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10 More Tips For Getting A Summer Internship

May 7, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

The internship hunt can be a bit time consuming and often stressful — I’d know because I recently got out of that hunt alive! This was actually the first time I applied for summer internships, so there was definitely some trial and error in certain places. At the same time, I emerged victorious and excited to share with you all how I landed my position. I picked up so many tips during my experience, that one blog post wasn’t enough! Be sure to check out part one of my tips for getting a summer internship so that you’re all caught up, and that being said, let’s get into part two!

During, an interview, try to give all your experiences a bit of attention. Earlier in my internship hunt, during interviews I’d often just discuss one piece of experience that I had listed on my resume (my position as an editor). I thought that this was my strongest asset because I developed skills as a leader, manager, writer, editor, and it took a lot of planning and strategy. It was great that I could talk about how much one position taught me, but what about the other positions on my resume? From what I’ve experienced, showing your interviewer that you were able to take away something from all the experiences you listed is a really good way to show that you’ve grown from every experience you had. I feel like interviewers think of this as you adequately absorbing what took place, and really making the most of your positions. Besides, they’d probably want you to make the most of a position at their company.
Demonstrate a unique understanding of a concept or idea. Show the interviewer that your experiences have shaped your thinking in a unique way. They can find many likeminded applicants who might approach a situation the same exact way, but try to show them that you have a different understanding that also works. Remember when you were in the first grade and kids made fun of each other for being even a little different? Well now you’re all grown up and being a little different is actually a good thing.
Don’t be repetitive. The interviewer doesn’t need to know five times that you’re an organized individual who is experienced with team management. I’m pretty sure that you have so much more to say about your abilities, so take your time to elaborate without repeating the same set of skills over and over again.
Use any opportunity to discuss what makes you qualified. This actually happened to me during an interview. The interviewer had finished asking me questions and was explaining a few things about the position. I took that opportunity to further elaborate on why I would be able to handle those specific tasks. Those were not interview questions, however, I wasn’t done making an impression. Saying ‘okay,’ isn’t always enough, and it never hurts you to endorse your abilities just a little bit more. That being said, really use your face time or phone time with your interviewer wisely and to your advantage.
Ask questions. This is actually how I was able to take the above stated opportunity to talk more about my qualifications. At the end of an interview, you’re typically asked if you have any questions for your interviewer. This is probably the one question that shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, so make sure you have at least one question to ask. In my opinion, it shows that you took the time to fully understand what you could about the company and the position before sitting down to be interviewed, and you’d like to take the extra step to learn more. Plus, like I said, you might be able to get the opportunity to further showcase your abilities by doing this.
Leave your business card if it’s an in-person interview. After I applied to the internship I eventually received, I was contacted for a phone interview, then I took an edit test, and lastly I had an in-person interview. Now, I had business cards in a nice business card-holder in my purse, but guess what I forgot to do…I was kicking myself up and down for that because business cards are definitely really professional, and a nice, neat way of telling an employer how you can be reached and what your work has been like so far. This looks extremely professional (especially for a college student like me) and it’s definitely something that makes an employer go, ‘wow.’ Leave your business card whenever possible, and if you don’t have one yet, I highly recommend getting some printed.
Be polite! Okay, don’t get so caught up in the craziness and stresses of internship hunting that you forget your manners at home. Always thank the interviewer for making time to speak with you. It’s definitely a small statement that is really appreciated because they’re probably way busier than you are and have a hundred things planned out for the rest of the day. You don’t want them to remember you as the rude candidate who doesn’t know how to say, ‘thank you.’
If you haven’t heard anything, follow up. I typically follow up with a company one week after my last interaction with them. Following up lets them know that you’re serious about the position because you took it upon yourself to check in with your progress. Keep in mind that even after you follow up, companies don’t always reply to you. It’s not what you want, but remember that it’s okay because you did all that you could do.
Reply to emails promptly. No matter what point you’re at in the application process, reply to the company’s emails in a timely manner. Try not to just see it in your inbox and put a star next to it for later, unless you absolutely must do that because of circumstances. I have actually interviewed many people for positions on the staff I manage in college, and I can’t help but feel that the applicant is a bit disconnected when he or she takes many days to reply to a message. This can come off as a red flag to an interviewer.
Don’t quit after two or three failed attempts. Yeah, I know rejection hurts and it sucks, and when you feel you have so much to offer, getting rejected can really hit you hard, but you can’t just decide that you’ve given it your all and give up. I applied for a position at eight different platforms before being hired. To be honest, eight attempts isn’t a lot; some people apply to 20 positions before getting something, so don’t view rejection as ultimate.

