Unless you’re a member of the small fraternity of genius-wunderkind-dropouts, it’s no longer possible to succeed in business—or any professional field—without really trying. And if you want to acquaint yourself with any sort of career advancement, you’re going to be an intern.

intern

verb

1. confine (someone) as a prisoner, esp. for political or military reasons.

2. serve as an intern.

The internship is an inevitable fate for bright young professionals, and while I’m sure there are some rewarding and downright fun internships out there, most ex-interns would circle definition one as the most accurate description of the word (especially since most are unpaid). A descendant of the apprenticeship, the internship rose to prominence in the 1980s when business schools began using them as a training tool. Thirty years later, the word intern conjures images of latte runs, mail carts, and poorly executed Windsor knots. But there’s so much more to an internship than that.

Those brave interns who tirelessly churn the gerbil wheel that is the internship position are often debased and humiliated in pursuit of professional glory. Some are forced to wear elaborate costumes, others must canvass the streets for petition signatures, and the lucky few get to witness an office fistfight.

With the spring semester now complete, a cadre of fine young collegians are descending upon office buildings everywhere, eager to gain professional experience and no money whatsoever. As an homage to these lemmings, we’ve collected horror stories from now-thriving professionals who triumphed over intern adversity. Let their recounts give you hope, and remember: a latte is the one with steamed milk, a cappuccino is the one with all the foam.

B. F.  – Horrible Bosses

Breanne Fultz was on the top of the world when she secured a paid internship in a social media position. The unfortunate thing is that she never got paid and the only position she was in was unemployed. After quitting her full time job, she showed up for her first day of work only to learn the position had been put on hold. “It turned out the two owners had vastly different ideas on how to proceed with their business and had had a giant fight the night before,” said Breanne. She never heard back from the horrible bosses and spent three months struggling to find a job. She is now a Social Media Coordinator for a spa in Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

Students, are you a fan of Chipotle? If so, there is an opportunity for you to become a student brand manager for the fast-casual restaurant. In order to bring Chipotle to your high school or university you must be 16 or older and be actively involved on your campus.

What exactly will your duties be as a Chipotle Student Brand Manager? You will have to promote the yummy burritos and tacos to fellow students on campus. You’ll be representing the brand, looking for opportunities that will let other students know that Chipotle is on campus, and using social media to promote the brand. Don’t worry – you won’t be doing this all on your own. Chipotle will offer guidance from their marketing representatives.

The company is offering a real-world experience for students who are looking for a career in the marketing industry. In other words, it is similar to an internship for college students because they have to attend two full academic semesters at their university and must work on Chipotle projects for five to ten hours per week. Read the rest of this entry »

By Melissa Woodson

While coursework is critical in law school, it is often a summer internship that leads to your first job in the field. For this reason, it can be as important to perform well and network efficiently during the summer months as during the rest of the year. The days of summer vacation are long over, but a good internship will be a rewarding experience where you take on your first real responsibilities in law and make lasting connections with others in the field.

Here are a few tips to guide you along the way:

1. Communicate Your Expectations to Your Supervisor

At the beginning of the summer, you should reflect carefully on your goals and expectations for the internship. Share those thoughts with your supervisor both as a reality check and to establish a shared understanding. Your goals and expectations may evolve over the summer, but if the internship is a good match for you, your supervisor will provide pathways to meet them. Read the rest of this entry »

Fears may start to set in once you’ve realized that your liberal arts degree may not be worth more than the piece of paper on which it was printed.  When job hunting becomes a headache, you may wish that you had chosen a more practical, specialized degree.

Concern may linger over the heads of you English, history, psychology, and other liberal arts majors, but don’t panic. Your degree has equipped you with certain skills that can be quite useful. Follow these tips to market your degree, and get a job.

Find an internship that has nothing to do with your degree: Bulk up your resume by taking an internship at a finance company or a local bank. Future employers need to see that the general education you learned in college can be applied to practical job skills. Additionally, having that real-world experience shows that you are mature and ready to take future jobs seriously.

