AskUCSO - It’s Early…So Don’t Miss It!

Interested in networking? Getting an internship? Landing a full-time position? You can’t afford to miss these events. Fall semester starts off with a bang! Coming at you this Friday, September 2nd, is the first of many important dates.

Get ready to attend these events that will be critical to your future job opportunities:

• Career Fairs
• Workshops
• Company Presentations
• Industry Days
• and more...

So where do you go to find this information? Get to know the UCSO website. The Student page features important "Announcements" and the "Event Calendar".

For questions, please come and see us at the UCSO Help Desk in P100 or email us.

Hello Students and Welcome Back to Campus!

Fall semester classes are now underway and as the semester begins we want to make you aware of some key dates and reminders to help you get things off to a good start.

Fall Recruiting & Key Dates
Friday, September 9: Use the CSJ to submit your resume for "preference list" consideration.
Friday, September 23: Bidding begins for scheduling the first week of on-campus interviews.
Monday, October 3: On-campus interviews begin.

If you’re interested in firms that are scheduled to interview the first week of October, be sure to upload your newly updated resume to the UCSO system by Friday, Sept. 9 so you can begin submitting your resume for preference list consideration.

For a comprehensive list of campus recruiting activity and important dates this fall, please use the “Companies on Campus” and “Important Deadlines” links on the UCSO student home page.

If you've decided to accept an offer of full-time employment (most likely from your summer internship), you should not participate in on-campus recruiting and should report the details to us as soon as possible. We’ve established guidelines for employers about early offers, but please come see us if you have any questions.

UCSO Workshops

Tuesday, Aug. 30	Bidding (the sign-up process for on-campus interviews)	7:00pm	BU102
Tuesday, Sept. 6	Bidding (the sign-up process for on-campus interviews)	7:00pm	BU102
Thursday, Sept. 8	International Student Job Search with Dan Beaudry	11:15am 1:00pm 2:30pm	UCSO - P100
Monday, Sept. 12	How International Students Navigate the U.S. Job Search (workshop & panel)	6:00pm	BU307
Monday, Oct. 3	Interview Preparation	7:00pm	BU102
Monday, Oct. 17	Job Search Strategies for LGBTQ Students (refreshments served)	7:00pm	CG2100

Reminders
In addition to updating/uploading your UCSO resume(s), be sure to also:

1. Update the information in your UCSO profile, which we call your “registration information.” This is the data used to match your qualifications with those employers are seeking.
2. Answer “Yes” to the “resume release” option, which allows us to start distributing your “general” resume to interested employers via our resume books.
3. Answer “Yes” to the new “reminders” option if you want us to email you reminders of upcoming interviews.
4. Update your UCSO “Times Not Available” schedule. These are the times each day that you don’t want to be scheduled for interviews because you are in class or at work. In preparation for the new semester, any previous entries were cleared out.
Lastly, if you have any questions about your internship or full-time job search, please stop by our help desk where we are taking walk-in appointments this first week. Throughout the rest of the semester, use our online system to make an appointment to see a career coach. We are happy to help!

New UCSO Team Member – Thao Nelson

Thao brings a wealth of experience to the position. After completing her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University she started her career with admissions in the Kelley MBA program, and then joined the Graduate Career Services office. Then due to relocation she left Kelley and went on to work for AutoZone and HCA, Inc. in Tennessee. In her most recent role, she became a co-owner of Credo Management Consulting which provided customized services in areas of Leadership, Organizational and Human Resource Consulting, and Training and Development. Her experience in Higher Education, Corporate and Consulting will position her well to work with the Kelley Business students.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: The Last Week

Everyone always wishes they had a soundtrack to their life: a song for every moment to commemorate every event. As I walk through the halls during my last week as an intern I imagine the most tragic and melodic chords playing in the background- Dun dun dundun dun dundun dundun dundun…… Chopin’s Funeral March.

It feels like this last week has been as slow as a dirge but also as depressing. While my internship has continued, most of the other interns have left and the work has been slow. I have cleared most of the work from my desk and have begun preparations for my departure. As a quick tip, there are a few things to make sure you do before you leave:

1. Pass your work on to others — The work that you have done over the course of this summer has been meaningful and will most likely be used in the future. Make sure to figure out who will own that material in the future and sit to meet with them to transfer the files, walk through the current progress and identify future opportunities.
2. Schedule a feedback session — Take the time to sit with your bosses to get feedback on your performance and also offer some tips for the internship program moving forward. These feedback sessions are really important to demonstrate that you recognize some of your own opportunities for improvement and gain some constructive criticism but to also show that you are able to identify problems and solutions.
3. Be gracious — Write thank you notes to the people that have had a major impact on you over the course of the internship. Include your personal contact information and try to stay connected. It is also appropriate to write individual thank you notes to the people that coordinated the intern programs as well as a farewell email to the team that you worked with.
4. Stay connected — Find your coworkers on LinkedIn and try to stay connected to them. LinkedIn is a great tool to get references on and to keep track of where people go when they move on from companies. Also, it doesn’t include all those embarrassing Facebook photos and is a more professional networking tool.

