Some of the best recommendations we can get as college students entering the ‘real world’ come from our professors - the ‘trainers’ who’ve been in this world before us and who are preparing us for what’s soon to come. 

That being said, it always surprises me to see students constantly disrespecting these professionals by showing up late, talking back, not taking conductive criticism, etc. It makes me wonder, “are these people going to treat their future bosses this way”? Do they even plan on getting jobs with that attitude (outside of McDonalds of course)?

Here’s how I see it:
You’re at least a junior in college - let’s even say senior. You’re working on a project - in my case, have a client (outside of school) whom you need to constructively build a case for & make a difference for within a project. Your grade depends on how well you execute. In the ‘real world’ your job depends on it. While you’re in school, why not strive for the A? In the professional life, that A isn’t just a grade - it’s a raise (or promotion - which usually comes with a raise). 

You should treat your professors like your bosses. Even if you don’t think so highly of them, it’s great practice. You aren’t always going to love your boss - sometimes you wont think they’ve got a clue as to what they’re talking about. Some of them are nice, some of them are boring. Some smart, some not-so-smart. However and whoever your future boss may be, you have to respect them in order to keep your job and move up within your field. Do the same for your professors - they might be the recommendation that places you in that dream job of yours. After all - they’re the ones who’ve trained you and have seen your work- as you’ll perform after graduation.




Best wishes and happy holidays!

According to The Free Dictionary, an intern is “a student or recent graduate undergoing supervised practical training”. Unfortunately in the economy we’re a part of, many people define interns as “work slaves”. Fortunately, I was lucky to have an amazing internship experience. Unfortunately, many my age have not - especially people finding internships within the fashion industry. I’ve learned through research and a close friend of mine (who interned for a total of two weeks at a prestigious fashion PR firm) that a large majority of interns are treated quite poorly, unpaid and sent to do tasks that would certainly not help them grow in their field of study (except maybe in figuring out different subway routes around NYC). I don’t mean to crack on fashion though, there’s a LOT of businesses that treat their interns this way. My suggestion? DON’T TAKE these internships & if you get involved in one, run — run fast and early. There are PLENTY of businesses and organizations out there looking to hire interns to do REAL work. Although (as mine was) many are unpaid, you should be doing actual work, with an actual supervisor correcting your mistakes and helping you to learn. 

Finding Available Internships - Where to go:

• School Boards: Lots of schools will list internship opportunities on bulletin boards or in their career services center.
• Newspaper: Check news paper listings in the job ads section.
• Social Networking: Follow your favorite companies on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You’d be surprised at how often they often post about open positions.
• Job Boards: Online job boards are often helpful and updated daily.
• Monster College: Monster College is nearly identical to the regular Monster job search engine, but it’s geared towards college students.
• Urban Interns: Urban Interns is one of my personal favorites. If you live in or near a popular city, Urban Interns is a helpful tool that allows you add your resume skills to your profile and enables you to search for internships in your area of interest. It also lets companies find & contact you! 

Choosing an Internship: Once you find a place you think you’d like to intern for, do some research..

• Reviews: Look up reviews online from previous interns and see what at least five of them have to say. One person may have had a great experience compared to four other people’s horrible ones. Figure out what made these experiences amazing or awful.
• LinkedIn Search: Sign onto your handy dandy LinkedIn account (that I know you all have, right?) and search for some people in the company. Do these people look like those you can see yourself working with? What are their strengths, skills and hobbies? Do they compare to yours?
• Company Contact: Contact one of those people on LinkedIn - even if it’s an intern. Let them know you’re interested in their company and ask a few questions - people love to talk about two things; themselves and their work. Generally, most people are thrilled you’ve reached out to them.
• Company Research: This one may seem a bit obvious, but actually RESEARCH the company - find out all you can about it BEFORE you decide to go in for an interview. In fact, do it before you write your cover letter. This way, you’ll know what YOU can bring to THEM.
• Don’t Stop at One: Find multiple places you’d be interested in interning. Don’t stop at one, because A) you may not be offered the job or B) it could wind up being the exact opposite of what you expect - leaving you without any new knowledge. With back ups, you’ll be able to move freely to the next option. 
• Get creative: Move outside your comfort zone. Never thought of interning for a non-profit? How about a sports team? Magazine? Publishing company? Local Yoga Studio? Keep your options open. SO many people are looking for interns and reliable opportunities are everywhere.

Good luck on your search and feel free to send in any questions you may have!!

As I approach my last semester of (undergraduate) college, I realize I’m feeling a lot of different emotions. I’m upset that break is over — even more upset that this is my last college break. I’m nervous to get back into the swing of things after being out of pr-actice (ya like what I did there?) for four weeks — but even more nervous for what lies ahead of me after this semester. I’m excited for my new classes & yet again a new start — but even more excited that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Graduation is four months away and all I have to do is make it through the next semester of 15 credits!

Seeing as this is probably my last blog post before the semester starts, I figured I’d dedicate it to some of my personal tips on starting your semester off on the right foot (I know you just got back to the dorm and have a party in five minutes but yes, that means please put the red cup down for a minute … thanks). 

