Tag Archives: Communication

After weeks of searching, applying and interviewing, you finally receive an internship offer! You’re super excited about the projects you’re going to complete and the people you’ll be working with. However, after the first month of interning, you realize that your role and responsibilities are not what you expected. You might feel like your skills are not being utilized or developed, but what can you do?

Talk to your internship supervisor
Your supervisor is the person who is tasked with providing you with the resources you need to have a successful internship. If you’re unhappy, they’re the first person you should speak with. Review your internship’s description, and if it doesn’t match up with the work you’re doing, let them know.

Express your eagerness to take on more projects. Then, work with your supervisor to come up with a workplan so you have a structured outline of what you …

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The importance of a simple thank you – it may seem nominal, but the more I read about job interview follow ups, the more I understand why it is essential.

There are a lot of people that take time out of their schedules for interviewing purposes: the person that has to filter through the resumes, the person that conducts the phone interviews and the people that conduct the actual interview, and don’t forget the individual that you may have networked with to learn of the open position. The least we can do is say thanks.

Thanking the interview team

The general rule of thumb is to send a thank you note within 24 hours after your interview. The thank you note could be a simple thank you, but it could also be used to reiterate your interest in the company and position, remind the interviewer who you are or mention …

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Spring has sprung. Finally!

After my battle with the winter weather, I couldn’t be more excited about spring. Besides enjoying the warmth, we all know that spring is a busy time with cleaning and making way for new things by getting rid of the old.

It’s also the time of the season where some college students will be graduating soon or closing in on the last day of their internship. If you’re like me, you are going through both of these. So, there’s no better time than now to start sprucing things up a bit for the job search. You know, spring clean it.

Where to start? What needs to be done? Here are some things we all can do.

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Tidy up the résumé

Remove all of the unnecessary items. Make sure your résumé fits the position that you are applying for. And remember, …

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Victoria is a junior studying journalism and public relations at Indiana University. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and is also the director of the Canvas Creative Arts committee on IU’s Union Board. In her free time, Victoria enjoys running and writing.

Last year, I worked as a student ambassador for Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. As a student ambassador, I worked on marketing Goodwill to students at Indiana University and members of the Bloomington community. My work consisted of hosting events, utilizing social media and a lot of crafting.

Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana focuses largely on giving back to the community. They do this through donations at their stores as well as working to educate people at the Indianapolis Metropolitan High School and The Excel Center, a tuition-free charter school for adults.

At Indiana University, my educational focus is journalism and public relations. This student …

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Nothing is more nerve wracking than the unknown. Not knowing what to wear. Not knowing what time to wake up. Not knowing what to eat. Not knowing what time to leave your home.  All of these, plus some, went through my mind during the days leading up to my new position as the Marketing and Special Events intern for Indiana INTERNnet.

The unknown consumed my first day. Having to drive a little over an hour with Indiana’s unpredictable weather would pose a challenge. And it did. But who would have thought that I would begin my internship during the second round of the Polar Vortex? Because of the weather, I was nearly 2 hours late on my first day. I did not see that coming. Luckily, I am working with a group of caring and understanding people that admire the fact that I even drive as far as I do every day. However, it …

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This is a guest blog by Armenda Boyer, a sophomore at Purdue University. She is currently working toward a dual major in Agricultural Communication and Agricultural Economics. This past summer, she was an education intern for the Indiana State Fair Commission.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I accepted an offer to work as an education intern at the Indiana State Fair. Of course, I expected to have the opportunity to work with children and to share my love of all-things agriculture. And I was able to do just that! What I didn’t expect to do involved 6,500 pounds of caramel corn and a national television show…

The World’s Largest Popcorn Ball tipped the scales at 6,510 pounds. Check out my last post to see how this massive sphere of popcorn and sugar came together to break a world record! The popcorn ball …

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Just when I thought my internship with Indiana INTERNnet could not get any more exciting after our staff luncheon at Dick’s Last Resort, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce treated the entire staff to an Indianapolis Indians Baseball game right around the corner at Victory Field. I hurried to wrap up my work for the day before the noon hour. The air in the office was electrified with excitement and the prospect of socializing. The air outside, however, was humid and warm.

After taking my seat alongside my chamber-mates, I thought back to the last time I was at Victory Field. It must have been back in 2010 while I was interning with the Human Resources Department at OneAmerica. The JW Marriott had not graced the panorama of Indy yet.  And, I was ready for my first-ever baseball game. My boss at the time bought me a foam finger and …

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Megan Nelson is a student at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is an employee at Lake Land College (LLC) in Mattoon, Illinois.

The goal of my internship was to use online marketing to increase the college’s non-traditional audience, expand its brand, and get noticed on the Internet. Part of my assignments involved using avenues like Google AdWords to reach this goal. I spent the majority of my first two weeks researching Google AdWords and how it worked before I determined the best way to learn was to “dive in head first” and create one. I generated three text ads on AdWords and conceptualized a single video ad to reach adult students from start to finish. I also explored the possibility of advertising on Pandora Radio by gathering demographic information and creating a survey via SurveyMonkey.com  to help determine if that opportunity would be worth the investment.

