How to Pitch a New Position When You're Only an Intern

Trying to turn that internship into a real job come graduation? This is just one of many tips in our Internship-to-Job Series. 

Pitch a brand new position at the company you're interning at. This is the most balls-to-the-wall way of getting hired but you'd be blown away by how effective it is. I highly recommend this in an economy like this one – one that's supposedly on an upswing. 

As the economy bounces back, you want your new position to be the big (or little) idea they invest in. Not only is pitching a new position an incredible learning experience (that's what college is ALL ABOUT!), but it has a great likelihood of blessing you with employment because it's just so damn crafty and confident.

Note: Crafty/confident also works on the opposite sex.

Find a void

First of all, you need to figure out what's missing at the company you're interning with. There's probably a lot missing – they just laid off 95% of their workforce and hired 25 extra interns to fill the holes. The job you invent can fill some of those holes. Here are a few places to start finding the leaks:

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"The Case Against College Education" via Time

Man, the world runs out of money and the first things to go are golden parachutes and lobbying fees degrees from higher education. Last week, we posted a video from Fox News questioning the value of higher education on political grounds. It garnered quite a few comments. When you look at it, $100,000+ is a lot to spend to destroy your brain enlighten your mind. This week, Time is pitching in.

It is absurd that people have to get college degrees to be considered for good jobs in hotel management or accounting — or journalism. It is inefficient, both because it wastes a lot of money and because it locks people who would have done good work out of some jobs.

While I'm not sure about the hotel management side of things (Readers: chime in), I don't think it's federal mandates that prevent people without college degrees getting jobs in accounting or journalism. Sure, there's the CPA, but there isn't a similar organization for professional journalists. And some of the most interesting and progressive people are those doing extra-curricular activities, completely exclusive of their college educations. While we're learning to constantly question the norm while in school, this is bordering on a little too much college-hating for me from large publications.

"The Case Against College Education" [via TIME]

What do you think?

Put an Attractive To-Do List on your Mac Desktop with Geektool

My Geektool setup, to-do list on the bottom.There’s no shortage of task management and to-do list apps available for Macs, but only Geektool can embed a totally-customizable (and dare I say, beautiful) list of tasks right on your desktop.

You can use Geektool to add just about anything on your desktop, and no blog post could begin to describe all of its features.  It can be a daunting program for those of us who haven’t dabbled in scripts before, but there isn’t too much scary coding involved for this simple setup.

First, clear your desktop of any clutter, and find a kickass wallpaper (I recommend NASA).  Next, open up TextEdit, type out a sample T0-Do list, and format it as plain text in the format menu.  Save the file anywhere as “todo.txt”, and drag it onto your dock to create a shortcut.

Once you’re all set up, install the latest version of Geektool here.  It will show up as an option in your system preferences.  Launch the app, and drag a “Shell” geeklet onto the desktop.   A dialog box and a draggable rounded rectangle will appear on your desktop.  Drag the geeklet wherever you want and, type “cat” followed by a space into the command line of the dialog box.  Finally, drag your todo.txt file from finder into the command line.  If you keep it in your documents folder, the line will read something like this: “cat /Users/YOURNAME/documents/todo.txt.”  All that’s left is to set a refresh rate and fine tune your font.

Your gorgeous list will now update automatically whenever you edit todo.txt.  The result is far more elegant than OS X’s “Stickies” program, and makes more sense than setting calendar appointments for things like “proofread paper.”  This tutorial barely scratches the surface of what Geektool can do, so if you want to tinker further, check out this gallery for some inspiration.



Rough Night - HackCollege S4E2

After a rough night, Chris is back this week with some interesting stories. A quick thanks to everyone who shared last week's episode. It was one of the most-watched HackCollege episodes of all time! Thanks for sharing it around!

More show notes after the jump!

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Become the Consummate Office Politician

Always be mindful of your corporate communication skills, and that internship will be a job in no time. Image via Flickr user star5112 and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Trying to turn that internship into a real job come graduation? This is just one of many tips in our Internship-to-Job Series. 

In a perfect world, your odds of landing a job at the completion of your internship would be based on the quality of your work.  Unfortunately, you'll need to find time between making copies and fetching coffee to show off the impressive social skills you have been perfecting on campus.  No company wants to give the pink slip to an intern that the whole office loves.  I've been at my internship/part time job for over a year now, and still find myself tip-toeing (usually unsuccessfully) through a minefield of miscommunications and awkward situations.  

