very happily get a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts; a medium French Vanilla with skim milk – in case you were wondering.  If I’m feeling wild, sometimes I switch to Hazelnut.

About the Author:

My name is Julia Lucia. I am a senior Italian Literature and Language Arts Major at Binghamton University, State University of New York; however, all of my experiential education has been in the fields of marketing and business development.  Currently I am the Marketing Intern at Stone & Strand, the world’s leading online fine jewelry destination, based in NYC. Upon graduation in May, I hope to pursue a career in social media and communications. My ultimate career goal is to combine both my traditional education in Italian Literature and Language and my experiential education in marketing.

The post A Day in the Life of a NYC Fashion Intern appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Amanda Pipich for Student Stories.

It’s no secret to any college graduate – looking for a job is daunting. It’s a race, and we’re all competing against each other: battling it out to land the perfect job, work in the highest paid industry, and throw all the glory in our peers’ faces. Some get lucky and land their dream jobs right away while the rest of us feel left in the dust, so what do we do?

We scour job boards until our fingers fall off, hoping that hard work and diligence will soon reward us. For those who have had successful internships, you’ll hear stories of how great the experience was, how much they learned, and the value it brought to their next job. One thing you don’t hear much about is the other side of the proverbial fence: what happens when an internship isn’t what you thought it would be.

I graduated from Northeastern University in September 2013 with a BS in Organizational Communication, and just like any other college graduate, I’d been searching high and low for a job in my field. During college, I developed an interest in marketing and public relations, yet when it came down to looking for a job in that sector, I had no such luck. One day I came across an article stating that you’re more likely to be hired for a job if you’ve done an internship, so I took the bait – after months of searching, I finally found a full time, paid marketing internship in Boston. I was ecstatic – I got a job in my field doing something I went to school for and it was something I was interested in! What more could a college graduate ask for?

As an intern, I did whatever I could to prove that I belonged as a full time employee: I’d come in early, work through lunch, stay late, and in between projects I’d scour the internet and read everything possible about the industry. I worked tirelessly, but three months into the internship, I was offered a full time position. Finally, everything I had worked for as an intern paid off!
Once the dust settled, reality set in: I was bored to death at my job, always asking my boss for more work. I had no desire to learn about the biotech industry, and to make matters worse, I felt invisible to everyone I worked with. Apparently, the general consensus among the staff was made that I, once an intern, was below everyone. The hard reality I learned is that acceptance is not automatic – you’re going to work with difficult people no matter where you go, and you can’t always win everyone over. It dawned on me that if the best part of my day was getting in my car and driving away from work, that was a problem I needed to fix – and fast.

One day, I had an epiphany and realized that I’m much too young to be wasting my time on something I’m not passionate about. As it turned out, the things I enjoyed doing when I wasn’t working is what I had true passion for: on lunch breaks I’d go shopping, look up outfit ideas on my phone, or cook something new at home. In order to really involve myself in my interests, I started managing my own website where I write about fashion, beauty, food, and life through my own eyes. To my surprise, it’s actually gotten a considerable amount of traffic – when I posted a brownie recipe my mom gave me, I got nine shares within an hour. When you realize that people who share the same interests are responsive to your work, it’s another verification that you’re on the right track.

You may think you know exactly what you want to do with your life, and you may be right once you land that internship. Even if you think you know, that could very well change – I prove that. I always thought I knew what I wanted to do while in college, but when it came down to actually doing it, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted after all. However, that doesn’t mean all is lost or that everything you’ve worked for was a waste – it’s just a small setback. If you have a hunch that you hate your job, dial back a bit and ask yourself: what exactly do I hate about it? Is it the menial tasks or the industry? What makes me happy outside my job? As strange as it sounds, you tend to find your calling when you veer off the path you think you belong on.

Now that I know what I want to do with my life, it actually puts me back to square one, but I’m taking it a day at a time – success doesn’t happen overnight. My intent is not to dissuade anyone from doing an internship they feel may point them toward the right career. If anything, my only goal is to prepare you for the worst and to take all the possibilities under consideration. It’s important to be optimistic, but it’s even more important to consider another reality – the possibility that your needs and wants will change. I’m not saying being an intern was a waste of time, because it wasn’t – because of this position, I was able to decipher what I don’t want in life from what I do want. Now, I’m working toward a fashion-based editorial career by doing whatever possible: freelancing, blogging, writing articles, tuning up my website, and reading anything and everything I can get my hands on to better equip myself for the next chapter.

When you think you’ve reached an impasse at an internship you find less than thrilling, don’t throw in the towel just yet. Keep in mind that you can still find that little piece of serendipity if you veer off your “path” every now and then.

About the Author:

Amanda Pipich does marketing and public relations for an information services company in Boston, MA. When she’s not working, she is busy managing and writing for her fashion and beauty website, adding to her wardrobe, finding the best places to eat, and going to the gym. Her dream job: become a writer at a top fashion magazine, and ultimately writing her own column. Check out her LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter @apipich.

The post Landing the Wrong Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Kathryn Blaylock for Student Stories. 

This is an exciting story and lesson for you about my experiences as a student and intern, looking for that next career opportunity! 

