Recent News
Internship reveals new career path
This is a guest blog by Melinda Frazee, a student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC). She is finishing a major in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. She recently completed an internship with Crawfordsville High School.
Like many interns, I went into my internship questioning my qualifications. I was not sure what I would be able to take away from the program as I am only an undergrad in psychology. But I learned so much about the job, and even about myself!
During my internship with Crawfordsville High School, I was able to take charge of four groups of teenagers and hold discussion hours where we would discuss topics focused on diversity. Through this experience, I learned that I am flexible and a fast learner, as this was a completely new and somewhat uncomfortable situation. Iâm proud that I was able to make it work. The ability to roll …
The 3 R’s of motivation
By now, the shine has worn off of many summer internships. The first week butterflies are gone, and the faces in the office are more familiar than fresh. As the days grow longer and warmer, it is prime time for motivation to wane. However, there are some easy ways to keep enthusiasm and productivity high when dragging yourself out of bed and into the office seems like a chore.
Review your goals: Chances are, you came into your internship with a list of skills you wanted to improve or tasks you wanted to accomplish. Assess how many of those goals youâve reached and what you still need to do to finish the others. This will give you a sense of accomplishment in what youâve done so far while inspiring you to reach for your remaining goals. Mid-internship reviews with your supervisor and mentor can also be a good time to …
Answering the hardest question
Interviews are notoriously stressful. From your resume to your clothes and posture, it is no wonder interviewees often get little sleep before the big day. Augmenting this stress is the fact that one of the hardest questions always comes at the end.
âWhat questions do you have for us?â
Every job candidate expects it, but it still presents a challenge, especially if the recruiter already covered some of the ones you had prepared. While saying that all of your questions have been answered is clearly not the right response, many find it difficult to think on their feet. Luckily, there are some tried and true themes that can help guide your questions and show the recruiter that you want to know more about the position and organization.
Any place where you spend the majority of your days should share your values, so it helps to ask the recruiter what values …
‘I had the opportunity to not just observe, but participate’
‘IThis is a guest blog by Aleah Wieland, a student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC). She recently completed an internship with the Criminal Investigations Division of the Terre Haute Police Department.
In the spring of 2014, while attending Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, I had the opportunity to intern for the Terre Haute Police Department. I specifically interned with the Criminal Investigations Division (CID). I learned what detectives do on a daily basis, and I was given the opportunity to not just observe, but participate in a variety of day-to-day tasks.
The detectives of the Terre Haute Police Department CID are given many cases and tasks to keep them busy throughout the day. Each day, the detectives are assigned a case. These cases are assigned according to crime allegedly committed and the specialization of the detective (property crimes, violent crimes, white-collar crime, etc.). The steps necessary to either suspend or close …
Working in the “social generation”
âSocialâ often describes millennial interns. Plenty of studies and begrudging comments from adults note that Gen-Y can hardly take a step without tweeting about it. Rather than being born into the social media era, we grew up with it, and are therefore more likely to embrace new platforms of telling people what we are doing and with whom.
For young interns, âsocialâ must take on a second meaning in the workplace. Clearly, it is important to be friendly with coworkers, but our social media presence must evolve as well. A recent article from Careerealism (http://bit.ly/1p78WQa) boldly claims that while social media cannot replace your resume, it is an additional virtual component that employers look at.
Toward this end, make sure your Twitter account is professional. While it may be fun to livetweet the latest episode of âThe Bacheloretteâ (guilty), use your professional twitter to engage in conversations about your field …
Top 10 Tips for Intern Interviews (and any job interview for that matter)
Kristen Fuhs Wells is the director of communications and development for Indiana Humanities, a statewide nonprofit that encourages Hoosiers to think, read and talk. She has been interviewing, selecting and managing interns in this role and a previous position since 2007.
Make a good first impression. I can tell a lot within the first five minutes based on your timeliness, appearance, handshake and your first few statements. Smile, speak eloquently, shake hands firmly and dress professionally. Show some personality. Youâre competing with a lot of other top candidates â donât just tell me what you think I want to hear. Give me a reason that I canât NOT hire you. Tell me youâre the perfect candidate by connecting to our mission, explaining why you love Indiana or how your hobbies make you a more well-rounded person. I always start off asking candidates to tell me about themselves. Weâre going …
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 …
Maximizing ROI (Return on Intern)
By Janet Boston, Executive Director, Indiana INTERNnet
“What you put in is what you get out” â weâre not mathematicians, but we do know this is the simple, tried-and-true formula for finding ROI (Return on Intern that is!).
Internships, at their best, function as a two-way street. In exchange for an employer providing a student with real-world working experience, the intern brings new energy, increased productivity, diverse knowledge and perspective, and much more.
