Intern every chance you get

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Seriously, if you can intern every semester of college – including summers – you will not regret it. Better yet, be such a good intern that you get hired while you go to school.

In Mass Comm at ETSU, you only get one three-hour credit for an internship and many students are cool with that. It was my experience however, that the first internship was just to get acclimated to the process. I did learn a LOT – most notably what I wanted and didn’t want in my future job. I didn’t get paid and I worked my ass off.

When my internship was over, I had good experience, great samples for my portfolio, and an A. Most importantly, I got a gig with the company after that. I was a (well) paid contractor doing the same stuff I was doing for free as an intern. If they had an opening I’m sure I’d be working there right now.

I did another internship the next semester after that. I didn’t get a paycheck, but I did get an in-kind payment that both my husband and I were able to enjoy. Everyone was happy. I loved that work experience, have even MORE stuff for my portfolio, and some great relationships.

Now, I’m in the internship that I hope becomes my job after graduation. You listening WETS?!

Through each internship I gained not only valuable experience and cool samples for my portfolio, I developed strong relationships and built a network. I have valuable insights into the work I want to do, the type of employer I want to work with, and I have narrowed my focus and path forward.

A lot of students think that the internship is just to fulfill a requirement, that it doesn’t matter because they’re moving away to follow their career anyway. That’s too bad for them but awesome for me (and students like me). Their attitude makes it easier for me to get a job  – even if I move away because the competition has a poor attitude.

Of course, there are students who have to work their way through college. It sucks that our system is set up that way. Because of recent Supreme Court ruling on internships, most companies now have to pay their interns. I doubt seriously they will pay very much, and the intern opportunities will most likely shrink.

That said, you may need to take a look at your finances to figure out how you can accommodate internships that may not pay well. How much spending can you cut? Living like a pauper as a college student is perfectly acceptable. Living like a pauper after college…mmm, not so much. Do you want a good career later, or do you want a good hourly job now? Do you want Nine West shoes now or Louboutin shoes later? Good internships are worth the sacrifice now for the career you want in the future.

Also, for the love of pete, don’t wait until the last minute to find an internship!! Start thinking about your next internship before the next semester starts. Be ready to apply, do some due diligence to make sure it’s a good fit. You are more likely to get the internship you want when you start early because everyone else is lazy. Don’t be lazy.

Speaking of lazy competition, imagine what your resume is going to look like when it shows college full time and a roster of awesome internships! Seriously, it makes a difference.

What do you think about internships? Are they worth the trouble?

I’d love to hear from you

-Tina

Working from home

courtesy static5.businessinsider.com

If you’re getting into this line of work thinking you can just hang out all the time in your jammies at home to work, you’re going to have a bad time.

If you aren’t engaged and productive when you work at home, you will a) have a hard time getting work done and/or b) have a tough time advancing in your career. Let’s look at the pitfalls to watch out for if you work from home.

a) You will have a hard time getting work done.

Check out this video that describes why it can be hard to work at home:

• you will be distracted by your life. You will clean house, make dinner, clean up cat vomit, pick up doghair tumbleweeds, eat, sleep late (because you can work into the night, right?), etc. You can develop bad habits fast. You will get lazy.
• people you work with won’t send you what you need. They will forget about you and why your work is important, and – most importantly – why it benefits them to communicate with you. You will lose touch and become a poor spokesperson for the organization.

b) You will have a tough time advancing in your career.

• you won’t know the people, the culture, the brand well enough to speak for them. You need to have a pulse on what’s going on.
• you will miss opportunities for the message. People downplay the role of “the watercooler,” but that is where you get the real story from the customer service reps on how consumers view the product because they are the ones who hear from the people who buy the stuff. That’s where you pull the subtle nuances you need to craft your message.
• you will miss opportunities for your career. It’s not just that you are “out of site, out of mind” for that promotion. It’s that you don’t know what your boss REALLY values and is looking for. Sure, you’ve got great organic engagement numbers, but is that what your boss truly values? (“value” is often different from “metric” as a measurement of good work and I’ll blog about that at another time)

I’m not saying that you have to sit in a cube, sucking down coffee and pecking away at your keyboard, heck no! This job is about relationships and you have to develop relationships at work to be successful at your job and in your career. When you do work from home, you have to go the extra distance to develop and maintain those relationships.

If you have the latitude on your work schedule, set times for when you’re in the office and stick to those hours. Make sure folks know when those hours are. If there is a deviation you must be sure people know it. Add your contact schedule in email salutations, include your contact info and monitor your contact devices constantly.

You can work from home and be productive and engaged, just remember that you may have to compensate for not being physically present in your work relationships.

What have your experiences been in working from home?

I’d love to hear from you!

-Tina