Author: Nathan Parcells

Is Internship Salary Negotiable?

Absolutely.

Most companies view interns like any other position they are trying to fill. They want the best talent at a reasonable price. Most companies will set an initial salary that is competitive in order to attract the applicants they want.  Ultimately, their program will be limited by their overall budget, but almost all companies can find additional funding in a pinch to hire the students they truly want.

A few considerations:

  • Some companies may be highly bureaucratic and not want to “unfairly” compensate interns at different wage levels.  In this case, they likely will not hold it against you that you asked for a higher salary, but they may not provide one either.  This is more likely at larger companies for whom being flexible isn’t worth it.
  • If you negotiate the right way, it will almost never be held against you.  In fact, a lot of companies will see this as a strength, so even if they do not have the budget to afford the increase you are asking for they will see you as a more professional and desirable candidate.
  • Negotiation is best done over the phone.  If you have an offer and you’d like to ask for a higher offer, tell the employer you had some follow-up questions you wanted to go over.
  • It helps a ton to have another offer to base your request off of.  The formula provided by Neel is a great route to go.  “You offered me X.  I really like your role.  Another company I am also interested in offered me Y.  I’d really like to work for you all as I think it is a better culture fit. Is there any way you could also offer me Y?”  Expect to either get Y back, something between X and Y or an apology as to why no increase can be made.
  • The odds of this backfiring are very slim, but it could happen.  There is little reason for a company to not at least allow you to accept their original offer.  The only instance where this is not the case is if the company has a culture built on a high degree of respect, and it was expressed to you that the salary is incredibly high and non-negotiable.  In this rare instance, in can be construed as disrespectful not to accept an offer as is.  The other outlier scenario is that an employer receives a better candidate or another acceptance in the time from when you are negotiating to when you sign the current offer.  In this case, they could rescind the offer as well.  Both cases are extremely rare but not unheard of.
  • Startups are highly likely to negotiate.  They have very few rules and care tremendously about talent.  SMBs are also flexible when negotiating but may be more cash strapped than other companies.  Big companies are the most likely to have the budget, and many will be highly concerned that you might accept a role at a competitor, but some do have internal restrictions on intern salary.
  • Enjoy your negotiation!  It is a great skill to have and learn early.  Don’t negotiate just for the sake of it, but if you feel like you deserve a higher salary, then this is always worth doing.

How to Create a Killer Online Professional Profile

The resume isn’t dead but it needs help. In today’s online world, submitting a text document is no longer enough to stand out, especially as internships and new grad roles become increasingly competitive.

A professional profile is the perfect way to share more about your interests, skills, and what makes you a unique candidate.

Profiles have a number of benefits for student job seekers. They show up higher and more frequently in Google search results when employers search for your name (which nearly 80% do!).  They are dynamic allowing you to easily link to projects, online writing samples and more. All of this will give employers a better picture of you. They also allow you to show off your personality. Traditional resumes are dry, which is a big problem when employers receive thousands of applications and your job is to stand out.
Below are 8 tips guaranteed to get your profile read by more employers and to increase your odds of landing interviews and jobs.

1. Use an elevator pitch in your “About Me” section of your profile.

What’s an elevator pitch? Imagine you are in the elevator on the top floor of a large building and the CEO of your dream company walks in. How would you introduce yourself to her on the 30 second ride from the top of the building to the bottom? Start high level clearly stating who you are and what drives you. Then drill into some of your experiences and skills that make you unique.

Here’s an example:

 “Hi, my name is John Doe and I am a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. I have a passion for online marketing and copy writing, which I honed through a number of creative writing courses I took here at Penn. I learned a lot more about  online marketing while marketing an eco-friendly water cooler I built for an entrepreneurship class my freshman year. I fell in love with the process of using Adwords to drive traffic to my product and then use data to tweak  copy and improve results. I’d want to learn more about other online marketing channels, like Facebook ads, ad networks, and doing re-targeting. Outside of classes I love rock climbing, exploring the food in Philadelphia and spending time with friends.”

