When they say no, you say yes.
This Wednesday was the last ICWIC meeting of the semester, and we went out with a bang. We got a chance to skype with Lauren Berger, aka the Intern Queen. Before we get into the great advice she gave WIC members during her skype, some quick backstory:
In her four years at college she had 15 (read: a lot) internships.
She founded Intern Queen, a free website connecting people with great internships, in 2009.
The website posts career advice daily in addition to internship info.
Her brand posts original content on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
She has two books, All Work, No Pay and Welcome To The Real World.
Her third book, Get It Together, comes out in October.
She’s really totally killing it.
After some general exposition, WIC members got a chance to ask Lauren specific questions about the ever present “real world”.
How do I make an interview memorable?
Obviously, do your homework. Know what the company does, what their goals are, etc.
Check their social. Check to see if they’re working on anything new. If you reference something specific and timely about them in an interview, it shows you’re actually interested in the company.
ALWAYS HAVE QUESTIONS. Some great sample questions are;
Can you describe a day in the life of an intern/employee?
What are the main challenges of this role? (Every job has a not so glamorous side. Better to know now.)
How do I maintain connections?
Reach out to you contacts at least 3 times a year.
Know when to pull a favor card. You don’t want to waste it on simple things.
Take into account how important or busy someone is when trying to talk to them. If they’re really important, talk to them about the really important problem. Find someone else for the day to days.
SENIORS: Start planting seeds. A job isn’t going to open up the day you graduate. Start letting your connections know now you’re looking for a post-graduation job.
Don’t make up questions just to keep in touch with someone. It’s okay to send them an article and let them know you thought of them, or even just say hello. If someones busy, they really won’t mind if you just send them a nice email that doesn’t need a response.
How do I keep up with creating content?
SCHEDULE SCHEDULE SCHEDULE.
If you’re working for yourself, no one is going to tell you what to do, so you need a plan.
Start with a brainstorm to get the ideas going. Once you have a decent sized list, you can start zoning in on the really good ideas and running with them.
Go into things assuming you won’t come up with anything on the day of. If you do, great, you have extra content. If not, you have a plan to work with.
Keep preparing for future content. If you see something that would be great in a post six months from now, grab it.
How do I get the most out of my internship?
Go to events.
Even if it’s not your department, let people know if possible, you’d like to go. It shows you’re involved in the company and you’re not just clocking in clocking out.
Always clarify what needs to be done. If you don’t understand the task, ask. And ask how long they think that task should take. You don’t want to turn an hour long task into an all day project.
Keep a good attitude. If you’re pleasant to be around, people will want to be around you and connect with you.
If there’s downtime, find something on task to do.
Always ask if there’s anything you could be helping with.
If there isn’t, check out the company’s social media. Everyone loves engagement on their posts so leave a nice comment.
Brainstorm some ideas for content.
Find a magazine or blog or newsletter about your industry and try to learn something.
Stay on task and be in the world.
How do I get ideas moving?
Stop getting ready to get ready and just go for it.
Make sure your calendar and your to-do list sync up. You can’t check off your 18 point to-do list if you’ve got plans for every day this week.
If you’re having trouble getting tasks done, schedule a meeting with yourself. That way, you’ve set aside time to be productive and get stuff done.
That was a crazy amount of knowledge that just got dropped on you. A big thank you to Lauren for taking the time to talk with us and give us loads of advice. We're now ready to push through the end of the semester and maybe take over the world.
