Recently in Intern Category

Penn State students find opportunities on campus to begin a professional career.  At University Park, for example, many colleges offer career fairs for students to meet recruiters, mock interviews to refine student introductions, and résumé review and feedback sessions. 

This is also possible at the campus-wide level in the Division of Student Affairs Career Services.  The summary below can help orient students:

1.     Résumé:  The purpose of the résumé is to quickly and effectively communicate an individual's unique strengths to a target organization.  The résumé "advertisement" is "consumed" in less than twenty seconds.  It is rare, in my experience, for an individual to craft a "perfect résumé" absent outside feedback.  My suggestion is to begin with a college (e.g., IST Résumé Samples) or university template, or edit one at Microsoft Office.  Next, present the résumé for feedback to many people who know you (e.g., family, faculty) AND who know résumés (e.g., career counselors, recruiters).  Since it is your résumé, you decide which recommendations to actually implement.  The résumé is a work in progress that is never fully done, especially as new skills and experiences are added.  Thus, expect to continue making improvements to your résumé in perpetuity.

2.     Career Fairs:  The purpose of the career fair is to connect students with organizations that have full time, co-op (two semester) and intern (one semester) employment opportunities.  Multiple University Park career fairs are offered by Student Affairs at the beginning of each semester.  In addition, some departments (e.g., Smeal's Supply Chain) and colleges (e.g., IST's Fall ProExpo and Spring Future Forum) may also host career fairs for their students.

3.     Strategy:    The purpose of a strategy is to prepare the student prior to meeting recruiters. The strategy has two parts:  first, learn about the company, and second, practice promoting the student's unique strengths.  The former can be found at company websites, and the latter through Penn State "30-Second Introduction" tips.  The introduction, and the résumé objective, quickly "qualify" organizations by explaining the student's employment objective (e.g., full time, co-op, internship), availability date to begin employment, and interest or degree.  If any of these do not meet an organization's need, the student can immediately move on to the next organization.

4.     Advocate Yourself:  The purpose of meeting recruiters in person is to exude confidence in you (i.e., the "product").  Confidence, passion and enthusiasm, as every advertising pitchman knows, are infectious.  Unfortunately, the absence of these is infectious in a bad way.  Job candidates need to know two or three top personal strengths (e.g., refer to these nine action verb categories for ideas), and have several personal supporting stories ready (i.e., consider using the S.T.A.R. model).  Since "practice makes perfect," practice "the pitch" alone (e.g., in front of a mirror), with friends, and counselors.  Attend as many career fairs as possible to practice "live" with recruiters.  In time the handshake, eye contact, voice, body language, and stories will all combine to your maximum benefit.

5.     GPA:  The purpose of GPA is to summarize classroom performance given the context of a student's unique undergraduate commitments.  GPA (grade point average) is not a measure of intelligence (i.e., all college students are intelligent).  It is easy to misconstrue many metrics in life, including GPA.  In my opinion, the GPA does not summarize hire criteria such as creativity or passion.  GPA is important, but it is only part of a unique student's total "package."  A student that has worked hard and been active should never feel inferior because of a GPA.   A recruiter from a major technical company laughed and agreed when I shared this common student misunderstanding.  He told me they had just hired a student with a 2.7/4.0 GPA, because of excellence in the student's "total package."

My Penn State experience began with the assumption that I would not be accepted at Penn State's University Park campus.  I felt I had not applied myself in high school enough.  Three years later, I not only earned admittance but am a member of a student club (paintballing), and with the support of Dr. Glantz, joined the Penn State Schreyer Honors College through the "junior gateway."

With no idea what to major in, I began college in the Division of Undergraduate Studies.  I was considering either a business or science major (e.g., physics or chemical engineering).

I spent my first year completing coursework that would give me a feel for both schools. One of the courses I took freshman year was Dr. Glantz's Introduction to Business Information Systems (MIS 204).  This course really opened my eyes up to what I could expect in the business world. In fact, the 'attitude' of the course helped me more than the standard course material itself. The experiences of Dr. Glantz, and the way he related material, helped guide my college and major selection. I selected the Smeal College of Business over Science, with plans to major in MIS (management information systems), and minor in Supply Chain (i.e., business logistics).  With this in mind, I continued completing the general "entrance to major" courses Smeal requires.

One point that I took away from the lectures of Dr. Glantz, and others, is the importance of "getting involved."  I cannot agree with this more! Unfortunately, only a few students seem to actually take advantage of the many Penn State opportunities.

I spent my first year getting used to college life, focusing on classes, and becoming involved with clubs. If I were to do it again, I would probably also attend the career fairs, and create more professor relationships.  

