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This is a guest blog on tips to connecting during a job search by John Muscarello, Founder and CEO of Start Networking Today.

Looking for an excuse to spend even more time on social media?

LinkedIn has proven to be a great professional networking tool. According Jobvite, “Employees hired through referral are hired 55% faster than those who come from a career site.”

I have personally used The Alumni Networking Solution to find leads and get interviews that lead to job offers.

What exactly is The Alumni Networking Solution?

The Alumni Networking Solution is a 5-step networking tool designed to introduce yourself to college alumni and develop relationships that lead to referrals. This means actually getting to know the person- and asking for his or her advice, instead of a job. I used these five simple steps – in about 10 minutes per connection – to find …

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Would you believe when I started my internship, I had never used Twitter before? Four months and thousands of tweets later, social media is one of my main responsibilities with Indiana INTERNnet. Learning by doing is a wonderful thing.

At the Millennial Impact conference in Indianapolis (#MCON13) on July 18th, I sat at breakfast with none other than Jenna Golden, a leader in Twitter’s Washington, D.C. office, along with Jessica Mason (YouTube) and Danielle Deabler (NPR). I would have never imagined I would dive into social media so deep, so fast.

Throughout the entire conference, speaker after speaker emphasized the importance of allowing Millennials input and control on projects specific to social involvement and movement. This definitely resonates with my experience at Indiana INTERNnet.

Don’t worry. I took away some valuable tips from this conference other than choosing the right table at breakfast:

Find your calling | What …

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In the summer of 2012, I had just graduated with my MBA and was looking for my first big-girl job. I sent in my résumé to every job posting that I found online that fit my criteria. After a few months, I realized my efforts were futile. I had little marketing experience to penetrate the job market. I needed a place that would give me a fresh start and some hands-on training.

I was aware that internships are the new interview for a full-time job. I knew this applied to perhaps a larger company. In a small non-profit, I wasn’t as sure about the degree of this truth. Nonetheless, I knew the experience would be valuable no matter the size of the organization.

“I thought that building up my portfolio…was as good as it gets. Turns out, it gets better.”

When I started at Indiana INTERNnet in April 2013, …

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Just when I thought my internship with Indiana INTERNnet could not get any more exciting after our staff luncheon at Dick’s Last Resort, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce treated the entire staff to an Indianapolis Indians Baseball game right around the corner at Victory Field. I hurried to wrap up my work for the day before the noon hour. The air in the office was electrified with excitement and the prospect of socializing. The air outside, however, was humid and warm.

After taking my seat alongside my chamber-mates, I thought back to the last time I was at Victory Field. It must have been back in 2010 while I was interning with the Human Resources Department at OneAmerica. The JW Marriott had not graced the panorama of Indy yet.  And, I was ready for my first-ever baseball game. My boss at the time bought me a foam finger and …

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You know how the people in the Disney-Pixar movie, Walle, look? That is how I feel after a couple of hours of sitting at my desk at work. Some days, it feels like the legend of the Freshmen 15 has come back to haunt me – not that I gained all 15 pounds in college, but you get what I mean.

As any health conscious intern, I began to collect some tips on ways to maintain wellness while at work. Then, I realized the Indiana Chamber of Commerce has among its programs a state-wide Wellness Council. Hence, I went directly to the experts to help me compile a list of time-tested tips. Within five minutes of chatting with Adrienne Luegers, the Program Coordinator, I came to realize there is more to wellness than just the physical aspect.

Not only did Adrienne shed a brighter light on wellness in the workplace, but also …

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This is a post by Ball State University graduate Kelsey McPheeters. After graduating with a Bachelors of Science in public relations from Ball State University in May 2013, Kelsey McPheeters joined LMV Consulting as the marketing and communications intern. Not only does she maintain client websites and update social media, but also develops newsletters, among other various tasks.

As graduation was approaching, I began my job search hoping to land an account executive position with a public relations agency in Indianapolis. Early in my search, it became apparent to me that the positions I wanted to apply for required agency experience, or post-graduation experience.

Although I had two non-agency internships (Special Events at Indiana State Fair and Marketing/PR at IU Health Ball Memorial) under my belt, I decided to turn to Indiana INTERNnet to look for a third. After all, the third time’s a charm, right?

…

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Every day, I settle into my cubicle space: my keyboard and mouse at a comfortable distance, my cup of water within reach, and a bag of almonds to satisfy the occasional craving. Within these quasi-walls, I find myself hungry for an external infusion of creativity to lift my thoughts to the extraordinary. This is where Pinterest comes into play.

“…I find myself hungry for an external infusion of creativity to lift my thoughts to the extraordinary.”

If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, this social media site offers a virtual cork board of sorts where you can browse, pin, and later review items of interest. This act of pinning usually ends up making me hungry, wanting to exercise, and working on a craft project. None of the ideas turn out as good as they look on Pinterest. The recipes I attempt to replicate do not look as pretty. The fitness …

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Most internships have moments of laughter, learning, and (rarely) lament. As “The Internship” movie opens this weekend in a theater near you, abundance of laughter is guaranteed. For the past week, Indiana INTERNnet has hosted the “Win Tickets to The Internship Movie” giveaway, which asked current and past interns to share the story of their favorite internship.

