As some of you may know, I have been interning with The Enough Podcast since September 2019. If you haven’t heard of it before, The Enough Podcast is a podcast by Anna Larimore that strives to educate young women on self worth, the dangers of narcissism, and ways to improve relationships in their romantic, social, and professional lives. I am a strategic communications major, focusing mostly on graphic design and branding, so I became involved with the podcast as their branding intern. When I was applying, I had been going through a rough time. I had to move out of my house unexpectedly in the middle of first semester, I had found out some disappointing news from my sorority, and I was feeling down because my two best friends had both transferred back home. Although it was my dream to work on a podcast, I had myself convinced that I would never have a chance at receiving the internship. Despite all of the obstacles, I fought the negative thoughts and was persistent, continuing to take a leap of faith and go for it. I am very fortunate for my boss, Anna, for believing in me and giving me a chance, despite all of the setbacks that were distracting me from getting in my resume and cover letter on time. Here I am five months later and loving every aspect of my job. This past week I had the opportunity to do an Instagram Takeover for the podcast and was able to show our listeners some behind the scenes and give insight as to what goes into making a podcast. I get a lot of questions asking how I got so lucky with getting an amazing internship and asking what others can do to get an internship that makes them as happy as I am, so today I will be answering all of those questions! Let’s jump right into it. I think a lot of students turn to their university website alone to find an internship that has to do with their major. If it’s not their university website, it’s a general job-finding website, but limiting yourself to these websites alone can make it very hard to find exactly what you’re looking for in a dream internship. A lot of the time, internships found on these websites can be difficult to work into your school schedule and won’t have values or benefits that line up with what you are looking for, despite the fact that they have to do with your major. I found out about my internship through social media. My boss, Anna, had posted in the Facebook Group for the Scrubbing In Podcast saying that she needed interns for her new podcast as it was starting to take off. To make sure you get an internship that you know you would be interested in and have fun with, take advantage of these alternative resources! Follow instagram accounts that have to do with your major. A lot of the time, when they’re looking for interns, they will be posting about it not only on their feed, but will also post about it on their stories multiple times, so it would be hard to miss. Join some Facebook Groups as well that interest you and have to do with your major. There are some great groups out there for everything and entrepreneurs will be posting in them all the time about job and internship opportunities! Your resume is by far one of the most important parts in applying to any job, especially an internship. It is typically the first introduction to yourself to your potential employer. A common misconception is that your resume has to all fit onto one page, but this is not a requirement for a resume. If anything, your resume may come across as more impressive with the more you add onto it. If you cut out any vital information on your resume, you are making yourself vulnerable to not showing your future employer your full potential. Another common misconception is that you should send the same resume to everyone, but different companies are going to have different types of internships, so you should always keep your objective clearly stated in your essay and keep it updated for every internship you are applying for. There are many platforms out there that have amazing resume templates. Canva and Google Docs both have amazing options, or you can try and create one yourself if you’re into that. Choosing a plain template can make your resume seem “typical” when compared to the rest. Try and have a resume that has a design that can catch the eye of an employer to show your creative side. Put some thought into your qualifications and skills that will demonstrate what you can bring to the company. Don’t be shy about awards or volunteer work - include all of that! And if you’re in a sorority, include that too! Many sororities are very academically focused by having to maintain a certain GPA, and also contain many driven women who are known to make great leaders! Be sure to add a photo as well. We live in such a visually driven day in age, so adding your photo on your resume will help the employer put a face to your accomplishments and it may help them keep you in mind! If you need any resume inspiration, here’s mine: This is another common thing I’ve seen college students do. They often find internships that look really good to have on a resume, but it isn’t actually something they enjoy doing. They are afraid that if they don’t have a big-name company on their resume, they won’t be able to get a good job out of college, but this isn’t true. Yes, it is impressive that you got an internship at [big name company] because it’s very competitive and you worked hard to get there! But, a lot of the time, people become unhappy in their internships very quickly because they either have no idea what they’re doing or they aren’t doing anything that makes them feel like they’re actually learning anything. Also, the hours of these big-name internships don’t always compliment a school schedule, which is important because it is something you are doing typically for school. Some internships even require 9-5 work days, so if you are trying to do your internship during the school year, this can make it hard to focus on going to school and getting all of your assignments done. When you are looking for potential brands or companies to intern for, be sure to check out their mission statement! A mission statement can say a lot about a company and their values. Finding an internship where you know your values will be respected will make a huge impact on your experience with that company. It will help work feel less like work and you know that you will be with like-minded individuals that will only help boost your experience even more. In settings where you feel like you can be yourself, you are more likely to get something out of your internship. You will feel more excited to learn and grow in your professional abilities, as well as have the opportunity to make some friends along the way! I personally believe that this is one of the main reasons I’ve had such an amazing experience with my internship. I share the same values as the women I work with and I’m never afraid to ask for help because I feel comfortable with them and trust them and their abilities. This has allowed me to grow in my abilities as a professional as well as build my confidence in the workplace! Just by human nature, we are always wanting to put our main focus on one thing. It can be easy to try and push either your school assignments or your work to the back of your mind to focus on the other, but when this happens, it leads to procrastination. Time management is key while having an internship because if you aren’t able to have two main focuses, you are putting either your grades or your job in jeopardy. You can begin to lose track of your deadlines and may even completely forget about assignments. You can begin to overwhelm yourself with work and not be able to make time for yourself. Procrastinating when you may have double the work to do will ultimately drain you and you won’t have time to keep yourself happy and healthy. Deadlines can be so easy to forget if you don’t have them written down anywhere. If you’re doing your internship during the school year, you are going to have twice the amount of work that you are used to. To keep track of all of these assignments, utilize the reminders in your phone, or even set those deadlines in your calendar! If you are like me and you love to physically write everything down, invest in an academic planner! I love utilizing planners because the act of writing is proven to help you remember things and they help me stay organized with every aspect of my life. It allows me to set aside time for my academics, my internship, my social life, and myself! Taking the extra time to budget out my time everyday saves me a ton of stress and it can for you too! Here is my favorite planner to use! Starry Sky LifePlanner | erincondren.com $37.75 I am very fortunate for everything I have learned through my internship and for all of the friendships I have made along the way. I have loved being able to share everything I have learned through my own personal experience not only on my Instagram Takeover, but on here as well! I want to encourage college women like myself to put in the extra effort and take a leap of faith when looking for an internship so that they can have a rewarding professional experience and know what to look for in a company once they are ready for a full-time job! If you have any more questions, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment below!
xo, The Undergrad
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AUTHORCamille Baron is a 20 year old attending the University of Utah and is in her third year as a Strategic Communications major. She strives to educate college women like herself to achieve their full potential in all aspects of life. ARCHIVES
July 2020
CATEGORIESAll Business And Professional College Culture Education Health And Wellness Self Care Travel |