I was really fortunate with my internship, I really enjoyed the company and the people that I worked with and they apparently enjoyed me. I got an offer.

While getting an offer is an extremely exciting, I know that I have to take a second and think. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and to lose sight of my goals. I know that I need to put my needs and my goals before all else when considering my future and ultimately deciding what to do. Luckily the UCSO is always there to help.

Career Coach Comments

Welcome back! Summer break is over. Your internship was great (or not). You had a fantastic summer job or academic adventure (or not). Or perhaps you don’t have a clue as to how to move forward with your career goals. Whatever your situation might be, it may be time for you to meet face to face with a Career Coach at the UCSO.

My name is Mike Lavender and I am a Career Coach at the Kelley School of Business. I want to share with you a few brief comments about your opportunities to meet one on one with a Coach to assist you achieve your career goals.

What can you expect from a Career Coach? We won’t guarantee you an internship or full time job, but we will help you utilize the tools to make it happen through a one on one session. Examples of subjects covered in a typical meeting are:

• Review resume for content and format
• Set specific, achievable career goals
• Identify target industries and positions
• Prepare you for interviews
• Assist you in understanding the bid process
• Accepting/Rejecting Offers
• Networking & Career Fairs

You can make an appointment at your convenience online through the UCSO web site. During the fall semester, career coach appointments are available from 10am until 8pm Monday – Thursday and 10am until 3:30pm on Fridays.

If you have a quick question or are having difficulty making an on line appointment, stop by the UCSO help desk in room P100 for assistance from our help desk staff. Help desk Hours are 8am–8pm Monday-Thursday and 8am –5pm on Fridays.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me with “Career Coach” in the subject line.

Mike earned his B.S. in Business as a Marketing Major from the Kelley School of Business. After 35 years of successful management experience and entrepreneurship in Consumer Electronics, International Business, Management Consulting and Commercial Real Estate, he has now spent the last 10 years as a mentor and Career Coach at the UCSO. Mike works with students with all Kelley majors, Apparel Merchandising and other COAS majors and International students.

His areas of expertise include resume review, goal setting, identifying target industries and positions; interview preparation; bidding; offer acceptance/rejection, networking, and career fairs.

Adventure of a Summer Intern: Final Thoughts

I can’t believe that it's the last week of my internship already! This week has been very different for me. I have been having a mixture of feelings. On one hand, I know I will miss the people and the place that I have been working at for nearly two months. On the other hand, I am a little nervous to find out whether I will be extended a full-time offer. Looking back at my internship, I've been able to gain so much more then accounting skills.

I've learned from professionals. This summer I had the opportunity to get to know some experienced professionals within my group. I was able to ask questions of people at different levels of their career, which helped me gain a well-rounded perspective of this company and industry. This will be invaluable in the future when making decisions about my own career path.

I have a solid understanding of my strengths and weaknesses. Participating in the firm's feedback program have me the opportunity to see myself in different ways. During my internship, I was required to issue a formal performance feedback review for every 25 hours worked on a deal. I have also had the opportunity to request a performance note from a manager and/or ask for verbal feedback at any given point in time. Receiving all of this feedback was sometimes challenging, but overall it has helped me to improve my performance while doscovering some of my new potential and areas of improvement.

I've been able to have my voice heard. I learned that it is important to have a voice in the office and to express what you really want. Because I spoke up, I was able to have lunch with/job-shadow a partner. This experience provided me with great insight about my group and motivated me to continue to get the most out of my internship.

I've had a lot of fun! Aside from the professional development, I had a blast in Chicago this summer!There are so many interesting events going on and you can always find something to do. Many of the interns I had worked with became great friends, and I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with this summer.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Keys for an Effective PowerPoint

It is almost the last week of my internship and things are really winding down. The Report Out presentation of last week was wildly successful although there were some technical difficulties with the projector that added an interesting twist and demonstrated some problem solving skills in action. However, in spite of the technical difficulties my boss and the CFO were very impressed by the use of Prezi. Since the end of the summer is filled with presentations I figured I would spend some more time talking about presentations and some tips for using PowerPoint. I have spent a lot of time this summer working on PowerPoint and honing the finer details of making and perfecting presentations:

Use Smart Art

Smart art is a really effective tool for making strong visuals and laying out ideas. The days of the slides with bullet after bullet are long since passed. Laying out your ideas in a more visual way is extremely important. However there are some shortcomings to Smart Art and to the mutability of the visuals.

