Author: Nathan Parcells

Wall Street Journal Internship Survey States: Businesses Relying More on Interns, Scouting New Hires As Early as Freshman Year

Wall street businesses need interns for entry level jobs wsj.com:

As companies start to rely more heavily on their internship pools to make full-time hires, they’re looking for ways to better evaluate candidates and targeting younger students.

A quarter of the nearly 480 respondents to The Wall Street Journal’s survey of college recruiters said more than 50% of their new-graduate hires had been interns at their companies; 14% said more than 75% were.

The trend toward intern-pool hiring has come on very strong in the past three to five years, according to Monica Wilson, acting co-director of career services at Dartmouth College. “Internship recruiting will largely replace entry-level recruiting in the next few years,” she says.

Firms are targeting and tracking students as early as freshman year, and undergraduates are exposed to corporate presentations and meet-and-greets within weeks of arriving on campus. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, holds information sessions almost as soon as classes start and makes internship offers to rising juniors and seniors as early as the last week of September.

Read the whole story: wsj.com

Take a Free Intern-Management Class from our CEO

At InternMatch we’re all about education, so we’ve just posted a free, 1 on 1, Intern-Management Class on TeachStreet. We believe that when employers really understand intern-management, they not only provide a better learning experience for students, but ultimately get a whole lot more bang for their buck.

Creating unique and compelling projects for interns must be balanced against real value for employers, which is no easy task. We tackle many of the tough intern-related questions in our Internship Resources and on our Internship Blog, but thought we would raise the bar even higher by offering to sit down for free personal employer sessions.

By the way, if you haven’t heard of TeachStreet, it’s a fantastic website that connects any kind of teacher with eager-to-learn students. We love the education overlap, which is why we posted on their site. So if you’re looking to learn something new, or need new students for something you teach, we strongly suggest checking out the classes at TeachStreet.

Sincerely,

Andrew Maguire
Founder/CEO
InternMatch

Here are the details:
1. Click here to register for my 1 on 1 class.
2. I can only do one meeting per week. First come, first serve!
3. I can only meet in Seattle (where I live) and preferably in Madison Park.
4. You do not have to be an InternMatch customer (although we DO rock at finding interns).

Move over “The Apprentice.” Spotlight on Protiviti, and their total immersion Internship training program, The Intern Challenge.

protiviti challengeMove over, “The Apprentice”. Protiviti has its own reality show.

The 2010 intern class at Protiviti, a global business consulting and internal audit firm, didn’t spend their orientation listening to presentations and taking notes. Instead, through the firm’s new Intern Challenge program, students kicked off their training week with business simulations designed to enable them to sample the work environment and industry they’re preparing to enter.

“The simulation approach gives our interns a taste of real-life situations, which are not always predictable,” says Elaine Poucher, national recruiting lead. She adds, “The program creates an edge and sense of accountability, and establishes the expectation that interns need to think on their feet in the workplace.”

During the one week Intern Challenge, 60 students meet in teams with pretend clients, analyze problems and create solutions, all under the watchful eye of a facilitator who steps in, as needed, to provide guidance.

Victoria Hupf, a senior at University of Washington, and an intern at Protiviti’s Seattle office, was in Orlando for this year’s training. She described the experience as, “pretty daunting since most people never had any consulting training.”

In Hupf’s case, she and a team of three others were presented with a “client” who wanted to be compliant with payment card industry standards. They met with several of the client’s process owners like an IT manager and finance manager, and completed process maps and performed test controls.

In the end, the team created a presentation to their managing director, of the issues they found at the client, the solution suggestions they made, and the documents they had been working on. This process enabled the interns to go through much of the varying steps you might typically have in a consulting project including critical soft skills like client communication and sales presentations.

Intern Victoria Hupf says she likes that it was so hands on. “You don’t get as much from just watching a PowerPoint. By actually simulating it, you get to know what you are really doing. You also don’t feel as untested when you start doing your first client assignment, because you feel like you’ve had some real experience. I know that I’ve used a lot of what I’ve learned.”

