Still no summer internship…

In the midst of job hunting, I realized that I had to make myself productive in the meantime. So I’ve recently developed and started my own music news and audio blog (beatcakesblog.com). This project was inspired by my entrepreneurship class with Dr. Patrick Maggitti (excellent professor. take him if you can!). I started this blog in March and I’m happy to say that I’m getting great feedback and web traffic. I’m getting tremendous buzz around it by networking at events and such. I’m not sure what the future may hold with the blog in terms of monetizing it, but I can honestly say that it’s preparing me for working in the music industry in a way, by forcing me to keep up with the pulse of the industry. I’m also in the process of developing a clothing site with my friend called beatcakesstore.com (If you remember my introduction post, I mentioned hosting/DJing a radio show here at Temple called Beatcakes. It’s just a name I came up with, so I decided to extend it as a brand). So yeah, things are going okay so far.

The title of this blog is “Opportunity Knocks,” but you have to make your own opportunities sometimes.

VISIT: The Innovation and Entreprenuership Institute at the Fox School

I was so excited and anxious that I couldn’t sleep. I had 2 job fairs the next night and I couldn’t wait to go hand out resumes and try to get some kind of connection to the companies I thought were a fit.

I had done my homework and already looked up what companies were going to be at the 2 fairs and then researched them so I would be able to talk with the recruiter about their company and then applied to all the jobs both through FoxNet but also through their respective company websites.

First up was the Entrepreneurship Job Fair. It was one of the first of it’s kind apparently because of how it focused on those going for a major, minor or certification in Entrepreneurship. So all the companies at the job fair were small and some even pre-revenue startups.

I had already reviewed the employers at this job fair and knew I had 6 specific companies I was interested in giving my resume too and that I have 3 in particular which were especially intriguing. They were all small tech companies from around Philadelphia and one just outside of the North East.

The conversations went well and I gave them all my “Entrepreneurship” resume which accented my entrepreneurial activities more than my “Finance” resume which was designed to get me a job with a Finance firm.

I was a little surprised by how interested people were in my blog and other websites that I have. I hadn’t even written it on my resumes yet it was the most interesting piece of my resume to some. I started jotting down my blog URL on the bottom of resumes as I spoke with the potential employers.

This carried over to the 2nd Job fair of the day - Spring Connection. At this job fair my major didn’t seem as highly respected. Everyone wanted accounting or finance majors. I applied to several finance firms, some marketing firms, and to some banks. Most companies smiled while we spoke but then would softly tell me how competitive it is for a sophomore to get one of their internships. It’s frustrating at times, you want to say “Either let me apply and give me a chance, or tell me not to even apply because you don’t give it to sophomores”.

Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to say how unimpressed I was with one massive financial company - who shall remain nameless (hint: they use more nautical terminology than a 35 year old basement dwelling Pirates of the Carri bean fan). They came and presented to my HR class and I liked them then. Especially their in-company “university” - I love that kind of limit less opportunity for growth aspect. However, at Spring Connection they botched their banked goodwill by treating me, a sophomore, like a second class recruit. I won’t be dignifying them with an application next year.

I’ll admit that in retrospect I realize how unhappy I most likely would have been had I ended up getting a job with one of these massive corporate firms. The kind of culture I am looking for at the moment just doesn’t match most of these like I had convinced myself it did. I knew that a normal corporate internship wasn’t what I wanted to use my summer for. If I was going to stay here and work instead of going abroad somewhere then I wanted to make sure that I had a job that was going to challenge me and provide the opportunity for growth as well as educate on the startup environment in Philadelphia.

In my next article I’ll tell you all about how I followed up and got a job!

In my previous post I discussed preparation and balance. Now let’s get to it: you’re thinking that you’ve prepared enough, but you can’t find the “right” opportunity.

It’s May and I have yet to nail a summer internship. Am I freaking out? Yeah, you can say that.

Just a tad.

Anyways, can I just say how grueling job hunting and interviewing is? I can assume if you’re reading this that you’ve done one or both of these things.