In an effort to be more employable in the global learning environment, I looked into internships in the domain of Instructional Design Technology (designing courses online) and found the KeelWorks Foundation.  One of my course assignments had been to research career websites and find potential employment requirements and expectations.  It was clear, I needed at least 2 years of experience to be considered for employment in the field of IDT.

How in the world was I going to do this?

I had just begun the MS program at Walden University that September, so first thing in January of 2013 I interviewed to begin working with KeelWorks as a member of Team Maroon to get that needed experience prior to graduation Fall of 2014.  Our team has a weekly synchronous meeting using fun web-based tools like Free Screen Sharing, Skype and Google Hang Outs.  We have almost completed our Course Module on Goal Management, which contains robust and engaging course content and activities.

Creating this course module gone a long way to improve my expertise level in collaborative online work within a professional learning community.  In addition, I have been allowed to create TWO MORE course modules on my own for class projects (one on Fundraising for the foundation and the other was an Orientation for new interns).  These were created in KeelWorks Foundation’s online academy within the EDUonGo course management system.

So in the process of my internship, I have built a professional portfolio site, which includes samples of my work and have already had two serious inquiries for job applications I submitted!  One was an online interview with a company based in London who designs online training for Walmart. (I am living here in Arkansas near the Walmart main headquarters!)   The other interview involved me taking a trip (they helped pay for) to the Denver Technology Park for a face-to-face interview with the President of the company.  What great experience!  Not only did KeelWorks assist me in revamping my resume, but when the first potential employer asked for a sample presentation for Stage 2 of the interview process, I also received expert advice in my approach on the technology-interface for this interview.

Since I don’t graduate until August of this year, I believe these experiences will assist me in finding that right job for me by then.  (Just In Time!)  I believe the experience I have gained from this internship is what is going to make employment upon graduation possible.  In the meantime, my current class requires a multi-media presentation introducing myself as an instructor.  Once again, I am relying on the resources of my internship to add this element to the eLearning Experience orientation course module I created for new interns.

All of this is possible, because I received support and encouragement from my colleagues.  Furthermore, I understood it was my responsibility to ask for access to those key resources I needed to develop into that ideal candidate for my first job in Instructional Design.

The moral of the story?

Don’t wait until you graduate to get that real world experience you need to be employable!

About the Author

Kathryn “Sky” Blaylock is an experienced media creator and trainer, eager to develop robust course designs for higher education, corporate, government and non-profit organizations.  Sky is seeking an opportunity to expand her transformational leadership skills, effective communication, marketing, outreach and development abilities, as well as inclusive vision.

Anything Is Possible – Portfolio with Data Import/Export blog, Linked In page, and more.

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

This is a guest post by Suzanne De Vita for Student Stories.

“Please reflect on your internship experience.”

These instructions followed many of us upon completion of an internship for academic credit – all-too-familiar words prompting you to describe the lessons you learned while interning. (I recall writing a rather lengthy essay on learning to dress appropriately for an office environment. Really profound stuff.) While there’s certainly value in those “lessons learned”-arriving late to work is generally not an accepted practice-they also could have been taught at any first-time gig.

What did working as an intern really teach me?

I got my first internship in the public relations department of a non-profit organization near my school. I was surprised at how easy it was – there was no arduous interview process, no reference checks, no anxiety waiting to hear back. Those all should have been red flags, but being inexperienced in the complex world of internships, I happily accepted.
I arrived on my first day with the highest hopes. I envisioned writing every day, having lunch with my new co-workers, making an impact so utterly amazing that the execs would just have to hire me.

In reality, I spent five months doing “scut work”, the affectionate term used to describe often tedious tasks that are necessary to keep a business running smoothly. My scut work consisted of poring over pages and pages of environmental legislation so as to fact-check press releases. I was contributing, but hardly in the way I had imagined.

The truth was, I saw numerous opportunities to take on more difficult work. I recognized several areas of the organization that needed attention, projects that I could surely manage on my own. My supervisor was easy-going enough, and she gave me no indication that my ideas were unwelcome. So why didn’t I pursue those opportunities? Why didn’t I offer to take on more responsibilities? Why didn’t I just ask? Something stopped me.

I’m only an intern, I thought. What value could my ideas possibly have? No one will take me seriously. I’ll just wait for her to ask me. The fear of standing out, of being shot down, of trying and failing, kept me confined to my desk for the duration of the internship.

My third internship was in marketing at a regional magazine publisher. I was charged with duties a bit higher on the spectrum than grunt work, but still felt I wasn’t making worthwhile contributions. Almost immediately after starting, I felt that familiar self-doubt that plagued me during my first go-around. I shrank into my corner cubicle, hiding from my co-workers, keeping my nose the grindstone. Once again, I saw opportunities to seek out more work. And, once again, I silenced my thoughts, convincing myself that if my supervisors wanted me to do more, they would ask. I allowed self-doubt to creep in and make itself at home for those three months, too.
This time, there was fallout beyond the professional setbacks I experienced in my first internship. By not having the courage to approach my supervisors, I shut myself off from other social interactions, as well. Who knows what possibilities I may have inadvertently limited myself to simply because I was afraid to have a voice.

“Please reflect on your internship experience.”

I’d like to change my response. I’ve had my fair share of long hours, micro-managing supervisors and thankless tasks-all obstacles with their own takeaways. But the most challenging obstacle, I found, was myself.