According to Protiviti’s Elaine Poucher, that retention is part of the reason they designed the program the way they did. Poucher says, “the training has proven to increase retention, up to 90 percent of the information they receive during a simulation.”

The intern training also involves morning presentations by Protiviti executives and evening challenges which Hupf describes as a lot of fun. The evening team building challenges included things like working with your team to recreate packaged salsas or sauces without knowing the recipe, and then creating advertising including commercials for their product. They even had a networking event.

Poucher says the Intern Challenge has proved to be such a success, Protiviti recently began using the technique as part of their new hire orientation, with great results.

Tales of professional etiquette. Lunch with the boss.

The interview or business lunch.

Lucky you. You haven’t even gotten the job or internship yet and already you are being taken to lunch by an individual or group of management types at the firm where you hope to be spending the next several months, if not years of your life.

Which fork? Which glass? What to do? Who is the host and who is the guest? Everyone takes off their jackets, sits down and starts ordering beers. There is a lot of talking and joking and you feel you really have to say something….

Very few people are comfortable in this situation. The need to impress is on acute high with your adrenalin pumped and fear running through your blood. Here are a few etiquette rules and tips to help you get that awesome new job.

In a professional setting junior people usually hold the door for those senior to them. In this case, however, you are the guest. Don’t stand there in front of the door waiting, but expect that they will most likely hold the door for you, even if you are a guy and the interviewer is female.

Remain standing near the table until everyone is seated or someone invites you to sit down. Let the others position themselves and no doubt you will be seated where they want you to. Don’t take off your jacket even if all the others do. When they glance in your direction you always want to look professional and neat. Do unbutton your jacket when you sit down. Always button the top button back up when you stand.

Order a non-alcohol drink during an interview lunch, even if everyone else is relaxing with a cold one. You are not trying to be one of the gang at this point. You are trying to be sober, articulate and appropriate. Laugh at their jokes but don’t try any on your own. Price wise, keep your menu selections on the modest side of the middle, and keep it simple unless everyone else is ordering a four course meal. (You should be so lucky).

Only butter the piece of bread that is going in your mouth. Gone are the days when you slather a large piece and then proceed to take bites. NEVER use your fingers to rip or tear your food. Only cut the piece that is going in your mouth. If you can’t finish your lunch, forget the dogie bag unless you want them to think of you as a financially bereft.If the meal involves many courses, just remember that you start using the forks and spoons from the outside of the place setting and work your way in. Despite the cool, sophisticated James Bond stereotype, glasses with stems on them should only be held by the stems not the bowl.

Follow the lead of the person who is interviewing you. If the conversation first involves banter or sports talk feel free to contribute, but don’t overwhelm the conversation. This is where they decide they like you enough to consider employing you, and you don’t want any banter competition to be taking place between you and anyone else, ruining the good will.

Be relaxed and friendly but no putting your arm over the back of the chair, or forgetting the napkin goes on your lap. By the way, the napkin gets put on your chair if you need to excuse yourself. It doesn’t get put back on the table until you are done with your meal and leave it for the last time. You signal to the waiter that you are finished by putting all your dirty utensils together across the top of your plate.

If you are not going back to the office together make sure that you look each individual in the eye as you give them a firm handshake. If they don’t say anything about a follow up, feel free to ask when you might be expected to hear from them. If you exit without them, leave immediately. Don’t hang around the door looking lost or hesitant. Give a clean exit, and you are done.

Any professional etiquette learning experiences out there? We would like to hear them.

The Tweet truth about internships! How tweet the tweets…or not. Today we are taking a look at a sample of twitters about internships from both sides of the equation….

Starting with the Interns and intern wanna bees.


