How to Get an Internship Without Any Experience

How to Get an Internship Without Any ExperienceHow to Get an Internship Without Any ExperienceAre you struggling to find an internship because you dont have any work experience? When almost every internship requires some level of experience, it can seem impossible to make your foray into the working world. However, if you frame the experiences you do have by highlighting your skills that would be useful in a work setting, youll find that landing an internship is anything but impossible. Here are some ways you can build out your rsum to become a mora desirable candidate for an internship, all while youre still in school.Join a clubIf youre not already part of one, join an extracurricular group on campus. Even if the activity seems unrelated to the industry youre trying to enter, it can provide you with transferable skills that you can leverage in a job interview or cover letter. For example, if youre an athlete, you can emphasize your ability to work well on a team or serve as a leade r, both of which are skills that apply to a work setting.Get a student jobStudent employment can offer similar benefits to extracurricular clubs in terms of helping you excel in the internship application process. Yet a job provides some additional advantages, such as actual work experience that you can list when applying for an internship. No matter what your student job, youll report to a teamberater who can advocate for you and attest to your capabilities down the line. Many companies will ask you to provide references as part of your internship application, and your supervisor can serve as a wonderful resource for you.Take relevant classesTake advantage of any classes your school offers that are pertinent to the industry you wish to enter. You can list these on your rsum and reference them in an interview to demonstrate your initiative to learn as much as you can about a certain field. If you attend a liberal arts school that offers no preprofessional courses, that does not mean your classes are useless to your application process. Consider how you can leverage skills from your classes such as critical thinking or problem solving in an interview. And no matter what your career aspirations, take a writing course in college. To land a role at any company, youll need to be able to write a compelling cover letter to even be considered for a job.Expand your skillsetTo make your rsum stand out to employers, it can be helpful to list skills that differentiate you from other applicants. You can take online courses or even watch YouTube tutorials to become proficient in Photoshop, Excel, InDesign, and many other programs that will make you a more desirable candidate. Whether you know how to code or how to create a large social media following, make sure to emphasize the skills you have that can give you a competitive advantage over other applicants.VolunteerPerhaps the easiest, most surefire way to gain experience to add to your rsum is to volunteer. With companies caring more and more about corporate social responsibility, volunteering can only benefit you. It shows employers that you are committed to giving back to and getting involved in your community. You might even be able to volunteer in an area related to your anticipated career path say youre interested in education, and you volunteer by tutoring underprivileged children. This real-world experience can be just as valuable as that of an internship or a job, in the eyes of an employer. Ultimately, if you engage in activities that offer opportunities for you to highlight your skills to employers, you will have no problem accumulating enough experience to secure an internship.Follow Vault onTwitterandInstagram.

What Employees Should Wear to Work Today

What Employees Should Wear to Work TodayWhat Employees Should Wear to Work TodayDifferentiating between dress codes that recommend various types of geschftlicher umgang attire for the office is confusing. Online and in company dress codes, the range of geschftsleben attire options described vary considerably. For example, some geschftsleben casual dress codes recommend that employees wear suit coats or jackets to work. Others allow jeans as everyday business attire. With the range of recommendations available, is it any wonder that employees have trouble knowing what is appropriate to wear to work? You can differentiate dress codes by the degrees of formality in the business attire allowed in the most common employee dress codes. It will help you determine and communicate the appropriate business attire selections for your workplace. The majority of employees just want to fit in, work successfully, and succeed in their careers. A communicated dress code gives them one less factor to worry about or stress over. You will want to favor simple business attire dress codes that treat employees like adults and leave some clothing decisions to management and employee discretion. But some workplaces require a more sophisticated dress code policy. The culture of the workplace or the industry expectations drive dress codes in these cases. You would not want to meet with a financial advisor who dressed in jeans and a casual shirt, for example. To project the knowledge and experience necessary to gain your respect as an advisor, they are likely to wear a professional suit. Appropriate Business Attire for Degrees of Formality in Dress Codes Casual Dress Code The preferred level of formality in business attire is casual in many, especially tech related, workplaces. It is also understandable that not every workplace can allow employees to dress casually. The key differentiators of business attire in a casual workplace include allowing employees to wear jeans, shorts, and a thletic shoes daily. Additionally, clothing items such as t-shirts, sandals, and very informal pants and shirts are allowed. Even in a casual business attire environment, any clothing that has words, terms, or pictures that may be offensive to other employees is unacceptable. Even in a casual work environment, frayed or dirty clothing is not acceptable. Casual dress codes usually encourage employees to dress up for business meetings, trade shows, and when customers or partners visit the company premises. A Relaxed, Casual Dress CodeIndustrial Construction Photo Gallery Business Casual Dress Code In a workplace with a business casual attire dress code, employees dress one step up from casual. Jeans are generally discouraged except on a designated dress down day. Attire such as shorts, sandals, t-shirts, sundresses, and tank tops are not allowed. In a business casual environment, employees are likely to wear a short or long sleeve shirt with collars, nice pants such as khakis or cordu roys, vests, sweaters, casual shoes but not athletic shoes, and jackets and sports coats, on occasion. If you see a tie in day-to-day business casual attire, the employee might wear it with a shirt, rarely a suit coat. Business casual dress codes may encourage employees to dress up for business meetings, trade shows, and when customers or partners visit the company premises. In high-tech, casual companies, business casual is already the step up. Smart Casual Dress Code At various sources online, a smart casual business attire dress code is used interchangeably with business casual business attire. Smart casual dressing is a step up from business casual. Commonly, executives or senior leaders in a workplace with a business casual dress code dress smart casual to kick their clothing up a notch. Smart casual includes pants or skirts that are a step up from khakis, and are often worn with a jacket or sweater jacket. It also includes outfit-enhancing jewelry, dress shirts, tailored sweat ers, vests, ties, matching leather accessories, and leather pull on shoes and boots. Business Formal Dress Code Traditional work environments required business formal attire. This attire is still the norm in industries such as professional services, banking, law, accounting, consulting, and in locations such as corporate headquarters. Business formal attire requires suits or jackets with dress shirts, dresses, ties, formal leather-like shoes, and, in many companies, hose or socks. Business formal attire is the least flexible dress code. In some organizations, employees may be able to dress in high-end smart casual business attire, but others still require the navy, gray, or black dress suits. Dress Code for Trade Shows Business attire for trade shows dependson your industry and the norms that have been established at traditional trade shows. In technology trade shows, for example, business casual attire is the norm. Shirts with the company or product logos are also the norm. In the professional services industries, business formal attire is the standard business attire at trade shows. The best advice for business attire at trade shows is to dress as comfortably as possible in standard industry apparel. Here is a guide for business attire at trade shows and business meetings.