• SLEEP: If there’s one thing I know that 90% of us college kids don’t get, it’s enough sleep. Your body wants at least seven hours to perform it’s natural functions, so aim for eight (because lets face it, if we’re falling asleep to a great movie, it’s gonna take some time anyway)! Also, make sure (especially if you have morning classes) that you practice waking up early TWO days in a row - this way your body starts its new wake up routine.

• GET YOUR BOOKS: Even if you wait until 20 minutes before the class starts, get your books on time for day one. Nearly every college will let you return the book within seven to 14 days if you don’t wind up needing it & teachers are almost always impressed to see which students are prepared. Plus, you never know which professor will assign work for the first night.

• GET ORGANIZED: If you haven’t already, get a planner & a notebook. You don’t want to be the kid in class who’s constantly relying on a temporary syllabus for homework assignments or other students for sheets of paper that are going to go through the wash anyway. What I like to do is get a notebook with the amount of subjects I’m taking during the semester (usually a 5-subject). I wind up just-about filling each section, but never seem to go over — this way I don’t have to think about which notebook to grab in the morning on my way out - it’s always one!

• GET YOURSELF SOMETHING TO EAT FOR BREAKFAST: What I like to do for my first week back, is to go to my favorite bagel shop and stock up on a weeks worth of bagels & a tub of lox-spread. This way I have something to look forward to when I wake up and I’m much more energized. Have an annoying roommate who steals your food? Get a dozen! Bagel shops usually do awesome deals for a dozen bagels.
  PS. Take a vitamin too - getting a cold from your new classmates really brings down the hype to a new semester. 

• GET OFF OF RATEMYPROFESSOR.COM AND JUST EXPERIENCE YOUR PROFESSOR FOR YOURSELF: Nearly every single one of my favorite professors got awful reviews on ratemyprofessor.com. Want to know why? People usually don’t care to ‘rate’ unless they’ve gotten a bad grade or had a rare situation with that said professor. Make your own opinions. Last semester I went into my PR Cases class on day one & after reading the syllabus, I thought for sure I was going to drop the class within a week. According to this professor, an A was a 97 - 100%, A- was 94 - 96%, B+ was 90 - 93%.. so on and so on. It freaked me out, but she wound up being my favorite college professor to date and I wound up with an A! You really never know, so give the class at least a week and a half before you switch or drop.

Remember — go into each class with a positive attitude. Last semester is no longer relevant. It’s time for a new start. 

If you have any other tips you’d like to share with me & the followers, please shoot them over here! I’d love to see them. 

Good luck with your new semester! I know you’ll rock it (; 

So you’re sitting at your work-desk, on a break between your management course and student government meeting. Instead of working out your glutes (because you obviously did that yesterday), you decide to check up on your new (some-what professional) Twitter and/or blog accounts.. only to find that you haven’t gotten any replies or comments and still have the same three followers (your roommate, one random person and a porn star who’s adding the world).

Before you give up on social media and the wonderful world of online networking, consider these steps I’ve come up with (and used) to increase your followers and interactions.

• ADVERTISE YOUR FACE IN YOUR AVATAR: I know people like DKNY PR GIRL use fashion sketches as their avatars, but for the rest of us not-so-famous bloggers, a picture of your face (NOT IN A BAKINI TOP) will do much more for you. Companies looking to hire or people seeking out advice want to know and see the person they’re dealing with - not a cartoon character or even your furry friend. Keep in mind that a picture (even though it’s the size of a quarter) is worth a thousand words. Keep it professional - don’t try to squeeze in a cool background - don’t have anyone else in your picture (how are people going to know which one is you?). <br><br>

• UPDATE YOUR PROFILE BIO: Ideally you should be checking and updating your profile bio about once a month. Keep it timely and remember that you’re branding yourself. Don’t put yourself down by saying “Dreamer waiting for my dreams to happen”. First of all, we all know you need to make your dreams happen - and next, just a quote doesn’t suffice! You have a short space to describe yourself, so use it wisely. If you have some space to spare, add a link to other sites you’re looking to promote (your LinkedIn, Blog, Online Portfolio, ect..). This shows people that you’ve got some knowledge and interest in more than one platform.

• TWEET / BLOG DURING PEAK HOURS: How can you expect anyone to reply to or follow you if they’re asleep?! I know you’ve got a paper due at 8AM and you just started it at 11PM (we’ve all been there), but the professional world wakes up at 5AM and ends their day around 9/10PM. However, they aren’t all on Twitter that late either. Tweeting during peak hours gives you the best viewing opportunity. So what are those hours? Although no formal studies have been conducted, Washington, D.C.-based Internet marketing firm, Abraham & Harrison conducted some webinars with Twitter, confirming that heavy usage occurs around: 9AM, Noon, 3PM and 6PM (before or as they start their work day, lunch break, quick break and as their ending their work day). If you can’t get to your computer at any of these times, download the blog / Twitter app on your smart phone and write yourself a note of what you wanted to send out, or which accounts you wanted to mention.