Broaden your education: Take a few specialized classes outside your major that are beyond the required electives. For instance, if you’re a liberal arts major with a knack for numbers, take business calculus or an economics class.

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Going to college ultimately fulfills one purpose: gaining higher education. Most people will use that education to gain a job, but often students face problems of even entry level jobs wanting you to have some level of experience. The best way to get experience, and even start making some professional contacts, is to participate in an internship while in college.

Getting accepted for an internship can be highly competitive and you have to know where to look for them. Internships.com was founded in 2009 by Robin D. Richards and Ouyang and is the world’s largest internship marketplace, offering positions in all 50 states. The site was launched earlier this year and is completely free to use. Students can search for internships and employers can post their internships for free on Internships.com.

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Unpaid internships seem like a necessary hurdle on the road to employment, but there are a few internship positions that have generous stipends. Here are the 12 companies that pay interns the most.

1. IBM pays interns $18.00 per hour.

2. Accenture, the global consulting management firm, pays its interns $21.00.

3. Ernst & Young pays interns $22.00 an hour. Plus, the Academy Awards are one of their clients.

4. The two pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Schering-Plough, offer $22.20 per hour to interns.

5. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm, pays $23.75 per hour to their interns.

6. At KPMG, another accounting firm, interns earn $24.80.

7. Deloitte & Touche pays interns $24.50, plus was voted the No. 1 place to intern by BusinessWeek in 2009.
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A past IMG Fashion Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week intern, as well as an Aspen Fashion week freelancer, Erinn Knight has grown from stylish yet professional intern into a professional stylist who currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Erinn believes that fashion is fast paced, high stress, and ever changing and runs her own style blog.

If you’re a young professional male with a secured summer internship and aren’t familiar with what to wear first day on the job, we are here to help. In the office, it is just as important for men to dress appropriately as it is for women. First impressions are vital to your future success within the company you are working for.

It is imperative to take note of what people in the office are wearing the day of your interview. By assessing your surroundings early, you are able to understand the company dress code and dress code limitations from the start. Read the rest of this entry »

With an ever-evolving vocabulary and culture, Americans often find themselves Googling terms that they have never heard of because they might be embarrassed to make it known that they don’t actually have any idea what their friends and colleagues are talking about.

One term I have found that a lot of people don’t quite understand is an “externship” and especially the difference between an internship and an externship.

Similar to an internship, an externship is an experience, normally in the early stages of your career, to essentially give you a better understanding and a first-hand look at a company’s culture, the jobs they have within their departments, and the expectations of the field you could potentially professionally pursue. Read the rest of this entry »

A past IMG Fashion Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week intern, as well as an Aspen Fashion week freelancer, Erinn Knight has grown from stylish yet professional intern into a professional stylist who currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Erinn believes that fashion is fast paced, high stress, and ever changing and runs her own style blog.

Deciding what to wear for an internship, especially during the hot summer season, can be nerve wracking for even the most experienced young professionals. Due to lack of professional dress code knowledge and experience in a business atmosphere, naturally, the trainee may feel intimidated and overwhelmed weeks before the internship even begins.

The trick to dressing professionally, in a warm climate, is being able to keep it cool and classy, while also finding legitimate ways to incorporate your own personal style. It is important to observe what others within the office are wearing when interviewing with the company you hope to intern for. Take the information you’ve gathered from the interview and dress to the same level of formality as your co-workers. If you still have uncertainty, it is always best to be over dressed than under dressed. Layering is great for the summer season; you can always take layers off when necessary. Read the rest of this entry »

Internships are a critical part of the college experience for most students. You are supposed to learn what your “big kid job” will be like after college by interning at a company in your field and gaining invaluable first-hand experience.

Unfortunately, not all internships actually offer students this experience. When I interned at an advertising agency, I ended up mailing letters and buying coffee all day, every day. Not an ideal learning experience. I wish that I had known about IntershipRatings.com when I applied for my internship because then I might have found a better internship.

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