Yes, I’m alive. No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, though I did fall off of the face of the blogging world. Between classes, work, extracurriculars, internship hunts, and trying to find some “me” time, I’ve been way too busy to blog. Yes, you’re allowed to yell and throw things. I don’t blame you.
What’s happened since my last post? Well, the last time I wrote was around Thanksgiving. A lot has happened since then. Let’s see…
I passed all of my classes for the fall semester. Exciting, ain’t it?
I enjoyed a month at home in my parent’s new house in Spokane for winter break. I also turned 21 over break, which was much less exciting than it’s made out to be by everyone your whole life. I do enjoy not having to worry about my age in restaurants/bars/random locations, though.
I started a new semester, in which I’m taking Prose: Style & the Sentence, Writing for Non-Profit Institutions, Introduction to Digital Imaging, and History of American Broadcasting. All great classes, and while it’s a lot of work, I’m enjoying this semester.
I’ve started riding English (I’ve been riding Western since I was 7). It is so amazing. I’m even jumping! I can’t believe I didn’t start riding English earlier, and I’m quite sad that I have so much catching up to do. I’m working hard at it, though!
Carrying my Alesya Bag has been a joy every day. I use it daily as my bookbag for classes (it holds everything I need and more–and there are days where I’m carrying a folder stuffed with readings, three notebooks, and three books!) and love it for traveling. It has been the best solution to my constant struggle of finding 1) a cute laptop bag that isn’t made for a man/is incredibly bulky; 2) a cute laptop bag that has pockets for all of my other thing; and 3) a cute laptop bag that protects my laptop. Yes, my bag fulfills all of those requirements, and more! I’ve been working to promote the bag wherever I go, and I’ve found that I’m most successful in airports. While a lot of women on my campus love the bag, the price is just too much of a deterrent. I’ve started changing my tactics and pitching it as a great graduation present — it would be a wonderful present for a new graduate who will be dragging their laptop to work every day!
Really exciting stuff: I’ve signed a contract to work with Livefyre full-time this summer in community management/strategy! I couldn’t be more excited to join the team again this summer, meet the new crop of interns, and get back into the ever-moving world of community management. I’ve missed the Livefyre community like crazy!
I think that’s it (for now, anyway). I’ll be updating as this school year comes to a close and I make the move back to the Bay Area for my summer at Livefyre. Life keeps chugging along!
I’m all cozy and warm in Spokane, Washington to spend Thanksgiving break with my family, and I couldn’t be happier about that. I left school this past Friday to come home and it was my first experience traveling with my Alesya Bag in the friendly skies. So, how’d it go?
Well, to say my Alesya Bag is great to travel with is an understatement. In total, I was bringing home my 15.4″ MacBook Pro, two chargers, one notebook, three books (two of them are thick–500+ pages!), my planner, and a Coach zip-around wallet as well as my keys to school and my dad’s birthday present (Michael Buble’s Christmas album). My bag was strategically filled, but it wasn’t bulky or hard to maneuver around the airport. It was great to just have one bag to carry around as I speed-walked to connecting flights instead of lugging a handful of things. One note, though: if you were hoping Alesya Bag’s ingenious laptop storing system will get you through security quickly like those new travel bags that you just lay open to reveal the laptop, unfortunately that wasn’t the case for me. I had my iPhone charger in the pocket with my laptop, and airport security yelled at me to take the laptop out because there were “other things in the pocket.” I was a little bit peeved (come on, it’s one tiny phone charger!), but it wasn’t a big deal to slide out my laptop and put it in its own bin. If you keep your laptop by itself in the dedicated laptop sleeve, they might let you through if you lay it open on the security belt. I’ll have to try that on the way back to school!
I hadn’t really prepared myself with an elevator pitch (and yes, I do know how important it is to have one!); my brain was more or less filled with how much work I had to get done on the plane and while I was home and trying to enjoy time with family. So, when I started chatting with a woman while waiting to board on my Southwest flight, I had to think on my feet when she started showing interest in my bag.
“You know,” she started, gesturing to the two bags at her feet. “If I had a bag like yours, I wouldn’t have to travel with all of these!”
“Yeah, I love this bag.” And then I went for the home run that always surprises people at school: “Can you tell I’m carrying a laptop in it?”
