internshipIN

Guest Post By Ted Williams

Why did my high school baseball team buy Under Armour long sleeve shirts? Simple, the shirts made us feel like all star sluggers. But I would argue that the most attractive part of Under Armour isn’t their shirt technology, branding strategies, football cleats, or super bowl commercials - it’s their people.Honestly, Under Armour has the most ideal internship program I have come across; their company understands the value of engaging college students. I had the opportunity for some Q&A with Under Armour’s college recruiting leader, Christina Visaggio.

Here is what Christina had to say:
Q:What is the Under Armour Rookie Program?
A: The Rookie Program is Under Armour’s Summer Internship Program that offers a unique opportunity to gain valuable knowledge with an industry leader and develop essential skills for the future and career planning. The mission is to attract high-potential, diverse students from a variety of schools, develop skills through specialized training and challenging assignments, and retain top performers for the continued growth of the Under Armour team.The 11-week Rookie Program is available to qualified [ee1] college and MBA students supporting all areas of our business. Rookies work on a variety of hands-on projects under the guidance of a team mentor and experience an atmosphere of growth and excitement where both individual accomplishments and teamwork go hand-in-hand. During the internship, Rookies take advantage of various training and development programs and attend networking events with executive management.

Q: What are some of the keys to running a successful internship program?
A:The keys to running a successful internship program include 1) support and encouragement from executive management, 2) close partnerships with teammates to help determine essential needs and goals as well as interview criteria 3) detailed job descriptions including skills and qualifications needed 4) creative teambuilding events and activities 5) innovative and hands-on projects and 6) an assigned mentor.

Q: In what ways does Under Armour benefit from the Rookie Program?
A: The Rookie Program adds value by supporting vital areas of our business. Rookies work over an extensive 11-week program and provide support by assisting teams reach their goals. Along with everyday assistance, every Rookie is assigned a master project which is tailored to fulfill a need for their specific department. In the long run, Under Armour benefits from the Rookie Program by having the opportunity to extend full-time positions to trained and experienced candidates.

Q: What are a couple of the most exciting parts of the Rookie Program?
A: Under Armour has an exciting and dynamic environment! Overall, Rookies get to experience our energy and atmosphere of growth, innovation, excellent operations, and great teamwork. They learn the importance of “staying humble and being hungry” and work closely with talented industry professionals on a daily basis. In addition to an individual master project, Rookies also compete in an Innovation Case Study Competition. The Rookie Team is grouped into five teams and each are responsible for a case study revolving around the drivers of our business. This is a great way for Rookies to collaboratively work together and focus on an area outside of their intern position.

Q: How many students were hired for the 2009 Rookie Program? How many applicants?
A: In 2009 we received over 7,000 applications for the Rookie Programs and we hired a total of 30 Rookies.

Q: What role does the Rookie Program play in your entry level hiring strategy?
A: The Rookie Program encourages top-performing Rookies to begin their careers at Under Armour upon graduation. Under Armour has the ability to extend employment opportunities to high-performing people who are familiar with the company and its business.

Q: What advice do you have for students applying for summer internships?
A: Start early and write a cover letter! A cover letter gives the recruiter a quick insight into why you are applying for that particular position and why you would be a great asset. The letter should be meaningful and personal. We love applicants that are passionate about our brand and can express it in a thoughtful way.
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My top 5 takeaways:
5. The difference between a cool internship program and getting a cup of coffee is night and day. Go after cool internship programs, it’s worth it.
4. Internships are great ways to land entry level jobs. Do them.
3. “We love applicants that are passionate about our brand…” This comment is not unique to Under Armour. Companies like students that like them. The question is how to showcase this passion. Here’s my advice on internship cover letters.
2. Tell us “why you would be a great asset.” Don’t use vague words. Tell them exactly what you would do if you got the position. Remember, jobs are created to solve problems. The best way to get a job is to find out a company’s problem and tell them exactly how you are going to fix it.
1. 7,000 applications for 30 spots. Sending a resume and mediocre cover letter will never convert. Be different, it’s your only shot.

Under Armour’s explosive growth isn’t magic. They are busy doing what most companies only talk about - hiring the most talented young people while also developing remarkable products.
I don’t know about you, but I would love to be an Under Armour Rookie.
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Ted Williams runs GrouperEye.com

Guest Post By Ted Williams

GPA and test scores matter too much. But let’s look at it from a company or admissions office point of view.