My “lesson learned” is not to play nice with others or take criticism well. It’s not to stay organized, meet deadlines or wear grey slacks.

It’s to be too confident.

Cease downplaying your abilities. Have the nerve to go after what you want. Speak up! Stay self-assured. Know your worth. Take pride in the work you produce, no matter how menial. Quit second-guessing your thoughts. Believe in yourself. And never dismiss yourself as “just the intern”.

About the Author:

Suzanne De Vita is an online editor and content producer. Exceptionally vocal, she’s often found belting “The Star-Spangled Banner” or chanting “Roll Tide!” at her television. Her greatest loves are The Temptations, barnyard animals and cajun cuisine. She’s contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul and the Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans, and received her BA from Quinnipiac University. Her email is suzdev27@gmail.com.

The post “Just the Intern” appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Emily Kong for Student Stories. 

Internships are believed to be the key to your future, your first foot into the door, and the foundation which you build upon. You are meant to intern somewhere you can see yourself working at in the future, or someplace relevant to your desired career path. If your internship isn’t any of that, why should you waste a second of you summer there?

My first huge internship was with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., a government organization that is responsible for enforcing federal laws of discrimination against a job applicant or an employee. Yes, it was a complex issue that most were not willing to put themselves in, but it was an issue that needed to be addressed. While my career path is nowhere near the path of law, this is one of the most beneficial experiences I have ever had.
Law is a field that scares people, some of the strongest people I know. Law scared me, and yet I interned at a government organization that dealt with legal investigations. This wasn’t even the scariest part.

I began this internship right after graduating high school, so as a freshman in college. Most of the interns were college juniors or seniors or current law students. I was the youngest intern in the entire office. I worked directly for the supervisory judge of the hearings department, where I answered case status requests from parties, and drafted orders (such as orders to produce records, Acknowledgement Orders, orders closing cases, and orders dismissing for lack of jurisdiction). On top of work for my supervisor, I gained the trust of other administrative judges.  I replied to status requests and faxed mail orders for cases assigned from the judges.

I know what you’re thinking right now, how boring, but it really wasn’t. I won’t go into specifics, but it felt incredible doing something that counted. I didn’t get to see many of the outcomes of the cases because they were eventually distributed and law interns took over from there.

This experience was nothing I pictured it would be. I imagined an office full of stiff suits that were not willing to give me the time of day. Instead I was given a summer of new experiences, an appreciation for the law, and an internship before college under my belt.

Although I felt underestimated at times, I had to prove myself, so I did so through my work ethic. It’s difficult to be that little person in such a huge pond, but you’re supposed to make the most out of every situation. It’s hard to keep pushing yourself somewhere you aren’t sure if you fit in, but all you need to do is find your place. The law scared me before this internship, it still does, but one of my passions is helping people. To me, interning for the EEOC was getting justice for people who were discriminated against, even if I was only doing so in a mindless way. I was a law clerk intern, but I hoped to make a difference with all of my past experiences. I was able to pick things up easily and do any tasks that were asked of me. An internship is only as great as you make it.

Through this internship, I gained so many skills that have helped me in school and in future endeavors. At the EEOC, I was able to create a contact sheet that they not only built on, but also continue to use to this day and a lack of jurisdiction letter that is still in use. I went into this internship fearful of being the lowest on the totem pole, which I probably was, but it didn’t feel that way after spending a few weeks getting my feet wet and making an experience out of this job.

Internships still worry me, but I gained confidence through this experience that helped me survive my freshman year of college and also future jobs and interviews. They say that it takes one internship or job to change your entire life; interning at the EEOC is something that I will never forget. So many doors were opened and my passion for helping people grew.

If journalism doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll find myself in another EEOC office. But that’s a story for another day.

About the Author:

Emily Kong is currently a journalism student with a passion for writing, art, fashion, and cooking. She aspires to be a magazine writer someday and has the city life in her sights. In between city hopping, Kong writes for other publications, her WordPress, and little 140 character quirks on Twitter.

The post A Way Within the Law appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Nicole Knoebel for Student Stories. 

When I moved to New York City last semester as part of Marist College’s Marist in Manhattan program, I was shocked by how terrified I was. I’m a Long Island girl who’s spent her fair share of time visiting the city and dreaming of the Carrie Bradshaw life. So why was I so afraid?

I’d written for my school paper and done some blogging, but interning for a real life magazine was on a whole other level. What if I wasn’t prepared? What if I didn’t like it? What if I was wrong and it wasn’t the career path for me after all?

My first day as an intern at Seventeen was an exhilarating blur of an experience that only got more incredible and exciting as the semester went on. I started off with fears of an internship a la The Devil Wears Prada and left with a confidence I didn’t even know I could have. My editors were the most supportive, helpful people and I can only dream of working with them again in the future. Instead of the life of fetching coffee and running errands that movies led me to believe was reality, I entered a world of constant surprises and unexpected opportunities.