• ASK QUESTIONS: Your school teachers have been telling you this since grade 1. No question is a stupid question, so ask away! Polls have shown that people love answering even the silliest of questions during their free time. Asking is a great way to get people engaged with your account - it gives them a reason to respond to you and gives you an opportunity to learn more about your audience. Since @ messages can be seen on anyone’s profile, each response can be seen by anyone following each responder.
  
  
• DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY? SEND A LINK!: I know what you ate for breakfast today was fascinating, but truth be told, most people don’t care. If you find that you can’t come up with a question to ask or a quote to say, send a link to the last awesome article you read - or latest gadget that StumbleUpon sent you to. The more interesting your posts are, the more likely people are to re-tweet you. The more people re-tweet you, the more you’re being seen by other people’s audiences and ultimately the more chances you have at gaining new followers! TA-DA!

• POST PICTURES: Not only babies like picture books. Pictures are worth 1,000 words because they can explain things in any language without the use of proper grammar. This comes in handy when you only have 140 characters to use. If you spot something quirky, interesting (KEEP YOUR FOLLOWERS IN MIND FOR THIS), or newsworthy, snap a picture with your smart phone and use an app like instagram or Twitterific to upload them to your account - don’t forget to add a caption!
  
  
• USE #HASHTAGS AFTER YOUR BLURB: I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the ‘art’ of using hash tags are essential to social media. If someone (ANYONE) is searching a topic on tumblr, twitter, or most blogging outlets, the search engine looks for specific words and hash tags that are related to the search. This makes your profile viewable to anyone interested in your topic, ultimately leaving lots of room for new followers. 

I hope these tips help you on your journey to becoming a social media socialite! If you’ve found any other tips that work well, please feel free to share them here. I’d love to get some feedback. 

It’s no secret - Twitter is one of the most popular used platforms for social networking. Since it’s launch in 2005, people have been connecting to friends and celebrities in sentences of 140-or-less characters on the daily. 

While most of us are anxiously anticipating tweets from our roommates letting us know how un-Godly their micro economics teacher is, or what quote Audrey Hepburn said next, there’s a separate world out there in Twitter land - a job market.

Unlike a traditional job board, Twitter has job listings posted directly from industry professionals themselves. Often times, these listings are brand new and aren’t posted elsewhere. This is because companies are seeing Twitter as a resource to target candidates that are truly interested in their company (apposed to people who are just looking for work). 

What you need to know before you start applying via Twitter:

• A. CLEAN UP YOUR PROFILE: I’m sure you’ve heard this many times (if you’re a college kid), but your appearance is the first thing people see. Remove the picture  of you wearing your beer pong champion t-shirt, holding your victory red cup and upload one of you that’s a bit more professional. Wether it’s cropped to just your face or you put on a suit jacket and have a friend click the camera button for you on your MacBook Pro. Get it clean and get it professional.
  
  Also be sure to delete tweets you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see. People in HR are pretty powerful these days. If they want to find a reason as to why you shouldn’t be hired, they’ll find it - and they’ll find it where you’re most vulnerable (I KNOW you’ve cussed about your team losing or your ex… I’ve been there too).
  
  If you can’t go back and delete all of these, because they are the majority of your 10,000+ tweets, delete your account and/or start a new one. 

• B. ESTABLISH YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE: Chances are, if you’re on Twitter, you also do social networking elsewhere. Although most people don’t choose to add their Facebook links to their professional ones, you should definitely link your LinkedIn, online portfolio and blog(s). The more network-savvy you are, the more interested many companies will be. Also, you want to give potential employers and new connections as many ways to get into contact with you as possible. This is essential, because although we don’t have 10+ years experience in our fields, we most definitely have the social media brain that companies are looking for to improve their connection with consumers and customers.

• C. FOLLOW PROFESSIONALS & COMPANIES IN YOUR FIELD: This might be a bit obvious, but the more people in your perspective field that you follow, the more industry knowledge you will gain. Also, you should be following what they’re tweeting about and engage in conversations with them. You never know if/when one of them is going to tweet back at you asking for a resume or your interest in their company.

• D. TWEET, TWEET and RETWEET: You should aim to get at least three tweets out per day. By being an active tweeter, people will see that you’re dedicated to establishing yourself as an online social media star. Wether you’re tweeting your own advice, experience or even retweeting an article or post, you’re letting others know that you’re active and in the industry’s ‘know’. By replying to that company you have your eye on’s conversation, you’re putting yourself on their radar. They aren’t going to follow back an inactive account!

• E. THE ART OF THE #HASHTAG: Considering you only have 140 characters to use, you may not always have room for a #hashtag. However when you do, it makes your tweet topic searchable on both Twitter and Google. This way, if someone’s searching for the topic you’re posting about, they can see what you have to say and follow or reply to you. Hey, you never know who’s looking!
  
  When stuck with WHAT to #hashtag, search for related topics on twitter and see if they’ve been posted before. If not, re-think a word or phrase & don’t forget #hireme !

Remember that even on Twitter, you need to keep your professionalism to a T. If you’re actually speaking with a company about future employment, follow up with an e-mail (or possibly a direct message (DM) )! Happy tweeting and good luck!