And that concludes my entire guide to landing a summer internship! I know I’ve talked about a lot, so if you have any questions you’d like to ask me, or if you also have some input you can leave me a comment below or email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you guys! That being said, good luck with your hunt, and if you aren’t looking for an internship just yet, I hope to see you back here when you are.

Happy hunting!

12 Tips For Getting A Summer Internship

May 2, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 3 Comments

Summer is upon us, and for many college students that means searching for internships, getting a summer job, taking a summer class to catch up or stay ahead, and a whole spiel of things that college kids typically do during the summer vacation. This summer, I’m going to be a lifestyle intern at an amazing content platform, and I can’t wait to start! Now, getting my position was no easy feat, and I completely understand the struggles of getting summer positions like these. I put a lot of work and energy into landing this position every step of the way and I’m proud to say that my hard work has paid off.

Since I’m a survivor, I’ll tell you exactly how I got my first internship. Keep in mind that I do not claim that these if you use these tips you will sure as hell land your internship; I’m just telling you what I did and how/why it worked for me. What I’m about to tell you are exactly what the title says they are — tips, a.k.a. helpful pointers. That being said, I still hope many of you will use these tips as helpful insight, and if you do use them and they help you land an internship then YAY, I’m really happy for you! Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Begin your search AEAP — As Early As Possible! I started looking for summer internship opportunities in January 2016. Now, you might think this is ridiculously early, but there were a few companies that required application submission as early as January 31st. I shit you not. So being aware of really early deadlines will ensure that you aren’t missing out on the game, and that you get the chance to take your shot. Besides, wouldn’t it suck to know that you missed out on a potential opportunity all because you missed the deadline?
Keep track of everything. I made organized lists of internships I was interested in, internships I had applied to, internships I couldn’t apply to (severely unqualified, needed someone to start immediately, etc.), internships I got rejected from, and internships I got accepted to. This was to keep my thinking clear and organized, because as a college student who hadn’t even scratched the surface of 20 years on this earth, I had a lot of school work and extracurricular work to do, and just a lot of other stuff going on. Internship hunting is very tedious, so you need as clear of a mind as you can get. Keeping track of everything this way really helped because sometimes I would find an opportunity, realize that I couldn’t apply because I was unqualified, find it again in a few weeks and then remember that I already covered why I couldn’t apply a few weeks ago.
Don’t be afraid to send an email. You’d be surprised by how many people my age are afraid to send a quick email. I’m typically fearless when it comes to inquiries and getting information, so typing out a quick email asking a future employer if a position is still available really doesn’t phase me at all. You won’t always find deadlines listed for internships, so you need to be able to respectfully and effortlessly ask if the position is still available, or if the company has positions at all. I found myself doing this a lot, and sometimes they reply while sometimes they don’t. The idea is that you need to at least try because you never know!
Think about what you want. That sounds really vague, doesn’t it? So one of my priorities when finding an internship was whether or not I’d be able to get paid for it. Hear me out. I have never had a paying job (tried really hard in the past to no avail) and to me it would’ve been really nice to have an opportunity that allows me to make a little cash that I can start saving for grad school, or use for my study abroad trip. So I considered paid opportunities first. Now, I’ve heard many times that one should take whatever comes his or her way when looking for experience, but one should still consider his or her personal preferences, too. You should never completely rule out an opportunity because it isn’t exactly what you want, but still don’t be afraid to take a chance on something that’s exactly what you dream it to be.
Don’t be scared if your resume is longer than one page. I tried so hard to squeeze everything I’ve done in college onto one page for my resume. I even used size nine Times New Roman at some point because I felt I had so much involvement and experience to showcase, and I wanted it all to fit on one page because I thought employers would get bored with a long resume. If anything, employers will be annoyed if they have to read super tiny words on a page. It’s not the end of the world if your resume creeps onto the second page. But if you want a way to cut out unnecessary length to your resume…
Keep your resume format simple. I probably could have added a few small decorative elements, listed my experience in a fancy way and all that, but truthfully a lot of those embellishments just take up space on an already busy resume. Sometimes, simple things are the way to go. This will also let you pay more attention to the quality of your resume.
