InternshipRatings.com

By Ariel Diaz

Co-Founder and CEO

YouCastr.com

There is a lot of very specific ‘how to’ for internships, so I will offer a slightly more general and unconventional approach to thinking about internships.

The advantages of internships
Internships offer a very low barrier way to try something. This means you can try out new things that you are unsure of, or do something fun that you don’t really know how to turn into a career. At worst, you’ll waste a few months, but even learning that you don’t want to do something is valuable. Additionally, internships also offer a taste of real world experience before actually getting there, which can help ease the transition.

Take advantage of both of those things. If you are unsure of a career path, use internships to experiment and try different things. If you are certain, use your internships to work towards that.

Create an ‘elevator pitch’ about yourself
A rule of thumb for startups is to have a really compelling, ‘elevator pitch’, that should be able to explain what you do and why it’s interesting in one sentence. It has to be memorable, clear, and compelling, or you’ll miss out on potential investors and customers. Do that for yourself. Summarize your internships, resume and career goals in one sentence. Share it with others.

Use internships to support your story
The key is to look at internships as a way to support your story, your elevator pitch. It’s not just a resume or a list of high profile companies. Stories are important because that is how people remember what you are doing and what you want to do. Stories let people absorb new things into their existing framework. The more compelling the story is, the more you can take charge of how people categorize and remember you.

Work your network to get the word out
Networking is not a bad word, it’s much more important than people realize. It is more than just having 800 friends on Facebook, it’s about cultivating and maintaining relationships, online and off. More often than you will imagine, you will have mutual friends with potential employers and customers, and having a positive word is very valuable. Finally, personal, individual introductions are infinitely more valuable than cold emails and resumes, and are more likely to get you an interview, call, internship, or job.

Think about the bigger picture
Getting to college is a pretty linear process. It’s pretty clear what the goals and requirements are before and during your college years. Careers, on the other hand, are not linear. There are a million paths to take. Internships are not just things you do to pad a resume and achieve a linear goal. Once you see it that way, the priorities quickly shift from finding the internships that look best on paper, to the ones that are most interesting to you personally.

If you are able to use internships to create a unique, dynamic, and consistent story, you’ll be a lot more memorable, a lot more interesting, and a whole lot more likely to achieve your career goals.

Adam Zand

Consultant,

Almost Ubiquitous

ThisDudeAbides.Zand@gmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/2008adamzand

The last time this wonderful site let me ruin its good reputation, my byline looked at the importance of meetings for observing motivations and picking mentors. This time, I’m going to hand over the article to someone who should be your mentor on how to get a job following your internship.

Without further delay (besides, I need to go look at Facebook, LinkedIn, Utterz and Twitter feeds for my job leads), let me introduce and interview Ashley Girard (http://www.linkedin.com/in/angirard). Ashley is an account coordinator at SHIFT Communications (usually hiring at all levels!) and one of my former interns and personal inspirations while we were at Topaz Partners …

 1. Ashley, how did you end your internships at SHIFT Communications and Topaz Partners? For example, did you have or ask for evaluations and exit interviews? Northeastern University requires an evaluation for its co-op program, but both Topaz Partners and SHIFT Communications provided me with an exit interview and went through the evaluation with me. They also asked me for my feedback based on my experience.

 2. How did you stay in contact with people you interned for? E-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, phone, events?  Facebook has really taken off in the past year or so in the professional realm, so before that, I maintained contact through e-mail and networking events. 

3. Did you pay more attention to some people? H.R., mentors, friends, boss? My SHIFT internship was 2004, Topaz in 2005 and I graduated in May 2007.  I stayed in contact with people I worked most directly with (as opposed to H.R.), because if there were any openings/industry insight, they were more apt to clue me in since we had the relationship. My current boss at SHIFT was also the intern coordinator when I was here, so she already knew my working style, etc.

4. How did the companies stay in touch with you? The individuals, not so much the companies stayed in touch with me. It would have been nice to have been added to any newsletters, etc. I also had RSS feeds set up so if any big news were to hit, I would be on top of it.

 5. Did anything change the closer you got to graduation? Nothing really changed closer to graduation other than I made it clear I was beginning my career quest.  People from both companies were helpful and provided me with opportunities inside, and outside, of their companies. 