So first you have a resume. A cover letter. Awesome. You know what you want to do. You know exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are. Now what? NOWWWW WHAT!?!? (sorry for excessiveness)

Thanks to Fox, we’re not limited to company job sites, Craigslist, Monstertrak, Hotjobs, etc. We have Foxnet (http://foxschool.erecruiting.com) where there’s plenty of new internships available everyday. It’s definitely a great resource.
And there’s always connections. I’m sure everyone knows that old adage, “It’s not what you know, but it’s who you know.” Well, I don’t know if I totally agree with that statement, because it’s obvious that what you know counts. But don’t lose sight of your connections. Never burn bridges especially with previous employers, professors, and classmates. You’ll be surprised how well connected these people are and how open they would be to help you succeed. It’s almost certain that you’ll find an employer recommendation and/or job opportunity from someone in your network. Thank goodness for Facebook and Linkedin that makes building and maintaining your social network even easier. I cringe when I hear of someone not having any sort of online social networking tool. It’s like you’re closing yourself off to a whole world of opportunity if you do that! (But I’m not judging, honest) Nowadays, face to face interaction is nice, but it’s all about accessibility when you need to contact someone, and online sources/email seem to be the most efficient way sometimes.

Anyways, I’m still in the process of applying to everywhere that I can (my own qualifications considered). I just hope I’m not limiting myself in any way. I’ve been set on interning in a specific industry and now that my graduation is approaching in January 09, it’s important that I nail the “right” internship this summer.
I think I’ll leave with a question that is perplexing me right now to my fellow bloggers here on the CSPD blog and our readers:

When is it okay to compromise your job/internship goals during your search for something that may or may not be what you wanted or what you can see yourself helping you obtain that dream job in the future?

Let’s make this discussion interactive, people! So go on, leave a message in the comment section. =)

Hello everyone! First of all, I sincerely apologize for my lack of posts lately.

Finals are just about here and the stress level is about to hit an all time high for the semester. Anywho, with the all the school work, extracurriculars, and such, it got be thinking… the ultimate college exam is actually just one question: how does any student master this art of balance? And I’m not just talking about school and work. It’s difficult to find a balance with:
1) what you think you can do and what you really can do
2) what you want to do and what you should do
3) what you know you can do and what others know (or think) you can do
I’ve struggled with balancing in the past, especially when interning during the fall semester my junior year. I had the perfect class schedule for an internship; I was free Tuesdays and Thursdays. I thought, okay, I can finally intern during the school year. My mother has always been set against me interning during the school year for the fact that she did not want me to be overworked, overstressed, and lose focus in school. I sought out an opportunity to intern in New York, but this would mean I would have to commute twice a week. I had talk to friends who had commuted and they advised me that I could handled it. So of course, I listened to them and not my mom.

Proving that I could handle such a thing was more of my goal. Admittedly, pride got in my way.

The fact is, I couldn’t balance everything. I was always exhausted and was always in “catch up” mode in my classes. The lesson learned here is obvious; listen to your mom! To be fair, you cannot always foresee what you can or cannot handle. In that stage in my college career, I was too caught up in interning right away and getting as much experience possible, that my studies suffered.
I cannot tell you how much respect I have for those who work, intern, are involved in their organizations, and are kicking butt in school. Kudos. If you know how to balance, great. But if you’re not sure, calm down. Your focus should be on school anyways.

You’re opportunity will come. School is just preparation for something bigger…

Sometimes you’ll find me quoting things I hear on Oprah lol… so here I go: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I say, prepare prepare prepare. Study hard, but continue to find that right balance. Think of school and the rest of your life experiences as practice exams. With life experiences, contrary to popular belief, failure is always an option. But you have slow down to realize the lessons learned. The opportunities will come as soon as you can answer that question and master the art of balance.

Good luck on your exams everyone.

NEXT UP: Thinking that you’ve prepared enough, but you can’t find the “right” opportunity (the current conundrum I’m faced with)