We hear constantly from employers that they couldnât keep up their level of productivity and quality of work without the help of interns. We have countless anecdotes of interns who went above and beyond, who saved the company money, who developed more efficient processes, who completed an important project that far surpassed expectations âŠ
And the national conversion rate for turning interns into full-time hires is 48.4%, according to NACE’s 2013 Internship & Co-op Survey.
There is …
Summertime brings new Indiana INTERNnet intern
As we begin to finally thaw out from what seemed like the longest and coldest winter, signs of spring and summer are everywhere. The trees are green, the air is fresh and the pollen count is high.
With these new beginnings comes a new season of summer interns, including myself. Now that my first days as Indiana INTERNnetâs Marketing and Special Events Intern is under my belt, I am ready for the learning experiences that await me this summer.
Having just finished my junior year at Indiana University in Bloomington, I am excited to return home to Indianapolis for the summer to continue the learning process. My previous internships in marketing and public relations at home in Indianapolis and abroad in London helped greatly strengthen my workplace experience, and I know those experiences will only grow during …
Endless possibilities
Possibilities are endless â that is something I learned with my time at Indiana INTERNnet (IIN). The experiences I have been given with IIN have been far and wide. Gaining more writing experience through blogs and LinkedIn announcements, getting to manage all social media and meeting new people are just a few things Iâll be leaving with.
IIN has opened my eyes to many career possibilities. My career visions have changed, along with my career path. Iâve come to understand that this is what an internship is about, to learn. Itâs all part of my journey.
I had a great time with the IIN staff, I couldnât have asked for a better group of people to be with. The staff listened to me obsess over KPOP and the Pacers. They assisted …
An internship to explore âPlan Bâ
This is a guest blog by Jenette Seal, a student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC). She is finishing a major in Pre-Veterinary/Pre-Professional major. This past semester, she was an intern for SMWCâs undergraduate genetics class.
My internship was not a typical experience.
Many people take an internship to get a better idea of the career field they are interested in and gain firsthand knowledge doing the daily tasks associated with a given job. This was not my motivation, however.
My career goal is to attend veterinary school and either practice medicine or conduct research, both sides of veterinary medicine with which I am already familiar and experienced. My back-up plan, however, was to enroll in a graduate program for genetics if vet school didnât pan out. I have an interest in genetics and decided if Plan A (vet school) didnât work, I would pursue Plan B, being a geneticist.
…
Thank you very much!
The importance of a simple thank you â it may seem nominal, but the more I read about job interview follow ups, the more I understand why it is essential.
There are a lot of people that take time out of their schedules for interviewing purposes: the person that has to filter through the resumes, the person that conducts the phone interviews and the people that conduct the actual interview, and donât forget the individual that you may have networked with to learn of the open position. The least we can do is say thanks.
Thanking the interview team
The general rule of thumb is to send a thank you note within 24 hours after your interview. The thank you note could be a simple thank you, but it could also be used to reiterate your interest in the company and position, remind the interviewer who you are or mention …
Ron Arruejo: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
It isnât just Ron Arruejoâs affinity for Indyâs delicious food truck offerings that motivates him to commute from Bloomington to the capitol city weekly (though weâre sure it plays a role!). Itâs a hands-on internship experience with Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) that makes the travel worthwhile.
âBeing able to work on a vast variety of projects from local economic development to state economic reforms and various market analyses with universities, counties and regions has given me a deeper appreciation of how interconnected the economy is with everyone and everything,â Ron said.
In 2012, Ron was placed with TPMA for his fellowship for graduate school. He has been with TPMA as an intern …
Kristen Hay: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
This is a blog post by Kristen Hay, student at the University of Indianapolis. She was a social media intern with a writing focus at BLASTmedia.
BLASTmedia (BLAST) is not your typical internship experienceâitâs above and beyond.
I started and completed the summer of my senior year at the University of Indianapolis as the social media intern with a writing focus on the social media team at BLAST.
Along with a great team, work environment and job tasks, I spent the summer working as a cashier at a retail job and tutoring in my schoolâs writing lab. While BLAST provided fun in the form of company outings, it also gave me the learning experience …
Sloan Jones: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
When you think of the fashion world, Indiana is probably not the place that comes to mind. But that didnât stop Sloan Jones from developing her business and industry skills with the J. Crew Factory in Michigan City last summer.
Sloan started out as a part-time worker at the store. The next summer, she asked the store manager, Mariceli Paz, if she could be the store intern. With the help of an Indiana State University professor and Paz, they designed a manager-in-training program just for her.
âThe internship allowed me to get a taste of what it takes to be a manager of a retail store,â Sloan explained. âCustomer service, register duties, store events, …