International Interns

Hola! Aloha! Namaste! Salem! Yia Sou! Bonjour! Jambo! Goedendag, Internees!

As you are aware, internships are important!
And there are plenty opportunities to go around here in the United States.
But there are more...
Look at the map below. Ever see yourself traveling to England? Iceland? Austria?

Internees, I'll tell you what.

There are an estimated 195 countries in the world. That is 195 different places to visit, work and experience!

But you're worried, nervous.

You've never been out of the country.

You can't speak a foreign language.
You don't even know what Haggis is.

NO WORRIES, internees! Here are some helpful tips for interning overseas and websites that can assist you in furthering your work experience abroad!

• 
  
  To find an internship, check out StudyAbroad.com. Here they offer featured programs and highlights, as well as a search engine that let's you choose which country you would like to intern.


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  International Internships or Transitions Abroad offers tips on where to look for opportunities, links to these sites and lists International Organizations, such as government, that you may also want to consider interning with.


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  If you'd rather see something in print, your university should offer a study abroad program or office where you can find information by the tons.

Now you have found your dream internship overseas. So what is next?

1. 
   
   GET YOUR PASSPORT!


2. 
   
   (Enter language here) to English Translation Dictionary - These helpful lil' guys are your bible while you will be interning. You can find these translation dictionaries on Amazon, Half, or at your local Barnes & Noble. They give you every word you will ever need and some even offer full phrases to help you. (There are also electronic ones!)


3. 
   
   READ UP! - Google your little heart out, about your country! What are some do's and don't's in the city? What is polite and impolite? What cities are close by? Don't be afraid to be ahead of the game! MapQuest has international maps, which would be excellent to look at before you go. ASK ALICE TIP: Find the closest McDonald's. Remember, they are everywhere. Just in case.


4. 
   
   Home Sweet Home - If you are not staying on a university campus, continue corresponding with the host family you will be staying with. Learn about what they like or don't like, get to know them and let them get to know you. Host families, if you do not know, are families that open their homes to students who are studying abroad. Rather than paying for a hotel, you are able to stay in their homes with their family. Consider it your international home, away from home.


5. 
   
   You PACK IT UP. - What will the weather be, what season is it? Will you need electronics? Can you bring your computer? Are you able to bring more than one bag? Can you buy school supplies there? What's the currency exchange?! Keep these questions in mind while you are packing. A great organizational tip is to make a LIST. And trust me, one list, is never enough.

Still struggling and need more advice on how to prepare? Amherst College gives a great summary of what to expect and how to prepare for an overseas internship. Also, the amount of knowledge and advice at Intern Abroad can help you, not only find an international internship, but will assist you while you are abroad!

Internee! Are you still not convinced? You know internships are AWESOME but you're skeptical on the whole overseas, different country thing? Life Changing Travel has a great article on how an overseas internship can boost your career prospects and also the benefits of an international internship.

So, internee, as per Stephen Stills' song "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?
Plus, a little information never hurt anyone! Check out international internships!

Gelukkig interneren! Interner heureux! Glucklicher absolviert ein prakikt! Interning feliz! Or just, happy interning!!

Love, Alice

Great News for Interns!

Hello, internees!
It has been far too long. But I have not forgotten about you!
I have been doing some investigating and I have found some pretty awesome information to share with you!

Schmoogle GOOGLE founder, Eric Schmidt, is looking out for the interns!
Turns out, Schmidt has given an undisclosed amount to launch a website to help people who are looking for internships, connect with companies!

And not just ANY companies. Fortune 500 companies. YES!
The idea arose because of that damn economy. BOO!

The site is called InternInc.
It began in March 2009 in Denver, Colorado.
Keep in mind, the site is still under construction. You can, however, sign up for it.
heck out all the details at Venture Beat.

As for you, Eric Schmidt, you have just received an infinite amount of cool points. Thanks for looking out for us interns.

I'll keep you posted, internee, with more news on interning and internships!

For now, happy interning!
Love, Alice

Intern Sex Scandals: The Mother Load

What do Clinton, Stanley, and Letterman have in common?
A sex scandal with an intern, of course.

