High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Be Bolder and Take Risks

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Be Bolder and Take Risks: "Even if you’re not contemplating a risky new move, you’ve probably taken a few risks to get to where you are today, and chances are you’re not done taking them."

• 10 Things Never to Reveal When You're Job-Hunting: "Never tell a recruiter or prospective employer that you're not having luck with your job search or that you've pursued opportunities that didn't pan out."

• What You Should Really Be Learning During Your Internship: "when you’re immersed in your internship, here are six skills you should be adding to your repertoire in addition to job-related skills."

• Get More Out of Your LinkedIn Profile: "Stand out by optimizing your profile to be easily read. If prospects don't see what they're looking for quickly, they will move on."
• Motivating Employees is Not About Carrots or Sticks: "When we step away from the traditional carrot or stick to motivate employees, we can engage in a new and meaningful dialogue about the work instead."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Helping Others is Your Most Valuable Offering

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Helping Others is Your Most Valuable Offering: "Helping others makes us happier and consequently boosts productivity. From there we can thrive and improve our bottom line while growing our businesses."
• This is the Key to a Successful Partnership (and a Successful Life): "You can’t enter a partnership and then rely on your partner to figure out for you who you are. In effect, you have to form a strong 'partnership' with yourself before someone else can. As we like to say, 'we' always starts with 'me'.
• Your Internship Just Turned Into a Job Offer--Should You Take It?: "For better or worse, interns often have vastly different experiences than employees who work year-round. Before committing, it’s essential to research the job and company."
• The Changing Shape of the Modern Workplace: "The way our workplaces look and behave has been undergoing a great deal of flux and experimentation in recent years, urged on by a wide range of driving forces."
• How to Determine What Your Potential Boss is Like in an Interview: "You don't want to find out after you start working that your manager is extremely difficult to work for. Asking this question of the people who work for your prospective boss may yield different answers than what human resources or a recruiter tells you."

4 Ways to Get the Most Out of an Internship

An internship can play an important role in the career of any college (or even high school) student and there are ways to ensure that you benefit the most from an internship.

Rather than complaining that you don't get to the do the most important tasks in the company, focus on the following four ways to get the most out of your internship:

1. Learn Everything. Don't limit yourself to your job assignments. Ask questions. Lots of questions. And meet new people and ask what they do, and ask them to show you how they do it. Make an effort to get to know the company you work for and to understand its strengths and where it fits in among its competitors. If the company offers training be the first to sign up. Take advantage of any learning opportunities that come your way.

2. Talk to Everyone. In addition to meeting your direct supervisor and her team, get to know any other interns in the company. Make an effort to meet the company vice-president and the CEO, and the janitor, and the receptionist. Remember names and, as mentioned, ask a lot of questions. An internship is a great way to make lasting connections with people in your chosen field.

3. Stay Positive. Smile and interact positively with all the people you're meeting. Take on new assignments enthusiastically and show a genuine interest in those you are working with. You'll enjoy your day more, and you'll leave a lasting impression on others in the office.

4. Get Connected. Be sure to connect with your supervisor, other interns, and anyone else you've worked closely with, or had some meaningful interactions with, on social media channels such as LinkedIn, twitter, or Facebook. When you leave your internship send these connections a brief note of thanks for the support and learning opportunities they provided.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Make Friends Not Contacts

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Networking 101: Make Friends Not Contacts: "Check your circle of friends. Surround yourself with people who aspire to do better."
• The Rainn Wilson Guide to Success: "For me, meditation is a great tool that I use in my daily life to ground me, to get me more connected to my soul. To the part of myself that’s beyond my thoughts. To God and to a higher purpose."
• 21 Ways to Unlock Creative Genius: "Consider this list of tricks and strategies your roadmap, all planned out with the benefit of the latest research and expert advice."
• Start Looking for an Internship!: "Interns that show professionalism and demonstrate their creativity gain a network of people who can mentor them, give recommendations, and collaborate on future projects."
• 4 Interview Tips for Veterans: "One of your greatest resources may be other veterans who have landed a job through mastering the interview process."

3 Ways to Get the Most from an Internship

Internships are a great way to develop skills for a future career and get a better sense of the day-to-
day reality of a particular job. However some interns seems to view the internship as simply a way to get a college credit or gain some experience to throw on a resume.

An internship can be a valuable learning experience and many successful careers have started as internships.

Here are three ways to benefit the most from an internship:

1. Ask questions. Do not be shy. You are not expected to know everything so ask away and be curious about all areas of the company.

2. Do not eat alone. Take the opportunity to meet new people. You do not need to confine your interactions to your direct supervisor and the other interns. Start up conversations around the coffee machine, after meetings, or when walking into the office. Try to meet people from different areas of the company. Ask your supervisor for introductions. You never know when one of these relationships will develop into a future working partnership.

