Tag Archive for: college

Benefits of Exploring a New Internship

Last Thursday, we introduced you to some key benefits of sticking with an internship for a second year around. However, we wouldn’t be doing you justice if we didn’t show you the other side of this perspective! Keep reading to find out some reasons that may lead to you explore a different opportunity for your second internship before pursuing a full-time career!

Benefits of Exploring…

  1. Gaining New Perspectives: By pursuing an internship at a new company, you are guaranteeing yourself a new opportunity to experience your career interest from a different perspective. We can guarantee that no matter the company, every organization runs operations differently from one another, and there is no perfect formula for success. If you are interested in what Marketing Management, Digital Experience, Website Development, Social Media Marketing, or hundreds of other different responsibilities looks like from a different team and company altogether, transitioning out of your current role may likely prove beneficial.
  2. More Diverse Network: If you worked in a large corporation this summer, you will still be able to expand your network across diverse backgrounds, experiences, and career desires. However, smaller companies, and therefore a lower number of employees, will not allow you to do so as efficiently. If you are finding yourself in this position, exploring a new opportunity will help you to expand your network across companies, potentially industries, and most definitely from a new variety of experiences and perspectives!
  3. Relocation Opportunity: Working for the same company may require you to work within the exact same location and environment. If you are interested in testing the waters in a different area of your state, region, or country altogether than this is the time to do so! Internships are temporary and only last a few months, so there is no greater time in your life to explore a completely new environment than now.
  4. Alternative Company Culture: Just as no two companies operate identically, no two companies provide the exact same culture and atmosphere. Especially if you are someone who did not 100% “vibe” with your companies social environment, highest values, or beliefs, then we encourage you to gauge a different perspective by trying an entirely new environment at a different organization. While different industries often mean different cultures, you can still find a large and wide variety within your own industry (ex: Marketing).

We hope that these new perspectives help you weigh the pros and cons of sticking or straying from your first internship! We trust that with this newfound knowledge, each of you will make fantastic decisions and continue to accelerate your professional development and respective careers. So… happy searching!

Looking for a new position? Check out our open jobs list!

Missed some benefits of staying at your internship? Find them out here!

Benefits of Accepting a Second Internship

In the heat of career fair season, we understand that many of you are faced with the decision to either return to the company you worked for this summer or pursue a new opportunity. Today, as part 1 of our 2 part saga, we’re hoping to teach you about some of the benefits of following a second-year internship at the same company.

Benefits of Returning . . .

  1. Sense of Role-ownership: One great aspect of returning to the same company you’ve worked at before is the relationships you’ve already built. Utilizing those connections, especially with hiring managers or internal recruiters, may allow you to gain some freedom in choosing which role you pursue in your second year. Whether this means transitioning to another team, project, or an entirely new subset of a company, taking advantage of internal resources will prove highly valuable.
  2. New Mentors: Another way to make use of your experience is by beginning to envision the type of mentor, or mentors you can pursue upon your return. Building additional connections to expand your internal, and potentially external, network is a great way to continue to gauge your own career interests and desires.
  3. Even Larger Network: While you have likely already built a sturdy network within the company you worked for, returning will allow you to build an even larger number of connections by surrounding yourself with employees of all different backgrounds, job functions, and teams. While this is especially useful for interns or graduates returning to larger companies which offer a greater and larger variety of employees, deepening connections will always prove useful. You never know if the connection you built may find themselves in a leadership role and in need of a new employee on their team. Better yet, mentors often transition into higher roles where they may then recommend you to take their previous spot!
  4. Opportunity to Relocate: If you work for an organization which houses several locations across the United States, returning to your previous position as an intern may allow you to internally “build your roots” within the company and, later on, have a greater say in where you are placed permanently. This is a huge component of your future and definitely important to continue to keep in mind! If you are happy where you live, you are much more likely to enjoy what you do!