Of course, she couldn’t. After taking a few guesses as to where my Mac might be hiding, I showed the woman the dedicated laptop pocket. Needless to say, she loved it. As we filed onto the plane, I told her I was a brand ambassador and offered her my business card. She snatched one up right away! We didn’t sit close to each other on the plane, so I couldn’t catch her name, but I certainly hope she checks out the Alesya Bag website and puts a bag on her Christmas/Hanukkah list–I would if I were her!
So, I guess I have my elevator pitch–catch the customer by delighted surprise. We’ll see if I can surprise more people on my way back to Southern California for school!
I’ve been waiting weeks for my Alesya Bag to get here. I found out in late August that I’d been selected as a Brand Ambassador, and I could hardly contain my excitement — it’s an absolutely beautiful product that combines style and function, made with women in mind. I mean, come on ladies: how many times have you mumbled and grumbled over cumbersome laptop bags, wishing they were daintier, prettier, and just made your outfit look good? Well, look no further. The Alesya Bag is all you need for your work day — trust me. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I’m a purse-aholic; my closet is literally bursting with them. I’ve been obsessed with purses for longer than I can remember, and I absolutely love my MacBook Pro. I want to be stylish and take care of my beloved computer. This summer, I was trekking from the Bay Area into downtown San Francisco for my internship with Livefyre, and I sure as heck wish I’d had this bag when I was doing that. It would have solved so many of my problems, believe me!
Imagine my joy when this baby came in the mail...
I’d read a lot of hype about the thoughtful packaging and presentation from Alesya Bags since they’ve come out, and I was excited to document the process of unveiling my new bag to share with all of you. In a recent post, Alesya Bags founder and mastermind, Alesya Opelt, mulled over the secrecy about the bags leading up to their release. I’ll admit I can’t decide what the better approach would be: act like Apple and have complete and utter secrecy to build suspense leading up to the product launch, or give interested customers peeks into the process leading up to the final goal? While I love a good amount of suspense, I think well-timed sneak peeks can really get the fire going in potential customers. However, what’s done is done — Alesya Bags have been out for months! So, I won’t be spoiling much for anyone by showing off the presentation of the bags…but maybe I’ll get a few more people excited along the way. After all, who doesn’t love a company that makes them feel like the product they’re buying is one of a kind?
Yes, there's even custom packing tape.
My bag arrived at school and I hauled it across campus to do a photo shoot in one of my school’s loveliest dorms: Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Hall, otherwise known affectionately as GJW. I read somewhere that GJW was the most expensive dorm in the country per square foot at the time it was built, and let me just say that that doesn’t surprise me. Scripps is a little bit obsessed with beautiful things; Forbes recently ranked us as one of the top 10 most beautiful college campuses in the world. What better place to do a photoshoot for Alesya Bags in the nicest dorm on campus? I took to Twitter to preview the location of the shoot and received some very envious tweets back. I know, everyone who attends Scripps College is just a wee bit spoiled.
And when you open the box...
When I finally forced myself to cut through the custom packing tape, I opened up the box to find a pristine white box inside, wrapped with a bright pink silk ribbon, with a personal letter addressed to me from Alesya. What a surprise! To be honest, I didn’t really want to touch anything…okay, well, I did, but only to get to the bag hidden inside.
Wouldn't this look perfect beneath a Christmas tree?
Once I forced myself to open the second box, I was happy I did. Inside was — surprise! — another adorable custom letter, the bag wrapped in its bag, and custom wrapping paper. The bright pink popped beautifully against the white of the box. I was smitten!
And inside that adorable little envelope…
I’ll admit, I wanted to keep the wrapping paper just for the heck of it.
Amen. I’ve always been a victim of trying to tote my laptop around everywhere. I’ve either had purses that aren’t supposed to serve as laptop bags forced to do so (usually extremely uncomfortable on my shoulders, neck, and back), or I’ve hauled around laptop bags that just aren’t made with women in mind and end up feeling extremely unstylish. As most women know, neither of those situations turn out well!
Finally, the bag!
The Equestrian Tan is an absolutely great color — it’s really diverse in terms of what you can style it with. As you can see, the hardware is all gold, which complements the color of the leather perfectly. Now, just what do all of those zippers actually do?
Top Horizontal Zipper: This opens up into a medium-sized pocket with dedicated pockets for a phone, pens, and a wallet, small clutch, or crossbody bag. The pocket is quite deep; I can easily fit my small crossbody bag and my Moleskine planner in it without the pocket bulging out in any strange way. The pocket is also the most easily accessible when the purse is hanging on your shoulder, which makes it quite easy to whip out your phone and check emails while you’re walking to your next class. One day, I managed to fit my clutch, my planner, two bananas, my phone, and pens in this pocket. Woohoo!