During …

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I’m passionate about a lot of issues, ideas, and organizations, but one thing I enjoy more than anything else is talking with and listening to people. I genuinely enjoy learning and making connections between people. This has bode well for me thus far in my short career tenure; I’ve landed jobs because I enjoy networking and putting forth my best effort. But — networking isn’t exactly something they teach you in college, unfortunately. It’s a skill that must be learned, and it takes work, patience, and sometimes a few bucks to attend quality events. 

Looking back on my college experience, the last thing I wanted to make time for between classes, homework, student organizations, being an RA, and interning was figuring out how to network; however, I made it a priority, beginning my freshman year by joining student organizations related to my major and keeping my social media profiles professional. …

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As you wrap-up your internship, you may find that you have a few treasured weeks of summer left. What are going to do during this time? Maybe you’ll vacation, eat pizza, catch up on the latest blockbusters, relax, or prepare your dorm room or apartment. While these are all great ideas, if you do have a few spare minutes, you should consider utilizing the time to work on documenting your professional experiences.

Here at the Freddie Factor, I’m hoping for an upcoming school year packed with interviews for full-time employment. During those interviews, recruiters and other interviewers will want to hear about your internship, personal, and academic accomplishments. They also want to see and hear that you’ve prepared for the interview by researching the company, the position, and tailoring your answers accordingly.

Now is the time to update your resume—demonstrating what you did during your internships and results that …

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It’s the latter half of July. Where does the time go? For some of you, your internship may be wrapping up in the near future. You should consider how you will finish your internship experience. For example—Do you need to begin “tying up loose ends” on projects? Should you schedule a “thank you” coffee or lunch with your boss? Have you kept a portfolio of your work thus far?

Your internship experience may lead to a job within the company, or it may be the last time you work for them. No matter the result, make sure you have networked with the people with whom you are working. When your internship ends, you will need references, and having a solid group of people who will provide you with positive references is an important final step in your internship experience. However—take note—references should be people who know you personally and can …

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With anything in life, the experience is what you make of it, and as an intern, it’s no different. You can only get out of an internship what you put into it—so consider your internship a chance to make a good impression, contribute fresh ideas, and “be a sponge” by learning from everyone with whom you work.

If you are proactive with the company and take charge of your own internship experience by seeking out mentors and using all of your resources for your work, you may have a great experience. However, if you stay put in your cubicle and never seek out help and advice, I’m guessing your internship is not going to be very fulfilling. You won’t have any fun, and you may walk away having not learned anything. I doubt you want to be “that person” who sits in his cubicle and watches YouTube all day!

It …

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Entry by Pat Patterson

Before an internship or job interview, it is important to learn as much as you can about the particular opportunity and organization.  The more you know about an opportunity and organization, the more you can understand an employer’s needs, and how you may address such needs if hired.  However, in general, employers will look for certain skills/qualities in potential hires.  According to NACE’s Job Outlook 2011 survey, employers listed verbal communication skills as the top quality they look for:

Survey respondents indicate that verbal communication skills topped the list of “soft” skills they seek in new college graduates looking to join their organizations, followed by strong work ethic, teamwork skills, analytical skills, and initiative.

Employers Rank Top 5 Candidate Skills/Qualities

Verbal Communication Skills Strong Work Ethic Teamwork Skills Analytical Skills Initiative

Read more. 

To hone your verbal communication skills, make sure you practice your elevator …

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Entry by Pat Patterson

From the November INTERNnetwork Intern in Action Spotlight.

Determining your future career is no easy task. While personality assessments can be extremely beneficial, practical experience in different industries and jobs may help narrow your choices even more. Just ask Alissa Fricke, a University of Evansville junior who has learned more about her interests and passions through interning.

As a communication student, Fricke first sought work experience to gain knowledge about various careers and boost her future hirability. “I want to be able to set myself apart when I begin job searching,” she remarks.

Since she has always enjoyed traveling, her first internship was with a local Evansville travel agency, where she worked with social networking and other new media marketing. Not completely sold on the travel industry, Fricke’s next internship was with the University of Evansville athletics department, where she …

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Entry by Brittney Horn, Membership Intern, Greater Lafayette Commerce

No matter where you work, there is most likely going to be someone that you just don’t see eye-to-eye with.  Let’s face it – it’s inevitable that you aren’t going to get along with every single person you meet in your entire life.  In the work place, it is even more prone to happen because you are surrounded by the same people for at least 40 hours a week.

Unless if you are one of those “I get along with everyone all the time no matter what” kinds of people (which is rare, and if you are one of those people, I congratulate you) you will experience feelings of frustration with other co-workers.  These feelings happen especially when you don’t understand where the other person is coming from.  This can happen often when you work with people with different types of …

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