6. Anything else you want to add about the importance of internships for your career path? I think that with the job market being so competitive today, internships are a great way to get a “leg up” on the competition. Let’s say I graduate the same year as someone else, same major, maybe even a lower GPA, etc. - except, I have two internships under my belt. I’m probably the closer to ideal candidate because I have real-world experience, and there’s not necessarily as much training involved when I am taken on. Through previous internships, I should be able to comprehend the baseline responsibilities and office life.

 7. What is your title at SHIFT and brief career goals? I just had my one-year anniversary at SHIFT as an Account Coordinator – I’m very happy here. I would say my “brief” career goals are to continue working in an environment were I can actively contribute to the company, as well as continuously develop and learn in my current position.

Well, that’s the easiest byline I’ve worked on because Ashley did all the work – and she also did hard work during and after her internships. Fair Disclosure: It only slightly pained me to serve as one of her references for SHIFT, since back then I wanted her to work at my previous firm, Topaz.

I hope the messages about working hard and staying in contact with your internship hosts came through above. So, Intern Class of 2008, get those e-mail and social networks cooking and start drafting update notes for sending after you’re done. Get a Job!

By Francine Blume, PhD

Director of Experiential Education

American University, Washington, DC

You’ve amazed, delighted and thrilled! You’ve saved a multi-million dollar account! You’ve prevented international incidents!

Or maybe you caused an international incident. Ooops.

Whether you’ve shined, maintained, or had challenges, there are things you need to have done before you walk out those internship doors for good.

Ask for feedback

Know what the organization is going to say about you, good and bad. Make sure you have at least one opportunity for an evaluation before you leave. Ask your supervisor about your strengths, areas where you grew, and areas that you should continue developing. Be open, don’t argue if you disagree. This isn’t the time. (If your supervisor has facts completely wrong, be very diplomatic about setting the record straight. Ideally, any conflicts would have already surfaced and been addressed.) Ask for examples if you aren’t clear what your supervisor means. Definitely thank your supervisor for the feedback, and if appropriate, ask if you can use him or her as a reference (see below).

Prepare for the next internship or job

Identify at least one person who would be willing to write you a letter of reference. Have it in your hand before you leave. Never give up your right to see what references say about you. (I had a friend that was using a reference repeatedly, but unbeknownst to him, the reference was very negative, and he had a terrible time getting jobs.) If you’d like to come back, either as an intern or an employee, express that. And if there won’t be openings, be sure to ask about other individuals and organizations with whom you may want to network. Ask about professional associations that you might want to join, and events that might be interesting. As soon as you can, update your resume to include this most recent internship.

Leave on the best of terms

You want them feeling great about you after you’ve left, and not grumbling because they’re cleaning up after you. Make sure all your work is done, or at least at a stage that can easily be handed off to someone else with clear instructions. Gather an informal portfolio of your work products, and make sure you have permission to use them. Thank everyone with whom you worked and interacted. Thank you notes on cards are always appreciated and stand out from emails. Keep in touch from time to time with an email, letting them know what you’re up to. This applies whether or not you had a positive experience, because you never know when and how you’ll run into these people again.

Spread the word!

If you had a great experience, tell your friends! Tell your department! Tell your Career Center. Make a video! Blog! If you wouldn’t recommend the site, definitely tell your school, but be discreet about putting anything negative in public forums with your name. Be as constructive and professional as you can. And, of course, rate your internship at InternshipRatings.com!

Then it’s on to the next adventure! Good luck!

By Michael True

Director of Internship Center

Messiah College 

Much of what we do in life involves first impressions.  Oftentimes, the first impression an employer has of us is the email we send to them with our resume.  Of course, that just begins the long road of email correspondence.  Use care when composing emails.  Your supervisor and co-workers will appreciate it.

* Do not send anything that you would not be comfortable seeing in tomorrow’s headlines. Email is more like a postcard than a sealed envelope with a letter in it.

* Treat email like any other business communication; watch your spelling and grammar as your communications skills will come through in your email.  Do not use instant message or texting abbreviations.

* Read what you write before you send it.

* Break up the text by using short lines and paragraphs; this makes it easier for the recipient to read.

* Be sure to fill in the “Subject” line with concise and informative language; this allows the recipient to file, prioritize, and retrieve easily. It is considered rude to leave the subject line blank.

* Writing in all UPPERCASE and or BOLD letters is considered SHOUTING at the recipient.

* Do not forward or edit an email without the original sender’s consent.