There was no “normal” day at Seventeen. I spent my days researching for my editors’ articles, transcribing celebrity interviews, and compiling the entertainment news stories of the day for the entire editorial staff. I sat in on multiple musical performances in the office (hello, cute British boys of Rixton!) and even got to conduct my own interview.
On one unexpected occasion, I got to fill in for a photo intern and spent the day shopping in Union Square for props for a photo-shoot and worked the entire next day in the East Village assisting on set, schmoozing with male models, and babysitting an adorable puppy making a cameo in our photo-shoot. A girl could do worse.

The absolute greatest opportunity came when my internship coordinator and Assistant to the Editor in Chief, Meaghan, allowed me to spend the day in her shoes and fill in for her. Being Ann Shoket’s assistant for the day was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to meet so many new people in the office and tackle a level of responsibility that was daunting but so rewarding. When the day was over, I was exhausted from nerves but thrilled and elated that I actually felt like I belonged in the industry.

If there’s one thing I learned from Seventeen, it’s to embrace the unexpected. I walked into work every day not knowing what I’d be doing, but that’s what made it so exciting! I’ve learned to live my life with spontaneity and enthusiasm as a result of my internship experience.

As an intern, I never said no. I said yes to every opportunity and I’m a better person and a better writer for it. Seventeen gave me an enhanced sense of self and a determination to succeed that I’m forever grateful for.

About the Author:

My name is Nicole Knoebel and I’m a junior at Marist College majoring in English with a concentration in Writing and minoring in Journalism. I’ve interned at Seventeen and ELLE magazines and will be interning with Us Weekly this upcoming summer. I am the President and Co-Editor in Chief of Her Campus Marist, a staff writer for the Arts and Entertainment section of our school newspaper, and a sushi and pop culture addict. You can follow me on Twitter at @nicoleknoebel!

The post Embracing the Unexpected appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Last year, Parsons graduate Natalia Allen set out to find a creative solution to the ugly side of fashion. Alarmed by the toxic materials, worker abuses, and waste of natural resources characteristic to garment production, she founded the eponymous fashion-tech startup Natalia, Inc., which produces a line of innovative and socially responsible clothing for modern women. All of Allen’s stunning minimalist designs are manufactured in the US with zero-waste technology.

Natalia Inc. seeks interns to fill roles ranging from social media and community management to fashion design and development. Motivated candidates with outstanding writing skills, social media savvy, and a detail-oriented mindset will set the curve. These are paid opportunities that place students at the nexus of high fashion, sustainable design, and technology. Not only that, but you’ll have a job with a designer whose talents have earned her distinctions such as Parsons Designer of the Year, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative.

Click here to see the full list of positions and apply to a company leading in chic sustainability.

The post Set Trends in Eco-Friendly Fashion with Natalia, Inc. appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Alison Green of Ask a Manager is a boss. And before being an incredible online resource for interns and employees, she was an actual boss responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of a successful nonprofit. Since 2007, she’s answered reader-submitted questions on her blog, covering everything from butting heads with your boss to the ethical ramifications of receiving gifts in the work place.

Now, she’s graciously agreed to answer the student chorus. Below you’ll find detailed responses to questions that we often hear from students. Whether you’re navigating your first internship or experiencing difficulties with your third, the advice here can help you make the most of it!

How do you deal with uninvolved managers? I’m not getting enough projects assigned to me, and when I ask for direction, I get vague assignments that I’m not sure how to carry out.

Talk to your manager. Tell her that you have a lot of down time and ask what additional projects you can take on to keep you busy. Some managers take on interns without considering the time investment they’ll need to make in generating and overseeing projects for them, and you might have one of those–so ask in particular whether there are longer-term projects you can take on that will keep you busy for a good chunk of time and won’t require you to keep checking back with her for additional work. And don’t be afraid to suggest projects yourself, if you have ideas for what you might work on. If that doesn’t work, you can also ask if you can offer to help others in the office when you have down time–if you get permission to do that, you might find that others are happy to fill up your plate when your manager won’t.

As for the vague assignments with unclear direction, figure out what you need and then ask for it. When you get an assignment that’s unclear, ask questions! Ask if there are examples of similar work that has been done in the past that you could look at, or if there’s someone she can refer you to who could give you guidance on how to proceed. Ask her to describe what a successful end product would look like. Something else to consider here: This may or may not be the case with you, but it’s worth being aware that sometimes interns expect more guidance than what’s typical in the work world, so you might need to try simply jumping in and figuring it out.

If the above doesn’t solve the problem, consider having a big-picture conversation with your boss, explaining your concerns. Tell her that you’re excited to help out, but that you don’t have enough work to do much of the time, and that you’re not always sure how to tackle the projects you do get. You might suggest having a weekly check-in meeting with her, so that you have a set time to talk about what you’re working on, ask questions, and get feedback. (Make sure your tone here is “I want to contribute here” and not “pay attention to me!” You might feel like the latter, but the former is the professional way to handle it.)

All that said, some managers–plenty of managers, really–just aren’t very good at managing. You’re going to run into plenty more–and worse–in the course of your career, so you can also consider this an opportunity to get experience speaking up when there’s a problem and figuring out how to work well under a challenging boss.

I want to be involved in more meetings to get the most out of my experience. What is the best way to ask to be included without sounding presumptuous?