Studies show that, given the choice, people would rather work with a someone they like than someone who is good at their job. So if you plan on settling in at your company and graduating to a big boy's desk, office politics and social obligations will probably mean more come decision time than your data-entry abilities or how fast you carry boxes to your boss's car.  "Office politics" usually refers to using effective communication to climb the career ladder.  As an intern though, you just want a chance to get onto the ladder.  With this in mind, here are a few tips for winning over your office and snagging a job.

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Use HR and Internal Hiring to Get Upgraded from Intern

Trying to turn that internship into a real job come graduation? This is just one of many tips in our Internship-to-Job Series.

Now that you've made sure everyone in the office knows you're looking for work, co-workers will probably make you aware of any job openings before they're listed. But some companies are so big that word-of-mouth can only go so far. There might be opportunities at other branches, at other companies owned by the same entity or even in other states and countries. 

The best way to become aware of all the openings at your company is by working with HR or "human resources." This is the department (or single person) who manages the hiring/firing process. 

Here's why this is cool shortcut. Outsiders, even very well-qualified outsiders, can't walk right into the HR office like you can. You're only an unpaid intern and you have this great edge. Set up a meeting with a rep and talk to them about your job situation. 

HR can also help you hear about positions before they even open up to the public. Many companies prefer to hire from within rather than open positions to outsiders. Giving employees a shot a promotions can improve company morale.

However, it can ruin company morale if someone is picked unfairly. So, most HR people know that they need to give everyone a fair shot, including interns, when it comes to internal hiring. For that reason, you can probably expect at least a courtesy interview if you apply to an internal position. 

Some companies have entire internal hiring databases or email lists. Get access to those resources and start applying/networking now so that you're in the running as graduation approaches. 

[Image courtesy of -Jérôme-]

Use Co-Workers to Help You Get a Job Out of Your Internship

Getting a beer with your CEO might not be the best way to ask for a job.

Trying to turn that internship into a real job come graduation? This is just one of many tips in our Internship-to-Job Series.

If you want to work full-time where you intern, sometimes, all you need to do is make sure that everyone in the office knows – in fact, spreading the word is the key to entering most job markets. You need a lot of people looking for jobs for you. You need people on your side. The people you work with at an internship aren't thinking about you unless you give them a reason to. And people in other departments probably don't even you're an intern.

There are two ways to making sure co-workers know you're on the job hunt:

For low-level co-workers – your “pals” – it's okay to straight-up ask them to keep a look out for work, and to spread the word among their peers.

For upper-level co-workers and people you don't know, it's a little more difficult. You need to implicitly ask for a job. Blatantly asking a high-level VP or a boss for a job will seem needy and desperate. Instead, you want to use your internship as access for an “informational interview” – you can Google that, if you're not sure what it is. Basically, you're going to schedule a meeting with them to “ask for career advice.” You can schedule that sort of thing through an introduction at the company or even by a cold email.

When it comes time for the chat, let them connect the dots. Someone who is about to graduate and is asking for career advice clearly needs job. They'll take note. Also, make sure they know you love working at their company.

By spreading the word where you work, you might get job offers before they're even listed. It can also open up oppurtunities elsewhere.

How to Turn Your Internship into a Job

Don't get caught up in the dues-paying daily grind of your internship. The real point of an internship is to get you a job and hopefully a little experience along the way. Unfortunately, an internship is a far cry from a real gig, so making that leap can take some tact. This week, we'll show you what it takes.

Last week, we showed you how to get a summer internship. You seniors have a bigger picture to look at – in May, you need a job. If you're smart, you already have a internship. And if you're going to turn that bitch work (internship) into real work (a job), you need to start now. It'll take a good 3-4 months and a lot of planning.

Over the next few days, we'll cover 5 basic concepts to get you on your way:

• Sounding the alarm around the office: Sometimes, getting a job is as simple as asking for one. Well, not really. But kind of.
• Using internal hiring and HR: As an intern, you have access to one special department that even well-qualified outsiders can't touch: internal hiring.
• The art of office politics: How you fit into company culture is one of the most important aspects of getting hired. Your internship is the trial period.
• How to pitch a new full-time paying job while you're only an intern: In an economy (supposedly) on the upswing, pitching a new position at a company can be a very effective way of getting hired – albeit, a ballsy way. 
• Pitching yourself: In everything from the casual “What do you do?” to the official, nerve-wracking interview, you need to be ready to pitch yourself. Saying, "I buy coffee for my boss," won't work.

Keep your browsers tuned here all week for the details.