I prepared my resume for my sophomore year in time for both the University Career Fair (held in the Bryce Jordan Center), and the Smeal Supply Chain and Information Systems Career Fair.  Initially the fairs were frustrating since I seemed to lack necessary experience for an internship.  With an interest in MIS, I was fortunate to interview with a financial company's technical department.  However, the technical questions and programming expectations helped me realize that MIS was not for me!  This result, combined with my interest in logistics, guided me to switch majors to Supply Chain.  Although I did not actually get a job from the sophomore year career fairs, they were still valuable in shaping my major selection, as well as providing invaluable interviewing practice.

I was able to use my family network to intern in logistics the summer after my sophomore year at Philadelphia's Temple University Hospital. This allowed me to see how difficult it is to manage hospital supply chains.  One of the programs I worked on was implementing a bar coding system for nurses to track inventory.  System inaccuracies and inventory back-logs resulted from nurses not using the system.

It was before my junior year that I decided to apply to the Schreyer Honors College.  This seemed like a good idea, since I had put in a lot of effort to succeed at Penn State and also got involved.  The Junior Gateway process, given the minimum GPA requirements, is not that difficult.  It included, as I recall, two essays and a professor recommendation.  I took care to write and rewrite each essay several times before submitting them.  I earned admission to the Schreyer Honors College during the summer before my junior year.

I returned to the career fairs junior year with a resume that now included internship experience and Honors College enrollment. This is important as a student's GPA is only used to get a foot in the door.

What a difference a year made!  At my junior year career fairs, I interviewed and received internship/ co-op offers from Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Honeywell, Church and Dwight, and WalMart.  These interviews included discussion of leadership experience as past-president of the Paintball Club, Temple internship experience, and honors research conducted with Dr. Felisa Preciado. I am now spending the summer before my senior year in an internship at Unilever as an International Customer Service Analyst.

Growing up in a "Penn State family," where my four other siblings and my parents all attended Penn State, it is hard to believe I can now call myself a Penn State alum!  Graduating in May 2011 with a B.S. in Accounting, I am now moving into the "real world" and I am ready for the challenges I have ahead of me.  I am eager to begin my career in August with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Advisory practice in New York City! 

When you first begin your college life at Penn State, it can seem overwhelming.  It is important to make a large school feel small and to seek out the opportunities that Penn State has to offer.   In the September 2010 Wall Street Journal article, "Penn State Tops Recruiter Rankings", recruiters ranked Penn State number one describing students as, "bright, well-rounded students...with the core competencies we desire".  This article explains our ability to fit into a wide array of corporate cultures.   It is easy to find yourself lost in the crowd at a big school.  The qualities you will develop now will help you transition to the corporate world. 

For three semesters as an MIS Teaching Intern for Dr. Glantz, I was lucky to have a professor that always provided his students with encouragement and support.  It is important to build relationships with your professors.  They can give you direction on how to best become involved with school as well as advice from their own life experience.  It is easy to rush in and out of class and to never really know your professors.  You will be surprised at how beneficial it is to introduce yourself!  Make sure to ask questions and to learn more in professor office hours. 

Dr. Glantz encouraged me to become involved at Penn State and to talk with many companies at the career fair.  The more experience and practice you have, the easier it becomes.  Take advantage of every opportunity including internships and co-ops.  I believe that the offer I received from PwC was a direct reflection of my experience as a summer intern at Ernst & Young in their audit practice, and my spring co-op that I completed at General Electric's Energy Headquarters in controllership.

I can't wait to start with PwC in NYC!  I will always bleed blue and white.  Penn State forever!

Rising Smeal junior Michelle Mayer sent me this photo having fun at Houston's Jack in the Box, and she has a lot to be happy about!  Michelle took my advice in class to begin career preparations as soon as possible, including participating in career fairs and joining PSU student interest groups (SIGs).

I think Michelle would agree that a student's first career fair can be quite intimidating, unfortunately, and perhaps one reason why many students may wish to pass or defer this experience.  My impression, however, is that interviewing gets easier with practice.  If a student begins interviewing as a sophomore they will find they are "cool cucumbers" senior year when it really matters.

So Michelle practiced interviewing at a career fair, and followed through by joining the MISA (Management Information System Association) SIG.  As a result, not only did Michelle receive an internship as a sophomore (at Shell in Houston - hence the photo), but she is also a PPG Scholarship recipient and 2010 internship candidate!

Andrew Morris is currently a senior Supply Chain & Information Systems student with an Information Systems Management minor.  I was his MIS 390 professor last spring, and asked him to write about his summer internship at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Plainsboro, New Jersey where he was able to put into practice some of the course concepts.

 Andrew worked in the Global Product Planners department that is responsible for planning the inventory for the company's products.  Andrew worked with the enterprise resource planning software SAP.  He found this to be most interesting after hearing so much about it.  He primarily dealt with the Bill of Materials and how it is costed.  Andrew's key responsibility was tracing the manufacturing cycle of key internally manufactured and actively managed products

 Andrew also used Microsoft's Excel and Access daily.  He says he "got to meet a lot of great people and I learned a lot and I definitely think I will benefit from this in the future."