Now that you’ve seen some leading factors in the benefits of returning to a company for a second-year internship, we’ll introduce you to a few reasons that may lead you to decide to explore elsewhere. While we don’t have the right answer for you, we’re hoping that you can lead feeling educated, well-versed, and with multiple different perspectives!

Missed our last blog? Check out what to look for before accepting a position here!

Searching for a new position? Check out our open jobs!

What to Look Out For Before Accepting

If you’re a college student or recent graduate applying to a full-time position or internship, I want you to take a moment to acknowledge your value in today’s workforce! You are among the top talent entering each industry and bring with you a plethora of unfounded knowledge based on a new digital age. In understanding the intelligence and talent you behold, I hope that you weigh the aspects of a job offer than I present to you today. Keep reading to find out…

What to Consider In a Job Offer:

  1. Salary and/or Hourly Wage: Although it may feel daunting to discuss money as a student or hopeful intern, it is important to be aware of the typical pay of an employee of your age, major, experience, commitment, geographical location, etc. We encourage you to utilize online job resources such as Glassdoor.com to try to gauge what a typical salary of someone in your same position should be expecting. Additionally, if you are under the impression that you may be shorted (potentially through conversations with an advisor, mentor, or colleagues), it is crucial to understand the pay you are foregoing for the offer at hand. Pay may not be your highest priority, but if it is, this is super important to look out for!
  2. Benefits: Evaluating the benefits associated with your offer is undeniably one of the most vital aspects of your offer (especially if you are searching for a full-time role). However, I am directing this more towards interns because… believe it or not, there are several benefits to think about (even if not monetarily based!). Some of the most valuable include:
    1. Networking Events, Ability and Encouragement to Connect with Company Leaders
    2. Intern Events to Stimulate Relationship Building Among Your Co-workers
    3. Mentorship Opportunities
    4. Autonomy in Choosing Your Role … Depending on your industry of choice, this one may waiver. However, if you are focused on an area of business that provides diverse roles (such as Marketing), we encourage you to inquire about your ability to voice your hopes and desires for your role and what you hope to take away at the end of summer.
    5. Volunteer Work
    6. Internal Networking and/or Coffee Chats with Employees
  3. Full-Time Role: Especially for those of you entering your senior year after next summer, it is key to begin thinking about what your life may look like if you choose to work for the company you are accepting a role within. Can you see yourself working here after graduation if given an offer? Is this organization part of a loose “5-year plan”? Will this company help you achieve career goals or aspirations?
  4. Lateral Movement: We encourage you to begin your career within an organization that will allow you to pursue a variety of goals within its own walls. The last thing we hope is for you to accept a role and have second thoughts after a few months. For that reason, we hope that you try and visualize all of the opportunities that come with every company. Is there room for you to move around and try some different roles before committing to a long-term position?

These are only some of the many components of a job offer to think about before accepting! We hope you are beginning to create a mental list of everything valuable that you hope for in your new role.

Missed last weeks article? Find out the Top 4 Difference Between Large and Small Companies here!

Searching for a new position? Check out our open jobs list!

Top 4 Differences Between Large and Small Companies

As I mentioned in our most recent article (if you missed it… go check it out from Monday!), I worked for an extremely large corporate office this summer. In reflecting on my experience, I recognized that there truly is a large difference between working for a large company versus a smaller one. While I am not here to tell you which is better (because that is truly up to your own personality type and preferences) I am excited to share and offer a few perspectives to assist you in your own future job search.