Without a clear track record of results, a company and admission office should choose the smarter candidate. And they do and so would you.

There is not enough other comparable information to be used to make a sound judgment. You just can’t tell that much from a student’s resume or interview because they haven’t had the chance to do that much. It is completely different than evaluating somebody when they are 35. Candidates can look the same on paper and in interviews. Therefore, the company or admissions office has the choice: if both applicants seem to have the same soft skills on paper and in the interview, why would they ever choose the less intelligent candidate?

I had a couple friends from high school, Sam and Jeremy, who both applied for jobs at Nike. Sam had a 3.86 GPA and Jeremy had a 3.41. Sam got the job. Jeremy loves Nike. He has worn their shoes since he was seven and has wanted to work for them since high school. He did all his college business class projects on the company and as crazy as it sounds, he reads about the shoe industry daily. Sam applied on a whim. Sam got the job, Jeremy got rejected.

No doubt intelligence matters, but I believe passion, likability, enthusiasm for the company, people skills, the ability to get things done, energy, and originality matter more. The issue is the hiring systems don’t take into account these items because they just can’t be measured. Therefore, a student’s only way to get this across is by becoming creative in the application process – which shouldn’t be the point.

GPA and test scores win, and they should, until companies find a way to get a glimpse into a student’s intangibles. The companies that find a way to do this will get better people. Period.

All five people that interviewed me at Google asked the same first question, “What Google products do you use and what is your favorite?”
_

Ted Williams runs GrouperEye.com

Wow! internshipIN was just listed as one of Inc Magazine’s “Coolest College Startups.” On the night that internshipIN was conceived, we had the goal of helping just a few students in finding their first internships. Little did we know that internshipIN would earn recognition as a cool, up and coming startup.

We’re flattered, but we won’t let the onslaught of press distract us. With internship season underway, we’ve been working to bring a wider array of internship opportunities to the website. Our newest feature set gives student members a list of the top 10 most relevant internships, based on their skills and interests.

Click here to check out Inc Magazine’s list of “Coolest College Startups”. Be sure to vote us up as the coolest one of all!

We’re excited about the startups and students that have been successfully connecting through our site. Do you have any great stories? Send them in!

We will be working throughout the next month and a half to bring our users a completely new feature set. In the meanwhile, there won’t be any significant changes to our main site, so hang tight as we take a blogging hiatus.

Have a happy holiday season — full of internship applications! (We’d never forget.)

Sell the job.
Don’t make the the job listing all about everything the candidate must be to meet your expectations. Instead, highlight fun company culture, exciting projects, and potential experience.

Be honest.
Don’t overhype the internship by suggesting that they’ll be given more important responsibilities than they actually will be. If the internship is unpaid, say so upfront. If “paid” means “modest stipend,” say so.

Don’t intimidate.
Many interns will not come in having the Adobe Illustrator experience you hope for. Not everyone will be avid users of all 11 social networking sites you’ll want them to work with. Students, especially those with little on their resumes, may hesitate to even apply to these internships because they think they’re not even close to being qualified.

Invite enthusiasm.
Suggest that while you’re looking for certain skills and knowledge, show that you’re willing to train the right candidate even if he/she isn’t necessarily the whole package.

Ready or not, it’s time to start applying to internships!

Don’t wait until the middle of March to panic about your summer employment. Trust us — we’ve been there, and it’s not fun! The time to start is now. Applying early will demonstrate your initiative and interest. Can’t go wrong there.

Luckily, we’ve just set up a new feature that’ll help you get the most out of your internship search. Now you can build or upload your resume right on our site. Not only will you be able to access all of our internship listings, but you can get recruitment letters from interested companies right in your inbox.

Hurry! Go crank out that resume and post it up. Your dream startup internship is waiting.

What’s that? We’re your favorite people?

We know. We’re our favorite people too.

Email us if you need help!

Hearing from YOU!
Earlier this afternoon, we had a great conference call with some of the employers who have created listings on internshipIN. Our number one goal, of course, is to provide a useful tool that can benefit both startups and students, so we value feedback from our users and any suggestions they have for improvement!

