Category Archives: Internship and Job Search
Don’t doubt the power of experience
Summer is here. For me and many other college students, that means transitioning our lifestyles from âcollege kidâ to âintern.â
Having just finished my junior year at Indiana University, the stress of final exams is still fresh in my mind. Iâm an advocate of flashcards and all-nighters before the exam, so moving into a full-time internship is an adjustment. Itâs strange (but great) that when I get home at the end of the day, I donât have to crack open a textbook.
A recent study by the New York Federal Reserve, however, makes me reevaluate some of those all-nighters, and makes me even more grateful for my internship experience thus far. Three economics professors from University of Wisconsin La Crosse, University of Pennsylvania and Auburn, respectively, sent out more than 5,000 fake resumes for online jobs to see what employers were really looking for when hiring graduates.
The results? Only …
Time for some spring cleaning
Spring has sprung. Finally!
After my battle with the winter weather, I couldnât be more excited about spring. Besides enjoying the warmth, we all know that spring is a busy time with cleaning and making way for new things by getting rid of the old.
Itâs also the time of the season where some college students will be graduating soon or closing in on the last day of their internship. If youâre like me, you are going through both of these. So, thereâs no better time than now to start sprucing things up a bit for the job search. You know, spring clean it.
Where to start? What needs to be done? Here are some things we all can do.
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Tidy up the résumé
Remove all of the unnecessary items. Make sure your rĂ©sumĂ© fits the position that you are applying for. And remember, …
How are you beating the competition?
March Madness has reached the peak of excitement, a great time for college basketball lovers. Teams are competing to become the champion. Fans are competing to have the best bracket predictions. What are you competing for? A full-time job?
Follow our playbook to become a first-round draft pick.
Practice makes perfectÂ
No good player was made over night. Players develop their skills by practicing. You are practicing your skills through your internship and class projects. Display your strengths on your résumé and show off your talents.
No one hits the court without warming up first. You should be prepared for your interview. Practice for your interview by reviewing typical interview questions and rehearsing your answers with a friend, family member or advisor. Practicing will make you a well-rounded player for your dream job.
Listen to your coach, know your team
Coaches inspire people to be their best while …
Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?
Stop and think for a moment. When a potential employer is browsing your resume, what impression are they forming about you? What about in person, in the interview?
We all know first impressions mean a lot and developing your personal brand can help achieve a good, and hopefully lasting, impression. According to Forbes, âYour personal brand is all about who you are and what you want to be known for.â Personal branding is an ongoing process of forming an image about you.
Letâs discover how to develop your brand so that you can be assured what you have to offer shines.
Define who you are and who you want to be.
You know yourself and where you want to end up in life better than anyone. Remember those things during an interview and when you are networking. Let yourself and your passions shine!
What makes you unique?
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Goodwill intern puts classroom knowledge to work
Victoria is a junior studying journalism and public relations at Indiana University. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and is also the director of the Canvas Creative Arts committee on IU’s Union Board. In her free time, Victoria enjoys running and writing.
Last year, I worked as a student ambassador for Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. As a student ambassador, I worked on marketing Goodwill to students at Indiana University and members of the Bloomington community. My work consisted of hosting events, utilizing social media and a lot of crafting.
Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana focuses largely on giving back to the community. They do this through donations at their stores as well as working to educate people at the Indianapolis Metropolitan High School and The Excel Center, a tuition-free charter school for adults.
At Indiana University, my educational focus is journalism and public relations. This student …
Legendary Internâs Last Day, New Gig
The first time I walked through the office doors, I didn’t notice much about my surroundings. Like any new grad, I was headed for an interview and my focus was directed at the person I was about to shake hands with and the questions they had in store for me.
This morning, the elevator carried me to a positive and supportive work environment, to people I have come to respect and admire. Ten months after that first meeting, the interviewer is now my mentor, and the questions made room for new ones. My view of the office is still narrow this time around as the superimposed emotional and psychological lens tries to concentrate on the people and the memories that remain.
I know. This sounds too reflective, too nostalgic. This is exactly the state I find myself in on the last day of my internship. The projects are all wrapped …
How to Make the Most of Being Home for the Holidays
Between the snowmen, reindeer and egg-nog, you may be thinking of the holidays as a time to relax for a moment (or at least appear to relax), right? After all, youâve just finished your finals, wrapped up an entire college semester, slipped into your festive jammies and reclaimed your spot on the couch. Youâve earned this mental break.
You might be cozy by the fireplace â chowing down on sugar cookies and catching up on your favorite TV shows, but donât let your internship hunt take a hiatus. Here’s how to make the most of being home for the holidays:
Update your resume to include leadership positions, volunteer activities and jobs you had during the past semester. The information is fresh in your mind. Just type it up and proofread it. Put your resume out there on internship/job sites; consider your universityâs career site and www.IndianaINTERN.net (shameless plug: 800+ active …
United Way Team NFL Interns Impacting Education
Indiana University senior, Tim Klawitter, tells of his experience as a student manager and how United Way team NFL interns are impacting education. Tim is specializing in sports communication, business and journalism. He will be graduating in December and is presently searching for a full-time position. As a a student manager for the Indiana Football team and a United Way TEAM NFL Intern, Tim promotes the civic efforts of Virgil Green of the Denver Broncos and Antoine Bethea of the Indianapolis Colts via digital marketing and social media. You can connect with Tim via both Twitter and Instagram.
In todayâs fast-paced, results-driven world, itâs easy to get caught up in our to-do lists and forget about taking a second to give back. We focus on tasks that will benefit ourselves and spend our days consuming rather than making a difference and bettering the world we live in.
