College is not just a time to go out and party all weekend and study all week.  If you can devote part of your time every week to internships in college you will be far ahead of your peers when you graduate.

College is the perfect opportunity to try a bunch of new career paths while not having to worry as much about the long term commitment.

Many times students don’t know what type of internships they should get while in college so I developed this 5 point guide to help.

Here is a quick guide to evaluating internships in college:

1. Time Commitment: It is important to make sure that it is something that you can handle along with your work load and your social life.  Internships are a great way to build connections and can help you get a foot in the door but if you cannot perform the tasks that are asked of you through the internship then taking it on may actually hurt you more than help.  Do your best to put yourself in a position where you can excel.
2. Relevance to your area of expertise: There are two theories about how much your internship should relate to your area of expertise.  Some believe that you should only take on opportunities that are in your field while others think branching out is a good way to lean about other areas.  I am a proponent of the latter because broadening your understanding of how everything functions is a good career move.  It makes an employee more versatile.  You also never know how things are connected so while a job may not seem to fit with your career plans it may, in fact, be closely related.  I would not dismiss an opportunity simply because it is not in your specific field.
3. Organization type: Startups are where you learn the most.  In no other type of organization are you able to try a variety of different tasks and actually make a difference to a company.  In a startup you are part of a vibrant and growing team.  You have the ability to do what you love to do and you will never have a dull moment.  Big businesses are great for upward mobility and job stability (for the most part) but you can quickly get lost in the shuffle and turn into just another number.
4. Type of work: Getting someone coffee 5 days a week does you no good.  You want a position in which you can learn new material every day.  Working under someone with more experience can be very helpful, but also make sure you are always looking for ways to improve.  This aspect of evaluating internships in college is similar to the time commitment.  You want to be challenged but you don’t want to sign up for something you know you cannot do.
5. Compensation: I hesitated when including this item on to this list.  Compensation should be the least of your worries when making a decision about internships in college.  There is a difference between an internship and job.  Internships are designed to help you grow; they are there to allow you the ability to gain experience and get a significant advantage over your peers.  While compensation is nice, giving up a great opportunity in an area that you are passionate about because of the amount they will or will not pay you is not a smart career move.

Remember that the type of internship that you decide to take on is a reflection of your personal brand.  In the corporate world everyone wants to see some experience.  If you have a way to stand out against the sea of college graduates with a 4 year degree and limited work experience you are a significant step ahead.

Internships in college are the best way to jumpstart your career.

Author: RJ Sherman

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I recently spoke with Thomas Drugan, co-founder of Naymz and author of “Not Just Your-Space: The College Student’s Guide to Managing Online Reputation“. Thomas has been involved in online marketing for over ten years, and considered a pioneer of the personal branding/online reputation management industry. In the interview, we discuss the importance of personal branding,the necessary steps to manage your online reputation and some humorous stories of personal branding gone wrong.

You co-founded Naymz in 2006, after years of working in online search marketing. What problem or mission does Naymz  address?

Naymz launched when Blogging and MySpace were all the rage. Individuals were publishing an unprecedented amount of information about themselves and others online, without fully understanding what consequences that publicly available content might have. As more personal information was becoming available online, others began to see search engines and social networks as a means to conduct background checks.

We began to build out Naymz as a platform to help individuals monitor and build a good online reputation.

We shifted our focus to professionals and added a “social networking” layer to Naymz in the summer of 2007.  Since then we have added many features and enhancements similar to other leading social networking sites while continuing to make personal branding a core focus.

Your E-book discusses this idea of monitoring your image. What are the basic personal branding  steps someone should take to manage their online identity?

1. Assess what information is already out there about you by using search engines and checking social networks.
2. If there are web pages out there that don’t position you in a favorable light that you control, remove or update those pages.
3. If there are web pages out there that don’t position you in a favorable light that you can’t control, ask the owner/administrator to remove it.
4. Next, become your own Personal Branding agent. Get a professional photo taken of you. Write a well crafted biography and post it to all of your profiles. Update your resume. Write blog posts, white papers, or articles which provide thought leadership on whatever industry you are in. Get endorsements and recommendations on sites like LinkedIn and Naymz. Post a video interview of you on YouTube. Comment on others blog posts using thoughtful and insightful responses.
5. Finally, you should always monitor your name online. Create a Google Alert for your name. If you want a more comprehensive tracking check out Trackur.com, SocialMention.com or ReputationDefender.com.