Your best bet is to ask to attend as an observer, not necessarily as a full-fledged participant. That’s because in order to keep meetings short and focused, good managers will often try to keep participants to a low number, often including only those with a deeper background in the issues being discussed or those with decision-making authority. So it isn’t always appropriate to include extra participants–but observers is another matter altogether. So frame your request as a desire to sit in and observe. If your manager is willing to let you have a larger role beyond observing, let her volunteer that.

You should also think about which meetings, specifically, you’d like to attend. Keep in mind that not every meeting is appropriate to attend if you don’t have role that requires you to be there (such as meetings on sticky topics that might not be open for company-wide discussion), so it’s helpful to be clear about the specific types of meetings you have in mind. Once you have a clearer idea of what you’d like to attend, you can go to your manager with a clear request. For instance, you might say something like, “I don’t know if this is appropriate or not, but would it possible for me to attend some of the communications strategy meetings? I’d love to sit in to get more exposure to that work, simply as an observer.”

I earn a stipend through my internship, and I’m struggling to cover my expenses. How do I negotiate travel reimbursement to help with the situation?

You can always ask for this. You won’t always get it if it’s not in the organization’s budget, but it’s completely reasonable to ask. Just be direct and say something like, “Because I’m only receiving a stipend, would it be possible for the organization to assist with my travel expenses to and from work?” However, if the answer is no, be gracious–remember that you signed up to do the internship under one set of terms and it’s possible they won’t be able to alter those terms midway through. (Speaking of which, it’s always better to negotiate this stuff up-front when you get the internship offer; it’s often harder to change the terms of any job offer once you’ve already begun work.)

Ready to start searching for internships? Check out our national listings for undergraduates and new grads!

The post Ask A Manager’s Alison Green Answers Your Questions appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The WayUp SF Summer Intern Program is Berkeley bound this Sat. July 14!

Ever wanted to cross the bay and check out how awesome Berkeley is? We know it’s on your must-do list for your summer in SF!

This Saturday from 1 pm – 4 pm, we’re hosting an afternoon exploration of the city, including a tour of the UC Berkeley campus, a taste of downtown food scene (Cheeseboard pizza, anyone?) and a glance into the local college students’ favorite spots.

Did you know UC Berkeley’s Sather Tower is the third tallest bell and clock tower in the world? Or that the university is home to skeletons of both a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pteranodon? (Not sure which we’re more excited about!)

The tour starts at 1 pm outside of the Downtown Berkeley BART Station. If you haven’t had the chance to visit Berkeley, this is your golden opportunity to see it with other SF interns just like you!

The post SF Summer Program: Berkeley Bound appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

10:30 AM. Peacefully quiet. Everyone in the zone. Headphones on. Most of the time it’s moments like this inside the office where our startup team feels most connected, jamming together on big challenging jobs.

Then, there’s the connectivity felt among a team outside the standard setup, or the home base. As a part of the fast-paced startup world, a step out of the office and into a more playful environment is always a breath of fresh air that the entire team can benefit from.

Lucky for the me, the WayUp team picked AT&T Park as a place to let loose and have some fun last Thursday night. Since my freshman year in college, I’ve become more excited about sports in general, starting with college basketball (it’s a religion for us Carolina fans) and after attending the World Cup final in Spain back in 2010, it was no surprise that soccer picked up my attention too. But Giants baseball? Not so much…

Until now.

Once we made it to the stadium, I grabbed the most expensive garlic fries I’ve ever enjoyed in my life and took a seat. Peering out, I noticed the amazing view of the Bay against the emerald grass and dusty orange of the field, which only looked dusty in comparison to the striking orange of the Giants fans that filled the stands. “I think I could get into this whole team outing thing,” I said to our Community Manager Ashley.

From that point until the last inning of the game, my first baseball game experience got better and better! High-fives all around after a Cincinnati Reds strike. Dancing to Lil’ Wayne with the other interns in an attempt to make it on the big screen cam. Bags of peanuts popped open and passed around. And of course celebrating with the whole WayUp team after another big Giants win, 5-0 baby!

So, why didn’t anyone tell me baseball was so fun? I had the time of my life and in no way would it have been as fun with any other group of people. After working hard in the office, being treated to an authentic San Francisco tradition makes for an awesome memory for all of us to share.

As the shine of a fun night wears off and we dig ourselves into a hole of emails, marketing campaigns, and conference calls, there’s always another reward to indulge in for our professional achievements around the corner. Another outing to look forward to.

Hey team, I do hear SkyScreamer at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is pretty sweet..

The post Root Root Root for the Home Team appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Learn how incredible internships, vibrant communication skills, and unshakable confidence led Ashley Mosley to become a Community Manager at InternMatch.

Alma Mater: Howard University
College Major: Film
Current Job: Community Manager at InternMatch
Favorite Musician: Michael Jackson

1) What are the most important lessons you’ve learned from the internships you’ve had in the past?

When I interned with the Federal Communications Committee (better known as the FCC), I got hands-on experience with customer service and learned how to communicate with people from all different backgrounds. I also gained skills in networking and public communication.

My internship with Bigfoot Entertainment in the Philippines allowed me to work in the niche market of Asian independent films and sparked my interest in digital media and target marketing.

I was an intern for the Global Solutions Manager at one of largest media companies in the world, MEC in New York City.  At MEC I participated in events with MTV and lots of other exciting companies and learned how to use social media to promote a brand.