Ctrl-C --> Alt-H-V-S-Picture
Sometimes Smart Art or your slides just won’t resize the way you need them too; only a small or large format of the image is actually ideal. What you can do is copy the image and paste it as an image which can be resized easily and maintain the same format as you initially had it.

Print It Out and Put It Up
One of the keys to success is having an effective flow throughout your presentation. It can be difficult to maintain a flow when working on group presentations and individuals only focus on their part but not the presentation as a whole. The best thing to do is to print out the presentation as 1 slide per sheet and tape it up on the wall. Then your team can see what flow issues and where additional slides are required or where cuts can be made. This is usually the longest step in the entire process because flow is one of those things that can always be improved.

Scrap the Questions Slide
People are so keen on the idea of having a questions slide at the end of their presentations. Typically it is a blank slide adorned with question marks or the word “Questions” word arted onto the screen as if it is self-aware of the questionable nature of its presence. What should be done is to use a summary slide that has pictures of the key slides that summarize the bulk of the presentation consolidated onto one slide. Typically this will include an overview slide, one or two main idea slides from the body of the presentation, and a value slide.

With these tools you will be set for impressing your bosses with the professionalism of your presentations and some advance PowerPoint skills. For some more tips and tricks, check out the article PowerPoint Tips & Tricks by A Bit Better Corporation.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: A Bittersweet Ending

Today I am writing not from my University Housing desk in Milwaukee, but instead from my living room couch in Indiana. My ten-week internship officially ended last Friday, and there are just a few more weeks until my final year begins. This past summer has been one of the fastest summers of my life. Part of it was that I was working 40 hour work weeks—which was something I had never done before—and another part was that I was having the best time with the best people. For my last post, I really wanted to reflect on not only my time at this internship, and important things that I learned about choosing internships, and how I got the most out of my internship. 

As a marketing major, I knew that my options for internships were pretty limitless, but I wanted to avoid sales positions. Because I had worked in sales and customer service, I really wanted to try something new and different. This is the path that led me to apply to retail, even though the only experience I had with retail was my multiple shopping excursions to the mall. After interviewing with Kohl’s, I discovered that I loved the company, and it made me even more interested in learning what the business side of retail was like.

After ten weeks, 3 big projects, and multiple reports, I feel like Kohl’s gave me the opportunity to see the other side of retail...and I loved it! During my internship, I was able to interact a lot with both sides of the retail business - the product side and the numbers side. I fell in love with the product, and loved that the numbers supported the product. Kohl’s also gave me great experience - by focusing on projects that worked with teams, an individual project, and a project with a topic that I choose for myself. One of the most important things for anyone to get out of an internship is experience...and the more experience you can get the better. I felt that I was able to get this experience through my internship at Kohl’s, and I felt that I actually contributed positively to my office.

My last week in Milwaukee was bittersweet. Even if some of us would be coming back to work at Kohl’s full time, we knew that we would not all be living down the hall or down one floor from each other. Our last week was filled with celebrations—dinners with friends, a University Relations sponsored dinner on an outdoor patio at the art museum, and a brownie sundae party in my office. As my internship was drawing to a close, I realized that the people and the culture of the company is one of the most important parts. And the fact that I was able to find an internship that offered my great experience and had great people made the experience that much better!

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Finishing Strong

Last week I officially earned my certificate for completing CIGNA's TECDP Intern program. It was a wonderful ceremony that started with a panel of interns answering questions from an audience of managers and associates. Moving on, we ended with a few words from the CIO and a traditional graduation walk.

The panel discussion allowed me to seriously reflect on my time here at CIGNA. I realized how much I had grown this summer. I grew my professional ability and technical skills, but more importantly I grew my perspective on what it means to work in corporate. TECDP was a fantastic program, and I have no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice in doing it this summer. I had exposure to the entire company from the mail room to the C-suite, and from that I now have a more complete undertstanding of what it means to run a business.

I am going to greatly miss my CIGNA life as I return to Bloomington, even though I know that there are even bigger and better opportunities that will come my way. Looking forward I now know what I am looking for in a future employer. I have realized my biggest needs are challenging work, a team orientated environment, and the ability to grow outside my comfort zone. The times I felt the most satisfied at CIGNA were the times I had no idea what to do, but I was able to accomplish the task through a support system of peers and leaders.