Top 4 Differences…

  1. Daily Interactions: If you work for a small company, it is almost guaranteed that you will be able to build strong, deep-rooted connections with each of the employees that you interact with each day and in every project. You’ll come to quickly understand “who does what” and where to go to reach out for help in any instance. However, working for a large company means that you will be working alongside many people who specialize in an array of different roles. For that reason, you will likely find yourself reaching out to many different people for each different need. Doing so will help you to immerse yourself in different types of positions and establish a collective understanding of how your company operates and achieves success.
  2. Lateral Movements: Are you ready to settle down in a position and dig your roots deep? If so, I would encourage you to check out a smaller organization. Doing so will help you to solidify your role and gain deep, intellectual knowledge in your newfound specialty. However, if you are someone who is still unsure of what you want to do in the end game (which is also totally okay – and is more like me!), then you may want to think about working for a larger corporation that will provide you with the ability to make lateral movements often, sometimes even yearly. Lateral movement will help you to explore new opportunities without having to conduct a whole new job search.
  3. Relationship Building: As it relates to daily interactions, communicating to a smaller group of people will allow you to cultivate meaningful relationships, potentially helping you to see a “home” in your role for many years to come. On the other hand, as working for a large organization will require many hands on deck across several teams, meeting many people will assist you in creating a larger network and building various connections that you never know when you may need!
  4. Mentorship Opportunities: If you work in an office that requires people to work in all types of roles in order to continue to operate (ie: Google, Apple, Sephora, etc.), your mentorship opportunities will range across several different “sub-industries” of business. However, if you are someone who is confident that you want to stay in your position and become a specialist, working for a small company may help you to find that person to act as a mention and vision of who you hope to be farther on in your career. In my personal experience, not knowing exactly what I want to do, I enjoyed finding a mentor in a Marketing role while I was housed in Risk, as it helped me envision a future outside of the office I was currently a team member within.

 

Hopefully, this helped you to visualize yourself in a bunch of different offices! So… which was your favorite? Keep trying to weigh your values and desires as you begin your full-time job or internship search in these upcoming months.

Stay tuned for our upcoming article on “What to Look Out For” when you’re evaluating your position! Missed our article on Monday? Check it out here!

Looking for a new position? Check out our open jobs!

My Summer Experience as an Intern

Hello everyone – I am so excited to announce that I will be returning to Esquire Recruiting as their Social Media and Marketing Intern (and also blog-creator) for the fall semester! For those of you who may not know me, my name is Hannah McDermott and I am an incoming junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am majoring in Business, specifically in Marketing and Risk Management, and for that reason had pursued my first internship in a corporate setting this summer. Keep reading to find out more about my experience…

Life as an Intern…

So, is life as an intern in a corporate office all it’s cracked up to be? My answer in short for you is… yes! I am elated to be able to recount the incredible experience I had during my internship in Risk Management for you all. In all honesty, walking into my first day came with nerves, jitters, and moments of intimidation. However, walking out on my last day, I felt rejoiced and confident both in my newfound knowledge gained from my responsibilities and also as a business professional. I thought the best way I could convey my experience for you was by taking note of some of my favorite components of this summer!

  • Intern Events: Working as one of about 150 interns hired came with some major perks. One to keep in mind when weighing your own interest in working for a large company is the advantage of coordinated events that many organizations put on for their intern groups. Due to the magnitude of our group, I was able to attend a Chicago boat cruise, networking events, an ice cream social, and even an off-campus volunteering event! I truly looked forward to these special days, as they not only helped me to feel immersed in the company’s culture but amongst each of my intern peers who quickly became some of my great friends.
  • Mentorship Opportunities: Working around hundreds of other employees also posed the opportunity for one to pursue mentors, both formal and informal, across several, differing job functions. I’ll combine mentorship with networking, as the two were super intertwined and each intern was not only supported but encouraged to explore each area of the company and identify our own interests outside of our immediate job functions. In doing so, I was able to identify certain areas of Marketing and job roles that I would love to pursue in the future!
  • Autonomy and Freedom: One thing that I hadn’t expected of an internship prior to this summer was the true freedom I was granted in leading each project I was assigned, and achieving the goals I had set for myself during the first week of my summer. I was astonished and felt incredibly valued in the idea that even at such a large organization, my thoughts and actions were heard at such a high level; I was truly treated as a regular full-time member of our team.

Keep tuning in throughout this week and month to hear more about what I loved about my summer, what I would have changed, and what types of thoughts and ideas to look out for as you start applying to your next internship! Thanks for listening 🙂