2) Tell us how you arrived at InternMatch.

When I moved to Silicon Valley I said, “When in Rome, do what the Romans do; I want to work at a startup.” Initially, I spent a lot of time learning about startup culture through TechCrunch and other similar websites.

Through this process, I found Nathan Parcells, CMO and co-founder of InternMatch, and tweeted at him saying, “I wish there had been something like InternMatch when I was in school.” He responded by asking me, “What would you recommend we do more of on our site?” I told him that I would like to see a Housing Guide and later sent a short email introducing myself. I mentioned again that I liked the company and that I’d love to chat more about how InternMatch could do more with its social media sites, listing 3 ideas for growth. Nathan then offered to meet up and asked to see my resume. I read about the history of InternMatch online and learned more about startup culture so I’d know what questions to ask. We met for half an hour the next day, and the day after that he offered me the job.

3) Describe how the InternMatch team has improved (and is improving) its social media sites since you’ve been on board.

InternMatch has certainly developed more of a voice by adding style to the internship culture. We’re constantly trying out new ideas to figure out what our community is going to respond to. Our goal is to meet the needs of our students by engaging them with fresh content, and it’s clear that we’ve done that because our community has more than doubled in size over the past year and is still growing.

4) What’s your favorite thing about social media?

I’m a huge people person, and social media is a great way to connect with people on a broader level. Often, you may think you know a person, but social media provides a more nuanced view into their life.

5) What advice would you give students on networking professionally through social media?

Know the differences between each site.

• On Facebook, make sure to be genuine and continue to foster common connections with people. Suggesting articles/content they may like and commenting on things they post can go a long way to build those relationships.
• Twitter is less personal and much more public.  Sharing their content, responding to questions they ask, or simply finding unique ways to share information (i.e.: if someone wants  restaurant suggestion in your hometown, etc..) are all great ways to build community on Twitter.

For every site, ask yourself how you can offer valuable information to the community, and have something to bring to the table. I think of it as a potluck.

When you’re reaching out to specific people ask, “Is this the only person I can contact to solve this problem and what can I offer”

Customize your message by writing to that person’s voice. Your tone is going to be different if you’re writing to a 23-year-old as opposed to a 45-year-old.

Compliment whoever you’re writing to. A little flattery can go a long way.

Clean up your profile. Everything on your profile should be a good reflection of yourself and should be up to date.

Make sure you’re not only making connections, but also that you’re  staying up to date on the latest information in your industry. 

***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 Q&A With a Community Manager 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.

The best opportunity you could have as a summer intern is to build something from the ground up by having a unique project that’s all your own. Owning an independent project will cause you to accelerate your learning curve during your summer internship. You’ll be the sole person to work out any problems that arise and put all that you’ve learned to practice. Being able to have this level of personal responsibility will give you the opportunity to shine as a member of whatever team you’re on. Just like remarkable buildings are appreciated by all, the personal project you build this summer could become a landmark that causes your company to thank you for years to come.

Meet with your manager

The first step to starting your personal project is to plan a meeting with your manager. Before you mention your personal assignment, ask your manager what you’ve been succeeding at and what you could improve on. Write down your manager’s answers to these questions so you can reference them while you work.

Be creative and passionate

The perfect project is found at the point where the company’s goals and your passion meet. Express to your manager that you want your project to help the company and you want it to last. You must be able to display that you’ve excelled in your current job and that you will be able to carry the responsibility of a new task.

Your project could be something like building a unique software, individually reaching out to customers, or writing your own content for a site. However, it could also be something as unique as designing a model for the product your company produces. When you’re in the process of developing your project, don’t be afraid to ask your manager if you can extend the boundaries and do something unconventional.

The project the company needs you to take on may not fit with what you had imagined it to be, but that’s no reason to moan. Delight in the fact that your project is all your own. It’s your opportunity to shine this summer.

Check your progress

Once you start your project, continue to check in with your manager about it. Be as transparent as possible. Don’t be ashamed to ask for assistance when you’re sure you need it, but challenge yourself to make your project as much your own as it can be. Mastering this project will become your key to mastering your summer internship.

The post How to Build Your Personal Project appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The WayUp SF Summer Intern Program continues with our Chill on the Hill event Sat. June 30th!

This Saturday from 12 pm – 3 pm, we’re hosting the city’s first intern potluck at every SF local’s favorite weekend spot: Mission Dolores Park. Stop by with your favorite dish and help us create an endless spread of lip-smacking treats (I’m bringin’ cupcakes!) to enjoy with other interns from around the city.

With six tennis courts, two soccer fields, a basketball court and a lush landscape of hills perfect to soak up some rays, it’s no question why Dolores Park fills spots across a plethora of SF Must-Do lists and is a central location for neighborhood activities, political rallies, festivals, ceremonial dances and much more. If you haven’t had a chance to visit Dolores Park, this is your golden opportunity! And if you’ve already discovered the beauty of this park, then we know you’re excited to share the experience with interns just like you.

We’ll be hanging out from 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, so stop by anytime! Keep your eyes peeled for us at the corner nearest to 18th & Church St.