I have a strong feeling I will feel the same way as I enter I-CORE this fall. That being said I could not be more excited to start this fall semester, and restart this entire internship process again!

Adventures of a Summer Intern: 4 Things I Learned This Summer

After 13 weeks at Newell Rubbermaid, my internship has finally come to an end. It’s been a wonderful experience, and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with a company as well-known and respected as NWL. As I leave the company and head back to begin my senior year, I thought I would leave you guys with 4 things I learned during my summer internship. Enjoy!

Expect the Unexpected
When I was hired on last December, I was told I would be doing brand management for Rubbermaid Medical Solutions. As I was in the middle of my case for I-Core and preparing for my semester abroad in London, I didn’t really give much thought to what I would actually be doing during my summer here. I had no idea that I’d be working with medical carts and analyzing product specs like battery chemistry and cart height adjustment. Nor did I realize how big of a market there was for something as obscure (or at least obscure to me at the time) as medical carts. Personally, I think that coming into this internship with an open mind really allowed me to make the most of my time here. I was able to work on a variety of cross-functional projects that introduced me to product management, and my manager constantly made an effort to involve me in everything she was doing, from meetings to design briefs to focus groups. I can attribute a lot of the personal growth I experienced this summer to coming into this internship with an open mind.

Network

A summer internship, besides offering you valuable experience in the field that you are studying, allows you to network with co-workers to learn more about their career paths and any advice they might have for you as you begin your full-time job search. Throughout the summer, I was able to have lunch with people working not only in product management, but also co-workers in engineering, sales, finance, industrial design, and sourcing. Even though we didn’t focus on all of the same projects, I found that they often had valuable tips and advice about not only life at NWL, but their experience at other companies. It was also nice to get to know everyone at the office and have people that I could talk to in every department. If your manager or HR department doesn’t set up these lunches or networking events for you, reach out to your co-workers yourself. They will be more than willing to help you, and love talking to students about things they’ve learned over the years.

Have Fun
While your primary focus during your summer internship should be on the work you’re actually doing, don’t forget to have a good time along the way. Some of my best memories from my summer at NWL are from the activities I participated in outside of work. Saturdays at the pool with all of the other interns, nights out downtown Charlotte at new bars, trying various restaurants with other people from RMS, and going whitewater rafting with all of my co-workers and the other interns. Especially if you’re living in a new city, make sure to get out of your apartment and make the summer one to remember!

Ask for Feedback

Despite what your parents, professors, or friends may have told you, you’re not perfect. You’re probably not even close to perfect. So during your summer internship, make sure to ask for feedback from your manager about how you’re doing. Constructive feedback will prove to be an invaluable tool as you try to move up the corporate ladder. It’s often hard to take a step back and evaluate your own job performance, so it helps to have someone else, such as a manger, do it for you. Ask them to look at things such as professionalism, work quality, communication skills, dependability, and versatility. Knowing what you can improve on will help you become an all-star in the office, and will no doubt lead to greater success in your career.

I hope that you found my blog to be a useful resource this summer, and would like to thank you all for taking the time to read it. Please don’t hesitate to contact me (alexnicolaiott@gmail.com) with any questions you might have about my summer internship at Newell Rubbermaid, or any other questions or comments you may have. Have a wonderful rest of your summer!

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Job Shadowing

I had the opportunity to job shadow a partner this week. Last week over lunch, I asked him if we could set something up...and he said yes! A partner's work is very different from what I expected. When he wasen't making or answering phone calls he was discussing deals with his directors.

As part of my job shadow, I was able to listen in on a few of his calls, one of which being a call to his coach. I was suprised to not only find out that a partner has a coach, but also to discover that a partner has questions and/or concerns about his job. During this phone call. the partner shared his concerns with his coach, describing three deals he was currently working on. His coach provided feedback and advice. Due to confidentiality, I cannot disclose the details of this conversation, but I can share one general takeaway from sitting in on this conversation. Regardless of where you are at as a professional, you will always be facing problems/you will always have concerns. Learning is a life-long process. Never be too intimidated to discuss those with others, especially with those who are more experienced. You may find that it is ten times better than struggling with it all by yourself.

At the end of my job shadow, I asked two questions of the partner:

1. How do you manage your relationship with clients?
2. What qualities do you look for when it come to staff on his deals?

For the first question, he shared that getting a client was not too big of an issue for him. The key was to be good at what you do, while being honest with your clients. He went on to share an example of a previous deal with me. This partner was working with a client several years ago, and budget a client fee of $750,000. After they were half way through the deal, he realized that the total fee would be no more than $500,000. While he could have easily absorbed the profit, he instead chose to communicate this new fee to the client, we resulted in the client still doing deals with him today.

