Today we’re continuing our mini-series about summer internships (no, it’s still not too late). This week we’ve got an extensive inforaphic on The Most-Exciting Summer Internships as a follow-up to last week’s article, 4 Tips to Help You Score a Summer Internship. Got plans for a sweet summer internship or advice for your peers still hoping to secure that perfect intern experience? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.
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There’s Still Time: 4 Tips to Help You Score a Summer Internship
The weather’s warming up, but it’s not too late to organize a summer internship. A summer internship can provide valuable workplace experience and access to industry professionals who may become great contacts in the future. So don’t delay a minute longer. The clock’s ticking, but these tips will help you find the right internship opportunity before summer arrives.
Approach Small Businesses
Small businesses tend to have less-formal internship programs, so there are often no deadlines. You’re also likely to have less competition, as students who already have their internship places often target household names.
What these eager beavers don’t realize is that small firms often provide a richer internship experience. They don’t have the same hierarchy you’ll find in big firms, so you’ll be able to interact with the C-suite and probably enjoy more responsibility and hands-on experience.
Traditional local businesses are a good start, but start-ups and non-profits may also consider taking you on for an internship.
Use Your Network
Studies show four out of five jobs are found through networking. You might think you don’t have a network yet, but you have more contacts than you realize. Your family members, your friends, your parents’ friends, your professors, your boss at your part-time job, and anyone else you know are part of your network. Talk online and offline about your desire to find a summer internship and ask whether anyone knows of any great opportunities. You might be surprised what this process unearths!
Search Through Internship Websites
We’ve all heard spending time online searching for a job isn’t the best way to find paid employment, but internships work a little differently. Many companies love the convenience of fielding applicants online, so checking out what’s advertised on reputable internship sites makes sense.
Internships.com and Internmatch.com are just a couple of the excellent internship sites online. If you’d love to give back and work for a non-profit, try Idealist.org. And if you can afford to pay for the experience of interning overseas, Global Experiences is a great resource.
Create a Resume to Impress
It can be disappointing to discover recruiters typically spend just six seconds looking over a resume. Which is why your resume needs to make the right impression within that short time frame, or it’ll end up in the trash.
You want your resume to pop, so use subheadings to make it scannable and see whether you can cull the information you present. You might be proud of winning the sophomore science fair, but a prospective employer’s likely to be less impressed. Consider the type of internship you’re seeking and tailor your resume to highlight the skills and experience you’ll need. For example, if you want to intern at a design firm, show off your design talents and create a resume with real flair.
If your school has a career center, the staff there can give you tips on how to improve your resume. This might give yours the extra polish it needs to help you land that last-minute internship.
Now that you know the tips, don’t waste a moment more. Start putting this advice into practice for your best chance of securing an internship before summer.
Like this post? Check out our Summer Internships Infographic!
Why #OccupyTheBookstore Misses the Mark of Real Change
slacktivism (noun)
Pronunciation: /ˈslaktəˌvizəm/
Definition of slacktivism in English:
Actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement, e.g., signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social media website.
Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
The Occupy Movement
MEANING, WHAT MEANING?
Since the #OccupyWallStreet movement began in September 2011, both the verb “to occupy” and the hashtag of #Occupy[insert_anything_you_dislike] have come to serve as euphemisms for endorsing a virtual rebellion against an organization perceived to oppress the non-elite (the 99%). To occupy something no longer means to be present within or to inhabit a certain space as protesters did in the original #OccupyWallStreet demonstrations (and as protesters have done for hundreds of years in displays of powerful social statements). In fact, “occupying” has come to mean simply being against a perceived powerful entity and demanding to overtake and change that entity from the comfort of one’s smartphone and Twitter client and Facebook page. It has become a cliché that is not only devoid of meaning but actually antithetical to its original meaning and a way in which “occupiers” feel as if they are committing social-justice activism without being at all present or active (thus, “slacktivists”). The intent is good, but the work it takes in order to create meaningful institutional change is lacking and today’s occupiers are deceived by technology and PR into thinking that they have committed radical acts leading to revolution. Simply put, a slightly modified hashtag does not another Arab Spring make just as purchasing the ubiquitous Che Guevara t-shirt does not dismantle capitalism (actually, it perpetuates it).
A HASHTAG IS NOT A REVOLUTION (NEITHER IS A BROWSER EXTENSION)
Such is the case with the latest #Occupy sub-cause to take to the Web: #OccupyTheBookstore, which is not a political movement rather a for-profit entrepreneurial endeavor in the form of a Google Chrome browser extension being branded as a mass act of standing up to “the man” (another cliché, this time the general stand-in for any nebulous authority/power figure — in this case, the bookstore or publisher though as with many of the #Occupy sentiments, to whom the anger should be directed is unclear). As you may have gathered, no bookstores will be actually occupied and no major changes to the deeply flawed textbook industry will result from a hashtag and a browser add-on. This is not a revolution or a movement, it is access to existing technology promoting itself by jumping on the social-justice trending bandwagon. Want to give your product attention? #OccupyIt. Even if that’s in no way what you’re actually doing.
CAN’T WE ALREADY DO THIS?