Not too …
Thankful Intern Shares Grateful Moments
The below freezing temperatures hint at the brewing winter and signal a string of holiday celebrations. Every November, Thanksgiving is celebrated in Indiana with only the juiciest of roasted turkeys and the sweetest of pumpkin pies. As family and friends gather around the table, a sense of gratefulness fills the air almost competing with the blend of nutmeg and cinnamon. I find myself reflecting on the internship opportunity I have enjoyed with Indiana INTERNnet.
Grateful for the chance to gain work experience: Graduating with my MBA right after college, I had no experience in marketing. For the past 6+ months, I have learned how to manage social media accounts, design print and web materials, analyze website metrics and write content. My marketing internship has not only expanded my skill set but also provided me with relevant work experience.
Grateful to be building my portfolio with skills-focused projects: …
Talking Career Options (& Internships) with High School Students
Jack Hope (Hope Plumbing) presenting on the skills gap at Perry Meridian High School
We had the pleasure of presenting Indiana INTERNnet (and Indiana Skills) to eight classes of Perry Meridian High School students last Friday. It was great to see the attention students paid to these important topics â we had students ask us about training for jobs in sonography, truck driving and public safety.
“…many students donât understand their post-secondary options outside of four-year college.”
We talked with the students about the importance of experiential learning no matter what career track you are on.
We had the added pleasure of being joined by Jack Hope, owner of Hope Plumbing in Indianapolis. Hope has become a terrific partner to Ready Indiana with his dedication to encouraging students to consider middle-skill careers. We know the demand and the rewards are there, but we find that many students donât understand their …
10 Colleges With the Highest Rate of Student Internships
Indiana INTERNnet is proud of the two Indiana colleges that made onto the U.S. News’ “10 Colleges With the Highest Rate of Student Internships” list: Holy Cross College and Taylor University. Below is an excerpt from the featured article by Devon Haynie, an education reporter at U.S. News.
It’s a tough job market for recent college graduates.
Of the workers who graduated from college in the past two years, 41 percent say they are underemployed and working in jobs that do not require their college degrees, according to a 2013 survey from Accenture, a consulting company.
And even with their degrees, nearly 63 percent of recent graduates said they will need more training in order to get the job they want, the survey states.
Faced with this reality, many college students are doing everything they can to be more marketable after graduation.
More often than not, landing an internship is key to that strategy â …
Offering More Treats and Newer Tricks
Itâs not technically the most wonderful time of the year, but Halloween comes pretty close. One quick stop in our neighborhood and youâd find that Indiana INTERNnet (IIN) is offering more treats and newer tricks than anyone on the block. Before I let you in on my favorites, promise me you wonât show up in your scream mask at my cubicle. Promise me.
“Itâs not technically the most wonderful time of the year…”
It doesnât need a shiny wrapper or a fancy commercial because IINâs most decadent treat is just that deliciously designed. Youâre probably familiar with the former state work-study program. As of the summer of 2013, a new recipe has spiced things up for both students and employers: the Employment Aid Readiness Network program (or EARN for short). With EARN, eligible students have access to resume-building, experiential, paid internships, while employers receive state matching funds in exchange for hiring these …
Fall into Internships
Have you noticed the leaves turning from green to red, yellow and brown â as if the cooler weather wasnât enough of a clue that the seasons are changing? So, you reach for that college-branded hoodie from the back of your closet and head to the nearest coffee shop for that pumpkin spice latte. As you sit there in your black rimmed glasses and faded jeans, you browse your Twitter feed and wonder how the summer flew by.
Maybe you spent it lounging on the lake, or taking orders at the neighborhood fast food joint. Maybe you were working your way through online quizzes for that one math class, or watching all 4 seasons of Arrested Development. Or maybe, just maybe â you were gaining some experience at an internship (I can only hope).
As you take a sip of that heavenly java concoction, the smile that …
Ending on a Sweet Note
This is a guest blog by Armenda Boyer, a sophomore at Purdue University. She is currently working toward a dual major in Agricultural Communication and Agricultural Economics. This past summer, she was an education intern for the Indiana State Fair Commission.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I accepted an offer to work as an education intern at the Indiana State Fair. Of course, I expected to have the opportunity to work with children and to share my love of all-things agriculture. And I was able to do just that! What I didnât expect to do involved 6,500 pounds of caramel corn and a national television show…
The Worldâs Largest Popcorn Ball tipped the scales at 6,510 pounds. Check out my last post to see how this massive sphere of popcorn and sugar came together to break a world record! The popcorn ball …
A Record-Breaking Internship: Making the Worldâs Largest Popcorn Ball
This is a guest blog by Armenda Boyer, a sophomore at Purdue University. She is currently working toward a dual major in Agricultural Communication and Agricultural Economics. This past summer, she was an education intern for the Indiana State Fair Commission.
I spent last summer working as an education intern at the Indiana State Fair. Along with the everyday, agricultural education outreach, my internship provided me numerous unique opportunities. And I mean truly unique!
Each year the State Fair highlights an agricultural commodity produced in Indiana. If you visited the fairgrounds August 2-18 you probably recognized the 2013 theme: Year of Popcorn. This field crop was apparent at each turn of the fairgroundsâfrom the child-friendly popcorn maze to the red and white striped, popcorn container-inspired gift shop on Main Street. The focal point of the popcorn theme was certainly the Worldâs Largest Popcorn Ballâa 3-ton caramel corn …