Key Deets:

What: Chill on the Hill Intern Potluck
When: Saturday June 30th
Time: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Mission Dolores Park – @ flat field on corner closest to 18th & Church St. (above basketball courts)

RSVP on our Facebook event page & let us know what delicious grub you’d like to bring:

The post SF Summer Program: Chill on the Hill Intern Potluck appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For a long time, students participating in summer internships have asked us for ways to meet other students. We know that one of the key goals summer interns have is to meet as many people as they can with similar interests. Passionate about helping interns in every step of their blooming professional journey, we created the SF Summer Intern Program to connect interns like never before.

This past Saturday WayUp kicked off the first event. As a first of its kind for us, the event proved to be a huge success! Over 40 interns and visitors from around the Bay took over our headquarters to watch the Euro Cup, eat their hearts out in pizza, and above all, make valuable connections between the places and people they are interning with in the city.

We’re excited to have had such a success with our first event. Here are some of the insights we took from this weekend:

All Mingling, No Soccer

Being that this was our first event of the summer, we learned a lot about what students are interested in. For one thing, despite the event initially being built around the Euro Cup, it turned into a non-stop “internmingle” (thanks Aki from Path for the word). Despite the lack of rivalry between Czech Republic and Poland, it still surprised us that conversation between students filled the room more than hooligan soccer chants from the game. Chats ranged from problems interns were solving at their office, to TechCrunch news, to local foodie joints.

Big and Small Companies Alike!

We owe a giant thanks to everyone who came out (shout out to Klout for showing up in big numbers). One of the most interesting results of the event was the spectrum of companies who were represented. We knew students at smaller companies who often crave a wider network of connections and opportunities, would be excited by such events. What we didn’t expect was to see as many interns as we did from bigger companies like Google and Zynga who already have large intern classes and robust event schedules — clearly students want to not only meet other interns, but interns from a range of companies.

A Great Time

The ultimate goal of this event was to have fun and it was certainly accomplished! We enjoyed hosting an awesome group of interns and watching new friendships build in front of us. And yes, everyone eventually got into the Euro Cup match! Some rooted and some groaned as Czech Republic took the lead over Poland. No matter the team affiliation, it was easy to see that every intern walked away from our headquarters a winner with fresh connections, new friends with common interests, and a belly full of hot pizza. With events coming up as part of our SF Summer Intern Program, we have a hunch you’ll all be BFFs by the end of the summer!

If you missed out on Saturday, keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for upcoming SF Summer Intern Program events! Here are some pics we snapped. Check out the rest on our Facebook page.

The post SF Summer Intern Program: Kick Off Event Re-Cap appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This Saturday kicks off the first event of WayUp SF Summer Intern Program!

Our very own office in SoMa will be taken over by interns from across the Bay area to watch a screening of the 2012 Euro Cup: Czech Republic v. Poland while munching on free pizza and sparking some good ol’ fashion mingling.

Did you know soccer is the most popular and fastest growing sport in the world? This year’s 2012 Euro Cup will feature 16 of the most talented European nations going face to face in a month-long soccer tournament. Over 3 billion people will tune in and root for their favorite team. (Viva España!)

The post SF Summer Program: Euro Cup Kick Off Event 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.

This is a guest post by Joseph – a current Logistics & Business Relations Intern at DonorsChoose. 

Over the past few months, I have served as the Logistics & Business Relations Intern at DonorsChoose.org, an internship I found here on WayUp. DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit that allows both people and businesses to donate money to important education projects submitted by public school teachers across the nation. So far it has been a fantastic internship experience.

Challenging Work:

During my time here at DonorsChoose.org, I have focused on analyzing current and potential vendors for education supplies, based on inventory size, pricing, shipping costs, and a variety of other important factors. While I am an intern and not a full-time staff member, I have been given real projects and been able to play a significant role in DonorsChoose.org’s mission to best serve teachers and their needs. Analyzing this data helps the organization make more informed decisions about how to get the right resources at the lowest possible cost.

As a graduate student studying Economics, much of my life in the classroom and working as an intern is spent crunching data and working with numbers. This internship has provided ample opportunities to compile and analyze data and make recommendations based off my research, all of which offers new perspectives on how my data skills can be put to use.

A deeper education:

I’ve also been able to sit in on a wide variety of meetings and get insight into what goes on at DonorsChoose.org on a daily basis. There have also been a couple of guest speakers such as Desiree Rogers, a new Board of Directors member, and Lauren Bush, CEO and Co-Founder of FEED Projects, who have come here over the past few months, providing an interesting and insightful diversion from everyone’s routine.

DonorsChoose.org has a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, and interns are certainly made to feel a part of that culture. In spite of not being a full-time employee and not being here every day of the week, everyone here has always made me feel part of the team. I’ve also gotten to enjoy quite a few office parties with great free food!
Moving Forward:

Since my work here directly ties into what I’ve studied in the classroom, this internship has been an extremely valuable experience that complements my studies well. After many years of education, I’m glad to have gotten such a great chance to apply what I’ve learned in a meaningful fashion.

The post Choosing DonorsChoose: Joseph’s Internship Journey appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Not all cities are created equal when it comes to opportunities for a student to take entrepreneurial risks and start their own company. In fact, it is often argued that no where else in the world compares to Silicon Valley both for the amount of available startup capital, but more importantly the willingness of the people in Silicon Valley to suspend disbelief and support the grandiose visions of entrepreneurs young and old.