Really consider everything that should be on your resume. I kept on having to go back and add things to my resume because I somehow forgot to state all the websites I’ve been published on (even though I was only published just once on some), or the fact that I have some experience as a Snapstory content creator, or even the fact that I own my own website! This is major for someone looking to go into the magazine industry, and it was a major screw up on my part. I was actually told during a phone interview for a position that I really should have stated on my resume that I own a blog. Sit down and really think about everything that’s relevant to your work experience. If you’re having trouble distinguishing between what you should and shouldn’t include on a resume, seek help from the career center at your school, or even ask a supervisor what the best way to display your piece of experience on a resume is.
Make your cover letter stand out. In a positive way, of course. In my cover letter, I used the first paragraph, the intro paragraph, as a way to be lighthearted and a little funny while still leading my potential employer to my main goal: why they should hire me as an intern. They say that employers only spend about 60 seconds on your material, so give them material that they wouldn’t want to forget; give them something that’ll make them smile, or even chuckle. I like to think that doing this will buy me an extra 2o seconds.
Discuss the organization by name in your cover letter. You really shouldn’t send out a generic cover letter to 20 different employers. This definitely shows that you don’t care about each company enough to add some extra effort, so why should those companies hire you? Yeah, I had to go back and tailor my cover letters to every specific opportunity I applied to, and yes, I have multiple cover letters saved on my laptop, but at least doing this will make you a lot more likely to actually receive an interview.
Really do your research about the company. This comes in handy with your cover letter because you should be able to demonstrate why you feel you’re a good match for that company, but it also comes in handy during interviews. I have been asked so many times about content from each platform, so of course I made damn sure I read a lot of the content from each platform. You will likely be asked about the company’s current work, so you better start doing some research. Familiarizing myself with the content was also really good because it helped me really see if I’d fit in well with the culture of each unique platform. I can’t report about celebrity lives for every single piece of content, so I would never try to take an opportunity with a platform that does just that. It just isn’t my style and it’s not what I’m good at. On the other hand, I love platforms that look at multiple lifestyle aspects, even with the occasional piece about a celebrity. You won’t be able to thrive in every single environment, so make sure you know which ones you might be most successful in.
Keep up to date about current topics. Especially if you’re looking for an internship in some sort of journalistic industry. Even scrolling through Twitter the morning of an interview for breaking news, the latest overnight trend, or the most recent viral video that has society up in arms can drastically improve your chances of getting the position. You never know when you might be able to insert that piece of newfound knowledge.
Don’t be difficult — make time for a phone interview. Yes, you’re a student and you have a lot going on, but don’t expect to not change a single thing in your calendar and still have a prompt phone interview. Your interviewer is way busier, so you might find that they only have two possible times to speak with you out of an entire week. Sure, you might’ve wanted Wednesday from 1-2pm for yourself so you can hit the gym, or catch another episode of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix, but you might also really want that interview, too. For me, scheduling interviews as promptly as possible was really beneficial because as an on-campus leader it can sometimes be hard to tell when a task will arise that you need to pay extra time and attention to. The more quickly you’re able to schedule an interview, the better; even the near future can be unpredictable.

Hope you’ve made it this far! This is just part one of a two-part series (I have SO MUCH to share with y’all!) I don’t want this post to be obnoxiously lengthy, so stay tuned for part two where I’ll get more in depth about the interview portion and some things toward the end of your application process.

How did you score your first internship?

The Confused College Student’s Guide to Good Note-taking (Part 2)

March 2, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara Leave a Comment

So now you know which method of note-taking will survive the abyss that is your lecture hall of knowledge. Congratulations. But if you’re not yet sure how to select the fittest method of in-class note-taking for each of your classes, be sure to check out my previous post. As I was saying, so now you know that annotating lecture slides is your go-to note-taking method for that chemistry class, or typing your notes on your laptop is the best way to keep up during a history lecture. Now we have to take things one step further to ensure that you’re grabbing all the important info (a.k.a. stuff that will be on your exams) you need.