To be clear, entrepreneurship is a driver of innovation and a deliverer of options and the intent here (as within most #Occupy sub-causes) is a good one and it is in keeping with the spirit of increased economic fairness by decreasing the financial burden on the 99% and narrowing the wealth gap. Pretty much the only people who don’t want greater availability of cheaper textbooks for college students are textbook publishers. But this latest #Occupy stunt is not new nor is it a revolution and browser extensions that do what price-comparison websites like CampusBooks.com have been doing for nearly a decade now — showing students where to get cheap textbooks by showing those students all of their shopping options on one screen of search results — already exist. There’s nothing new in #OccupyTheBookstore, it’s just being repackaged and rebranded to appeal to the #Occupy generation.
IS MARKETING FOR PROFIT IN THE SPIRIT OF THE #OCCUPY MOVEMENT?
In addition to #OccupyTheBookstore piggybacking onto an already-established feel-good brand (make no mistake, #Occupy is a brand, which is ironic given its connection with Adbusters though less so when one looks at the magazine’s “Culture Shop” selling fashionable goods for the hip slacktivist ) and providing nothing that a user cannot already easily access on a single site while it, the extension is integrated within the Google Chrome browser. While we all have our preferences with regard to Web browsers and we understand that all browsers have drawbacks in terms of performance and privacy, using Chrome and Google products in general is, in essence, giving your personal information and consumer habits away to a company that uses that data to target you going forward. Does that sound like something that the original #Occupy movement stood for? Does it sound like something that is in the benefit of the 99% or does it sound like a marketing campaign that subverts the spirit of activism for the benefit of those who profit from big data and subsequent targeted efforts? Thus, it is important to ask: Is #OccupyTheBookstore taking a stand against the commercial status quo that makes more money for the elite minority or is it timely posturing to co-opt a once-cause, now-played-out meme for the benefit of the entrepreneurs behind a browser extension?
THE REAL ISSUE CANNOT BE “OCCUPIED”
The high cost of textbooks (and more largely, the issue of enormous debt taken on by students pursuing higher education) is real and it is important and it does need addressing. Tools and products such as textbook price-comparison websites, textbook rental programs, eTextbooks, and open-source textbooks are real solutions that put real pressure on the old new/used-text physical-bookstore model. Industry changes as well as legislation that supports college students and protects them from incurring lifelong student-loan debt can indeed be achieved but no one should believe that a for-profit software script and a hashtag will bring about a needed revolution.
Starting Your New College Life: The Ultimate Survival Guide
In terms of transitions, settling into college is a major one that can be super-stressful. Not only that, on-campus life can be an environment conducive to picking up bad habits and losing sight of priorities. Getting into college and paying for college is difficult enough; now that you’re there, set yourself up to not only survive but thrive.
The Real Deal About Textbooks
There’s a lot more to textbooks than just a hefty price tag. Here’s a little history and background, some facts and stats, and of course tips and tools for saving money on textbooks.
Tech and Text Habits of Today’s College Students
More than ever before, college students have greater options and opportunities for taking in (and sharing as well as creating) information and entertainment. Textbooks, note-taking, class collaboration, research, social interactions . . . it’s all available from multiple mediums and vehicles and nearly anywhere at any time. With the rise of distance-learning and with changes to textbook formats (rentals, eBooks, and customized packages) and greater interactivity in the form of cheaper more-powerful more-portable computing all happening right now, we wanted to examine the relationships between college students and technology (full info about our larger survey here). Here’s what we found.
Putting Technology to Work for You at College
Technology can be a huge help in college. It can help you communicate, find information, share resources, add comfort to your dorm room, remind you of deadlines, and so much more. It can also be a huge time-suck, distraction, and temptation. There’s no doubt that you need solid technology on campus (for work and for fun) and that college students tend to be some of the most-gadgetized early adopters of new tech. Use this handy infographic to make sure you’re using technology to your advantage rather than your detriment.
Just in Time for Father’s Day, It’s Your Guide to Dad on Campus!
With Father’s Day on Sunday and summer school in effect, we’ve got Pops on the brain — particularly the hilarious, heartwarming, relationship-building, potentially embarrassing campus visits from dad. Whether your papa is far away and a “drop off freshman year, pick up at graduation” kind of dad or a dad who is nearby and wants to visit you every weekend (thanks, but no thanks, daddy-o), your college years are key to forming your new adult relationship with your father. And remember, even if he doesn’t visit often or he can’t say it, your dad is proud of you!
Headed to College? Ditch These High-School Habits.
Congratulations on wrapping up your senior year of high-school! Well done. Heading off to college is still a few months away so why not use that time to prepare for the experience by ditching the high-school mentality, opening your mind for the changes ahead, and getting into some good habits now so you can start freshman year off right?
Top Tricks for College
Part of getting a college education is about learning the things that aren’t in books or in lectures. In fact, much learning is done in terms of self-maturation and navigating things like time-management, friendships and relationships, health and wellness, and finances. College is about academics but it’s also about finding your groove, employing best practices, balancing work and fun, realizing your strengths and weaknesses, and developing efficiencies to help you succeed without compromising quality or ethics. It’s all important and part of the larger experience. With this school year wrapping up, summer sessions nearing, and some time to reflect before fall semester, read what other students have found helpful and give some thought to incorporating these tricks into your own college routine.
