Tag Archives: interns

I have officially hit week 10 of my internship with Indiana INTERNnet!

I feel it is the perfect time to update you on everything I have done thus far, and also talk through some things I have learned along the way.

First things first 

Internships are a great way to discover the types of things you want out of your career, while also “test driving” different paths you may want to look into. For myself I learned that I truly love social media marketing. Before Indiana INTERNnet, I had zero experience running social media accounts that weren’t my own. I found myself looking forward to creating posts and researching trends that would boost engagement on our site. Creating content feels like second nature at this point and I will most definitely be looking for careers that will allow me to have that creative freedom in the future!

The most rewarding …

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We’ve all been there–the new kid, the freshman, first day of your first job.

No matter who you are, you experience being the bottom rung of the ladder at some point.

One of the most common stereotypes surrounding internships is that you are designated all the grunt work. We see evidence of this in popular tv shows, movies, and even books, so it has to be true, right? Well– yes it is kind of true, interns are given the jobs that other employees don’t care to do, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. We all have to start somewhere, and there’s no better way to learn than to start from the bottom.

The advice I would give to an intern who does not appreciate getting the grunt work is this: perspective is everything. You must always remember that scanning through documents and running errands are some of the …

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So, you landed your first internship this summer, congrats!

Internships are a great way to network and get your foot in the door in the world of the corporate job market, but were you aware of the things you should be doing now? You may be thinking to yourself, “I just started, what could I possibly need to do?” Well, I am here to tell you that by starting now, you set yourself up to have a plethora of key takeaways at the end of your internship experience.

First things first, keep track of your projects! Big or small, doesn’t matter, what matters is having enough pieces to fill your portfolio and resume with, so that future employers can get the best idea for how your skills would fit with their team. The best advice I can give is to start healthy/helpful habits now. Create weekly lists of specific tasks you …

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In order to combat the spread of COVID-19, many Indiana colleges and universities moved to eliminating fall and spring breaks while extending winter breaks. While a longer break can provide a much-needed period of relaxation for students, it also can be the perfect time to explore micro-internships.

Micro-internships are short-term, project-based experiences that provide individuals opportunities to increase their skills, explore new career paths and build their networks. They’re an excellent opportunity for employers to hire students specifically for the purpose of completing a singular project. It’s important to note, however, that micro-internships are not eligible for the EARN Indiana program.

Unlike traditional internships, micro-internships take place over a range of hours as opposed to a set timeframe. They typically last from 10 to 80 hours of work with most projects due within a week to a month after assignment. Their short timeframes make micro-internships a great fit for this …

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Greetings!

I’m Emily, the Outreach Intern here at Indiana INTERNnet this summer. I feel grateful and excited for the opportunity to spend the next several months promoting experiential learning in my home state!

I’m originally from Fort Wayne, where I attended Homestead High School and had my first internship experiences as a senior there. I really appreciate the freedom I had to gain professional experience before college, and that’s a major part of why I’m so excited about joining the Indiana INTERNnet team now. This is my fifth formal internship, so I guess you could say it’s a passion! Last summer I was a part-time intern at an Indianapolis nonprofit called Tangram and at Prudential’s Indiana Financial Group. My time in both companies taught me how to apply what I had been learning in the classroom to actual projects and problems.

I’m a rising senior at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, …

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I’ve been with Indiana INTERNnet for almost three years, but every once in a while, I make a mistake. It may be a small typo in an email, forgetting to follow up with a voicemail or messing up the formatting in a PowerPoint presentation. Humans aren’t perfect! I quickly own up to the mistake, correct it and move on.

That’s why when interns make mistakes, it’s very important to realize that no one, not even yourself, is capable of delivering perfect work 100% of the time. For most interns, an internship is their very first experience working in a professional setting. Many things are new to them, so they need the freedom to learn and grow from their mistakes. However, what should you do when your interns mistakes become a bigger issue? Here are some examples:

You noticed your intern posting inappropriate things on their social media channels
You …

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Lots of employers take on interns.  Plenty of professionals will tell you the importance of a structured intern program. But sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the handling of day to day tasks. For most interns, this role is their first experience of the “real world” of their desired career path. It can be overwhelming, stressful, and completely new. This makes it crucial to recognize your interns when they do great work.

Whether positive or negative, feedback is necessary.

One of the signs of a successful internship program is constant feedback. There should be some type of schedule laid out for performance reviews or self-evaluation, and outlining tasks and goals. Of course, sometimes there is a need for constructive criticism. But don’t let that be all your intern hears from you! Positive reinforcement, while it seems trivial, goes a long way. Recognizing your intern when they succeed with an …

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Being an intern can be hard. You’re juggling school work, internship work, along with the other aspects of being in your 20s. Sometimes you’re doing so many things you question if you’re doing them right.  This is why feedback is the most important aspect of your internship, but sometimes it can be hard knowing what to do with it. Below I’ve included three strategies to use feedback to its fullest potential.