For question #2, the partner shared that he is looking for people who are smart and good at what they do. He also values people who are responsive and honest. "If you cannot figure something out, just be frank with me.”

The job shadow experience was very interesting to me, and something I recommend every college student do at some point in time. I was able to see the entire practice from a very different perspective while gaining valuable advice from a partner. Make sure you are maximizing your last few weeks at your internship - if you want the opportunity to do something just ask!

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Wrapping it all Up - The Report Out

Interns are dropping like flies these days as internships are concluding and they are making the long journey home. In these last few weeks projects are concluding and presentations are being made but most importantly the final “Report Out” is coming up.

So, what is a “Report Out”? This is the summation of all of the hard work and effort throughout the summer. A “Report Out” is a presentation to your managers, their managers, and their manager’s managers, all the way up to the top of the ladder, the CFO in my case. With all of the interns in the company creating one of these presentations it is important to differentiate and to stand out. A great way to do this is to use a unique format that is atypical of what most interns will be using. It is guaranteed that most interns will be using PowerPoint so what other options do you have?

One of my favorite new tools is called Prezi. It is an interactive web-based report building tool that creates a canvas-like report layout utilizing zooming and framing to attract attention to details of the presentation. From my experience building my Report Out in Prezi, it lacks that same nosebleed inducing boredom that PowerPoint often induces.

When using a tool like Prezi be prepared to get questions as to why you didn’t just use that good ole Microsoft standby for your presentation. Personally, I chose Prezi because of my dynamic internship experience and the underlying desire to use a tool that demonstrated my ability to incorporate new ideas into the workplace- much like I had done throughout my internship.

Don't be afraid to make a change to the mundane and think outside the box.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: The Final Week

After nine weeks, three presentations, and so many mornings starting before 8 am, my last week in Milwaukee has finally arrived. Even though I have only been here ten weeks, it feels like I have been here so much longer, and it is kind of hard to realize that I will be leaving on Saturday. But luckily, we are all trying to get the most out of our last week here, whether we are still working on our projects or trying to experience our few last days in Milwaukee.

For the entirety of this internship, there has been quite a large group of us who have spent almost our entire time together. We live on the same floor, we work in the same division, etc., and we have tried to do as much as we can during our last week/weekend. I finally went to a Milwaukee festival (yay!), on Brady Street, which is only a few blocks away from our dorm. This festival had music playing, great food, and a lot of vendors selling anything from paintings to clothes. I have a picture of a group of us who decided to spend our beautiful last Saturday at the festival!

I have decided that because it is my last week here, I’m going to skip on the groceries, and try and experience some more great restaurants in Milwaukee. On Sunday, we decided to go to a great sushi restaurant called Saki Tumi, where 15 of us ate everything from appetizers, to Miso Soup, to sushi rolls. We also went to a great restaurant on Brady Street called Crips, that had huge slices of pizza for really cheap! Even though going out to eat can be a bit expensive, I really feel like eating at the local restaurants is a great way to experience a culture of the city. It was great to do some things that were unique for Milwaukee, and I hope that I can experience a few more things before the end of this week.

During my last week, I have a few great things planned—lunches with my office, brewery tours with my friends, dinner with the interns, and movie nights. At work, I am digging even deeper into my project, and I hope to add even more recommendations for my office. As I approach the end of my internship, I hope to make the most of it during and outside of work.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: How to be a Leader?

The truth is I have no idea. I’ve had people tell me I’m too soft, that I am too demanding, that I don’t provide enough structure, that I don’t create a good setting for ideas, that I micromanage, that am too far removed, or that I even macromanage. Every single time I have a new group to lead I think, “Alright last time this strategy didn’t work, I’m sure it will be perfect now with this adjustment.”

Of course it never works perfectly. I now have enough experience to know that it never will work perfectly. The most exceptional groups I have led are ones full of individuals ready to work and debate every step of the way. It became less about what I personally thought or brought to the table, and more about how to enable the clear communication of brilliant people. I heard a great quote from a friend of mine here at CIGNA, Allyce Mihelich, “A good leader looks in the mirror when things go wrong, and looks at the team when things go well.”

I used to be the kind of guy who thought I was a great leader because I did all of the work on a project, which would ultimately get my group an A. I was kidding myself thinking that this would be a solid strategy for the real world. Projects in corporate can range from taking days to taking years. If I am in a year-long engagement with twenty team members and choose to adopt that “do it yourself” thinking, the project would assuredly fail as I try to take on twenty years of work as one person.