3. Offer suggestions. Yes, you are not expected to know everything about the company you're interning at or the job you are doing but that doesn't mean you don't have some great ideas. Likely you do. Use your unique and fresh perspective of the company and its work processes to suggest some improvements to your supervisor. Not only will this demonstrate your ability to take initiative but you just might be given responsibility for overseeing the implementation of your idea, providing you with valuable leadership and project planning experience.

What advice do you have to make the most of an internship?

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 5 Things You Didn't Know Could Hurt Your Career: "You might think that loyalty to an employer would be valued, and it is, but there's also a point where staying too long at one company can raise questions for future prospective employers about how you'll adapt to new environments."

• The 1 Thing You Must Do In Every Job Interview: "The most important thing you must do in every interview is to ask great questions."                                                       
• Internships Are Increasingly the Route to Winning a Job: "Companies report that 69% of summer interns who applied for full-time positions received offers, according to a recent survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council."


• Work-Life "Balance" Isn't the Point: "Even in the busiest of schedules, the most practical and effective way we can live is by aligning our personal priorities of work, family, health, and well-being. Such realignment can bring huge gains in emotional and physical energy, not to mention greater clarity and focus at work."


• 12 Things You Should Do If You Hate Your Summer Job: "Keep in mind that the two main goals of having a summer job or internship are getting valuable work experience and getting a great recommendation from your supervisor." 

Four questions toward a legit internship

Internships have become something of a rite of professional passage for college students. In order to gain that "real world" experience desperately needed in the workplace, they work at companies - most of the time without pay - with the hope that they will land them some kind of permanent position either inside or outside that company. 

Recently, however, internships have come under fire for the socioeconomic disparities that persist in the intern culture as well as the overwhelming abuse of the system that results in violations of the U.S. Department of Labor's internship guidelines. Students - it turns out - are becoming frustrated with feeling like indentured servants and having their situations taken for granted by unscrupulous employers. 

If you are considering an internship, ask yourself these questions to determine if the experience will be right for you:

What career goals is this internship serving? Get clear - very clear - about how the internship serves your career goals. Think about what you would like to see after the internship is over: what relationships have you formed, what skills have you acquired, and what industry knowledge do you possess?

What reputation does the internship have? Conduct research to go deeper into how others have viewed the internship experience you are considering and whether or not they felt the experience was worthwhile. You can obviously use Google to find these individuals, but I recommend using LinkedIn as a place to start. Another strong resource could be your college/university's career development office,  which likely has information on students who have taken part in the internship that you are interested in.

What about the internship makes it an educational environment? Many interns don't realize that their work is supposed to inhibit the normal functioning of the work environment...because an internship is designed for learning, not necessarily for accomplishing work. Through your research on internships, ask questions around how the internship creates a place for learning to occur.

What kind of social capital does this internship give? Internships are not just about acquiring new skills and gaining industry knowledge, but also being exposed to people and experiences that will raise your profile with key people in your industry. A well-established company can do this, but so can a young start-up. Use the research you have done to determine how the internship experience will reflect upon you.

Regard an internship as an investment - a serious investment - of your time and resources. Whether you find a paid internship or not, use these questions to get the most out of your experience.

High Five Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!


1. What Can a Three-Year-Old Teach You About Getting a New Job?
"Waiting can be tough, but you can endure anything if you know there's something better coming along."


2. 5 Ways to Get Yourself Out of a Career Rut
"If you find yourself in a professional rut and think a career-limiting behavior may be holding you back, consider these five ways to pull yourself out."


3. Top 10 Mistakes That Interns Make
"Internships can be incredible learning experiences, but they can also harm your reputation if you don't conduct yourself professionally during them."

4. The 9 Best Tips for Submitting an Online Job Application
"Statistics show that approximately 50 percent of mid-sized companies and almost all large corporations use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to screen candidates for job opportunities."


5. How to (Finally) Quit Your Job
"As you ride the elevator to the lobby, you visualize your last day at the company. You fantasize about walking into your manager's office, tabling your resignation letter, and cleaning your forsaken cubicle for the final time."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

1. 10 Simple Tips to Networking Success
"But succeeding at in-person networking is not out of reach. Follow these 10 steps to ease awkwardness and emerge with terrific contacts."

2. 'Winging' It in Job Interviews is for the Birds
"Those candidates who “wing it” with answers to key job interview questions nearly always fall, almost immediately, into one of the many “traps” today’s hiring managers and human resources professionals routinely set for the unwary and un-coached job applicant."

3. You Already Know the Right People to Land Your Dream Job
"Furthermore, you don’t just look at people you know directly, but rather look at who the people you know also know. With social media sites such as LinkedIn, accessing the networks of your network is so much easier."