* Do not send chain emails. These are emails that tell you to forward the information to many other people.

* Remember that all laws that pertain to discrimination, defamation, and harassment (verbal, emotional, and sexual) pertain to electronic communication as well.

Remember, the #1 skill employers look for in new hires is excellent communication - written and verbal.  Email is in that writing skill category.

Best wishes!

By Heather Krasna, 

Director of Career Services, Evans School Of Public Affairs

University of Washington 

We’ve all had that dream where you see yourself sitting down to take a midterm exam, but you completely forgot to study for the class.  Second only to this nightmare is the one where you try really hard to get an internship, only to find out that the one you accepted wasn’t “worth the coffee.”™ 

Sometimes it’s easy to tell that the internship isn’t what you were expecting: your employer is asking you to pick up his/her laundry, it’s been made clear to you that you will continue filing papers no matter how much you’d like to learn, or the supervisor has said something downright disrespectful to you.  If that’s your situation, skip to the last paragraph of this post.  Sometimes, though, it’s worth taking a moment to think about what does make an internship worthworth doing and whether there might be something you could do to make your internship more worthwhile.

First off, try to be open-minded in the beginning of your internship.  Sometimes you have to prove yourself before the employer will trust you with juicy projects or recognize your capability, and sometimes an employer just hasn’t thought through what an intern like you might be capable of.  If you spend the first few weeks doing your best job, being eager to take on new projects, and trying to be enthusiastic, hopefully the employer will naturally begin to trust you with more and more interesting work.  Once you’ve been at the internship for a little while, though, the time it ripe to ask yourself some questions. 

Is your internship helping you: 

• • learn new skills, 
• • build networking contacts, 
• • build positive references, 
• • add to your resume, 
• • get a firsthand look at potential employers, 
• • possibly lead to a full-time job, 
• • decide whether or not you like this type of work, or 
• • decide if you like your possible major?  

If you said “no” to some of these questions, is there anything you could possibly do to change that answer to a yes?  For example, are you waiting for your boss to introduce you around, or do you think you could take the initiative and introduce yourself to some of your colleagues to improve your network?  Or, if you approach your supervisor in a polite and eager manner, and mention how much you would love to learn about their marketing plan (or whatever), could your internship supervisor perhaps be impressed with your initiative and give you more exciting things to do?

If, however, you said no to each question, and have also tried whatever you can to improve your situation, and have been gettinggotten nowhere, then you have to make a tough decision.  Is it worth suffering through this internship just to put something on your résumé?  Do you think you would at least get a good reference from your supervisor, or are things so bad that you should just cut your losses?  

If you actually feel so uncomfortable that you can’t bring yourself to continue working at the company, then it’s probably time to quit.  Try talking it over first with a friend, a professor, or a career counselor at your college’s career center.  If you are registered to receive college credit for the internship, definitely make your professor aware of the situation ASAP (you might get an incomplete grade in the class, but most professors won’t punish you for getting into a bad internship situation).  Start looking around for a new internship and see what’s available.  Many companies post internships throughout the year, so you may be surprised what’s available mid-semester.  If it’s too late to get another internship this semester, start looking at next semester and focus on your search for a new opportunity.  And  if you got your bad internship through your college’s career center, it’s essential to tell your college’s internship coordinator so that future students won’t also suffer– and don’t forget to rate your internship at InternshipRatings.com!

By Adam Zand
Consultant

Everything I learned about Interning, I learned during meetings – and from listening to Howard Stern.

On May 7 Antonio Pierce, a linebacker for the N.Y. Giants with an interest in broadcasting, did a one-day internship at “The Howard Stern Show.” His tasks included answering phones, teaching staffers how to throw a football and finally towel snapping “Sal and Richard” of the show who had scammed him earlier in the day with prank calls and requests for coffee. As he told the crew, “I figured, win the Super Bowl, do some more hard work.” Being a New England Patriots fan and someone who considers Stern and his crew to be members of my family, I’m even more jealous of this guy. My revenge is that I’m going to share some internship success advice (when you hear that “a” word, do as Chris Rock advises and “Run!!!”) with you. I’ll be upset if anyone shares it with Antonio.

Get invited to meetings
Asking to attend a meeting will get you noticed. Folks at your job will actually be shocked. They all hate meetings – it’s the time of day when they think nothing happens. They exhibit this by bringing in a laptop (“I’m taking notes”) or sneaking peeks under the table at their BlackBerry. If you can get into the room, the magic of meetings can happen for you.