A hard lesson for me to learn was the fact that I was the leader, but that didn’t mean I was the best or most knowledgeable. The tech field is an ever changing landscape, and all of my specific skills will likely be obsolete by the time I am a manager. Asking more questions of your team than your team asks of you is not a bad sign. In fact it allows you to get a more holistic view of the project that no individual team member has. I now keep that in mind when I talk to my management, it is equally my responsibility to teach them as it is their responsibility to teach me.

The moral of this story is that being a good leader means you are just the leader. You are not the dictator, you are not the star, and you are not the endless source of wisdom. A leader is simply a facilitator of structure, creativity, clarification, and results.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: The Beginning of the End

Final week...here we goooooooo!

I officially have begun my final week as a brand management intern at Newell Rubbermaid. It’s hard to believe that a mere three months ago, I was just beginning this new journey. Reflecting back on my time spent here at NWL, it’s truly amazing how much I’ve grown and learned. Between the projects I took charge of, the many intern events I attended, and the new friendships I built with my co-workers, this summer has provided me with a wealth of fantastic opportunities and lifelong memories.

Right now, I’m gearing up for my final presentation. This presentation will serve as a time for me to talk about the various projects I worked on over the summer, and give me a chance to sell myself in front of Rubbermaid Medical Solutions’ executive team. Needless to say, I’m a little nervous, but I feel well prepared thanks to my prior experience with public speaking and PowerPoint. While it sounds a little cheesy, I can honestly say that Kelley prepared me well for my internship this summer. From the technical skills required in courses like K201, to the presentation and writing skills in X104, to the critical thinking skills required in courses such as G202 and J370, I felt like I was ready to take on anything that this internship threw at me. This might be the only time you hear me praising the courses that I once cursed (I’m talking to you J370), so revel in it while it lasts!

With this internship coming to an end, I finally am realizing that I’m going to be starting my final year at Indiana University. After working 40+ hours a week for the past 13 weeks, the relaxed atmosphere of Bloomington and the college lifestyle sounds better than ever. I know that this year will be bittersweet, but I’m planning on making the most of it. Between upper-level marketing courses, football tailgates, nights out on Kirkwood, eating as much Mother Bear’s as humanly possible, and looking for a full-time job, senior year will go by faster than ever.

I should get back to working on my final presentation, but I’ll make sure to let you all know how it goes next week. Have a wonderful Monday!

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Business Lunch

After working in the real world for a while, one thing I found that is quite different from being a college student is having lunch. Surprising as it may sound, lunch is not just getting something to fill your stomach at the middle of a day anymore. Well, considering the fact that the food itself is pretty important, in the real work place, you can actually utilize lunch to expand your network or get to know someone from work in a not-so-serious environment.

I have named this week my business lunch week since I had the chance to have lunches with two partners from my group and two alumni from IU. Below are some of my tips about business lunch based on my experience so far:

How to schedule a lunch
Utilize email. Yes, don’t be so surprised. At least that’s how I scheduled most of mine. The experienced professionals are actually very willing to give advice to the young professionals. So just speak up politely that you would like to have lunch with them to learn more about their work and also you would also like to ask for some advice from them.

How to behave during the lunch
Lunches can take place in different kinds of restaurants. My lunches with Alumni were more casual; we went to grab sandwiches most of the time. We were both tied up to work schedule so the lunches usually took an hour. This means you should have your questions asked and answered in a timely manner.

My lunches with the partners took place in the fancier restaurants which required more dinner etiquette. Here are some tips from CBS Money Watch that I found helpful:

• Don’t sit down hungry
• Don’t order foods that stain, are hard to eat or get stuck in teeth.
• Don’t put your cell phone on the table – I wish I knew this before I head out to my first lunch with the partner
• Don’t treat the help poorly

What to do after the lunch
Don’t forget to say thank you after the lunch. You are taking up someone else’s time for sure. If you have lunch with your manager or the partner, they are usually the ones who pay for it. Some compliments on the food will be nice and of course, say thank you.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Giving Back to your Office

This past week has been a busy one. This past week has been filled with baseball games, meetings with Executives, and corporate lunches. In short, the week has been a busy amalgamation of opportunities to meet and greet with the tippity top and a toddlers and tiaras like pageant rolled all into one. So, how does one differentiate themselves in this corporate beauty contest?

Step 1: Make a good impression at the event

Step 2: Stay memorable and show your appreciation after the event

As an intern it is important that you always seem appreciative and I cannot emphasize enough that it is, or at least appears to be, SINCERE appreciation. So what is there to be appreciative of as in intern?

