Category Archives: Work and Learn Indiana Tips
Virtual Internships: Lessons Learned
Itâs the unofficial summer of virtual internships â weâve been celebrating the successes and sharing the struggles that come with it. This post concludes our summer blog series about virtual internships.
For many of us, the next month will include finishing virtual/hybrid internships and beginning classes in a virtual/hybrid setting. As we make this transition, it will be helpful for us to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned this summer and consider how they could transfer to our classes this fall. Here are a few that come to my mind:
Adaptability is everything
If you had told me (or probably anyone on the planet) a year ago what life would be like this summer, I wouldnât have believed you. I would have doubted that Iâd be able to transition to such a different lifestyle in such a short time. But here we are now, and Iâve recognized a resilience in both …
Diversify Your (Internship) Portfolio
Shoutout to the finance interns who understand portfolio diversification much better than I do! Here, weâre talking about diversifying a different kind of portfolio: your internship portfolio. This is a compilation of the work youâve completed as an intern for one or several companies. It can be a formal, physical, or digital collection â or, it can be a more informal mental list. Either way, itâs helpful to have more than one type of internship experience to put on your resume and talk about during interviews. So, what are some major classifications of experience to consider?
Type
Whether they planned to or not, many students have recently added a virtual internship to their portfolio. If youâre not one of them, donât worry! As employers become more comfortable hosting interns virtually, more opportunities will become available. This is a valuable experience to have, especially as work continues to move home. At …
Virtual Internships: Summer Reading
If youâre anything like me, youâre looking for something to do in from the Indiana heat right now. And what better way to spend a summer day than with a good book? Since many of us are still learning how to work effectively at home, it seems like a good topic for some summer reading. Here are nine suggestions to help you be a better virtual intern (or supervisor!) this summer:
1. Work from Home Superstar: How to Stay Focused and Rock Your Day
We all know that distraction is one of the worst enemies of working from home. This book understands the struggle and offers advice about how to be just as productive at home as in the office.
2. Effective Virtual Conversations: Engaging Digital Dialogue for Better Learning, Relationships and Results
Another real challenge of working remotely is communicating virtually. This book focuses on digital communication and provides …
Spend Summer Serving
Here at Indiana INTERNnet, weâre all about experiential learning. Our focus is internships, but we recognize that sometimes students have to get creative and find other opportunities â especially this summer. As some internship programs have been cancelled or changed due to COVID-19, volunteer opportunities have only increased to help communities through this crisis. If your summer internship has been cancelled or shortened, consider spending some of your extra time serving!
Why Volunteer
Recent months have made us all more aware of the needs within our communities â why not help to meet them? Not only will you be making a difference during this historic time, but youâll also be gaining valuable experience to learn from and add to your resume. Can you say win-win?!
Finding Opportunities
There are so many needs that it can be hard to know where to start. But there are several resources to help you …
The Best Tips for Finding a Summer Internship
I know that itâs the holiday season and that the last thing on a lot of peopleâs minds is planning for the summer. But what a lot of students donât know is that now is a great time to start applying and searching for summer internships. I know some are focusing on their spring internship experience and that is great, but summer is right around the corner. Use these couple of weeks off to start your summer search and use some of the tips I have complied for you!
Utilize Indiana INTERNnet and all the amazing resources on the site
Most readers know the resources that we offer, but some new users are still getting familiar with the site. Here are some new user tips:
Utilize the advanced search options. This is a perfect way to only see internships that work for you. Sort it into the industry, location, or …
What to Really Look for In Your Next Intern
We recently started screening every single internship posted on IndianaINTERN.net. We quickly realized this is a time-consuming process. But it truly increases the quality of internships we share with students. I noticed, however, a common trend: Employers were putting a lot of emphasis on experiences as opposed to desired skills from potential applicants.
I see a lot of internship postings requesting specific qualifications. The employer limits its search to juniors or seniors, a student with a certain GPA, number of courses completed and/or total yearsâ experience. There are plenty of other attributes that should be considered when trying to find your next intern.
Applicantsâ skills
When you review an applicantâs resumĂ©, itâs easy to hone in on how many internships they have or have not completed. Instead of looking solely at quantity, focus on abilities developed during their professional experiences.
If the applicant doesnât have an internship background, avoid discounting them. …
Is My Company Ready for an Intern?
Even though itâs only January, many companies are already starting to think about summer intern recruitment. In fact, if you scroll down this page and look at our live numbers, you can see that summer internships are quickly getting posted to IndianaINTERN.net. Feeling a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out)? Think you need an intern? You may want to pump the brakes before posting.
Iâm all about increasing the number of available internships for students. With the addition of interns, employers can accomplish additional tasks, introduce fresh perspectives and help train/mentor the future workforce. At the same time, students can increase their skills outside of the classroom, network and explore career interests. Itâs a win-win!
Thereâs a danger, however, in poorly-executed internships: Already understaffed employers hire interns and canât provide them with training or feedback. They donât put much thought into tasks and projects their intern will be accomplishing. Or …
Internship Description Refresh
Youâve posted your internship onto IndianaINTERN.net, and you start waiting for the applications to roll in. However, after a few weeks youâve yet to get a response. What could be going on?