Your eBook includes a few horror stories of personal branding gone wrong. Any favorites?

We had a client in the San Francisco area who was dating three women at the same time, and none of the women knew. One of them had an inclination he was cheating on her and started a blog. It quickly rose to the first position in Google for his name. Within a few weeks, the two other girls found this blog and posted their stories and ruining this guy’s reputation. There were several other woman who dated this guy in the past who joined in on the fun.

In your opinion, what are the MOST important personal branding  steps a recent college graduate should take to make his or her online presence stand out?

1. Absolutely make sure his/her Facebook, MySpace, or other recreational social network they use is cleaned up before starting the interview process. According to a CareerBuilder study from last year, 1 in 4 hiring managers used search engines to screen candidates. One in 10 also checked candidates’ profiles on social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. College was a lot of fun, but one photo or dumb status update can ruin the chance for a new graduate to land that perfect job. Remove those questionable pictures or status updates, or make them private.
2. College grads should also build a presence on social networks like Naymz, LinkedIn, Xing, and other professionally focused networks. These profiles typically rank well in Search Engines and will give the appearance that a college grad takes his/her professional brand seriously.

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Billy Mays could teach us all something about Personal Branding

I thought it would be appropriate to give Billy Mays some well-deserved respect. He was  a master salesman and a great example of the power of Personal Branding.

Mays burst onto the scene and into the public eye as the over-the-top, bearded salesman for OxiClean. He quickly became better known than the products he sold. His larger-than-life sales style and trade-mark beard made him one of the most recognizable personalities in television. Through personal branding he built a successful company.

Say what you will about infomercials. Billy Mays moved merchandise and any product was happy for his stamp-of-approval. Billy Mays was truly a master of his craft, which is something we all might aspire to be.

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This is our second post in a series that will forever continue about students that brand themselves online and truly create a presence worthy of remark!

Meet Jason Kirby who created his own personal professional website. Why you might ask? “The reason behind creating a website about me is simple, I wanted you to find me online. People use Google to search anything and everything, especially companies looking to hire new potential workers.” That is GREAT!

He found me by commenting on my previous post with an intelligent and intriguing response that provoked me to search for him in Google and was so impressed with what I found that I had to share it with everyone. So lets break his online presence down and find out what we can learn from Jason.

This is directly from his “Who Am I?” tab.

“My name is Jason Ryan Kirby I reside in the beautiful city of San Diego, Ca. I am currently majoring in Entrepreneurial Management at San Diego State University. I am young, motivated, dedicated, self-disciplined and optimistic individual. I love life and everything it has to offer and wish I had more than 24 hours in a day to take advantage of my time here on Earth. I am a family man at heart and put family before everything because without family I am nothing.”

We now know where he is from and currently what he is studying from this short professional bio. The next few sentences describe his traits, personality and his strong beliefs which would impress any employer who stumbled upon it.

If an employer was to stumble upon it they would be able to view is resume as well without asking for it. He has taken the liberty to post his resume online so that anyone can view his past experiences. Web resumes are much more appealing than a paper resume as you have the ability to expand on your experiences rather then being confined to a single piece of paper. You can also see from his tabs on the right that he has a blog and even started his own company. Creating your own blog is a great way to gain visibility and credibility at the same time if you write meaningful and thought provoking content, which he has.

And the last thing that I would like to point out is the reach of his online presence. He has links to all the major social networking sites right on his website so that anyone can connect with him on multiple levels. While I am not friends with him on Facebook (yet!), I would assume that he has nothing incriminating on his site as he is a young professional who values his online presence and professional career. I did however immediately connect with him on LinkedIn WITH a personalized message telling him why I wanted to connect with him. Also I followed him on Twitter because he has a lot of relevant and informative tweets and he RT’s ours!

I feel a big part of personal branding is not only trying to advances ones own career but being humble enough to advocate others as well. So with that being said, I wish Mr. Kirby the best of luck with his endeavors and encourage everyone to do as he has. Please check out Jason’s personal professional website.

Please check out our other post on student branding:

• What you can learn from a well branded student Meaghan Burns

Author: Trace Cohen

Trace has always been fascinated with technology and how stuff works. Once he gets his hands on a new gadget, rest assured it will be taken apart and put back together in a matter of minutes. Trace is a hands-on kind of guy whose first love was video games, which he loves to this day.

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