What are employers looking for?
There’s no reason for any college student not to be able to find an internship this season — the employers we talked to proved that there are plenty of great startups out there seeking hungry, talented interns.

Though many of these internships are currently unpaid, the startups emphasized the quality, hands-on experience that interns would be able to get working with tight-knit and passionate teams.

Another commonality that we saw is that several companies are searching for representatives — street teams, if you will — that can serve as the eyes and ears of the company on as many campuses as possible. They want to develop closer ties to a variety of schools — even the smaller ones, not just the more widely known schools.

Rather than having hundreds of businesses or job seekers sending in generic resumes or portfolios, companies are hoping to use internshipIN to bring in interns with specific skills and interests, whether that’s marketing or programming.

How can employers amp up their company profiles and internship listings?
If your internship is paid, that’s a huge bonus, especially in this economy — don’t be afraid to emphasize it! If it’s not, highlight the hands-on experience your interns will receive, the fun company culture, and the beneficial connections they’ll make. We know it’s about more than free labor for your company, but show those internship applicants that you’ll take the time to train them and share your industry knowledge. Let them know that they’ll leave with more than just lines on a resume.

Can we help?
We’d love to! Not having as much luck as you’d hoped for with your internship listing? Feel free to shoot an email to us at arielle(at)internshipIN.com or teresa(at)internshipIN.com, and we’ll be happy to give our feedback based on what we see students looking for in their internship searches. After all… we’re students too! Also, check out our Feedback Forum to share your thoughts and ideas.

Big thank yous…
To Mike Admani of A&R Mike Admani, Rosie Panzarello of Mevio.com, Robert Boyle of Tipvision.com, Yvette Thomas of WaitWear.com, and Richard Price of Academia.edu for helping us improve internshipIN! Students — come check out some of their awesome internship opportunities here:

• A&R Mike Admani
• Mevio.com
• Tipvision.com
• WaitWear.com
• Academia.edu

Sure, it’s only November, but believe it or not, tons of companies start looking for interns this early. That means one thing: it’s about time you start beefing up your resume. Here are 10 tips to get the most out of your resume and land your dream internship!

1. Keep it to one page. If you’ve recently graduated, you probably have just enough work experience to comfortably fill one page. If you have less, expand a bit on your school clubs, volunteer projects, additional skills, etc. On the flip side, even if you’ve had nine internships, nobody cares about all nine. Don’t try to squeeze them all in — focus on the most recent positions that are relevant to the internship or job you’re applying for. Unless you’re a college freshman, your high school stuff has got to go too.

2. Here’s what you need to include. Name, address, phone, email, blog/website. Work experience, affiliations, education, skills. Your email should be something professional with your first and last name. One of my classmates recently gave me his email address: h3ybab3@[emailprovider].com. SERIOUSLY? I wouldn’t even be able to give that to my peers with a straight face, much less to an employer. If your blog or website is professional enough to show off and reflects your career interests, include it — it adds another dimension and is a great demonstration of your expertise/abilities.

3. Clean it up and use bullet points. This isn’t difficult, but I’ve seen my fair share of disasters. LINE STUFF UP. Microsoft Word is practically begging you to do it. Don’t use flashy fonts or colors; keep it simple. Uncommon fonts also tend not to show the same on everybody’s computers, which could mess up your formatting too. Write concise, easy-to-digest single lines that convey your accomplishments. Stay consistent with the number of points under each job to keep your resume looking as balanced and organized as possible.

4. Use powerful language and don’t be vague. How many times have you heard “use action verbs?” Well, it’s true. Use them. Start your bullet points with strong verbs (some from my resume: developed, implemented, coordinated, managed, directed). Don’t list responsibilities; describe your accomplishments and the solid results that you produced (e.g. trained 30 employees, boosted revenue by 25%, etc.) Instead of simply stating that you have strong leadership skills, demonstrate through the details about your work experience. (Don’t, however, use inflated jargon to describe your accomplishments.) And that’s great that you were a part of PPCA or CFS, but it’s meaningless if nobody knows what it is — make sure it’s clear.

5. Tailor your resume to the company you’re applying for. Focus on what the employer wants. Your resume is like marketing copy: Every word should sell you. Figure out exactly which of your qualifications make you a prime candidate for that position, and emphasize, emphasize, emphasize. Eliminate everything that isn’t relevant or impressive. So you cleaned tables at Red Lobster? Put papers in alphabetical order? Unless this somehow shows skills that your next employer is looking for, it’s not important.

