Tag Archives: internships

May 25, 2011

What am I going to do the rest of my life?

Filed under: Post Grad and Career - BookRenter Team
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Or this summer, anyway…

Until just weeks ago, when I finished my undergraduate work at Albion College, I had no idea what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life. Not to mention what I’d be doing this summer.


All that changed the day I saw a posting on Internships.com for a social media internship at BookRenter.com. Since I was in the market for an internship and had an interest in social media marketing, I knew this would be a perfect opportunity. I also knew there’d be plenty of competition for the slot.

But I took a deep breath and applied for the internship anyway, via BookRenter’s Facebook page. Nice surprise: Within a few hours, I received an email asking for my resume and additional information. The next thing I knew, I was one of 10 finalists for the job. I learned from BookRenter that the company’s Facebook fans would determine, by popular vote, who would get the internship.

This was a brilliant idea – it would show just how creative and determined people were to win an internship. And to be totally honest, I loved it! I loved the competition and loved that it was online. As soon as the voting went live, I began hounding friends and family to vote for me. All that week, I was a man with a mission: everything revolved around getting more votes. By the end of the week, there were an awful lot of people hoping not to see my name on their caller ID, having wearied of repeated calls asking, “Did you vote for me? Did you? DID YOU?”

I suppose one reason that I was successful at getting votes was because of the variety of platforms I marketed on. On Facebook, I wrote on my friends’ walls and on group walls. I did direct messaging on Facebook and Twitter. I created an event on Facebook and invited people to it. I knew that even this might not be enough, so I decided to go above and beyond by creating a YouTube promo video for the contest. It turned out to be so popular that Google asked me if I wanted to use AdSense for the video. My voters even started the trend of writing Keith Kaplan promotion statuses – some of them very clever – on BookRenter’s wall.

After the week-long voting period, during which I checked votes approximately once a second, I came out on top and eventually was offered the internship. Now I still may not know what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life – though it looks like graduate school is next – but I do know what I’ll be doing this summer, and I am excited to see what my new internship will have to offer. Stay tuned!

Twitt
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May 16, 2011

Just Snagged a Great Summer Internship?

Filed under: Post Grad and Career - BookRenter Team
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By BookRenter Andy

Congratulations – you’ve got the ultimate resume-builder.

As school winds down, most students are looking ahead to the summer, hopefully one that includes lots of vacation. But there’s this inconvenient thing called money – you need it if you’re to go on vacation. So a lot of us will be spending at least part of the summer months working. Which brings me to the subject of experience, and the student’s Catch-22: You need experience to get a job, but you can’t get a job unless you have experience.

By SOCIALisBETTER

Enter the internship.

Almost any kind of summer job will get you to one goal: You’ll earn a few bucks and maybe even be able to save a little. But an internship can be different. For one thing, people tend to take internships in a profession or a field that interests them. Besides pulling down a salary, you’re gaining relevant experience that not only looks good on your resume but which could one day lead you to a real grown-up job in your chosen field.

I’ve had a few internships in my day – one here at BookRenter – so I hope you’ll indulge my sharing with you these…

Five easy ways to turn an Internship into the Ultimate Resume-Builder

  1. Know up front what you’re applying for. Understanding what an internship entails and what you’re likely to be doing day to day will help you gauge what you can actually contribute the job – and whether the internship will be valuable to you in terms of building your experience in the professional world.
  2. Never underestimate the importance of your work. Regardless of your job title (if you have one!), be prepared to so some good, old-fashioned menial labor. My first task at BookRenter was quality fulfillment: packaging and mailing the prizes that some of you reading this probably won (you’re welcome, punks). It wasn’t glorious work, but it was important to our customers. Bring a positive attitude to everything you do and I guarantee you won’t be in the mailroom for long.
  3. Show ‘em what you’re made of. If you don’t have anything to do, take the initiative – believe me, there’s nothing that a busy boss likes more than an employee who can identify a need and find a way to fill it. Come up with your own projects – propose them to your boss or, when you can, just do them. Not only are you creating more good stuff for your resume, you’ll probably be able to count on a great reference when the time comes.
  4. Learn at least one new thing every day. Ask a colleague to tell you more about your company. Ask your manager if you can borrow a magazine you heard him talking about or review a creative brief. Time spent reading and thinking about the bigger picture will not only help you do your job better, but position you to take on more responsibilities when an opportunity comes along. (Remember, you’re building a resume.)
  5. Don’t turn up your nose at working for free. While ideally you want to learn and earn, an unpaid internship can be worth its weight in gold when it comes to getting some experience under your belt – and onto your resume. You might even find yourself fielding a job offer or two: A recent poll by CareerExposure.com found that more than 90% of employers ultimately offer full-time positions to interns.

Intern on.

We value the diverse voices and fresh ideas that our guest bloggers bring to BookRenter.com. However, the ideas and opinions expressed in guest posts are strictly those of the post’s author and don’t necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of BookRenter.Com. The information in guest posts is often drawn from a variety of sources, and we count on our guest authors to verify and fact-check the content they post. BookRenter.Com makes no claims, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of guest post content or the suitability of the content for a specific purpose.

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April 26, 2011

Trying to Snag a Dream Internship?

Filed under: Post Grad and Career - BookRenter Team
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Having a Good Resume Can Help.

by SOCIALisBETTER

So let’s say you’ve applied for a great summer job. You know for a fact that you’re at least as qualified as any other applicant, but you didn’t even get an interview. If you didn’t give the prospective employer a resume, your application was probably consigned to the round file from the get-go.

That’s because these days, with so much competition for even a part-time job, employers expect more from job-seekers than a hastily-filled-out standard job application form.

This goes double if you’re applying for a great internship.

A resume does more than just show your job history; it gives your application a more professional feel. Along with a good cover letter, a resume can show hiring managers that you’re ready to take on – and hold your own in — your area of interest.

Need to create a resume, or revise the one you have? Here are 5 easy tips to help take your resume from good to great:

1. Ask your mother. No other person in the world will remember that you once won an award in Boy Scouts (which actually is a good thing to put on your resume) or that 2008 was the year you got nominated for a leadership conference.

2. Toot your own horn. For example, if you worked at Famous Footwear for two years, that’s great to put on your resume. But if you worked at Famous Footwear for two years and got promoted from Sales Associate to Assistant Manager, that’s even better. Showing that you moved up the ladder is tangible evidence of your ambition, your work ethic, and your leadership skills.

3. If applicable, make your resume creative. If you’re applying for a banking or business internship, you probably want to have a pretty traditional resume. But if you’re applying for an internship with artistic leanings, make your resume creative. I don’t mean use colored font or crazy paper. Simple colors, like putting a light green or blue border around your resume or using a combination of grey or black ink, could make your resume stand out.

4. Get second opinions on your cover letter. A cover letter is a sales tool – an explanation of why you would be the best person for the internship. After you write it, have a close friend read it. Then have a teacher or your current boss read it. Having two completely different people read and offer input on your cover letter can help ensure that your letter will “speak” to a wide variety of potential employers.

5. Tailor your resume to the job. Every internship is different. So why make your resume the same for every position you apply for? Know what’s important to each prospective employer. Have a leadership experience section in your resume? Awesome! But if you’re applying for a fashion illustration internship, delete that, and instead include a section on where and when your artwork has been featured.

Create a good resume – one that’s detailed, honest, and relevant – and you may find you’ll be less nervous applying for internships and more excited about your future!

By Guest Blogger Mia Mishek I UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH: Self-described curly-haired, potato-chip-loving day dreamer from Minnesota. But when it comes to social media this girl has some serious chops.

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