• Time: The fact that someone has met with you to discuss their role or the company is extremely generous and the fact that they willingly breathe the same air as the bottom-of-the-ladder corporate intern is an Oslo-bound act in itself
• The Organizing Powers that be: For all of the wonderful lunches and learning sessions that you have there are powers that work behind the scenes coordinating conflicting schedules and all those free lunches. Usually they make up the talent management team or Intern Coordinators depending on how your company labels them. It is important to know these people and to make sure that you remain in good standing with them

All general recommendations of appropriateness standing with regards to the actual event, you are now left with the aftermath. Just after lunch, standing in that pile of dirty plates and empty food containers you should already be thinking about how to stay memorable and show your that you valued more than the opportunity to gorge yourself on free breadsticks, pizza and salad. This is when the thank you NOTE comes in to play. I emphasize “note” because it should be just that, a hand written note on stationary or in a card that is plain, no writing on the inside, and conservative (aka no bunnies, bright colors, candles, balloons, or half-naked studs). Check out The Morning New’s Lesli Harpold’s article “How to Write a Thank-You Note” for some great pointers and recommendations.

So your internship is coming to a close and some of those other interns have caught on to your classy thank-you note sending. What to do now? How do you stay the classiest? The ultimate classy trump card is organizing an appreciation event. This week I am organizing a cookout for the full-timers that have made all of our intern experiences possible. Not only will it "wow" them that you care and appreciate their efforts but it also shows a level of maturity and an ability to organize and lead others that will have them offer-ready following your famous macaroni salad.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Corporate Presentations

More Than Just Getting an A

The day has finally come. After nine and a half weeks, it was the day of my final presentation. The reason why this presentation was so much different than the others was that this project had the potential to actually affect business decisions within my office. We kind of had free range for this project, and I was excited that I had a chance to take what I have learned about the business and actually apply it and make meaningful recommendations. So after multiple Excel Worksheets, a huge PowerPoint presentation, an Executive Summary, and multiple VLookups, I was finally ready.

Even though I have presented multiple times throughout my years at Kelley, I had a feeling this presentation was different. I felt a lot more pressure to succeed; giving the right recommendations for a company was quite different than giving a good presentation in class and getting an A. My office was really supportive and really excited for my project, but I still woke up the morning of my project quite anxious and stressed. This was such a huge project that everyone who has participated in the internship has emphasized, and as much work that I had put into it, I was still worried that I would mess up or forget some huge part of my analysis.

Since my presentation was in the afternoon, and I had all morning and some time after lunch to continue to focus on my presentation, or actually start stressing and sweating about the whole thing. I am one of those people who likes to get things over with, so having to wait all day to give my presentation was brutal. But I was all set—I had my suit on, my reports printed and bounded, and my PowerPoint ready. By the time 2:00 pm came, I was ready.

After all the work and the worrying, my presentation went really well! Even though I was standing in front of my entire office, some other management, and HR, I felt more like I was running a meeting more than I was just giving a PowerPoint experience. Most of my presentations at school had separate presentation time and question time, but this was much more interactive throughout the entire presentation. Although this could have potentially thrown me off, I was practiced and prepared and went through it smoothly. The best part was that I was able to give recommendations to my office that they could actually use; I showed them parts of my analysis that they have never thought of before. One goal of my project was to give them recommendations that they could actually use, and I was glad that I was able to succeed at that!

Now that my major presentation is finished, it is finally hitting me that this internship is almost over. After spending so much of my time with my office and the other interns, it will be weird to not be seeing them everyday. For this last week, my goal is to get the most out of everything—hanging out with the interns, continue to work with my office, and learning as much about the business as possible.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Showing Who You Are

Be yourself, Get the job
I have a confession, I am a huge nerd. Not like a person who reads Harry Potter books a hundred times, more of a person that gets overly excited about getting a 24 Mbps connection line at his apartment. A person who specifically bought the U200 package from AT&T to watch the tech shows on G4. A person who hosted an event last year for his club called Twisted Pairs with Friends (we wired our own Cat5e Ethernet cable). A person who went to state science fair in 8th grade, because he was the only student in the computer science category. A person that has an excel spreadsheet of all his current classes that will dynamically update his GPA based on hypothetical scenarios in test scoring. A person who for his 12th birthday got a book on videogame programming, but couldn’t figure out how to do much besides put his own face as the ship in a space invaders game.

When I got to college I chose to hide that aspect of myself in favor of trying to be a much cooler Kevin. It turns out that my least cool characteristics actually land me jobs. Let us see what my interests look like to employers.