6. Don’t give everything away. Make the person reading your resume curious about your work experience. If you tell everything there is to tell in your resume, you’ll come off as unimpressive in the interview. Give yourself space to expand on your achievements.

7. Ask for feedback, and then edit. Go to parents, friends, counselors, mentors, your professional network. What impression does your resume make? What suggestions do they have for you to improve it? Not everyone will agree, but you can get a general idea of how your resume comes across and edit according to your best judgment. The more eyes read over your resume, the less needless errors you’ll have. (Feel free to email me, and I’ll give you my two cents.)

8. Always take copies with you when you’re meeting with any sort of professional. You never know if the person you’re doing an informational interview with just might ask for one. (I’ve made this mistake with a top editor at a magazine and slapped myself the whole elevator ride down.)

9. In the same vein, keep your resume updated at all times. You might just meet someone who has the perfect internship for you. Don’t have a panic session trying to fix up your resume last minute — add your new work experience as you go. This’ll also keep you brushed up on exactly what you have written, meaning you won’t have to refresh yourself nearly as much come time to interview.

10. Maintain multiple versions of your resume. This may seem silly and excessive, but I save a new copy of my resume every time I apply for new positions. Though I generally apply to the same types of internships, it’s still useful to have ones with specific goals. For example, I have an editorial resume that includes all of the mags, blogs, and e-zines I’ve contributed to. I also have a social media resume that emphasizes my web 2.0 knowledge but doesn’t include every single bit of writing experience, because some of that frankly doesn’t pertain to social media/online marketing. With multiple versions ready to go, you’ll already have a batch to pick and choose from, making it easier to tweak that resume for a specific internship.

Agree? Disagree? Got more suggestions? Tell me about it in the comments. Need more resume advice? There’s a wealth of resources out there. Here’s a Delicious.com search of “resume,” which will direct you to many more helpful articles.

We received some great feedback from the readers over at TechCrunch. It was definitely overwhelming to see some of the passionate ideas and suggestions that readers had.

Two common reccuring questions appeared that we immediately wanted to address. The first was: Are we a business or some afterschool side project? The second question inquired about our value proposition — what makes us different in the increasingly crowded internship market?

These are great questions and luckily, easy for us to answer.

1. Are we a company?

Yup. We believe a company is an organization that finds a problem for a group of people, solves it for them, and receives payment in return. We do just that!

We found a problem. We found that large companies dominate college campuses and university recruitment efforts. This bothered both us, as students, because we didn’t want corporate-sponsored polarized views on what job opportunities are available. PLUS this obviously bothered the smaller companies who needed kick butt talent to build their teams.

We offer an unique solution. With internshipIN, startups can post their listings with their only competition being other startups and (coming soon) they will have access to our student databases, rating systems, personalized tracking features, etc.

We make money for providing a solution. All of our features will be available at a super affordable price. Although the price is minor in comparison to the service we provide, we will charge for our services so we can afford to make them better for you!

Currently, our product is at the very early stages of becoming the link between startups and students, but it gets closer every day.

2. How do we compete in such a crowded market?

This is simple. We aren’t competing. We adore the internship search services that already available from companies like YouIntern.com, Interneval.com, InternshipRatings.com, Craigslist, and so on.

We think they all do great jobs at fulfilling the mission to help students. However, our mission is different — we want to connect smaller companies with students specifically. We want to add smaller companies into the student arsenal and show them ALL of the opportunities that are available for building their careers. We know we can only do this by going beyond listings and reviews, and that’s what we plan to do!

What are your thoughts? What makes a business?

It’s been quite a month of late nights, brainstorming sessions, and e-mail exchanges for the cofounders. Today’s kind of a big deal for us. Presidential election aside (we’re first time voters!), internshipIN launched earlier this afternoon — we’re now ready for companies to start posting up their internship listings. We’re still working out the kinks, but we welcome your feedback and suggestions. Feel free to follow our updates on Twitter.

Oh, and did we mention? We’re looking for student ambassadors. It’s a great way to make connections and get a firsthand look into working on a startup. Check the listing here.

PS: They even wrote about us over at TechCrunch!