I don't need to tell you, my little internees, that inter-office dating is a big no-no.
(We've discussed this once before.)
So, I'll assume that you know that inter-office "sexing" is an even bigger NO.
Actually, it's more like an ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Ooooh, it may seem like a good idea...your boss is hot. He/she is definitely flirting with you. You're imagining...WHOA! Enough.

Inter-office dating/sex often has extremely severe consequences. Don't believe me?

ALAS! The proof! (Is in the pudding. Eww.)
Alice's List of Intern Sex Scandals Throughout History

1. "Devil with the Blue Dress" - The Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal - The President of the United States and a White House intern. It was impeachment at first sight.


2. "Funny Honey" - Letterman/Hester Scandal - Late night talk show host, David Letterman, gets into quite a bit of trouble for having an affair with a former intern for his show. Jokes on him.
   
   
   



3. "Love Train, Love Train" - Stanely/Morrison/Watts Scandal - Tennessee Senator Paul Stanley and intern get hot and heavy, which, in turn, makes the intern's boyfriend pretty hot tempered. Can you say triangle.?


4. "Let's play a Love Game" - Adams/Breedlove Scandal - Portland, Ore. Mayor Sam Adams has sexual affairs with 17 year-old, male intern. "Oregon. We Love Dreamers."



5. "We're playing basketball" - Marbury/Intern Scandal - Oooh, the New York Knicks. From Ewing to Mason to Curry, they have quite the reputation for sex scandals. Enough said.

Interns. You're like a piece candy in an organic food store, a freshman entering high school, carbs when you're on a diet. Can you say, TEMPTATION ISLAND? And I don't mean that terrible TV show. (That goes for both males and females!)

Consequences. These are just 5 examples of news worthy mega-stars who have dipped their brush into the wrong color. Imagine the small business managers, CEOs, and other people involved in corporations who have made their interns grab more than just coffee. It's not just celebs, it's everywhere. Temptation is everywhere! Interns, beware! It seems like a nice fantasy, but it often leads to lawsuits and termination.

Remember the consequences, my little internees!

AND. Don't ever let anyone put your in an uncormfortable place. Is a boss crossing the line? Be direct, say no. Tell someone. This internship may be an opportunity for a job, but if a boss is being nasty, you probably don't want to work for him/her anyway.

Want to learn more about naughty politicans and celeb scandals? Visit Google's Timeline for Scandals or MSNBC's Decade of Sex Scandals.

AND REMEMBER INTERNS. Use common sense, remember your morals, and keep in mind this is your future at stake! Don't pull a Monicagate and be a good lil' internee.

Happy interning!

Love, Alice

WHY INTERNSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT.

So. We have discussed fashion, smart phones, ethics, and moo-la when it comes to an internship.

But, lo-and-behold! I have forgot something mucho important.

WHY INTERNSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT!

How terrible of me not to mention, first and foremost, why you should apply/do an internship!
It is key to understand that if you do an internship in college, you will definitely have a leg up when it comes time to graduate. This is why:

Here are Intern Alice's 10 reasons why internships are important!

1. They help you decide if THIS career is right for you! I have done 3 internships because my first 2 made me realize that it wasn't what I wanted to do. This was extremely helpful.
2. They prepare you for the real world and what a real job is like.
3. It's AWESOME experience for you.
4. It lengthens your resume! (See below for resume help!)
5. Connections, connections, connections. The people you meet at your internship could possibly help propel you into the work field.
6. It keeps you aware of what skills you may need to improve.
7. You could gain full-time employment from an internship!
8. It helps you to determine your "next step".
9. Internships are often, but not always, required from universities.
10. They help you understand what employers are looking for in a new hire.

Take it from Lindsey Pollak, author of the book "Getting From College to Career", who says "Internships are more important than ever." THEY ARE!

It is interesting, I often hear students and friends talk about internships, but that they do not have the time or desire to really get involved in an internship. Guess what? Internships have perks! Such as:

1. You can receive school credit for signing up for an internship through your college/university.
2. Sometimes, but not always, you get PAID. Yep, more moo-la for you, my dear internee.
3. You meet friends! And EVERYONE loves friends, come on!
4. You build your resume, gain experience, all the good things I listed above! (Helloooo, leg up?)
5. Plus. You automatically gain millions of cool points. Who's the coolest thing since sliced bread? YOU ARE! You pass go AND collect $200!