2. Link to other sites, projects, and organizations you are involved in.

 Your online profile should take employers on an adventure. While your  “Work Experience” section needs to be concise and professional (like a resume), on a professional profile you can link to any number of additional sites under the “About Me” section of your profile. This allows employers to read as much or as little about you as they want. One link might go to a personal website you coded and designed. Another could link to an Op-Ed article you wrote for your school paper. Everything you link to should be work you are proud of and reinforce your strength as a candidate.

3. Link back to your profile so it shows up higher in Google.

One of the top reasons to create an online profile is so that when employers Google (or Bing or Yahoo) search your name they find something professional and compelling (not pictures of you dominating in flip cup). Simply making a profile will put you in a strong position to rank highly on Google for your own name. If you follow these next steps you’re just about guaranteed to have your Professional Profile show up first for your name in Google.

  • Link to your profile in your Twitter, Google+, Youtube and other social media accounts. This helps you show up higher in sear
  • Link to your profile from your blog, personal website, or online portfolio.
  • Most schools offer students a free url for a website or blog. Use your school webspace to write briefly about yourself and then ink back to your Professional Profile from it.
  • Get your Professional Profile listed on any club, fraternity, or department website directories.

4. Add some flair.

 A lot of companies use something called the “airport test” to evaluate candidates. The way it works is they will ask themselves if the person they just interviewed is  someone that they imagine themselves hanging out with at the airport during a long layover? Your personality should mesh well with the company you are applying for. Remember, every company is different!

While resumes don’t leave much room for personalization, online profiles are a great place to let your true colors fly (within reason). Feel free to include something a bit more casual in the “About Me” section of your Professional Profile. For example you might say, “Unable to work for Duke grads—I bleed Tarheel blue!” This is harmless, fun and shows school pride, all of which makes you relatable and more interesting.

5. In the work experience section, be quantitative and direct.

The work experience section of your online profile should closely resemble how you list internships and jobs on your resume. You want to cut out unnecessary fluff and use numbers to show employers the impact of the work you have down.

Example: “Developed and executed a social media strategy for X, growing Twitter followers by 500% (over 3,000 followers) in 4 months.”

6. Make course descriptions short, descriptive, and fun.

On your Professional Profile you are able to list courses you took (or are taking) and include a short course description. We recommend you only highly 2-4 courses, with a goal of displaying both your depth of study in a particular subject but also how you used your college to develop a well-rounded skill-set. For example if you are applying for business development roles you might want to highlight both a negotiations course (to show your focus/interest) as well as a computer science 101 course (to show you can think differently and can even setup your own landing pages to make more advanced business development campaigns work).

Example: Econometrics “One of my favorite classes to date. Linear regression models were challenging, but practical for analyzing markets. Learned to use Matlab!”

7. Let employers know when and what kind of internships you are looking for—they will find you. 

A Professional Profile lets you indicate whether or not you are currently looking for an internship and what fields you are looking to dive into. This is important because once your profile goes live the job search process will get flipped on its head and employers will be able to search for you by criteria including major, location, course work and more. Keep your profile up to date so when employers land on your profile they will know whether or not you are available and can reach out accordingly.

8. Share your profile widely.

Your Professional Profile is perfect for sharing with friends, family and colleagues and to help you network. Once you build a public profile, and share the link, anyone you give it to can check-in to see what information you’ve added and how you are growing. Gone are the days where you need to continuously send out an updated .pdf to all your contact every time you change your resume.

Networking remains one of the most powerful and common ways that students find internships and new grad positions. For all of these reasons we recommend you share your profile as widely as possible with anyone who you think can help you land a job–you’ll be surprised at just how connected your network really is.

9. Choose a picture that reflects your personal brand.

Easily add a photo to your Professional Profile. You can grab photos from Instagram, Facebook, or snap one on the fly. We recommend you choose a photo that reflects your personal brand. If this is you in a suit looking ready for business – great! If it is you on top of a mountain smiling – that is great as well. Try to use the same photo on your profile as on your Twitter account, personal website, and business cards to maintain a consistent brand across channels that employers will begin to recognize and embrace.