• Tech Nerd = Interest and aptitude in Technology
• Show Choir Geek = Capable of presenting in front of large crowds
• Ultimate Frisbee Bum = Able to execute in a stressful team environment
• Out @ Kelley (LGBT student group) = Comfortable with who he is as an individual

Clearly you can spin anything you love to do into a professional strength. Even better, the qualities you show to a company allow for them to place you in the best fit possible. I am now surrounded by like-minded individuals in my job role who are equally excited by the new features of Google+ or the future of Cloud Computing in IT. Coming to work isn’t hard when you love what you do and who you do it with.

After a summer being surrounded by fellow nerds, guys and girls alike, I will now stand proud. If you interested in any of the clubs I am involved in feel free to email me at Kevphill@umail.iu.edu or follow the links below to become a part of the organizations.

• Technology Management Club - TMC is a Kelley club open to all students who have an interest in technology. Events range from networking nights with top companies to a tutorial on 3D printing. Fill out the TMC Member Form to be put on our email list.
  
  
• Jacob School of Music: Singing Hoosiers - America's Premiere Collegiate Concert Show Choir
  
  AUDITIONS
  WHEN: Friday and Saturday, August 26-27, 2011
  SIGN UP FOR AN AUDITION: Go to the Choral Department Office in MA051 (the round music building) or call 812-855-0427 between August 22-26 (this can be done after you arrive on campus).
  VISIT WEBSITE: http://www.singinghoosiers.org/ for specific information about the auditions (i.e. how or what to prepare) or general information for the Singing Hoosiers.

Why Join a Club?

College is an incredible experience in that no matter what you are interested in, there is a group of people on campus who share that same interest. The clubs I mentioned are just a small facet of the hundreds of organizations at Indiana University. Getting involved should be an essential part of any students academic development. It not only provides you an outlet, it also provides an easy way to show who you really are to prospective employers.

Adventures of a Summer Intern: Life in a New City

One of the best things about an internship away from home is that it gives you an opportunity to experience life in a new city. Whether you’re trying to live the dream in New York City or Los Angeles, or exploring a smaller city like Charlotte or Milwaukee, your summer internship lets you test drive the city that you may be calling home after graduation. Throughout my time here at Newell Rubbermaid, I’ve had three months to explore the greater-Charlotte area. From ethnic restaurants to concert venues to wild bars, I’ve tried to experience a wide variety of activities in Charlotte. However, I wasn’t able to make all of these discoveries on my own; I utilized a few different resources to help find all of these things to do, and lucky for you, I’ve listed them below. Hopefully these will at least serve as a starting point for life in your new hometown.

Yelp! — Yelp is my go-to website for finding new restaurants, bars, and clubs. This social networking and review site allows users to post starred reviews of various establishments, along with an explanation of why they assigned the rating they did. What I like most about Yelp is their mobile app for smartphones. You can open it right up on your phone, and then search for restaurants based on your location. For example, say I’m in Dilworth, an area in Charlotte. I can open up the Yelp app and then type in that I’m looking for a cheap, Italian restaurant within 2 miles of me. Yelp will then provide me with a list of restaurants that meet my criteria, and allow me to see how others have rated the restaurant -- usually a tell-tale sign of whether it will be a hit or not. This works equally well when you’re looking for a new bar or club in the area. Make sure to check it out, and feel free to connect with me on Yelp.

Groupon — If you haven’t heard of Groupon by now, it’s safe to say you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so. Groupon, a daily deals website, has become an extremely popular way of nabbing discounts at local restaurants, concert venues, spas, and pretty much any other type of business. Each day, Groupon runs a new deal, say 50% off Indian food at a nearby restaurant. You have 24 hours, or less if it sells out, to purchase this coupon. This is a great site to use to try new activities that you may otherwise have not wanted to splurge on. Recently, a group of us interns bought tickets to see Ke$ha in concert during our last week here. We were able to get the tickets for $24, half off what they were going for on Ticketmaster! Just make sure to check out the reviews of the restaurants or salons they are selling coupons for, as they sometimes don’t have the best reviews.

Co-Workers and Locals — One of the best ways to find fun things to do in a new city is to ask your co-workers, as well as any other locals who have been living in the area for a few years. They usually end up having the best recommendations. Whether it’s a favorite place to grab brunch, a local dive bar that has cheap drink specials and good music, or the nicest beach in the area, these people have usually heard of it, and can offer up tips on the best days to visit, any food you have to try, and even directions on how to get there. It’s always nice to hear about other people’s favorite spots, and it even gives you something to talk about with your co-workers on Monday, when you tell them about how much you enjoyed the café they recommended. Two of the best nights I’ve had out in Charlotte so far were at bars that were suggested by one of my co-workers. And last weekend, one of my roommates and I enjoyed a nice brunch at a place she heard about through her boss. So what are you waiting for? Head over to the break room now and start figuring out your weekend plans!