Seriously. Take it from someone who has done 3, count 'em 3, internships. They are absolutely, 100% worth it and extremely awesome for your resume and your LIFE! YEAH!

So, if you're interested in being ahead of the game when you graduate college, definitely consider an internship. Strengthen your resume? Get school credit? Be uber awesome? Yep, internship. So get out there and be all the intern you can be!

Happy interning!

Love, Alice

Interns, Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew!

A nice analogy for my dearest internees!

In the REAL Wonderland, Alice has this issue with becoming too small or too big.

If you remember the 1951 film, Alice eats part of a mushroom and she grows so big that she ends up stuck in a house.
What does this have to do with internships, you ask?
I will tell you.

Ask Intern Alice Tip:

• Treat your life like a mushroom. If you eat too much of it, you become too big, get too overwhelmed. Although, it is awesome to have the opportunity to be involved with internships, keep in mind, the other things you have in your life. I'll use mine as an example. I work (a paying job), intern, school, and I also do volunteer work. I am often on overload because I perhaps, have bitten off a bit too much of my mushroom. Sometimes, things like my social life or even my school work, tend to suffer because one class is more demanding than another or I had to pick up a shift at my job or I have to work an event for my internship. Plus, if I am stressed, I will often fall ill. Which, with a busy schedule, does nothing bu create more problems. I want you to stay happy, healthy, loving life interns! Not miserable, stressed, frazzled interns.

Say you're like me and you're saying, "But Alice, I can DO THIS! I want to do this! I need to do this because... (enter excuse here on why you need this busy schedule, for me, I need to do this so I can graduate on time!)"

Well. I have another tid-bit of advice to assist you in your busy life!

If you have taken on a bit too much during a semester and you're feeling like your school work or your state of life is suffering, always always always talk to your internship boss first. Say you're there 3 days a week and you really want to cut back because you're classes are really hard. You can simply tell them the situation and ask if you can come in 2 days instead of 3. BE HONEST WITH THEM! You're boss will respect you for a) being honest and b) caring about your school work.

Don't expect sympathy from them if your "state of life" is suffering but you're only taking 2 classes and you want some time off.

This is not an excuse for you to be lazy, silly pants! Internships are important, they give you the experience you need for the "real world". And these people in charge of your internship will be writing letters of recommendation. You definitely don't want them to write that you were a lazy S-O-B, now do you? Exactly.

Check out this story from a student who was overloaded. Accounting? Ouch. He needed to eat a little less of his mushroom.

Or how about this student who needs to look into an internship!

So, REMEMBER. Life is like a mushroom from Wonderland, if you bite off too much, you may get maxed out. Don't bite off more than you can chew! Do what you can. Intern when you can, work when you can. Keep college your number one priority. Organize your time so things in your life don't suffer! And if you ever feel overwhelmed, talk to your boss, they'll understand.

And always stay happy, healthy, and keep smiling.

Happy interning!

Love, Alice

Resume Writing 101

Good afternoon, internees!

Resumes.
When you get an internship, you must provide a resume. When you head out to your next endeavor, you must provide a resume. When you apply to a job or graduate school...jeeze, if you make pancakes, AUNT JEMIMA might even need to see your resume.

Since we have distinguished in that short paragraph that a resume is extremely important, you are going to have to GET ON THAT!

But what? What was that, dearest internee? You do not know how to write a resume?!

POPPYCOCK.
(Insert Superman entrance music here)
This is what I am here for! I shall assist you in beginning your lovely resume!AND give you great sites to check out for additional help!

Here we go.

The first thing you're going to want to do is make a list of EVERYTHING you've done. Every group you've been involved with, sport you played, job you had...include everything. As they say, the more, the merrier! Here is a list for you to start with:

• clubs, sports, groups, titles you held (such as student body president or student government treasurer), if you took AP classes or were involved in the "accelerated track", volunteer work or projects, jobs, etc. Anything you deem worthy and feel like someone at a job interview should know that you were involved with a certain performance, group, anything. Write it down!

Next, make a separate list for all of your education background. You do not need to include elementary/middle school, only high school and college (unless they tell you to do so). For college, write down a couple of classes from your core curriculum (your major) that you can list on the resume.