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Internship: Goal Setting 
"To optimize your internship, it’s important to have specific goals and a plan for meeting them.  At the highest level, your goals are: gaining valuable experience and growing your network."

5. Be Proud of Your Accomplishments, Not Your Affiliations
"Stand tall, because it's mastering the process of consistently delivering results that will truly distinguish you in the end."

Working on a Trial Basis

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply try a job, without making a long-term commitment, or just take a test run to evaluate whether the work and company culture are a good fit. If you’re intrigued by these ideas, you might be a good candidate for an alternative work arrangement like one of the following:

Contract Work
Many companies look for contract workers who have specialized skills or experience to support a specific project or increase in business. Contractors work for a specified length of time—from several months to even a year or longer. Many successful contract workers function independently, contracting for and billing their services directly to the company. Others work through a temporary (i.e., temp) agency or a staffing firm that manages placements and contract arrangement details.

Temporary Work
Temp or staffing agencies also place temp workers, typically to compensate for a short-term employee absence or to support a project or a business spike. These assignments may last from several weeks to several months, but unlike contract work, they don’t typically require specialized expertise.

Consulting
Consulting is similar to independent contracting work in that a consultant usually has specialized knowledge or expertise. However, consultants are different in what and how they deliver that knowledge/expertise. A contract worker may contract to work for a set period of time performing a particular job function—for example, graphic design work. On the other hand, a consultant would more typically focus on helping a client get up to speed in a particular business methodology, process or industry standards—for example meeting new industry quality guidelines.

Internship
An internship is a great way to gain work experience while exploring a company and/or an occupation of interest. These are often geared toward college or university students in exchange for college credits. Internships are also popular among those looking to change careers or re-enter the job market.

How to Leave Your Internship With Grace

College students and post grads often take internships to get experience or their foot in the door of a company they want to work at. Most internships have a start date and finish date, regardless if you are there for class credit or simply experience.

How do you leave while ensuring you keep these amazing contacts you worked so hard to impress? Here are some tips:

1. If you enjoyed your internship, do check to see if they are hiring for part-time or full-time positions. Many times internships can lead to a regular job at a company if you really impressed them with your hard work. Make sure you let them know you are interested in working there and take contact information from co-workers and bosses.
2. If you hated your internship and can't wait to get out of there, don't burn any bridges. Leaving unprofessionally or mouthing off could hurt you in the future. Perhaps one of your bosses or co-workers will give you a great recommendation that will help you land a job at another company or someone from their network could help you find work. Always be professional, even if the people you are working for aren't being very professional themselves.
3. Ask for a recommendation letter from your boss/supervisor/manager. These letters are often crucial in helping you get a job. Also ask if they will be a reference for you.
4. Keep in touch. Once you're all finished with your internship, send a quick note or email thanking them again for giving you the opportunity and how much you appreciate the learning experience. Check in every few months so they don't forget you if you have them as a reference or hope to find a job based on the network you created there.

To Intern or Not to Intern?

Perhaps you're like me and had to intern for college-credit to graduate or maybe you've never even applied to an internship in your life. These days, internships are pretty common. Now that you're a post grad, you may have to decide to take on another internship (or your first) or keep job hunting. Here are some pros and cons of getting an internship:

Pros:

1. Doing well at your internship could mean you gain a full-time job at the company. If you shine during your internship, gain experience, and get along well with the people you work with and they are hiring, this means you have an amazing chance at getting a job there.

2. Adding to your resume and gaining experience are definite pros to an internship. Internships are great for learning and getting experience to work towards your dream job.

3. Internships can be great for networking. You may be able to meet a lot of different professionals that could lead to getting you a job. Networking is one of the most important things these days in getting a job and having these opportunities can get your foot in the door anywhere.

Cons:

1. Now that you're graduated, you no longer need college credit from internships. Most internships are unpaid which is a big con. If you need money, you may be forced to keep looking for a full-time job or take a part-time job along with your internship.

2. If the internship is unpaid, you could be working long hours with no money to show for it. But if gaining experience and networking are your main concerns, this could be just a temporary con that could lead to a money gig.

If you're thinking about taking an internship, I say go for it! The pros outweigh the cons because there is so much potential for learning, networking, and even gaining another job from it if you do well.