Take it and run.

Feedback from your supervisors and peers can be a great asset, especially if it’s in a form of a mid-term review or working feedback. The best thing to do with feedback is to take it and use it. If your supervisor says that your work needs to be double checked, you should make sure to double check your work in the future. This will not only show your supervisor that you value their opinion, but …

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Urban Dictionary defines being ghosted as “To be ignored, or not having anyone respond to your opinion and disregarding your remark, leaving you feeling insignificant.”

After weeks of searching for the perfect summer internship, I thought I had finally found THE ONE. The internship embodied everything I could ever want. I applied and got through to the interview stage. The interview was fantastic. I couldn’t have imagined it going any better. Like all interviews, I sent a follow-up email thanking my interviewer for their time and expressing my excitement for the position. However, my email never received a response.

No big deal, right?  Things happen, people get busy, I get it. However, the timeline that I was given came and went, with no responses. By this time, I was a little worried, so I sent another follow-up email. Still, no response. By this point I realized I most likely didn’t …

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It’s the middle of the semester, and you know what that means: MIDTERMS! In my college experience, I haven’t had a lot of midterms. Most of my classes focused on exams periodically throughout the semester. However, when I do have midterms I always try to make sure that I am well prepared so I can rock my tests. Here are a few tips on how to manage your internships during midterm week.

Plan your study schedule.

Between working, school, and now studying for midterms, your schedule can become pretty hectic. Make sure that you work in time for studying somewhere in your calendar, whether that means blocking out an hour or two, or saying no to going out with your friends. Better yet, plan some time to study with your friends. Being in a group and studying can help you focus and keep you accountable to actually studying.

Don’t put …

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With the focus in colleges and high schools becoming more internship-based, it’s important to recognize the hard work and dedication that goes into being an intern and having a successful internship program.  On Wednesday, those efforts were recognized at the 12th annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon.

Indiana INTERNnet hosts this event to recognize interns, career development professionals and employers for having an impact in the internship arena. The theme for this year’s event was “Wild About Workforce Development.”

The luncheon featured Chris Heeter, founder of The Wild Institute located in Minnesota, as the keynote speaker. Heeter detailed how important it is for employees, employers, and interns to be “wild” in the workplace and make an impact in their positions.

“Being wild is having the courage to bring the gift of all of who you are to all of what you do,” Heeter said.

Heeter also explained how important it is for …

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Last Wednesday, Indiana INTERNnet and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis hosted an all-day professional development event at the museum. Local interns got the chance to participate in sessions including personal branding, resume review and a mentor roundtable.

Interns also had the opportunity to explore the Children’s Museum throughout the day—the Museum is the largest children’s museum in the country! There was a photo scavenger hunt, planetarium show, and special behind-the-scenes collections tour. In the collections tour, interns got to see a large number of items not currently on display in the museum, such as dinosaur bones, famous movie props, and vintage Barbies, to name a few.

Chelsea DuKate, founder and president of Red Envelope Consulting, conducted a personal branding seminar at the event. “Events like this are important because it creates engagement and gives interns a viewpoint of another place to go, an experience,” she said. “It also gives them …

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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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1. If you are a high school student, take time during every week of school to meet with your teachers, discuss topics that excite you, learn a new hobby and make new friends. Audition for the school play or try out for the soccer team. These experiences will stick with you throughout college.

2. Talk to your guidance counselor about how you can shape your future classes into a schedule that suits you and your career goals. There is nothing more important than learning to articulate your passions with the leaders who can help you get on the right path. You’d be surprised when you find that the classes you took in high school directly correlate with your major in college and even after graduation!

3. Ask teachers about internships and work-and-learn initiatives at your school. If your school doesn’t have an internship program, encourage your guidance …

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Lauren Berger is changing the game when it comes to connecting and engaging young professionals with career development and internship opportunities across the country. She is not only the CEO and founder of her multi-faceted brand, Intern Queen, but is also a national best-selling author, public speaker, and “arguably the most in-demand career and internship expert.”  She also has a new self-titled site, LaurenBergerInc.com, where you can find anything from career tips, entrepreneurial training and even fashion advice.

Back in 2009, Berger realized there was a great need for a more personalized way to connect students with internship opportunities so they could have a better chance of landing their dream job and creating a fulfilling professional life for themselves.

For these reasons, it’s clear why the Indiana INTERNnet team was thrilled to host a question and answer session here at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. We  invited local interns from …

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