Before we begin putting it all together, keep in mind, there are VARIOUS different templates or ways to build your resume. A lot of websites offer sample resumes such as How to Write a Resume and About.com (this is the site I used) both offer a lot of sample templates on how to make your resume look. I, however, am going to teach you the most common template. You can always change it up.

Moving on.

When you have your list of activities, educational info, and job lists together, you can begin putting it all into a word document. This will need to be TYPED. I believe, if you were to give a future employer a hand written resume, they would laugh at you. Many websites will be different in the way you list things on your resume (as I said before). I don't think there is necessarily a wrong way to write a resume, but you will ALWAYS want to make sure the most important information is at the beginning of your resume and the not-so-important is at the end.

So, with that said, here is the way you should begin constructing it (Take a peek!):

1. CONTACT INFORMATION - Include your full name, address, phone number, and email
2. EDUCATION - Most current goes first. So, if you received you Master's, you would want to list that first and then your bachelor's degree. Example: MBA - University of Texas, BA - Texas A&M, High School - Texas High
3. EXPERIENCE - Again, current goes first! Your present job should be the first one you list and so fourth and so on.
4. ACCOMPLISHMENTS - The example resume I offered as accomplishments at the beginning, however, being that you may be fresh out of college, your accomplishments should come after experience UNLESS you have some really important accomplishments. In that case, go you! Accomplishments should include awards you have won, contests you've been involved with, etc. (National Honor Society, Best Person Ever...those awards go here).
5. VOLUNTEER WORK - I had quite a lengthy list of volunteer work. If you do as well, include it in it's own category! Internee! What a good heart you have.
6. ACTIVITIES/INTERESTS - All those sports, clubs, extracurricular activities go here.
7. SPECIAL SKILLS - Computer skills, MAC skills, software, camera/video equipment, that goes here.
8. LANGUAGE - Make sure to include if you can speak/are fluent in a different language. (his is good for southern areas of the United States!)

KEEP IN MIND

Feel free to change items area, switch it up like this admin resume, a target resume, or this one!

You can always make your own categories if you want, no harm in adding more stuff AS LONG as it is significant. I would advise you NOT to make 60 thousand different categories with one item listed in each. Don't try to force it to look long! Your resume will be superb!

Always put the most recent first!

Dates are important! You worked at Burger King from 2000-2005 or you were an intern from May 2009 - July 2009. It is not necessary to provide EXACT dates, but you can if you really, really want to.

When it comes to the dreaded job descriptions, which you will want to include when you list your jobs/experience, don't be afraid to look online for help. This teacher resume has extremely detailed job descriptions. If you worked at Burger King, one of the descriptions you will want to include is cashier/cash register work and cleaning duties. But, again, don't be afraid to utilize the Internet!

This should definitely be enough to get you started writing one awesome resume! Need more assistance? I'd be happy to answer your questions!

OR. You can use these sites with more pointers on resumes!

A How-to video can be found my clicking here!

Rockport Institue has helpful tips on how to write the ultimate resume

Or you can click here for a resume builder.

GOOD LUCK and happy interning!

Love, Alice

The Tardy Intern: "I'm late for a very important date!"

And hello my dearest internees.

So. When it comes to your internship, you always want to look, act and do your best.
This includes: SHOWING UP TO WORK ON TIME.

My middle school band teacher always used to say, "To be five minutes early is on time, to be on time is to be late."

Unfortunately, he is, even thought I don't want to admit it, right.

Being on time for your internship is key! Be sure to make sure when you FIRST receive your internship that you calculate the amount of time it will take you to get where ever you may be going. Use good ole' MapQuest if you're in need of someone to calculate for you!
Also, be aware of traffic!
I drive pretty far to get to my internship and often get stuck in traffic on the busiest highway. It is terrible because I am constantly calling or emailing them to tell the office that I am running late.
HOWEVER, this does not mean it's okay.
Internees, I am an example of a big no-no. No matter how long I've been a part of the PR firm/internship, it's still my responsibility to show up on time.
Check out this article by AIGA - The Professional Association for Design.
The number one item mentioned under the "good intern" category? BEING ON TIME!

Take my advice. Show up on time for you internship. It proves you're reliable and responsible.
Your internship is your important date, so don't be late!

Happy interning!
Love, Alice