If you find yourself in this predicament, the first place you should check is your internshipâs description. Poorly written and vague descriptions leave students unclear of what your internship has to offer. Your internshipâs description needs to clearly state what it entails and what type of student you are looking for. It should attract students to work for your company and leave them eager to apply.
Promote your organization
The description section of your internship is the perfect place to include details about your organization. Share some information about what your company does, where itâs located, any awards it may have received, etc. Really sell your organization to potential applicants.
In this section, you can also include information …
Timing Your Internship Search Right
Many degree programs require students to obtain an internship experience for credit. It is something that is expressed in the graduation requirements that freshmen learn about, but at that point junior or senior year can feel very far off. It is important to keep internships in the back of your mind, no matter what point youâre at in your college career. It can be difficult to work these types of roles into your schedule, and if you wait until the last chance to get an internship under your belt it may not be an experience that proves helpful for your post-graduation pursuits.
Here are three tips to help keep you on track:
Keep tabs on your favorite companies
Do some research on companies in your area and figure out which ones youâd like to look for. Keep a spreadsheet handy and record all the details you can find about their …
Making The Most Out Of Your Internships
Can you believe itâs almost April? This semester has flown by! With the end of the semester approaching, it may also mean the end of your internship is approaching. It can be easy to want to just skate by for the rest of the semester, but often the last month of your internships are crucial. Below Iâve included some tips on how to not let yourself slip and make the best out of your internship.
Donât get overwhelmed.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed at the end of the semester. Between finals, final projects, and simply passing your classes, life can be hectic when May rolls around. If youâre like me, when you get overwhelmed itâs easy to do nothing. However, donât let yourself do this! Always take your tasks one at a time to ensure that youâre doing your best work. Donât be afraid to ask for …
Timing is Key When it Comes to Posting an Internship
Can you believe that summer internships are already being posted on IndianaINTERN.net? Some employers may be thinking this is way too soon, but itâs the perfect time. Unlike recruiting full-time employees, interns have multiple things to consider like short-term housing, class schedules and receiving college credit before being able to accept. Thatâs why itâs so important for employers to give themselves plenty of time to recruit internship candidates.
According to Indiana INTERNnetâs Employer Guide, students often apply to summer internships in February or March. However, highly competitive programs start recruiting in the fall prior.
During the summer, some students may be interested in interning at a company thatâs far from their hometown. Since this will require them to set aside time to find short-term housing, they start searching for internships early. That way, if they receive an internship offer, theyâll have ample time to figure out their housing situation.
This …
What to Do When You Donât Know What to Do
Oh, the holidays. Itâs a time for friends, family, food and prying questions about your future. Before I graduated high school, my family members spent some time during our holiday gathering to ask me what I wanted to do with my life. The questioning only intensified after I started college. I would always have an answer, but I honestly didnât know exactly what I wanted to do until the second semester of my sophomore year in college.
Some people know exactly what they want to do and where theyâd like to work. While others may not have any idea, and thatâs OK! Your career path is an extremely important decision that greatly affects your life, so take as long as you need to figure out what youâd like to pursue. Hereâs some resources you can explore to help you weigh your options:
Browse IndianaINTERN.net
Even if you arenât ready …
What to Consider Before Applying to a Virtual Internship
With the growth of technological resources like Skype and Google Docs, an increasing number of virtual internships are popping up. Virtual internships are internships that allow interns to work remotely with periodic check-ins. Some employers who host virtual internships will have occasional face-to-face meetings, while others will check in via video call, phone calls, emails, etc.
Virtual internships allow interns to have a bit more freedom when it comes to their working hours. It also allows interns to work for a company that may be too far to commute to. For example, someone who lives in Bloomington could intern remotely for an organization in Valparaiso! However, with great freedom, comes great responsibility. Here are some things to keep in mind if youâre thinking about applying to a virtual internship:
How much time do you have?
If you already have a lot of things on your plate, you may want to …
New Web Site Features Provide Convenience and Encourage Connections
There is much more to the updated IndianaINTERN.net (IIN) than meets the eye! Along with a fresh new look, weâve added multiple features to the site to enhance the experience for students, employers and educators. These additions make it easier for students and employers to connect.
New features include:
In-Site Messaging
This new feature allows employers to conveniently message students without ever leaving the site. IINâs in-site messaging also makes it easy for employers to recruit applicants. Registered employers can search for interns by keyword, school, major, location and more. After finding students who fulfill the internshipâs needs, employers can send those students a message inviting them to apply.
For example, an employer with a marketing internship in Indianapolis could search for students on the web site who are marketing majors and live in Marion County. Then, theyâre able to view the studentsâ profiles and resumes, and send more information …
Still Searching for an Internship?
Entry by Pat Patterson
Are you still having trouble finding a summer internship? With employers planning to hire more interns this year, perhaps you are just looking in the wrong places:
Employers expect to hire 7 percent more interns for 2010-11 than they hired in 2009-10, according to results of NACE’s latest internship survey.
Ninety-three percent of employers responding to the NACE 2011 Internship & Co-op Survey reported plans to hire interns.
The survey was conducted January 15 â March 1; 266 employers responded, for a 30.8 percent response rate.
Indiana INTERNnet has nearly 2,500 internship opportunities available from more than 3,800 employers across the state. If you have not done so recently, log on to your student account and search our database â or if you donât have an account, get signed up with us today for free!
With most summer internships starting in …