This is a guest contributor’s post by Simran Thadani.
For many college students, summer is internship time — a chance to explore new avenues, acquire new skills, and grow through new experiences.
Whether you’ve got a journalism gig or lab research position, here are five free, must-have apps you can download on your phone to get you organized, connected, productive, and smart — in short, to make sure you rock that internship.
1. Pocket
It’s important to stay focused at work, but when there’s so much great content coming at you it’s easy to get sidetracked! Save anything you find interesting to Pocket and come back to view it later, whether that’s on the weekend or on your daily commute. Once something’s saved to Pocket, you can access it on your phone, tablet, or computer, even when you’re offline. Plus, with Pocket’s excellent sharing capabilities, you can share your new knowledge with colleagues and friends.
2. Evernote
It’s no accident that Evernote’s logo features an elephant, the animal that never forgets. Sign up for an Evernote account, and you can store just about everything you need to do your job — text, notes, lists, photos, websites, documents, itineraries — in neatly organized, fully searchable notebooks. You can also tag, highlight, annotate, and share content. No need to fret about where those meeting notes went again; let the electronic elephant do the heavy lifting for you!
3. Any.do
This sleek little app can seem unobtrusive — until you realize how quietly useful it is. Then you’ll wonder how you ever went without it! An elegant blue-and-white interface, browser extension, smart notes and reminders, and separate “Work” and “Personal” lists help you stay on top of your tasks, without getting stressed about them! You can also use Any.do’s “Cal” app, with the same calm, intuitive interface, to manage your daily schedule.
4. Dropbox
Dropbox’s “It Just Works” philosophy is a humble understatement of just how reliable the cloud storage service really is. With hundreds of millions of satisfied users, and apps available for all platforms, it’s very likely that you’ll resort to your Dropbox account to share files with colleagues. If your workplace has a Dropbox for Business subscription, you can even register two Dropbox accounts at the same time, and the app will keep work and pleasure separate — and secure.
5. TED
With its steady stream of “Ideas Worth Spreading,” TED has become a world center for conversation, learning, and self-improvement. The organization’s TED and TEDx conferences have produced an ever-expanding library of knowledge. Download the app for access to high-quality video and audio talks from world experts on everything from technology and business to leadership and writing.
Bonus:
6. LinkedIn: The world’s biggest social network for professionals, LinkedIn is a great place to build on the network you’ll start to form during your internship. Connect with new mentors and colleagues, seek recommendations from supervisors, and update your LinkedIn profile to reflect your top achievements from the summer. Keep an eye out for relevant groups to join — and, down the road, job postings for full-time positions.
About the Author:
Sim Thadani works on Marketing and Community at Pocket. She enjoys yoga and cooking, and geeks out equally over the latest mobile apps and the rarest 16th century manuscripts.
