InternInc: LinkedIn for the Student Set

October 14, 2009 by Leave a Comment

interninc logo

I have to admit. I usually mark most of the press releases that pop up in my inbox as spam. After all, I’m of the mind that these typically untargeted e-mails are just as insidious as the random penile enhancement e-mails my spam folder actually catches.

But then I received an e-mail about InternInc — a new social networking site that touts itself as “Facebook meets LinkedIn for students, employers and universities” — and I was intrigued. I’ve always thought that internships were invaluable for gaining experience, making connections, and trying out new industries commitment-free, and a social networking site that connected students with established internship programs sounded, well, genius.

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Following Multiple Paths

January 27, 2009 by 1 Comment

fork-in-the-road

[Photo via]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

– Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”

…

Earlier today, I posted on my personal blog about the fear of missing out on alternate lives due to the decisions I make.

I waxed eloquent (I hope) on how worried I am that, because of ways in which I’ve settled in and settled down, there are no more surprises around the bend.

Funny that the same neuroticism doesn’t plague the way I approach my career.

At least not anymore.

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Continuing Education for Freelancers

August 13, 2008 by 3 Comments

Earlier in the week, we discussed how the very act of being prepared can strengthen one’s self-confidence.

Today, I’d like to go over the various forms such preparation can take.

If you’re teetering on the edge of starting up your own freelance business, such steps toward readiness will take your plans from romantic to realistic.

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How To Make It Big While Working for Free

July 23, 2008 by 3 Comments

After completing the weirdest college internship ever (writing adult content for the Phoenix Media/Communications Group), I thought I was done providing free labor in order to cement my career success.

Faced with a long, drawn-out period of unemployment one year out of college, however, I was forced to consider the benefits of a post-college internship.

I ended up interning for the editorial department of the Feminist Press, an incredibly idyllic period in my life. It led to an eventual full-time job within the academic book publishing world.

And so, when I was considering a career change two years later, it made sense to embrace the short-term detriments of a low-income internship as a means of working toward longer-term benefits.

So I’m a huge advocate of the post-college internship. Do you remain unconvinced that such a situation could be worth it? Here are the reasons that I champion temporarily unpaid labor:

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Giving Notice: How To Make That Final Leap

July 7, 2008 by 5 Comments

cliff-diving.

Photo: ‘Derek J’ by Phil Watt

It’s been almost a year since I left behind a viable book publishing career for the terrifying uncertainty of freelancedom.

A questionable move considering that, three years before, I had been applying to just about any full-time staff job I could conceivably be considered qualified for.

To make an excruciating story less excruciating, let’s just say that I wasn’t feeling quite right within the corporate environment.

Now I work a number of freelance gigs, most of them from home, and I’ve never been happier. So, of course, I want everyone else to try it, too!

But as much as I advocate trying out new career paths, jumping blindly isn’t the smartest way to go.

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