10. Have fun!

Building your brand online takes time. That said, the process of looking for a job and building a fantastic profile is often a reward itself. As you think of new ways to build a strong and differentiated online profile, you will develop a greater awareness for your strengths and weaknesses. You’ll also learn how to market yourself and what kind of work environment gets you excited. As you share your profile around and submit it with applications you’ll begin to get feedback on which parts resonate with employers and which don’t. In this way you will grow a tremendous amount simply by building and improving your profile, which is kind of the whole point of internships to begin with. So remember, take your time, appreciate feedback, and have fun while building your Professional Profile.

InternMatch Announces 2014 Top 10 Companies to Work For

Goliath-National-Bank-internshipInternMatch just completed a survey of over 10 million students to find the top companies that millennials want to work at.  Spanning industries from government to nuclear power, InternMatch’s survey proves that the most exciting companies for young people are those that go above and beyond in the areas of perks and office culture.

Want to play with military grade rockets? Ever dreamed of spending your workday while sitting on a double decker couch?  Want to drink top-shelf whiskey while working on covert operations? These are just a few of the perks found at the top ranked companies on our list.

Continue reading “InternMatch Announces 2014 Top 10 Companies to Work For”

Why and How to Get an Internship in Colombia

Colombia provides fantastic conditions and opportunities for students looking for internships or volunteer in South America as the country is still relatively unknown to foreigners while the need for high-quality interns is higher than ever.

As many people that do not know much about Colombia, we came to Medellin, the country’s second largest city, with some negative presumptions in mind.

However, we were pleasantly surprised to feel at ease straightaway, feeling very safe and immediately fell in love with Medellin and its 3.5 million people.

One of the aspects that blew our mind is the blooming business culture in the city.

The entrepreneurship spirit is strongly developed. For example, Culture E, a program funded by Medellin city government, sponsored the creation of 1,843 new enterprises with 3,025 new employments between 2008 and 2010 alone.

This internationalization and dynamism of both Colombia and Medellin attract many foreign companies which can rely on Colombia’s attractive foreign investment policies, a strong GDP growth (a 4.6% annual GDP projected growth in the next five years according to the Economist), Colombia’s improved security (Bogota has a lower murder rate than Washington DC) and increase in tourism.

However, while the country’s need for English speakers is growing, Colombia’s workforce does not have an adequate level of English. This provides amazing opportunities for international students and/or graduates who will have access to an unique professional experience abroad. Students will also learn or improve their Spanish skills in a country which has the clearest Spanish of South America.

Additionally, local companies highly value foreign student’s education levels.

Moreover, Colombia, unlike some other South American countries, has not attracted many interns or volunteers because of its past violent while the need for foreigners to contribute in the country’s fast development is bigger than ever.

This exceptional vacuum secures great opportunities that can be offered to volunteers and interns nowadays. US influence is big in Colombia and many companies In Colombia have US based clients. They are very interested in having American students doing paid summer internships in Colombia.

An experience in Colombia is unique and extremely valuable. It shows the adventurous spirit and adaptability of the student.

International students and/or graduates will also have the opportunity to visit a country with the second most important biodiversity of the world : pristine beaches (i.e Tayrona Park with beautiful beaches close to 19,000 feet mountains), 3 ranges of mountains, the Caribbean sea,the Atlantic and Pacific ocean, the coffee region,…

All these factors convinced us to launch Internships Colombia an interactive platform between companies located in Colombia and foreign students looking for an exciting adventure abroad.

Win a free trip to Silicon Valley, Visit the Offices of Facebook, Google, AirBnB and more!

Break-Into-the-Big-Leagues_-artInternMatch is excited to partner with General Assembly, one of the leading online learning platforms in the country, to help send a student and a friend on the trip of a lifetime.

