Hacking the Good days…

Okay my uni’s programme manager has asked me a while ago to share my ‘tips’ on internship hunting. Although I’m in no expert in this, it’s probably worth a blog on my top 6 tips that focus less on the details (e.g. the internship letter) but more on a personal developmental perspective (feel free to comment/add tips):

Step 1: Know who you are, and who you want to become.

This is usually the hardest step and try not be led by opportunities open out there but create your own. My internship with an architecture firm, Fluid, was not included into my programme’s database but I know I am interested in deploying new media in public engagement, which is this company’s expertise.

Step 2: Look for contacts in your network to see who can give you advice on who to approach

‘It’s not who you are, it’s who you know’ – cliche but probably true. I started looking up my own contacts, and asked an architecture professor at my former University for ‘advice’. Never say ‘Oh what do you think I can do?’ because other people are not responsible for your business. Be prepared. Only when you have precise, carefully formulated question then you you get concrete answer, ‘hey i’d like to intern at a company that drives new media technologies in public consultation, will you happen to know any given your previous experience?’

‘come to think of it I know a firm in London that does this!’

Step 3: Don’t wait for someone to initiate the conversation – get the contacts and make it happen!

Instead of waiting for the professor to get back to me with the director’s email (I did wait for a few weeks and then assumed that he must have been buried under an avalanches of work), I google-d and found the company’s email. I mentioned the professor’s title and where they met, and the director eventually got back to me.

Step 4: Persistence, Persistence, Persistence

Eventually over almost 4-5 months of email correspondence, there were frustrating moments of waiting because the company does not know how to postion me (they are all architects and I am sociology/psychology/journalism/new media ‘thing’ by training). I had to push them again until we had a face to face meeting, and they agreed for a ‘testing period’.

Step 5: Back-up plan

During the painful months of waiting, I have been bouncing off emails to other companies. Eventually two got back to me, including the British Urban Regeneration Association and Yahoo! EU. I decided to step out of Fluid at the end of the Internship and check what’s going on in big corporation like Yahoo!. When I left, Fluid offered me a potential position to be their associate, great news, but you never know what’s out there until you venture.

Step 6: Time management

Some of you might want to just work enough to fulfill your course requirement, but if you aim to start a career at the end of the course, it makes sense to do a few internships because this is the only time you can ’shop’ around for different industries. Once you formally start a proper position you will not enjoy the freedom to jot from jobs to jobs. I did my leap in Yahoo! EU and eventually they hired me as their EU Community Manager, where I am now. And I love my work. Moreover, I see this more than just work but also as my career.

Finally don’t forget to deploy online networks if you’re looking for opportunities out there – I got quite a few contacts from linkedin.com and even facebook.

Did i miss any big tips?