Category Archives: Young Professionals

Flashback Friday: My High School Internship

The concept of high school interns may seem strange. Don’t most high schoolers work at fast food restaurants or mow lawns, if they have a job at all? When you think of a typical intern, you probably think of a college student or a twenty-something trying to ease their way into a full-time position. High school interns are becoming more common as the job market becomes more competitive and the demand for more relevant work experience increases.

When I was 17, I got an internship at VYPE Magazine Central Indiana, a local branch of a national high school sports magazine. My dad occasionally took photos for the VYPE magazine and web site, and I jumped on the opportunity to work with them. I was a senior in high school and I knew I wanted to go to college to major in journalism, but I had no idea what I wanted …

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The Power of Millennial Alignment: Understanding the Future of Employee Engagement

Hattie Hynes is a Recruiting/HR Marketing Intern with Milliner & Associates. She will graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2019.

Through my internship with Milliner & Associates, I have access to many resources through the American Staffing Association (ASA), one of which are webinars on their web site. These webinars are conducted by professionals around the nation who are experts on what they teach. From marketing and social media to employment law and employee engagement, these webinars offer a variety of content with wonderful advice for businesses and people alike.

This week, I had the opportunity to watch a webinar conducted by Jamie Notter, founding partner of Culture That Works, LLC., entitled “The Power of Millennial Alignment: Understanding the Future of Employee Engagement.” Notter had a lot to say about shifting the older generations’ views of Millennials from an attitude of complaining to an attitude of learning, but …

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Interns Connect for Indy’s Future

Last Friday, the Indy Chamber hosted Indy Intern Connection in partnership with Indiana INTERNnet at the Fountain Square Theatre Building. Employers and interns from all over the city were invited to hang out on the rooftop garden, play duckpin bowling, and network.

The Director of Policy & Civic Engagement at the Indy Chamber and Indiana INTERNnet Board of Directors Member, Matt Impink, played a big part in organizing the event. He said that one of the main goals of the event was to encourage connections between interns, who will ideally be the future professionals of Indiana. He, and many other groups in Indiana, hope to encourage young Hoosiers to continue to live and work here. This combats the “brain drain” issue—that many of Indiana’s best and brightest leave Indiana to work elsewhere.

Many interns were from Indiana, but there was a decent handful who weren’t. In addition to encouraging current Indiana …

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Mason Hammock: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on February 8, 2017, at the 11th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

Mason Hammock is one of the first graduates of the business analytics program at Ball State University. He completed an internship with Ontario Systems.

 

Indiana INTERNnet: What made you interested in pursuing your major?

Mason Hammock: I am a business analytics (BA) major, with a minor in economics. I thought that BA was a good pairing of technical knowledge and high-level business leadership and communication. These are two skills I identified in myself when I decided to pursue a business-related career, so the major was a pretty natural fit.

 

IIN: Describe your internship experience with Ontario Systems.

Hammock: I could not have begun my career in a better …

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Shoes, HR, and Shadows

Hattie Hynes is a Recruiting/HR Marketing Intern with Milliner & Associates. She will graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2019.

Through my internship with Milliner & Associates, I have ample opportunity to network and learn about the community of Indianapolis businesses. So much so that I was able attend an afternoon job shadow with seven different human resource (HR) representatives at Finish Line, Inc.

Finish Line is an Indianapolis-based company that brings primarily athletic shoes to the consumer in retail stores nationwide. Employing over 10,000 people at over 900 retail locations, Finish Line prides themselves on delivering “the epic finish” to all customers. There are six full-time Milliner & Associates employees and an intern (that’s me) heading over to such a massive company for half a day was a shock to say the least. I’m not going to lie to you guys
 I was a bit nervous going …

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Jack-of-All-Trades or Master of None?

I went to a small high school with extremely limited class choices. The only language available to take was Spanish, and the electives didn’t go much beyond drama or choir. When I decided to go to Indiana University, I was so excited to have a variety of options. IU is huge—I could learn anything I wanted to! I could learn how to write code, then turn around and read about famous Mexican muralists, then get some advice from a Pulitzer-winning journalist. (All things I’ve done, by the way. Thanks, IU!) The possibilities were endless.

As I progressed in my college career, I realized how difficult it is to master more than a few skills or subjects. It seemed like every job opportunity I came across wanted me to have infinite abilities—writing, editing, graphic design, social media, videography, photography, web design, event planning, marketing, and the list goes on. Overwhelmed by …

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Indiana’s Talent Gap and Brain Drain/Gain Workshop

Hattie Hynes is a Recruiting/HR Marketing Intern with Milliner & Associates. She will graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2019.

Last month, I had the opportunity to go to “Indiana’s Talent Gap and Brain Drain/Gain Workshop”, a partnership of Purdue University, Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The opportunity was presented to me through my internship with Milliner and Associates by my mentor and VP of Operations, Nicole Bieker. The subject was retaining graduates from Indiana’s universities, what it would take to get them to stay, and attracting similar young talent from other states. They had recent college graduates share their experiences as to why they stayed or left Indiana.

What may surprise you is that students aren’t leaving Indiana to go to the glamorous California or the East Coast. They’re moving to other Midwestern states. Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee …

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Meet the New Intern!