If you win this contest you will get an all expenses paid trip to Silicon Valley, a personal tour of four of the fastest growing tech companies in the world Google, Facebook, Twitter, and AirBnB and the opportunity to meet the hiring managers at each of these companies. Not only is this a really cool way to build your network and prepare to break into a career in tech, but these offices are legitimately some of the most unique in the world (checkout AirBnB’s office in this TC Cribs episode!).

Continue reading “Win a free trip to Silicon Valley, Visit the Offices of Facebook, Google, AirBnB and more!”

Boost Your Job Skills with Exceptional Online Videos from General Assembly

InternMatch_125x200We are excited to announce that we have partnered with General Assembly to bring their exceptional online classes to InternMatch users! General Assembly works with a number of Silicon Valley and New York’s leading online marketers, designers, and engineers to teach you the job skills that are used by leading companies but not taught in the classroom.

Their courses cover topics ranging from how to use professional tools like Optimizely and Unbounce, to how to A/B test new product ideas to agile development best practices and much more.  These are the types of skills that you will actually use at top companies and which look fantastic on your resume.  Very few of these skills are taught in the classroom.

To get you started on the right foot, we are offering a 14-day free trial of General Assembly below.  After 14 days it will cost $25/month to keep using General Assembly.  We truly believe that these classes are worth the investment (we would never provide something that isn’t).   Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below otherwise, stop reading get started with your free trial below!

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Trick or Treat: Turn Your Internship Interview Questions from “Tricks” to “Treats”

We polled our team to find out their “tricks” to nailing tough questions during an internship interview. Some of the trickiest, most difficult questions can be turned into a “treat” – another way to market your skills and experience to a potential employer.

Trick: “Do you have any further questions?”

Treat: You might be tempted to say, “no!” Of course, you’re ready to get out of there! You’ve spent the last 20 minutes convincing your interviewer that you know the difference between SEO and SEM.
 You’ve watched their assistant interrupt them twice for a phone call and you’ve seen them check their Blackberry enough times to know that this interview is the last place they want to be. Your stomach is grumbling. Your parking is expiring. However, don’t give up just yet!

This age-old question is the perfect opportunity for you to ask one or two more meaningful, insightful questions. Have you asked your interviewer about their experience with the company? How work is assigned? How your performance will be measured?

Remember: This question is often a last-chance opportunity for you to sell yourself to the company and to emphasize your enthusiasm about working there!

Trick: “What’s your biggest weakness?”

Treat: Your response to this question could be the difference between a cool summer doing cool things and a summer of stocking shelves at your local grocery store. While you may be tempted to tell them about your addiction to reality shows and burritos, this is not that kind of confessional.

This question is code for “what’s something you’re not excellent at, but you’re working on?” Are you interviewing for an internship in web design? If so, tell them about the latest web design software that you’re trying to master.

Remember: Employers want to know that you’re a self-starter
 (yes, that word again!). Your response to this question is another opportunity to communicate your sincerity about a chosen profession.

Trick: “Why did you choose your major?”

Treat: This one might seem like a no-brainer, but surprisingly a lot of students aren’t prepared for this question. For students with majors like Computer Science, Engineering, or Finance the response may seem more obvious. You enjoy coding, you want to help build software, you want to work in consulting or you want to become an investment banker. For a liberal arts major, the answer may not seem so apparent.

If you’re presented with this question, it is the perfect time to match your academic skills to the skills required of the position. Are you doing research for a thesis? Did you spend a semester analyzing Keats and Plato? Tell the employer how you chose a major that would help you become effective at analyzing, researching, writing, and editing.

Remember: Excellent research and writing skills are an important part of any job – and so is your ability to communicate effectively.

Trick: “The Brain Teaser”

Treat: Let’s face it – employers are developing all types of tricks to weed out potential internship applicants. The “brain teaser”
 is not a new interviewing technique and if presented with one – don’t worry! Employers use this question to evaluate your problem-solving abilities, as well as your approach to difficult, complex situations.

