Recent News
Interning and Living in Indiana
Entry by Pat Patterson
Have you found an internship that is perfect for you, but you donât know much about the region in Indiana where it is located? Are you only searching for internships in certain cities because you are more familiar with those areas? If so, make sure to check out Indiana INTERNnetâs regional page to learn more about what Indiana cities have to offer, including information about arts and culture, attractions, housing, networking groups, nightlife, restaurants, and shopping â after all, more likely than not, you will be living in the city where you intern.Â
Also, if you have your heart set on interning outside of the state, donât completely disregard what Indiana cities have to offer. For example, according to Yahoo! Real Estate, Indianapolis-Carmel, IN is rated the 10th best city to move in America:
Indianapolis-Carmel ranked high on both stability and affordability. The average home …
International Students: Orienting Yourself to American Business Practices
Entry by Pat Patterson
If you are an international student looking for an internship in Indiana, the following resources may help you adapt to American business culture, etiquette and communication:
Doing Business in the USA – Contains information on business structures, management style, meetings, team work, communication styles, women in business, business dress code and successful entertaining in the United States Business Etiquette in the United States – Offers information on cultural aspects of doing business in America About.com: English as 2nd Language – Provides information for ESL students on beginning English, intermediate English and advanced English. Topics include pronunciation, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, listening skills, writing skills, teaching English, reading skills and business English InternationalStudent.com ResumĂ© Writing Center – A comprehensive overview of resumĂ© writing in the United States Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) – Offers resumĂ© tips for international students JobWeb.com – Highlights differences between resumĂ©s …
Appreciate & Communicate
Entry by Brittney Horn, Membership Intern, Greater Lafayette Commerce
No matter where you work, there is most likely going to be someone that you just donât see eye-to-eye with. Letâs face it â itâs inevitable that you arenât going to get along with every single person you meet in your entire life. In the work place, it is even more prone to happen because you are surrounded by the same people for at least 40 hours a week.
Unless if you are one of those âI get along with everyone all the time no matter whatâ kinds of people (which is rare, and if you are one of those people, I congratulate you) you will experience feelings of frustration with other co-workers. These feelings happen especially when you donât understand where the other person is coming from. This can happen often when you work with people with different types of …
ResearchâŠOr lack thereof
Entry by Nicole Goble, Director of Recruiting and Development in the financial services industry in Zionsville, IN
The biggest mistake students make when applying and interviewing for an internship and/or a full-time position is the effort spent researching the company and the career. We are very lucky to live in a time that allows us to access almost any piece of information we wish at the click of a button â this also leaves little room for employers to empathize with candidates who lack the preparation.Â
There are many ways students search for internships, including and certainly not limited to, career fairs, campus career centers, club and class company presentations, Indiana INTERNnet, and many others. The mistake lies when the proper research is not done prior to applying for these positions and then when getting the first interview, going into that first meeting.Â
To make the best …
Google Stalker: What do search engines say about you?
Image via CrunchBase
Entry by Valerie Petrey, Public Relations & Event Planning Intern, Purdue Liberal Arts Career Development
Have you Googled yourself recently? If youâre internship or job searching, I highly recommend you Google yourself to see how others view you in the virtual world.Â
Everyone is always talking about setting your Facebook and Twitter accounts to private, and making sure there are no inappropriate pictures of you on the Internet. Okay, we know to do all of that so when employers Google us, they know we are responsible⊠but when they Google us, donât we want them to see something that will make an impact on them?
Every job seekerâs goal should be to get on the first page of Google. Itâs more difficult with names like âKayla Smith,â but itâs doable. Rather than having your Facebook pop up, what if a well-written blog came up? …
Looking for a Speaker? – Think Indiana INTERNnet for Your Next Event
Indiana INTERNnet welcomes the opportunity to be included on the program for your next event. Service organizations, member-based associations, employers, students and universities all benefit from the experience and knowledge included in an Indiana INTERNnet presentation.
Students and Universities
Allow the Indiana INTERNnet staff to assist with your next career fair workshop. Presentations on the following subjects are available:
âą Interview etiquette
⹠Resumé critiques
âą The power is in the connection: networking 101
Employers
Invite Indiana INTERNnet to present a brown bag lunch series to your staff. In just three short weeks, your staff will learn how to establish an internship program with the goal of mutual benefit for your company and Indiana students. One topic will be covered in each 45-minute session:
âą How to find interns
âą How to identify meaningful project work
âą How to manage your intern
…
Employers: Hosting an International Student Intern
Entry by Pat Patterson; from the October INTERNnetwork
For some reason or another, some employers are hesitant to hire international students as interns. Gary Beaulieu, Butler University director of internship and career services, believes many businesses have false preconceptions about hiring international students. For example, “many employers think there is a lot of additional paperwork involved, which simply is not true,” he emphasizes.
An issue of the BU INTL – News dispels some of the myths commonly associated with hiring international students. Here are the truths:
International students DO NOT need a green card to intern. Students who maintain an F-1 or J-1 visa status are permitted to intern in their major field of study by federal regulation (up to 12 – or possibly 29 months – for F-1 status and up to 18 months for J-1 status). There is NO excessive paperwork needed to hire an international intern. The …
Just Give It Time
Entry by Brittney Horn, Membership Intern, Greater Lafayette Commerce
When I was younger, I went through phases where I would change my mind about what career I wanted. I had dreams of becoming a hair stylist, chef, nurse, teacher â you name it, I wanted to be it. However, once I got to college, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do.