Listen and take great notes at meetings
As mentioned, the staffers hate these things. They really only want to hear themselves talk or impress a supervisor or delegate a task and get back to the safety of their desks, Aeron chairs. They dread getting assigned a new initiative in the meeting. So, how do you as the office nOOb help them survive the process? You take amazing notes and offer to share them when you go to their offices after the meeting concludes. They will appreciate this act of kindness and organization as they can check to see the brilliant things they said and make sure they weren’t assigned something or required to report results back to the boss.

Mind meld during meetings
Here’s the key point in this entire goofy article - The mind meld analogy (any old school Star Trek fans exist on www.InternshipRatings.com?) isn’t too far off. Your most important career development task is imagining what everyone is thinking and what motivates them in the meeting. Once you’ve solved this puzzle, you get to pick a few people to probe (a different sci-fi procedure) with questions about their day jobs and career path. Check how they present themselves in the meetings and later if you like what they do for work. If you do, then you probably want to mirror their behavior, actions and maybe their career path. Pay particular attention when your mentor proposes a new idea at a meeting that will make the company some money or save money or make the bosses look good. That might be another article from me, but those are the only three things that us “professionals” actually need to do at work to prosper!

Some day you get to host your own meetings
So, if you’re cruising on a rudderless intern ship, take immediate action before the summer ends (and you forget everything under a College-mandated haze of Red Bulls and “flavorings.”)
1. Get invited to meetings – especially the ones that have food
2. Listen and take great notes – bring a pen as old-timers like me get nervous when faced with the backs of glowing laptops
3. Mind meld during meetings – don’t stare or zone out too much as the meeting will eventually end.

For more information on meeting etiquette check out this article I was quoted in from Boston Business Journal and better yet stay in touch with me on Facebook, TalkShoe or Utterz.

Enjoy the meeting!

Cheers,
Adam Zand
ThisDudeAbides.Zand@gmail.com

By Carol Cone
Chairman and Founder
Cone, Inc.

Early June marked the summer term for Cone’s internship program. How exciting to see so many bright young women and men gathering in our lobby. “Where are you at school?” I asked. BU, Emerson, Rochester, BC, Michigan State, among others. They were undergrads and graduate students joining our firm to get a deep immersion in a strategy and communications agency.

For a moment I reflected on the first day of my internship, 31 years ago. I joined Newsome and Company, New England’s top marketing communications firm. There I learned the business from the ground up. From copying and filing, to research and writing brochures, press releases, bios. From there, I moved up quickly and researched event sponsorship opportunities for clients.

Two months later fate crossed my office door, which was a glorified broom closet. Small. Windowless. (So your space doesn’t matter. It is the work you’re exposed to.)

Salomon, the ski equipment company, contacted us looking for a communications partner. As one of the few skiers on staff, and a good one I might say, I was assigned to a vice-president on the pitch team which is a the formal presentation to win the business. We slaved, what seemed to me hundreds of hours (probably not at all but when you are a rookie, who can keep track of time?) to prepare. And we prevailed!.

I was hired to be the agency’s account executive on Salomon. What joy and luck too. (Being in the right place at the right time doesn’t hurt a career.) I had to go to industry trade shows exhibiting the newest in ski equipment, attended conferences at ski resorts like Vail, and worked with editors and industry vips, to demonstrate new products. I even was part of the Salomon communications team at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

I worked for that agency for three years until I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and started Cone in 1980. I was the third generation in my family to start a business!

Today, we are 100 strong, focused on helping organizations, for profits and non profits build trusted relationships with their stakeholders. At the core of Cone is our work with causes. That is my true love and passion. Focused on cause marketing since 1982 (which we now call Cause Branding) has gained us the mantle of the nation’s top cause consultancy creating initiatives like the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade ( in 50 countries around the world), Reebok’s human rights programs, American Heart’s Go Red for Women and PNC Grow up Great are just a few. All told, our cause work has: started people walking for health and fitness, taking better care of themselves to lower their risk of heart disease, as well as helping children gain a solid early start on their education. Our programs have also raised more than $750 million for causes. (for more information go to www.coneinc.com or our blog: doyoustandforsomething.com)

I have been called the “Mother of Cause Marketing” and it all began with my internship.So you see, an internship can be the launching pad for a career, an industry and a means to change the world, one person at a time.