You rarely (if at all) get anywhere in life by cutting corners — looking for the easy way out, trying to skip the hard stuff. But when taking notes in class, sometimes you might want to trim the fat off of some edges. I’m pretty much talking about finding ways to make your note-taking easier, which includes learning how to write quickly and efficiently to ensure that you record only what’s important — that unnecessary fat can really weigh you down! So here’s how you can ensure you’re only writing down the necessary information:

Throw capitalization to the wind. You know how it’s just the law of basic grammar to capitalize the names of people, important places, states, etc.? Sometimes when I’m typing my notes I do this instinctively, but sometimes my fingers fumble on the keys when trying to hold the shift key and press a letter. This may sound stupid to you but it does happen and it does waste some time. Your notes are only for you — you aren’t submitting them for an essay contest! You don’t need to get caught up with capitalizing names of people, cities and the like.

What comma? Punctuation marks such as commas and semi colons are not crucial when it comes to note-taking. You’ll still understand your sentence without a semi colon, so doing away with this kind of punctuation doesn’t take anything away from your lecture notes.

Use ur abbreviations! Put your texting skills to good use in the classroom! Okay, actually, some people write out full sentences when they text, contrary to what many think, but that’s a story for another time. You’ve probably heard this ad nauseum at any school you’ve ever been to, but truthfully, abbreviating really does save you a lot of time when writing. Sometimes I instinctively write out full words when I could have used an abbreviation that would save me less time so I could focus on writing down other important points.

Arrows are more than adorable boho print. I like incorporating simple arrows (like this one –>) into my notes to show cause and effect relationships. It’s way easier than writing, “and this lead to the downfall of…” #timesaver.

Focus on points that demonstrate change. Demonstrating change over time, especially if you’re in a history class or other liberal arts class, is very important for exams and essays. I have a Professor who likes to give a lot of biographical information, which is cool and all (I totally want to know where George Washington got the majority of his teeth from) but I’m not going to write an essay about that! Looking for points that demonstrate change is a good filter to use when trying to figure out what to write down.

List equations in the margin. If you’re in a math class or chemistry class or some other class I find horrid (because I hate math) then you’ll be working with a ton of equations. Making a list in the margin of your paper specifically for equations will help you single them all out so you don’t have to keep writing them down every time the professor presents a problem with them. This saves time like you will not believe!

These few points are rather simple, but super useful! They’re great ways to effectively cut corners without taking away from your learning experience, and I’ve definitely found them to be extremely useful! Do you have any other methods for ‘trimming the fat’ from your lecture notes? Let me know in the comments!

The Confused College Student’s Guide To Good Note-taking

February 22, 2016Jasmin - Macarons & Mascara 3 Comments

Note-taking is essentially a ~~hated~~ part of college life. So would you believe that many college students – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, even some seniors – still have no clue how to take down proper notes for classes? In my last four semesters of college, I have practiced and witnessed many different methods of note-taking, because I’ve had many different professors with many different styles of lecturing. What’s more is that not every single one of my classes has been a large lecture hall with 500 students, so that contributes even more to my professor’s style of lecturing, and thus my method of note-taking.

Really, it’s kind of like a ‘survival of the fittest’ sort of thing – only the better adapted methods will survive (and help you survive!) I’ll walk you through the methods I hail as ‘the best’ for taking good notes, because I believe in helping out my fellow college-goers. You can totally thank me by telling everyone you know about my blog! (Just kidding…but not really).

For the lecture hall with 300+ people:

This was one of the first classes I experienced when I first started college. It was a general chemistry class and the lecture hall was huge, though admittedly not the largest lecture hall I would have a class in. It may be easy enough to succumb to our beloved high school habits by whipping out the looseleaf and pencil (which is exactly what my first instinct told me to do) but here’s why this might not be the most efficient way to take notes:

The professor will likely move very quickly. He or she has, like, 50 powerpoint slides of material to teach to hundreds of students in one sitting, and usually within about an hour to an hour and a half. So don’t be surprised if your professor doesn’t do you the courtesy of spending even close to five minutes on every slide.
Your handwriting may become a little…unrecognizable as handwriting. At some point during the scramble to write down every single thing written on the slides, your notes might actually start to look like a bunch of squiggly lines on a piece of paper. Unless you are fluent in the reading and writing of the squiggly language, this won’t be very helpful during your ~~cram~~ study session.
You might lose stray pieces of paper. Sometimes even the most organized people have a bit of trouble keeping their heads on their shoulders, and things might get misplaced. Wouldn’t it suck to have an entire page of biochemistry notes go missing right before a midterm?