One of the biggest issues facing entrepreneurs in countries outside the United States is how failure is treated.  While Silicon Valley respects entrepreneurs who have tried, failed, and learned from their mistakes, in other countries including Italy, China, Russia, and many more, failure is seen as unacceptable and those who try and fail are thrown under the bus.  This creates huge problems for fostering a rich tech community where over 90% of companies are expected to fail but those that succeed make up the difference by many fold.

Enter StepOne an innovative program based in Spain and started by Google’s Head of Emerging Products Bernardo Hernandez.  The program seeks to bridge the gap between Spain’s top engineering students and the cutting edge ideas and culture of Silicon Valley.  Spain’s top engineering students compete to be accepted into the program which places them at a leading US startup for an internship that can last anywhere from three to nine months.  The goal is to have some of these students stay on at companies in the states, learning entrepreneurial and coding best practices that eventually will be brought back to Spain to help invigorate their burgeoning startup community.

Despite growing technical talent in other country’s around the world, the success of Silicon Valley has never been repeated, and it is exciting to see how StepOne approaches the challenge with thoughtfulness and a long term perspective.

We have been working with StepOne to help match their students with great startup companies and the degree of talent and excitement is incredible.  This video helps to showcase some of this years StepOne interns and the life-changing experience the program helped them discover.

The post From Spain to Silicon Valley, A Life Changing Experience For Top Engineering Students appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Molly Ongaro — a Minnesota girl at heart, born and raised. Travels in the Midwest allowed her to become a Registered Dietitian in North Dakota and take her first job out of college as a WIC Dietitian in southwest Wisconsin. Molly’s sense of adventure brought her to her current residence in Northern Italy, where she is obtaining her Master in Food Culture and Communications. What’s next for this Minnesota girl? In her own words: “The best is yet to come!”

I must admit that the freedom given within my understanding of what my internship undertaking for my Master could include was much more than I had both experienced previously and anticipated. I am currently finishing my studies in Food Culture and Communications in a small town named Pollenzo in Northern Italy. Because my interests are so varied and I could truly see myself in many different positions, I must regrettably admit that for the internship portion of my Master I just wanted someone to tell me what to do, where to go, and I would do it. However, it was not until I was walking from class one day with a good friend of mine, giving advice on the internship search that an epiphany occurred. I realized the purposeful and strategic process given us to find our own way. It may or may not have been set up that way, but I truly feel that for me it has advanced into useful exposure to the outside world as well as unforeseen personal insight.

Choosing an internship can be a daunting task, especially in the world today where money is tight and services are costly. However, I am confident that the time put into the internship search is well worth the effort. Landing on an opportunity that fits specific skill sets as well as personal and professional needs will undoubtedly be of benefit in the long run – the time and toil is, in a sense, a prerequisite for success.

Knowing the upcoming advantages in my future, I decided to explore both paid and unpaid opportunities. I turned my search into a structured and organized task, as if it was part of my job. I took time every day to research, take notes, and learn as much as I could in all areas I was applying into, thus benefitting myself personally. I saw my search as a necessity in my knowledge and understanding, thereby advantageous in my professional gain as well.

What one puts into the search is also a reflection of character and can even lead to newfound personality traits. I know a hands-on, participatory, and diversified job fits me best. It is essential for me to have inspiration, useful application, and appropriate connection. From the beginning all I knew is what was necessary and in the end I found what is appropriate.

I know that Minnesota is where my heart is, yet I was initially turned off by the idea of returning back to the known and the comfortable after studying abroad in Italy. As far as I thought, the doors to the outside world were wide open. I could choose any given location and setting, and I could not wait for my still undetermined adventure. As I delved deeper into my search, I realized both the season and the locations were not ideal for what I wanted to accomplish. When asked, I said: “I want to form relationships and I want hands-on work.” I thought at first I would work on a farm, improving my

I approached each person and/or company as if I were an answered prayer. I opened up as to who I am and what I can offer, but really tried to focus on each person and their needs. I approached each individual with confidence in myself and in what I could offer. In the end, I basically did not allow them to turn me down. I researched each place of work to the point where I could highlight the gaps I could fill, while still complimenting their already accomplished work. I creatively fit myself into each company and proposed an offer to each. Their response: they were truly grateful and very open to my ideas, for I had already done half of the work.agriculture knowledge and skills. I then thought of working in an urban area to introduce gardening, but the season and the logistics of staying in an unknown place were the deviants. I even went so far as looking at wineries and companies in California. Once I finally decided to dip my toes in the Minnesota waters, it was almost as if it were meant to be. I was completely taken aback by the feedback of my proposals. I knew that it was the right choice and the right place for me.
I decided to gain experience with a few small, local companies in Minnesota. I want to support passionate, hard-working, thus inspirational people. Supporting dedicated people and hard work is a delight for me, and I am confident the collaborations will provide mutual benefit for myself and those I am involved with.

It took time, diligence, and personal assessment, but I found insight into where I fit – so far anyway. I have learned to take it one day at a time with these decisions and know that it will always progress into what it is supposed to, no matter what structure or great plan I begin with.

The post From Northern Minnesota to Northern Italy and Back appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.