Tag Archives: networking

NetWORK: ‘doing’ rather than ‘talking’

This is Part I in the five-part Quiet but Mighty blog series exploring ways introverts can remain true to themselves and still experience a satisfying professional life.

May I be frank? I hate the word “networking.”

Especially as an introvert, and especially as someone who is easily frustrated by the formalities of corporate America. Not to mention, I’m flat-out bad at what most people consider “networking.”

There are a lot of great tips from career counselors you should employ. But have you ever noticed that career advice is often geared toward the extroverted population – networking advice in particular? So, this post (and this entire series) is designed to serve as an alternative voice for those quiet, task-oriented worker bees thirsting for customized and workable career-building ideas. As we go through the week, I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section.

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This guest post is from Krista Rangel, a St. Mary-of-the-Woods student majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Sociology and Psychology. Krista will graduate in 2013.

My internship at Chicago Juvenile Detention Center was not only my first internship, but I was also the first intern to my site supervisor. I can honestly say this was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I learned about so many facets of the system — from the judges to simply being in the building; I would not have been able to gain these hands-on experiences in a classroom.

My internship at the detention center allowed me to see the system’s process first-hand. Working in a big building with a bunch of lawyers and judges was initially intimidating because I had never been in a corporate environment. After a few weeks, I got to know some of my co-workers and realized that although they have “big …

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Ali Turner is a professional writer and career blogger.  She’s also the managing editor of Campuses to Careers, a blog that helps young people make informed career and education decisions.  Topics covered on the blog include careers for shy people and how to follow up on a job application.

I am now proud to say that I was a 24-year-old intern.  But I didn’t always feel that way.  After graduation and struggling to find job prospects in this dismal economy, I decided to take an unpaid internship at an international non-profit.  I knew that I needed more experience, and I decided that an internship related to public relations, the field I wanted to get into, was better than something completely random.

My admission to being a post-graduate intern was met with a little shock and even some snickering and eye-rolling.  This negativity mostly (but not always) came from members of the older …

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Here’s a quick survey for you:

Are you an intern in the Central Indiana area? Do you work long, grueling days at the office (or sit at a desk all day with little sun exposure and minimal opportunities to move around)? Have you had a boring “social calendar” this summer—away from school, living with your parents, or just missing your friends? Do you want some fun and free opportunities to meet new friends and fellow interns?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you’re invited to attend Indy Interns’ first 2012 summer event! These are events planned and coordinated by fellow interns from companies throughout Central Indiana. (We do need you to RSVP, so read on for more.)

This series of both social and professional opportunities is available to any Central Indiana area interns—so bring your fellow interns and friends. Don’t let the summer waste away. …

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This guest post is from Jennifer Weinmann, Student Employment Consultant at IUPUI.

In recent weeks, I have been helping my sister (who will soon be graduating) implement strategies for her upcoming job search.  In my recent conversations with her, networking has come up time and again.  As many of us are aware, networking today most often consists of LinkedIn and other electronic sources of reaching out to individuals.  Striking up a conversation with an old contact sometimes seems hard to do in an online environment.

 That is the question I wanted to help answer:

How do I reach out to my internship network for help with my job search?

In my sister’s final years of her undergraduate degree, she completed two internships and two immersive learning projects.  All of which have left her with a great deal of knowledge and an excellent group of contacts in her LinkedIn profile.  …

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This week marks the end of my internship here with Indiana INTERNnet, and just by coincidence, it signifies a close to the Freddie Factor blog series. My goal with this blog series was to inform peers, employers, and educators about the opportunities that arise from interning.  

Hopefully, you’ve found this blog to be informative and gained a better understanding of why internships are beneficial. I’ve tried to give tips and tricks relating to interviews, resumes, and the latest-and-greatest Indiana INTERNnet website technology. The Freddie Factor or “FF,” as it is referred to in the “factor fan circles,” was also helpful to me…yes, there are factor fans. I did quite a bit of research when writing these blogs and learned a great deal about interning, as a result. With this final blog, I thought I’d recap my internship experience.

During my internship at Indiana INTERNnet, one of my assignments was …

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As you wrap-up your internship, you may find that you have a few treasured weeks of summer left. What are going to do during this time? Maybe you’ll vacation, eat pizza, catch up on the latest blockbusters, relax, or prepare your dorm room or apartment. While these are all great ideas, if you do have a few spare minutes, you should consider utilizing the time to work on documenting your professional experiences.

Here at the Freddie Factor, I’m hoping for an upcoming school year packed with interviews for full-time employment. During those interviews, recruiters and other interviewers will want to hear about your internship, personal, and academic accomplishments. They also want to see and hear that you’ve prepared for the interview by researching the company, the position, and tailoring your answers accordingly.

Now is the time to update your resume—demonstrating what you did during your internships and results that …

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Last weekend, interns working in Central Indiana came together to give back to our community by volunteering at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. Sponsored by ExactTarget, this event demonstrated how interns can use their “down time” to connect with their community, give back, and meet fellow interns.