There is often no right or wrong answer to this question. What you should do is take a deep breath, focus and quickly examine the question or situation. After carefully considering the prompted question or situation, choose the best method to approaching this scenario. If they ask, “how many golf balls could fill a school bus?” You might not know the exact amount, but perhaps you can guess the length of a school bus and the size of a golf ball to determine the possible number that could fit inside the bus.

What you shouldn’t do is give up or say, “I have no idea how to do this” or “this is too difficult.”

Reminder: Brain-teaser questions can be difficult. If an interviewer presents you with one of these questions, it’s usually to test how well you work under pressure and how you approach difficult problems. Check out this link for a few common brain teasers.

To sum it up, make sure to review this list so that you can turn difficult internship interview questions from “Tricks” to “Treats” – and land your dream internship!

Internship Guides and Video Resources for your Fall Internship Search

We asked students if they had the chance to talk with a hiring executive from a leading company, what secrets would they want to know about the internship hiring process.

We were showered with questions but most revolved around five key topics, each individually important, and in total make up the core of a successful internship search.

These five topics include:

  1. Mastering the resume!
     How to stand out with your resume, what to include on your resume, and how to effectively tell your story through your resume content.
  2. How to nail the interview.
     How to showcase your personality through your answers while demonstrating your overall knowledge and experience or class projects.
  3. Does GPA matter?
     Do hiring managers really care about GPA and what else do they consider when reviewing internship applications.
  4. The secret to networking in person.
     What really are the secrets to networking, how to find networking opportunities and build relationships during those opportunities.
  5. Benefits of networking through social media.
     Which online platforms should a student be using and how to go about using those online mediums for networking.

These five topics tend to be on every students mind, so it was a truly unique opportunity to get to ask them directly to HR execs who actually hire interns! We pulled the answers from the Google, Ashoka, Salesforce.com, and SiriusXM Radio presentations and compiled them into short videos summaries that answer all the questions students might have on each of the topics.

The Resume and Telling Your Story: featuring Google, SiriusXM Radio, and Ashoka

Nailing the Interview: featuring Salesforce.com and Google

GPA vs Intangibles: What Really Matters?: featuring Google and Ashoka

The Art of Networking Offline: featuring Google

Using Social Media to Network Online: featuring Nestle Purina and Google

InternMatch Launches Career Communities to Help Students Navigate the Internship and First-Job Process

SeekingAnswersEver wondered what the differences are between an internship at Google and one at Facebook?  Ever wondered if your “C” in Intro to Finance will stop you from getting that coveted Morgan Stanley internship?  Ever wanted to know what the first week on the job looks like for a newly hired Amazon sales rep?

If so welcome to InternMatch Communities!  The newest section of our site allows you to easily ask your most pressing internship questions and get answers from peers and experts around the country.

No Wrong Questions

In a recent InternMatch survey we found that 57% of students change their career after their first internship.  The fact of the matter is that landing an internship is only half the battle.  Some of the biggest challenges come from understanding an industry, the minor differences between companies, and how to begin exploring these fields in your classes and extracurriculars.  Traditionally, getting access to this information has been very hard with answers scattered across the web and amongst friends.  Now it is as easy as asking a question on InternMatch Communities.

Share Your Insights

The new Communities is also a place for you to share.  We are amazed every day hearing from students who found their first ever internship with a Tweet or who got a job at Facebook after winning a Hack-a-thon despite a less than stellar GPA.  These stories help inspire other students.  InternMatch communities are open and available for all students to participate, respond and help peers navigate the sometimes-rocky internship waters and onwards into amazing new territory.

Get Started

To begin engaging, check out our new Communities here.

There are sections where you can ask questions by industry (technology, I-Banking, Advertising, and more)  and sections to share info about cities where you are interning (New York, Houston, SF, and more).

There are also general sections to receive help on everything from resume advice to the application.

Any categories, cities or industries you’d like us to add?  Please let us know in the comments below!

Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs via Compfight cc