Solution:

Type your notes on a laptop. Most people can type faster than they can write, so the fact that your professor spends exactly two minutes per lecture slide won’t be as big of a deal, and you won’t have to break as much of a sweat to get important details down. Plus, there are no stray pieces of looseleaf paper that can get lost, and you will always be able to understand the font you use in Pages or Microsoft Word.
Pro Laptop Tip: Type your notes in Google Drive. This semester, I realized that typing my notes in Google Drive is easier than typing them in Pages or Microsoft Word. You will have your Google Drive documents anywhere there’s a computer, and everything you do in Drive saves automatically, so you don’t have to worry about losing 11 pages of unsaved notes because your laptop shut down mid-sentence. Plus, some universities give you an unlimited amount of free storage space. I also found that using Google Drive to take my notes allowed me to keep everything really organized because I can see all my folders laid out right in front of me.

For the professor whose lecture slides are mostly images and diagrams:

You have to pay particular attention to these classes. The lecture slides may only have images of people or objects or whatever, but the professor may be saying a mouthful while on that one slide. Don’t let the simplicity of the powerpoint fool you! These kinds of classes don’t really allow you to skip on taking notes and just look at the slides on the class webpage later – you won’t know what the hell the pictures mean later! I actually have a professor like this right now, and I prefer to actually know what his lecture slides mean at the end of the day. I mean, don’t expect to study a picture of Samuel Adams’s face and know all about his role in America’s journalistic history. Still not picking up what I’m putting down? Here’s how this kind of class can really screw you over:

You have nothing concrete to study. You literally cannot rely on images and charts to do well on your exams for this class. Your professor probably wants you to think that you can but, believe me, it’s not going to happen. You still need to take notes for this class because, like I said, when you go to your class webpage later because your professor considerately posts the useless image-heavy lecture slides, you’ll have extremely little to no recollection of what was even discussed in class.
This style of lecturing requires you to have a sharp ear. I suck at auditory learning. Even if I’m trying to pay really keen attention to what I hear, I still won’t be able to retain as much information as an auditory learner can. If there’s very little to no text on the lecture slide, you can bet your Starbucks iced vanilla latte that pretty much all of the crucial points are coming from the professor’s mouth.
The images should be supplements for what you write down. I’m somewhat of a visual learner myself – somewhat – but even so, I still only like to use images as supplements for written notes. I will definitely draw accompanying diagrams because I know they will help me better understand the material, so you can’t completely discount images in lecture notes. So if you can’t discount them and you can’t rely solely on them, what the hell do you do!?

Solution:

Print out and annotate your lecture notes. This is my favorite method of note-taking for any class! If your professor posts lecture slides before class, printing them out beforehand and annotating on the sides is an efficient way for you to focus on what the professor is saying (the important stuff) rather than getting caught in the crossfire of diagrams, talking and all that confusing nonsense. Plus, your attention can only be divided in so many ways. With this method you can focus on the professor speaking and still be able to refer back to the images later on!

For the class that’s basically like high school:

This is the class where the professor handwrites everything on a chalkboard and you sit there and either type it all on your laptop or jot it down in your notebook. I call this the ‘like high school’ class because these classes – even if you go to a college with 20,000+ students like I do – are usually smaller with about 30 or so students in them – just like the good old high school days! I’ve had a few of these classes now and in the past. My Italian class from freshman year was like this and the law class I’m currently taking is like this, too. Many college math classes are like this, though some may have that large lecture hall component.

Even so, you can’t really go wrong if the professor lectures like this because now you have the ability to match the professor’s writing speed rather than lagging behind and cursing under your breath. You can’t really go wrong with this kind of class. The only caveat I have to offer is…don’t get used to this. Not all of your classes are or will be so forgiving when it comes to note-taking!

Hopefully I have brought you a little closer to note-taking success. Remember that this is only part one of my Confused College Student’s note-taking series! Stay tuned for part two, and let me know in the comments what kind of college lectures you’re taking and how you take notes for those classes!