All of the essentials for a student.
Large Semi-Circular Zippers: Were you wondering where you laptop fits into this bag? Surprise! It’s this pocket, and it’s the secret of how you can have such a lady-like bag fit up to a 15″ laptop. The flap lifts up, and there is a padded pocket for your laptop to slip into easily. Depending on the size of your laptop, there should be space for your charger and other cords to stick in there, as well. When I got back to my room (sadly, I don’t live in GJW), I stuck my 15.4″ MacBook Pro in there and zipped it up. I waltzed into my best friend and suitemate’s room and asked her if she could tell I was carrying my laptop with me. Her response? A resounding, rather surprised “no!”
The Top Zipper (mirroring the strap): Ever lost your keys, gum, or parking ticket in the bottom of your bag? I sure have. The top zipper opens to reveal a shallow pocket perfect for putting things you don’t want to fall to the bottom of a larger pocket. I plan on using this for smaller items such as a pill box, small papers I need to keep track of, and I anything small I need to be able to grab in a hurry while my bag is at my feet in the middle of class.
Finally, the last pocket is on the opposite side of the bag from the laptop compartment, and it’s an important one for college students: the second largehorizontal zipper. I’m pretty old school when it comes to studying, and I love writing everything down. I always bring notebooks to class with me to take notes, even if I do have my laptop with me. Well, never fear: the deepest pocket of them all is reserved for the back of the bag (the side that touches your body when you’re wearing the bag with the laptop compartment in front). The pocket fits up to a 3″ binder, and I’ve fit a folder, two spiral-bound notebooks, and a novel-sized book for my class in it comfortably. I look forward to seeing how many other things I can fit in there — like a leather-bound Scripps portfolio I use for job interviews.
There's that back pocket!
As you might have noticed, the Equestrian Tan color is a bit of a chameleon — it appears to be more of a caramel color in bright light, and turns into a deeper saddle brown when it’s inside. I love it, though I must admit, I was digging the Exquisite Eggplant color, too. I’ve already received several compliments from people around campus, and I’ve only been carrying the bag for two days! You can’t get much better than that.
So, what do you guys think? I’ll be taking more pictures as I use my bag around campus. Feel free to contact me if you have questions, want to chat about the bag, or anything else…who knows, maybe I can get you a deal!
Well, I’m all settled in back at Scripps. It’s a bit of an odd feeling — so many of my friends are abroad, and it feels like summer was just too darn short. I’ve been back at school for about three weeks now, and I feel like I’m finally settling into a routine. One of my big changes? Accepting that I chose not to study abroad and dealing with the consequences. Not only does it feel like I have no friends left on this campus (hello, meeting new people…I’m going to have to resort to just walking up to people and introducing myself. Phew.), but Facebook and Twitter are inundated with people who are incredibly, understandably excited about being across the country or world. I get it. I’m happy for them, completely. But at a certain point it gets a tad bit tiring. There were about twenty different reasons for why I chose not to study abroad, and I still think it was the best choice for me. Like Tony from my new favorite workout, P90X, says. “do your best and forget the rest!” Got it, Tony. I did my best and I’m moving on.
But! That’s okay. I’ve taken over for the equestrian team at my school, which has proved to be quite a bit of work and a fair amount of stress. Everything is settling into place — new students are joining and setting up their lessons, old riders are getting back into their routines of riding and preparing for shows, and I spent some time back in the saddle, as well. It was painful. Not only did I have a killer Western lesson (literally — I had blisters and blood running down my hand by the end), but I also took my first formal English lesson two days later. It was beyond fun — I can’t wait until my lesson this Friday. I might be a convert. Western will always hold a special place in my heart since I grew up learning that discipline, but English is exciting and new. Also, I got a job on campus — I’m an intern for Scripps’ Information Technology Department. I’m also a College Ambassador for Alesya Bags, and my bag should be arriving this week — I’m so excited. I mean, just look at them. I can’t WAIT to get my hands on that pretty bag and take it around campus with me. I already have several friends who have expressed interest in the bag, and I’ll be showing it around more, too. Look for posts up here dedicated to the bags; they’ll be rolling in!
What else? I’ve started thinking about summer internships (let me know if you, or anyone you know, has any interesting propositions). I actually researched for my senior thesis earlier today. I know, crazy.