The 2 winners selected in this giveaway will receive a Fandango gift card each, good for 2 tickets to The Internship movie (maximum value of $25). While the winners vary in terms of background and aspirations, they are bound by one similarity: they each have a unique story behind their internship experiences.

Here are the winners of Indiana INTERNnet’s “The Internship” movie ticket giveaway:

Thank you to all who entered our giveaway, and congratulations to Robert and Jenn!

Stay tuned as we share our review of The Internship movie in the …

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A new movie, The Internship (PG-13), featuring comedic icons, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, opens June 7th, 2013.

The movie follows two former salesmen who must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses at a coveted internship at Google for a shot at employment. In an age where digital smarts is quickly outweighing street and book smarts, we can only imagine what hilarious mishaps are in store for Vaughn and Wilson’s characters:

Watch ‘The Internship’ movie trailer here.

To enter to win tickets to “The Internship” movie, sponsored by Indiana INTERNnet, tell us about your favorite internship by filling out the Entry Form via Formstack. (It takes less than 5 minutes – we promise!)

Entries must be received by 11:59pm on Wednesday, June 5th, 2013. Two winners will be selected at random and emailed an electronic Fandango gift card good for two movie tickets (Maximum $25 value).

P.S. For extra entries, share …

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The Life and Times of an Internet Marketing Intern is a guest blog post by Rachel Brown, the Content Marketing Intern at digitalrelevance. In this position, she produces valuable advanced content and contributes to the company blog. Brown expects to graduate from Butler University in 2015 with degrees in English Literature and French. This is her reflection on her rewarding internship experience with digitalrelevance.

An English literature and French major at a liberal arts university. Does that sound like someone who would throw herself into the world of Internet marketing? I thought that girl would be out of place and struggle to find her way in.

My time at Slingshot SEO and digitalrelevance proved to be quite the opposite. Right from the start, I had confidence instilled in me from my supervisors, and I was put right to work. As an intern in the editorial department, my fellow Search …

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“A Virtually Equine Semester” is a guest blog post by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College student, Stephanie Dolan, about her experience at a virtual internship.

A horse lover from birth, I was thrilled to see the posting last winter for a virtual internship with the Indiana Horse Council. I’m an Indianapolis resident, but I was not quite sure how I would have managed a full-time job with an in-house internship. The fact that this internship was virtual made this experience a dream job for me, and I am so grateful to my site supervisor, Mary Marshall (the Secretary of the IHC Board of Directors) for choosing me as her first-ever intern.

The mission of the Indiana Horse Council is as a non-profit corporation dedicated to the well-being of the horse industry. The Indiana Horse Council protects, promotes and preserves the interests and activities within the Indiana equine industry in the areas …

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Mother’s Day should be celebrated, not just one day out of the year, but every day. The most influential heroes are rarely the ones quoted in speeches or on Pinterest, but rather the silent ones that give their all and ask for nothing in return. For me, that unsung hero whose influence permeates every facet of my life is my mother.

I wish I could count the hours she stayed up at night worrying over me, but she does not keep a log of them. I wish I could point you to a display of all of her gold medals, but they do not give those out for best mom. I wish I could add up how much money she has spent raising me, but she is not one to keep receipts. I wish I could begin to understand how she passed on that last piece of pie because …

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From “what are you going to do when you grow up” to “what are you going to do after graduation” to even “what’s next for you,” life seems to be one never ending string of career questions. These questions assume that one is continually equipping one’s self with the tools needed to proceed onto the next career milestone. Up until my graduation from college in May 2011, I thought I was ready to take on “the real world” – to do whatever I was going to do when I grew up. However, like many of my generation, I faced a reality that I was not expecting: the student employment gap.

A labor shortage is a stark realization as the Baby Boomer workforce retires, heating up the competition for emerging talent. However, a striking contrast exists bewteen what employers require and what college students bring to the table. As reported …

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I enjoyed most subjects in high school—with the exceptions of physics and art.

Growing up, I had this idea that there were three main occupations that would bring the highest accolade: physician, lawyer, and engineer. When I had to choose a college major, I decided to pursue a pre-professional health track, since I was interested in biology. After taking an introductory course, I was smitten with psychology, and I quickly added it as a complementary major. By my junior year, I realized that my interest in the medical field was dwindling. I still enjoyed learning about the infinite complexity of living things, but I could not foresee myself living out the physician’s lifestyle. I loved watching House and Scrubs, but my interest stopped with TV.  This is why internships have been so critical in my career path.

The summer of 2010 brought along my first internship: Human …

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5 Steps to a Legendary Internship

If you have ever watched the hit TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother, you would know that Barney Stinson is the paragon of determination and success at singlehood. From his competitiveness to his magic tricks, Barney has evolved from a one-dimensional womanizer to the eloquent and creative –sometimes, sensitive – “Mr. Awesome.” Finding a parallel with internship success might seem like a stretch. Some may even say it could not be done. To that I offer two words: “Challenge accepted.” So, here are the 5 steps to a legendary internship:

1) Suit up!

As Barney explained in the episode Single Stamina, he suits up “to distinguish (himself) from the millions of T-shirt and jeans lemmings out there.” Throughout an internship, you too want to distinguish yourself – from previous interns, current interns/coworkers, and your casual self. A sharply dressed young …

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