The competition for Collegiettes to secure a job after graduation is fierce. The norm seems to be for Collegiettes to engage in an increasing amount of extracurricular activities, while maintaining sparkling grades, and participating in atleast one internship before graduation. So, the question is will this pay off? Is there a secret key to ensuring professional success and WHAT IS IT? There is no set answer, but learning from others who have achieved professional success is a great way to start.
Collegiettes in the Boston area have a phenomenal opportunity to do just this, this month by attending the Boston Women’s Conference on December 6th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Speakers include inspiring and motivational women spanning across various industries. Notable speakers include Charlotte Beers, the advertising mogul and Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post (have you heard of it?). In addition, there will be several opportunities available to Collegiettes to help ensure their professional success. Collegiettes will have the opportunity to get their resumes critiqued, get matched up with a suitable mentor and engage in lively discussions on social media and building their personal brand.
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One of the speakers, popular on the college circuit, is notable intern-extraordinaire, Lauren Berger, also known as the Intern Queen. Berger has a story any Collegiette can admire and relate to. This ambitious young woman completed 15 internships in her four years of college and eventually channeled her knowledge into her own website: InternQueen.com. According to Berger the site is a, “free internship-listing site for students… from all over the world. It’s a great resource with the goal to connect any student anywhere to the internship they want to obtain to get their ideal job.” The site also offers an amazing blog on all things internship from what you should seek to gain from an internship to ideas for what you can eat before you head out the door (so you can stop using Google).
Internships are increasingly prevalent to ensuring a job post graduation and definitely something ambitious Collegiettes who want to stand apart should consider. Berger notes that they are so important as they are a way too “build relationships with key executives”, build your resume, and to become, “more knowledgeable about the field, the company, and yourself.” This opportunity can be paramount in determining, “what tasks you are drawn to and what you are not drawn to” in deciding what career you would like to pursue in the future.
A hot topic in the job search is having connections. This daunting term is apparently the secret ingredient to ensure that job you want post-graduation. While this may be disconcerting to those lacking in ”connections” within their dream industry, Collegiettes should not fear, as Berger claims that there are ways around this. She states that while, “connections and networking play a HUGE part,” she started with none. She instead built up personal relationships through internships. She notes that, “it is important to go out there and meet people, having connections just means you have not been afraid and that you have gone out there and met people.”
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To learn more about Lauren Berger and obtain some great advice check out InternQueen.com, Berger’s new blog, and her new book, All Work, No Pay. What can Collegiettes seek to gain from the book? According to Berger, “the book is [her] personal story [of] how [she] got into point A to point B.” She is a firm believer in reading books that you can get information from and apply it to your own life, and this book will definitely provide Collegiettes with ample tangible advice they can put to work.
This influx of information is not meant to overwhelm and as Collegiettes you have plenty of time to decide what you would like to do professionally in the future. However, attending the Boston Women’s Conference can definitely add that edge that you are looking for, as it offers ample opportunity to meet and learn from many amazing women, such as Lauren Berger. You can sign up to attend on the conference’s website and keep up to date by following them on Twitter and liking the Facebook page.