So when I met the founders and learned about Internshipratings.com I had to participate.

I am totally pro intern because of my experience.  Cone has a robust program, hosting approximately 15 students a semester, three times a year.  We take this responsibility very seriously, assigning our interns to accounts where they get real work in a team environment.  We even have mid term evaluations by our staff and make mid-course improvements to the internship experience, if necessary.

I also host a meeting each semester  – lunch or breakfast as we love meetings with food here — to tell my story and more importantly share my thoughts about how to get a job.

Companies who develop and manage robust intern programs create a wonderful opportunity for young professionals to trial their skills in differing environments. As most college grads leave school without a clear idea of a career path, internships provide a taste of industries, organization cultures, internal politics and various work-styles.

Below find some of my tips to get the most from your internship…..as you never know where the experience will take you.

1. Try multiple internships during college.  Test and learn the industries and working environments that are interesting to you.

2. Participate fully in the experience.  Arrive daily with enthusiasm and a can do attitude no matter what you are doing.

3.Ask for a full time staffer to be your mentor, no matter what their age.  Take them to lunch and ask for their help throughout your time with the firm.

4. Buddy up with another intern or a few.  Share the good and the not so good. Learn from each other and the work.

5. Keep a journal of your experience.  I did and I love to look back upon that time and see what I was feeling and learning.

6. Read. Read. Read.  Learn about the organization you are working for even before the first day.  Set up Google push alerts about the company and their industry.  Devour their website.  Read news about them.  What are their strengths?.  Where are they going?.  How might you help?.

7. While you may be short on experience, you do bring some great knowledge to the company.  First and foremost you are a millennial and a digital native (I assume.) You have consumer tastes you can share.  Perhaps you can help your workplace become more informed about social networking.  Perhaps you have an idea for the company website to enhance it via new media applications.

8. Write.  Write.  Write.  Unfortunately the art of persuasive writing is being lost.  And in business, the ability to write compelling copy is critical….whether a brief email, a speech, an analysis of a report or a topline of an industry.  Volunteer to write lots.

9. Start your portfolio now, if you haven’t already.  Anything that you do during your internship, writing, research, graphics, analysis, add to your portfolio.  Build it over your college years and be sure to make it very neat and as sophisticated a representation of how you think and what you know.  And if you are really a digital native, put your portfolio online.

10. Start building your contact database.  Linked In or others.  Even in an internship you are beginning to network. You never know when you will find someone who will offer to connect you with someone else to launch your career.

And lastly, ask for real work, as challenging as you can handle.  And work with your team – interns and full time staff – as the project evolves.  Collaboration is one of the secrets to my success and is more important than ever today. Nobody corners the market on new ideas and solutions.  Teams who can candidly question and share can create amazing results.

I could go on and on, but I was told to keep it short.  I hope this list helps you to gain a solid start with any of your internships.

And don’t forget to ask your workplace whether they hire from their intern pool.  We do. Some of our most talented staff have started as interns.

Enjoy. And Learn.  

Good luck with your quest to find your personal passion. 

By Nora K. Jemison  
Director, Experiential Education & Employer Outreach  
New York Institute of Technology

 Q. Yikes! It’s almost summer and I haven’t found an internship! What do I doooooooooo?

A. First and foremost, don’t panic. Keep looking. Thanks to the hot job market in the high tech fields, it’s possible to find “last minute” internship opportunities even right up through July. Think about it: sometimes a student who found an internship may have decided to turn down the opportunity for whatever reason, leaving a frustrated employer scrambling for a replacement. Also, employers are just like students — sometimes they procrastinate. If you’re prepared to take advantage of these opportunities, you can score a last-minute internship easily.

Visit your college’s career office ASAP to find out about still-available internships. Also, Craigslist.org is a great place to find “last minute” opportunities. There’s no fee or delay to post positions there, so employers who are in a bind will more often post there than someplace like Dice.com, Monster.com, or your local paper.

But okay. So let’s say for whatever reason that you still don’t find an internship for the summer. You can still gain experience via personal projects. Here are some examples.

The “Junior Bill Gates” Plan: Want to run your own tech startup someday? Start now — spend the summer researching how to write a successful business plan, and write up one for your dream business. For bonus points, go ahead and use this plan to pitch for a business loan at your bank, or with a potential investor (you might want to start with someone who’s currently investing in you… like a parent). If you’re really feeling daring, enlist friends to become part of your “development team” and get them involved — for example, a graphic design major can help you build a nice-looking website to showcase your product (and gain some useful experience herself). A business major can help you with the business plan and investor pitch.