It was also a challenge to ExactTarget’s Slingshot interns to implement a community-wide event. Because the event was such a success—about 50 interns attended—we’re hoping to see other Indiana companies consider sponsoring similar events. (Are you an employer interested in thinking about ways to bring interns together to give back or have fun in their community? Please leave a comment so we can contact you.)

If you’re not interning in Central Indiana, we have some great partners in the Ft. Wayne area, too. The Live, Learn & Intern series is a part of the Graduate Retention Program—an initiative designed to …

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What’s better than meeting fellow interns and giving back to the community? (Nothing, we would argue!). We all know internships provide excellent opportunities to develop professional skills, gain experience and create a network of contacts, but the importance of networking with fellow interns is often overlooked. With more than 800 internship positions throughout the state listed on Indiana INTERNnet, reasons to network among your peers are abundant! You never know who you’ll meet and how you may connect with people in the future.

Maybe you need to find out about concerts and events taking place in Indianapolis. Perhaps you want to get a group of friends together to check out a new restaurant. Or, you might even need to find a roommate if you plan to live or work in Central Indiana after graduation.

Indy Interns 2011 can help!

Indy Interns is a great place to get involved …

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With anything in life, the experience is what you make of it, and as an intern, it’s no different. You can only get out of an internship what you put into it—so consider your internship a chance to make a good impression, contribute fresh ideas, and “be a sponge” by learning from everyone with whom you work.

If you are proactive with the company and take charge of your own internship experience by seeking out mentors and using all of your resources for your work, you may have a great experience. However, if you stay put in your cubicle and never seek out help and advice, I’m guessing your internship is not going to be very fulfilling. You won’t have any fun, and you may walk away having not learned anything. I doubt you want to be “that person” who sits in his cubicle and watches YouTube all day!

It …

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Entry by Jackson Ding, Peer Career Advisor, Wabash College Career Services

My name is Jackson Ding and I am a peer advisor at the Career Services Office at Wabash College, a liberal arts college for men in Crawfordsville, IN. Here at Wabash, we, Career Services, organize many events throughout the year to help students with career development and graduate school application.

The project I am working on now is a four-week long internship/job class. Prepared by career services staff and peer advisors, these once-a-week classes teach students various aspect of job hunting, including job search, resume and cover letters, and interview preparation. Offered during lunch/dinner time with the company of free pizzas, these classes are often well received among our students. For example, the last session attracted more than 5% of the total student population. We also regularly bring in guest speakers to give lectures. In the …

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Entry by Pam Norman, Indiana INTERNnet Executive Director

No matter how large or small, your company can benefit from hiring an intern. Now more than ever, today’s challenging business environment offers opportunity to access talented student interns willing to put their creative energy to work for your organization. Learn how easy it is to get an internship program designed and implemented!

On October 7th, Indiana INTERNnet joins forces with IndySHRM to present a workshop designed with you in mind.  An interactive panel of experienced internship employers, former interns, and career services staff will highlight how to make a solid business case for hiring an intern.

Hiring managers, career services professionals, and students are invited to attend the event in downtown Indy which includes time for networking, six easy steps to creating an internships program, practical tools to help you get started and lively conversation from panelists with internship experience.

We …

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Entry by Pat Patterson

Just because you may not have landed the internship of your dreams in the past does not mean it’s not possible.  Writing a great resume and cover letter and “looking the part” at a networking event or career fair are not the only determinants of whether or not you will get a call back.  It is important to also pay attention to the details that may set you apart from other candidates.

Spell check your resume and cover letter over and over again.  And then after you are done spell checking, have one of your peers spell check for you.  A typo can say a lot of negative things about you – such as, you may not be able to spell, you don’t care enough to check for spelling errors, you are not organized or detail-oriented, etc. 

Invest in professional resume paper.  Although business stationary paper …

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Entry by Anastasiya Elaeva, Indiana INTERNnet Intern

The fun part of interning is that you never know what events you will have a chance to attend and what people you will get an opportunity to meet.  If you keep your eyes wide open, your internship can extend beyond your primary responsibilities and the department to which you are assigned.

After my Washington D.C. internship in international affairs did not work out because of differences in mine and the company’s schedules, I was desperately looking for something in Indiana.  I picked up the phone and called the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. To be honest, at that point of time, in mid-May, I did not expect that there would be anything available.  I picked up the phone because I thought that trying every single opportunity would be the right thing to do.

To my surprise, I was offered an exciting internship assisting …

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Entry by Pat Patterson

In the July INTERNnetwork, I included some tips on how to use Twitter for marketing, networking, and research.  Here is a recap:

Some tips to build a professional Twitter profile:

– Use your real name,
– use a head shot photo as your profile picture,
– create a Twitter name that is appropriate and easy to remember,
– list a website for yourself – a professional profile such as LinkedIn, an online resume, an online portfolio, or your blog,
– customize your profile with a clean, professional design, and
– tweet about your interests, internship/career search process, articles related to your industries of interest, opinion on current events in your industries of interest, etc.

Besides acting as a marketing tool, Twitter is great for networking and conducting research.  Some tips on how to use Twitter to network and research:

– Follow individuals with similar interests,
– follow Twitter …

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