Gaining Experience Can Help You Land an Internship

Internship experience can give you an edge in landing a professional job, particularly your first. But consider this: In many cases, the competition for landing an internship can be as steep as the competition for landing a job. Therefore, those with experience will have an advantage. Even if education is your current, full-time focus, you can still work at positioning yourself to land an internship. Here are some ideas:

• Volunteer your time and services to a non-profit organization. Specifically look for opportunities that may strengthen key skills valued in your chosen profession, for example, project management, communication, and even overseeing a small budget.
• Offer to assist with a task or research project within your college of study or another department of interest. Depending on your class standing, check into teaching assistant or tutoring opportunities.
• Take on as many lead project roles as possible, whether at college, part-time job or volunteer position, and document key accomplishments in your resume. If applicable, pull together project documentation and results for inclusion in a portfolio.
• Demonstrate that you are well-rounded by becoming involved in clubs or groups within your professional or recreational areas of interest.
• Work a part-time or summer job to demonstrate responsibility and a good work ethic. Almost any work experience will be viewed as valuable. If appropriate, ask your supervisor to write you a letter of recommendation.
• Pursue a job-shadowing opportunity in your field or industry of interest.
• Identify a few target companies relating to your profession and then approach these companies offering to do some general office, shop, or warehouse work. If necessary, consider whether you can afford to do some unpaid work in return for gaining experience and broadening your professional contact base.

Internship Intervention: Five Strategies to Get the Most out of Your Internship

If you are considering an internship, about to begin an internship, or are in an internship, consider these five tips to make the most of your internship experience. Many believe that they know what an internship is, but all too often internships are not utilized to their fullest potential. So it’s time for an intervention: a sit around the circle, heart-to-heart exchange to keep you from making terrible mistakes that will negatively impact your professional future. Let the healing begin.

Be appreciative: Many interns do not appreciate the time and expense that goes into their position. According to the US Department of Labor, an internship is essentially for the benefit of intern, not the employer, and internships are to be designed with the expectation that work operations are more than likely to be hindered. If you owned your own business, would you create a position exclusively to lose money and make things slower? I, personally, believe in the altruistic nature of people, so it’s entirely likely that you would. However, I hope this makes you more appreciative of the time and energy that employers put into their internship programs.

Be a sponge: From the minute your internship begins, start absorbing everything you can about your place of work. What is its mission and primary purpose for existing? What do you know about its industry and its place in that industry? Who are its competitors and what does it do to differentiate itself from them? How does the work culture support the values of the organization? What does your department or area do to contribute to the bottom-line? Since an internship is designed to be an educational experience for you, you’ll get more out of it if you treat it like an anthropological study, making keen observations and studying the operations, dynamics, and relationships therein.

Take initiative: After you have begun your internship and are feeling comfortable in your role, ask you supervisor if there is anything else you can do to help, whether it be some kind of outside project, assignment, or something else entirely. The fact that you are asking indicates that you are interested in doing more than what is expected of you and that you are open to new experiences and challenges. Even if there is nothing available at the time, a question like this and being open to future opportunities will make a huge positive impression. Another way to show your initiative is to schedule a performance evaluation yourself. Ask your supervisor for an appointment to discuss your performance to date, going over your position expectations and how well you have fulfilled them. Think this will leave a strong, positive impression on how your supervisor views your professionalism and dedication to your position? I would!

Mine for feedback: But don't just obtain information from your supervisor: ask those that you report to and work with for genuine feedback on your work. Make your questions specific areas that are important to the company, which could include attention to detail, teamwork, timeliness, critical thinking, or others.

Be résumé mindful: Finally, keep track of everything that you are doing, from the day-to-day tasks to the skills you are picking up, for it is all fodder for your résumé.

Your internship can be a box that you check off on a list of undergraduate “to dos” or it can be a transformational opportunity that accelerates your career. It’s all in the approach and the choices that you make.

Turn an Internship into a Job

Job candidates who have internship experience have an edge. Employers are more willing to hire a job candidate who has internship experience, particularly an internship with their own company. An internship is a great way for both the employer and intern to explore whether there is a mutually beneficial fit. By being mindful of the tips below, you may increase the likelihood of turning your internship into a job.

Treat your internship like a real job: You should approach your internship no differently than if you were an on-staff employee—put your best effort forth to deliver quality work, dress appropriately, arrive on time, and act professionally at all times.
Set expectations: As with any job, it is critical that you and your manager set goals, define responsibilities, and discuss expectations—on both your parts. To increase the probability of satisfying everyone, discuss these early on and hold status updates to keep on track.
Be willing to do any task: Interns are often asked to do menial tasks. However, once you’ve successfully proven yourself competent, you are likely to be assigned more challenging and interesting tasks. The important thing is to say “yes” to any reasonable task and complete each fully and with a great attitude.
Take initiative and go the extra mile: Take the initiative to help your boss or co-workers. Ask for additional assignments, share ideas and solutions, and leave them with the impression that you’re always willing to go the extra mile.
Learn the business: Soak up as much information as you can about the company and the business. One of the best ways you can do this is by asking questions. Observe colleagues for their knowledge and best practices. Be sure to read up on company and industry news and trends.
Network: No doubt, one of the most valuable benefits of an internship is the business contacts that result. Meet as many people in the company as you can. Most people are willing to help someone develop a positive internship/work experience.