Overcoming Pitfalls in the Senior-Level Interview

Overcoming Pitfalls in the Senior-Level InterviewOvercoming Pitfalls in the Senior-Level InterviewPrepare your sell for two audiences the mid-level staffers and senior management.The senior-level interview is an animal of its own. The old go-to answers dont apply, and youre selling not just your ability but your vision. The first few rounds are critical as you establish your seat at the executive round table with peers who are often looking for holes to poke in your candidacy not to mention mid-level interviewers who can make or break your campaign. Read further for how to win over both constituencies.Too many high-end executives dont want to appear hungry, said Neil McNulty, the principal recruiter at the McNulty Management Group, a military placement and career management group out of Norfolk, Va. As McNulty sees it, the big mistake high-level candidates make is that they want to appear presidential, as he calls it. That means they dont want to lower themselves to ask about needs. This takes us to the core of the dicke bretter bohren mssen high-level candidates often seem to have a hard time selling themselves.The advice from Dave Knutson, a senior retained search recruiter and owner of the Knutson Group in Phoenix, is to get over this, and ask for the job. Something many executives are ingrained to feel like they shouldnt do. Yet in the words of McNulty, You gotta sell during the interview or you wont get hired. Common sense, right? Unfortunately the candidate pools are still full of executives that overlook the easy things due to apprehension, or even desperation. Here are the two things to remember at your next interview1. Win over mid-level staffers by knowing their company. As a candidate, you need to pass muster with more than one interviewer at the staff and technology levels. According to Knutson, most senior-level candidates make the mistake of brushing off the individual and group interviews with the mid-level employees.They apparently feel these i nterviews are less important than the real meeting with the CEO and upper management team. This is a big mistake, he says, as the mid-level players will have more input on the final choice than candidates often think. Knutson advises all senior-level candidates to get themselves up to speed on the company, its stats and other details, especially for the mid-level meeting with the managers and directors. Its the responsibility of the mid-level staff to know the company inside and out its also something theyre personally invested in. You will be expected to demonstrate your knowledge of the company their company as they often see it to get a good review.2. Lose the reserved, presidential act.An even bigger problem is the Presidential Pitfall, based on years of observation from Neil McNulty. He noted that too often, senior candidates walk into an interview cautious and reserved and try to act presidential. As a result, they are not paying attention to what the person, who would be th eir boss, is looking for.McNulty has seen dozens of senior-level candidates make this same major mistake. While they may be highly accomplished, they walk into an interview expecting the company to recruit them rather than feeling that they need to sell themselves to the employer.According to McNulty, many of his senior-level interviewees have done a poor job of determining what the employer needs. They have failed to demonstrate how experience from their own past can address those needs. If you dont hit those hot buttons, you wont get hired.Expect more input from the mid-level management team on the senior-level interviews. More importantly, get off your high horse and lose the presidential act. Youll need to compete on a higher level. This means asking more about what their needs are and then selling yourself to those needs. To win this year, youll need to get hungry and to get your hands dirty.