I went with the âundecidedâ route during my first semester of college to try to figure out what the heck I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I first decided to try out interior design, mainly because I liked the idea of being able to decorate my own house for free. Once enrolled in one interior design class, I realized that this was not for me. Not knowing what direction to take, I began to feel overwhelmed. How was I supposed to figure out …
Career Services: Taking Advantage of Social Networking
Entry by Pat Patterson
Social networking may help you reach your student body, keep in contact with alumni, connect students and alumni with employment opportunities, and market your events. John Hill, alumni career services director at Michigan State University (MSU), has had a lot of success with social networking:
The MSU career services networkâs social networking strategy is to have alumni help it access industries, interest areas, and professions that it wouldnât be able to reach through traditional on-campus recruiting or career fairs.
âThe MSU alumni who get involved in these groups through social and professional media are our low-hanging fruit and itâs up to us to mobilize them,â Hill says. âSocial media gives us a ready-made repository to identify them.â
MSU primarily focuses on LinkedIn as there are 135,000 MSU alumni and students using it. Through information and data on resumes, the career services network creates communities that …
The #1 Interview Question: âTell me about yourself.â
Entry by Valerie Petrey, Public Relations & Event Planning Intern, Purdue Liberal Arts Career Development
Preparing for an interview, whether for an internship or job is stressful. Itâs simple to answer questions about yourself, right? The hard part is answering those questions in a way that will convey your specific skill set to an employer.
When answering the infamous question, âtell me about yourself,â you must limit the answer to a minute or two. Also keep in mind your future employer doesnât care about your obsession with the Chicago Cubs, that you like music or if youâre double jointed, UNLESS you can turn those things into experience that would benefit the job you want to do for that employer. In which case it would make you stand out among the hundreds of other candidates.
A fabulous guest speaker came to my class this week and told us the story of …
Making the (Regional) Connection
This blog was originally posted at Building a Better Indiana.
Itâs time to tune into GLE! Not âGlee,â the pop culture phenomenon about a high school show choir. Iâm referring to GLE, which stands for Get Linked Expo, a regional event bringing together business leaders from six Central Indiana counties: Delaware, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Madison and Marion.
GLE is all about one thing: connections. It will promote networking among participants (more than 1,000 people are expected to attend) and vendors (over 100 will showcase their products and services). Industries represented include technology, business services and economic development.
The Indiana Chamber is among Hoosier organizations partnering on the event. Individuals can attend for free by registering in advance. GLE will take place on November 4 at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino in Anderson from 3-7 p.m., followed by an after-hours mixer.
Take advantage of this opportunity to reach out to â …
Knowing Your Audience: The Mindset of the Class of 2014
Entry by Pat Patterson
If you are a career services professional or faculty member enticing freshmen to visit the career office for the first time, it is important to know more about your audience. Consider Beloit Collegeâs mindset list for the class of 2014:
Few in the class know how to write in cursive. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail. Al Gore has always been animated. âCaramel macchiatoâ and âventi half-caf vanilla latteâ have always been street corner lingo. Entering college this fall in a country where a quarter of young people under 18 have at least one immigrant parent, they aren’t afraid of immigration…unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine. Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate …
Last Call for Nominations – Indiana INTERNnet IMPACT Awards
Friday, October 29 is the deadline for Indiana INTERNnet IMPACT Awards nominations in the categories of Intern of the Year (both college and high school), Employer of the Year (both nonprofit and profit), and Career Professional of the Year. Last yearâs winners were honored at the annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon and weâll be doing the same this time around recognizing finalists and winners on February 10, 2011.
Nominations are open to interns, employers and educational institutions statewide. Share your story of internship success by nominating yourself, your organization or another who is making an impact on stemming the Indiana âBrain Drainâ through internship connections. And, remember to mark your calendar for the luncheon in February. Registration for the luncheon will open in late November.
To Blog Or Not To Blog
Entry by Brittney Horn, Membership Intern, Greater Lafayette Commerce
By now everyone pretty much knows to keep their Facebook free of any wild and crazy pictures and ludicrous statuses. This fact is old news by now (or at least I hope so). But what about blogging? Can you blog on your own free will without worrying about future employers reading and analyzing every word you write? The answer is yes. Well, urm, sort of.
You can have a blog that isnât professionally related, but you MUST be careful at what you write about. If itâs about your life in general, you should be aware of what you reveal. Do you want your future employer to know that you had a 3-day drinking binge to celebrate your birthday? Yeah I didnât think so. If itâs a specific type of blog such as a food, fashion, music, etc. be …
Yet Even More Reasons for Internships
Entry by Pat Patterson
For students, if you have yet to do an internship, the findings from a recent employer poll through the National Association of Colleges and Employers may motivate you to do so. The survey indicates that a majority of employers use internship programs to identify full-time hires:
Among employers responding to NACEâs 2010 Internship Survey, 83.4 percent say internship programs are designed to help the organization recruit entry-level college hires. Around one-third (31.1 percent) say the programs are there to help students gain experience, and just under 20 percent report offering internships as a way to build relationships with key schools. (Note: Respondents were able to offer multiple answers.)
For employers who are still hesitant to hire interns, the survey also points to a positive correlation between internships and employee retention:
The survey also found a correlation between doing an internshipâeither with the full-time employing organization or …