The REALLY Hardcore Gamer Plan: Like video games? Try writing one of your own. You may have to teach yourself some skills that you don’t yet know, like computer graphics or advanced programming techniques — but that’s OK, because then you’ll be able to add these new skills to your resume at the end of the summer, and you’ll get better grades when you finally do take these classes. If your idea is really hot, enlist a team of other students to help you with it — other programmers, computer animation majors, maybe some business majors looking to build a business plan. For bonus points, start networking with professional gamers, by joining your local chapter of the International Game Developers Association (igda.org) and attending their networking functions. These events are usually fun and casual and welcoming to bright-eyed students, and pro game people love to talk about their work. You may even find some mentors willing to help you out… or buy your idea.

The Chatty Cathy Plan: If you’re a techie who’s a little more verbal/social than most, use your l33t communications skills to kick-start your career with a weblog. Come up with a catchy title and interesting subject matter, and write posts which showcase your ability to be articulate, witty, and to “hook” an audience. Try not to replicate the tech blogs that are already out there; put your own unique spin on things. For example, let’s say you’re a gamer who’s not part of the typical young white male demographic, and you want the world to know what you think about the latest hottest stuff. Or let’s say you have poetic leanings, and decide to post weekly haikus about circuit design. (Hey, I’d read it.) Bonus points: teach yourself how to use some blogging technology/technique that’s in high demand these days, like Movable Type, Wordpress, or search engine optimization. Your next internship search should go a lot better with those on your resume.

Hope this gives you some ideas. With a little passion and intiative — attributes that employers really love to see — you can get great experience whether you have a summer internship or not. And since personal projects can go on your resume (ask a career counselor how to showcase this experience), think of them as your own custom-built internship!

I recently read this short article in the Wells Fargo Daily Advantage publication. I have heard from professors and professionals the importance of a good handshake, but somewhat dismissed the tip. A new study conducted by Greg Stewart emphasizes the handshake as a major factor in the hiring process. Since the internship is considered a summer long interview, think about the kind of first impression your handshake will give.

Pssst, here’s a hot tip for people interviewing for jobs. When you meet the interviewer, give a good hearty handshake. A study conducted by Greg Stewart, a professor of management at the University of Iowa, found that a firm handshake is the key to getting the offer. The professor tested 98 students by having them interview with business people and also shake hands with people trained to rate handshakes. Both groups rated each student’s performance and hireability, and they rated the students with strong handshakes as the most hirable. Says Stewart: “We probably don’t consciously remember a person’s handshake or whether it was good or bad, but the handshake is one of the first non-verbal clues we get about the person’s overall personality. And that impression is what we remember.” (The full results of the study will be published in the September issue of The Journal of Applied Psychology.)

According to Stewart, you can execute a good handshake by following a few simple rules:

1. Form a complete and firm grip (no finger squeezers, no dead mice)

2. Make a vigorous up and down movement (but remember you’re not chopping wood)

3. Make eye contact (no I’m-the-dude sunglasses or redeye)

–Stephanie

By Joe Grimaldi
Chief Executive Officer
Mullen

Here are some thoughts from Joe Grimaldi who is the CEO at Mullen. Mullen is a renowned advertising agency with locations in Massachussetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. As a huge supporter the internship program, Joe actively engages with interns on various occasions. He speaks to them during their first week during a lunch and learn session, judges their final new business presentation, and loves to get to know them in the cafeteria.

1. What do you feel is the most differentiating feature about Mullen’s internship program, and how has this benefited the students, and the agency?

“We care about the education the interns get and put time, energy and senior management involvement into it. We need the best people to come into the business if we are to be a competitive industry, and the best way to do that is to help shape them. It’s an industry cause.”

2. Did you intern anywhere before you started working? If so, where? What was it like?

“No. I got lucky and walked out of school in Manhattan and into the media department of a top 5 agency.”

3. Name one trait you love to see in your interns, but feel you don’t see enough of?

“Two things, actually: 1) Being a sponge that absorbs everything with unbridled enthusiasm and organized thought. 2) The ability to voice original thought and ideas in a way that is not easily dismissed by people with significantly more experience.”