@vontaeP I got to fly out to NY so I can meet the homies at@SLANIBkube, We got to get this internship rollin…June 25

@_hellosunshinee Nah this summer internship, its going well so far, but grl I wana go home so bad lol…June 25

@Frankiewarren I have an epic internship at @jCrossing in their strategy group…June 25

@prettytwocool Since my boss is out of town today I am cleaning and scrubbing her bathrooms and office. Yea for Wedding Coordinator

This week we are featuring a bright young woman who knows what she wants and is on her way to getting it.

Jessica Bettencourt has got what it takes.

She actually was courted by Insight Global after they saw her resume on the Joblink page of the SPU website.

In a world where so many college graduates are having trouble finding jobs and even internships, Jessica Bettencourt is truly a success story. Just graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a degree in Communications, Jessica has found both an internship and a job, in that order, at two different companies.

Now that she has her job lined up, Bettencourt is allowing herself one month stint in France before she starts her internship with the promotions department of radio station KWJZ. After three months there Bettencourt will be full time at Insight Global, a staffing company where she will be working as a recruiter.

Jessica Bettencourt hopes to stay with Insight Global for some time, where she will be interviewing well qualified IT consultants and working with Fortune 500 and 1000 companies. Bettencourt says there are great opportunities for her to grow professionally there, and hopes to work her way up the corporate ladder and become an account manager.

This doesn’t mean the end of Bettencourt’s job aspirations, however. She has been involved in sports both on and off the field since she was a little kid, playing just about every game in the book. So while Bettencourt has found a job she has not yet started what she would consider her career. She says that she is still searching for what she truly wants to do; sports broadcasting, specifically for ESPN.

When speaking of her family Jessica Bettencourt says she is “the outgoing one who loves attention.” She says she grew up with a lot of laughter in her life and a great family who loves her more than she can know. Bettencourt attributes most of her success to her parents, saying she, “honestly would not be where I am without my parents. Every interview I go to and every job offer that has come my way has been a direct reflection of the character that they have helped me become. It doesn’t mean I am not independent. They have helped me to be very independent and quite the entrepreneur.”

Summer Is Here and the Heat is on For Finding Your Next Internship: Must Read End of the Year Advice

So you are entering one of the most competitive job climates in decades (only slight improvements from last summer when unemployment for students aged 15 to 24 hit nearly 20% and the second highest since 1977). If you’re one of thousands of students still looking for an internship, don’t worry there is still plenty of opportunities out there.

Here are three suggestions to help you expand your internship search if you are still trying to find that perfect summer internship.

Use the tough market as an opportunity to explore new industries and interests:

For example if you are a student looking for an internship in marketing you may have already applied to every major marketing firm in your area without any luck. However, there are a large number of non-profits and small and medium sized businesses that need help with social media, collateral building, or marketing strategy. While such organizations may be off the beaten path, they offer great experience and are an ideal opportunity for those who are still looking for summer experience.

Make Your Own Internship Position:

Another option which was recently written about in the Wall Street Journal is to create your own internship position. While this sounds like a lot of work, it has actually been successful for a number of self-starters. So how do you do it?

During your college career you have probably developed a number of unique skills and interests that can add a lot of value to an organization. This could be a powerful knowledge of Photoshop, a great blog writing style, or any number of other skills. Meanwhile, many organizations right now are understaffed and over-worked, so if you can make a compelling argument as to how your skills could improve their mission, they just might be interested.

This approach requires you to be proactive and to call the organizations where you think you would make the best fit. I realizer cold calling can be intimidating, but remember that the person on the other line is simply a professional in your industry who most likely got their start doing something similar.

Apply, Apply, Apply:

Lastly, in the current job market it is essential to be persistent. If you apply to only a few positions and don’t hear back, or get turned down quickly, do not take this personally. We recommend that students apply to somewhere between 10-20 opportunities. However, I have seen other students find a great position after 30-40 application attempts.

With the number of days before finals and graduation dwindling, it is still not too late to find yourself a great internship for this summer. By thinking dynamically about what you want to do and being persistent in pursuing these possibilities, you will give yourself the best chance. In the end, mastering the application process itself is a valuable and lasting skill, so keep at it and try to enjoy the internship hunt.