Thoughtful Career Advice for Penn Students and Alumni, written by the staff of the University of Pennsylvania Career Services office and selected special guests.
Our very own David Ross, Associate Director for Wharton Undergraduate career counseling, was recently invited to be a guest blogger of the IMHO: In My Humble Opinion column at the Eye of the Intern blog, part of Internships.com.
Head over there today and enjoy David’s thoughts about using your summer internship to explore alternative career paths.
Internship season is upon us and many students are coming to CS to learn about finding an internship. In addition to reviewing the advice & listings on our website, you can check out the videos of interviews conducted with your fellow students to get a first-hand look at the internship search process.
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Thinking about a government internship? Last Fall, we talked to four students who interned at NASA, Senate Banking Committee, Delaware Attorney General’s Office, and Department of Energy and Climate Change (UK). Here’s what they said about their jobs and how they found them:
Government Internships: Myths & Advice from Penn Career Services on Vimeo. (Thanks to my wonderful colleague Claire Klieger for putting together this video)
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For more videos like this on a variety of internships from start-ups to communications, visit the CS Internships Vimeo Channel. And I hope these videos will inspire some of you to conduct some informational interviews of your own.
By Claire Klieger
This 1940s Johnny Mercer song (catchy, in the hey, I can’t get this out of my head way) offers sound advice as we approach the spring OCR season. Recently, I’ve spoken with so many students who are concerned about things that they worry make them less competitive: a slightly lower GPA, lack of experience, and…dare I say it…not being in Wharton. Because the process is so competitive and therefore intimidating, there is temptation to try and explain away these perceived faults on a resume or, especially, in a cover letter. This is a BAD idea.
Here’s why…
Much like those pesky zits we all get from time to time, chances are these flaws are much more noticeable to you than they would be to any employer. In fact, it’s possible that what you see as a possible negative isn’t even something that has occurred to the employer. All hiring managers consider a wide range of factors and they are thinking about the things that you do bring to the table, not what you are lacking. Discussing “blemishes” in any way only shines a brighter spot light on the issue (kind of like the green colored pimple concealer that was popular when I was in high school—seriously, what were they thinking?).
You have very limited space on your resume and cover letter to get across the message you want. Why would you want to waste any of it on something negative? Think about it—would you want to hire someone who starts off a paragraph by saying, “Even though I’m not in Wharton…” or “The poor grades from last semester do not accurately reflect my potential”? Trust me, there is no explanation you can offer that would in any way make you look like a strong candidate. Your chance to explain anything (if and only if an employer brings it up–because if they don’t bring it up, they don’t care) is during an interview.
As the song says, you are much better off focusing on the positive attributes you bring. Tell them about all of the things that make you a great candidate for the position. You obviously think you could do the job or internship and there are reasons for that. Use your documents as a way to Ac-cen-tchu-ate whatever great qualities, skills or experiences that you bring. In other words, only include what would come after the proverbial “but” in one of those negative starting sentences. The more you can e-lim-in-ate the negative (see, it’s stuck in your head already, isn’t it?), the better off you’ll be.
By: David Ross
Early in the school year, I meet with eager students asking questions about when to start their summer internship search and how long the search can take. What are the timelines? How soon should I start? How long does the process take? Inquiring minds want to know all the details and intricacies to prepare themselves and avoid missing opportunities.
The reality of any summer internship search is that the process varies for each individual. Regardless of when you begin your search, you should focus your efforts on identifying and applying for opportunities of interest. Try to avoid dwelling on the length of time of your search or create expectations for yourself that become burdensome. The uncertainty of the process can indeed be nerve-wracking, but rest assured that many other students experience the same thing at some point during their search.
While early planning is both helpful and productive, don’t assume that the majority of summer internships will be filled well in advance of the desired start date. Some positions are listed online and made available to applicants early in the school year, but many other great opportunities do not become available until the Spring semester or even a month or two before the intern would be expected to start working. So if you are searching for opportunities and inquiring about their availability, don’t be alarmed if you don’t see an abundance of summer internship listings for your desired field or industry at this point.
Remember, the summer internship search process will not always have a defined length of time (much to our chagrin). But if you are focused and dedicate time and effort to your internship search activities, you place yourself in a position find a great summer internship.
So, you’ve followed your career counselor’s advice to do some networking while at home for thanksgiving break and perhaps got a contact – a relative’s next door neighbor, let’s say – who works at the magazine that you’d like to intern at next summer. Nice job! But now, what do you do with this information?
Even though it seems early to be asking for internships right now, I’d encourage you to connect with this contact and follow up with your referrer this week. Connecting early gives you more time to learn more from this person about opportunities at this company. Besides, it’s good manners – if you don’t use this contact and follow up, the referrer might be more reluctant to offer you a contact or do other favors in the future. Remember that at least half of the jobs out there are never advertised. If you’re the first to ask about it, you might just get it and in the process you save the company the hassle of recruiting.
As the resident shy career counselor here, I understand that networking can feel unnatural at first. The trick for me is to think of these lukewarm contacts as your friends of friends and you’re merely asking for a bit of advice from them. It’s like when you were in high school and you asked your buddy’s cousin who is a Penn alumna about what Penn is like and how fast you have to run to get on the Penn track team.
With that mentality, craft a short introductory email to the contact that includes:
1) Name drop: “My aunt so-and-so suggested that I give you a call because I’ve been researching design careers in the magazine industry…”
2) Who you are: “I’m a sophomore at Penn with a Health and Societies major…” Include information about your background and interests but don’t overwhelm with your qualifications
3) The “Ask”: “Would you have a few moments to talk with me by phone about …? I have some questions about …”
4) Next steps: “I’ll call your office next week to see if we can find a time convenient to chat.”
5) Thank you
After you’ve emailed your contact, also send your referrer a thank you note, which could be via email or snail mail. This takes only a few minutes and she will appreciate the feedback that she has been helpful to you. Then next week, call the contact to follow up on the email as you promised. For what to do next, especially once you get an informational interview or face-to-face meeting with the contact, I refer you to the articles on the Career Services website about networking and information interviewing.