Hi, all! I’m so excited to be the marketing and videography intern this summer at Indiana INTERNnet! I’m going into my senior year of college at Indiana University, where I study journalism and Spanish. I was born and raised in Indianapolis. I love this city, and am thrilled to be working right downtown.

I’ve been creating videos for fun since high school, but I never thought about making it into a career until an IU student organization I’m involved with, RUF, asked me if I would make videos for them.

This is the first time that Indiana INTERNnet has taken on a marketing and videography intern, and I’m so glad they did! But why hire a videography intern?

In our Internet-immersed culture, video can make a huge impact! Take it from the countless viral videos floating around on social media these days—people love a good video, and a good video will …

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Food Banks: More than Food Distribution Centers

Madelyn Martinec is a 2016 graduate of Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with honors distinction and minored in Theology, Marketing and Spanish. She interned for four summers at the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in South Bend, IN where she primarily focused program development and strategic planning during each summer. With great joy, Madelyn continues volunteering at the Food Bank during special events and fundraisers.

Food banks are often thought of as a warehouse full of food and hunger is a topic that not many people enjoy discussing. However, the reality is that millions of people may not know when they will eat their next healthy and nutritious meal despite the fact that there is enough food to feed everyone. Despite this reality, food banks offer support to those who may have to decide between paying for …

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Networking at Night

Most networking events are held during typical working hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). However, there are the occasional evening events. While some events may be more casual than others, it’s important to maintain a professional demeanor at all times. Check out these helpful tips for how to rock the room and make connections.

 

Cards for Contacts

Make sure you bring plenty of business cards, and can easily grab it out of your pocket or purse. You don’t want to be fumbling around in your jacket, or throwing things out of your purse to find a card. The business cards that you collect should also be put in an appropriate place.

Pro tip: Bring a pen to write notes about the conversations you had with people. If you don’t have a small notepad, you can write on the back of their business cards. Your phone is also a great …

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Networking. Networking. Networking.

Hattie Hynes is a Recruiting/HR Marketing Intern with Milliner & Associates. She will graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2019.

As a business student, this work has been nailed into my head about 1,000 times.

“In order to get a good job, you have to network!”

“It’s super competitive out there, you need to get connections!”

Most of my friends have non-business majors and I’m often asked by them what the deal with business students and networking is—-“It’s like your solution to everything. Are you hungry? Go out and network.” (This is a real quote).

It became a recurring joke. “Hey business student, are you networking?”

Prompted by the relentless heckling I got from my friends, I set out to find answers. Why do business people focus so much on networking, and why do business schools hammer it into our heads? According to a survey by The …

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Tim Swanson: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on February 8, 2017, at the 11th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

Tim Swanson is a sophomore at Grace College and Seminary expecting to graduate in May 2019. He completed an internship with the athletics department at his college.

 

Indiana INTERNnet: What made you interested in pursuing your dual major in marketing and psychology?

Tim Swanson: I have been interested in marketing and advertising since high school, but psychology didn’t tag along until I had a behavioral science course my freshman year. I took an introduction course after that and began to love studying it… which was new for me.

 

IIN: What were your favorite parts of your internship with Grace College?

Swanson: I loved the trust that they had in …

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Indiana INTERNnet: The Fast and The Philanthropic

Sunny and warm weather make for a perfect day to give back to the community. On April 24, Allison Gaffney and I volunteered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) as a part of the 500 Festival’s study trip program. Local fourth graders travel to the racetrack and participate in multiple educational activities. This free program has been around for many years, I even participated in it when I was in fourth grade!

As study trip guides, it was our duty to lead the students, teachers and chaperones around IMS to eight activity stations. Each station had a themed activity or lesson, and was conducted by 500 Festival Princesses, staff members or volunteers. Most stations were about the race: driver equipment, race flags, timing and scoring, and the various career opportunities available.

Since this was an educational field trip, there were activities that focused on mathematics, health and history. Students …

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Dominic Vargas: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on February 8, 2017, at the 11th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

Dominic Vargas is a sophomore at Purdue University, graduating in May 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in finance with a concentration in management information systems. He interned with Purdue University Center for Career Opportunities as an information desk assistant.

 

Indiana INTERNnet: How did you become interested in finance?

Dominic Vargas: I became interested in finance, because I always seemed to have an entrepreneurial mindset and a desire to one day start my own business. Finance to me was a great path of study to take in order to gain important knowledge about maintaining and growing a business.

 

IIN: Are you involved in any campus organizations or groups?

Vargas: On campus, …

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Intern Queen’s Tips for Graduation and Career Success

Lauren Berger, CEO and founder of InternQueen.com, is a highly sought after career and internship expert. She has published two books, “Welcome to the Real World” and “All Work, No Pay.” Earlier this month, Berger shared advice in a webinar about graduation and career success for recent and upcoming graduates. For more post-college and career advice, visit laurenbergerinc.com.

Preparing for graduation

If you don’t have a job lined up, calm down! The hiring process differs among industries, so your offer may come later than your roommate. You should set a three-month deadline to have a job after graduation. A deadline will help you stay on track to obtaining your goal.

Make sure you’re passing your classes and all of your credits are obtained. There are plenty of students who were forced to delay their graduation due to failed classes or a missed credit. If you’re participating in the graduation …

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