Well, I’ve done it. Remember my last post about self-designing a major? Well, several people I know who have self-designed majors told me they’d be happy to sign whatever necessary to get Scripps College to use the titles of their majors on official documents. I was happy to start the movement.
Let’s start off by being clear: I don’t mean getting that horse for Christmas (hey there, parents!). I don’t mean getting the newest iPhone model, even if you think your iPhone 4 is way too slow. I’m talking about getting something that you worked hard for, something that is important to you, something that is not necessarily a physical object. For me, this was addressing the fact that my major (self-designed) is being listed on official documents as, simply, Self-Designed Major.
Well, you might say, that’s exactly what it is. But “Self-Designed Major” doesn’t tell anyone about what I’ve worked so hard to study at my time at Scripps College. It doesn’t tell anyone what I filled my time with between lounging in the Southern California sun and riding horses (and a lot of other things). It doesn’t tell anyone why I self-designed a major instead of following a traditional approved major track at Scripps. It doesn’t describe my passions, because that’s why I self-designed a major in the first place: I wanted to study what I love. I did the paperwork, labored with my adviser to plan out four years of classes, and petitioned the Committee on Academic Review. I had to convince educators that what I’d planned was worth studying. I had to convince them that it was detailed, cumulative, engaging, and could land me a job out of college. Needless to say, I didn’t really do all of that just for the title on a piece of paper, but after it’s all said and done, I want my major to be listed as what it is: Creative Writing for Contemporary Media.
This topic came about when I was showing my best friend that the press release for the spring 2011 dean’s list was out. She was on it for the first time and was extremely excited (she’s one of those crazy people. Yes, those science folk). Her major is very hard, and as a sophomore she was in classes with all upperclassmen and post-baccs. She was one of the few that got A’s. So, understandably, she was excited to see her full name in print, followed by Biology. Once she got over her excitement, she pointed it out: “it’s so lame that they don’t print the name of your major!”
I agreed. I want my major to be represented just like all of the other majors at my college. It’s real, I’m studying it, Scripps has approved it, and yes, after all of that, it’s a major. It has a name, and I happen to like the name. I told my best friend that I’d think about sending an email to someone at the college. Five minutes later, I was typing furiously to the registrar at my school. I wasn’t even sure if she was the right person to contact, but I was going to contact her anyway. I pointed out that self-designed majors are simply named that on official documents, and I asked if that was true of diplomas, as well. I explained my reasoning — I’m proud of my major! — and asked how the policy came about that the self-designed aren’t listed as the names they actually are. Some of them are pretty cool: Writing for Social Change. Motion Sciences. Chinese-American Studies. Art Conservation (originally self-designed and recently approved by the college as a full major. There’s one student taking it, compared to the dozens of students who have self-designed writing majors, which have yet to be approved. Strange?). I finished by telling her that I was sorry if she was the wrong person to contact, and if so, who might I approach on the issue? It was a kind, probing email. I’m proud of it. If you’d told me a year or two ago that I’d be challenging my school out of the blue, on a policy that has been around for a while, I probably would have laughed in your face, or maybe run away from you out of fear.
Well, Scripps. You want me to be a strong, independent, self-sufficient woman, so this is what you get.
I’m still waiting on a response, but I’m eager to see where this conversation leads. As I’ve mentioned before, self-designed majors aren’t the easiest thing to do at school. In fact, it’s about twice as hard to self-design a major than it is to simply follow a track laid down by the school. Since when has it become standard to not recognize the majors for what they are, and how can that be changed? Hopefully my school will, at the very least, recognize and acknowledge where I’m coming from on this issue. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be heard, and the policy will change.
BART, the shining beacon of transportation for the Bay Area...right? Right?!
If you’ve ever been in the Bay Area, odds are you jumped on the infamous BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to get around the Bay and into the city. If you haven’t, it’s an interesting experience. Trains run frequently, but there are often extended stops at stations for no apparent reason (though usually it’s to wait for a connecting train). The passengers range from college students on break looking to get lost in the city, professionals headed into work, to retired men and women traveling into the city for the opera or symphony. If there’s a Giants game going on, the car will be packed with excited fans and their rowdy children. Bikes are often crammed in with passengers, and BART is easily accessible for handicapped passengers — in the past two days, I saw a blind man traveling by himself, a paralyzed man in an electric wheelchair, as well as a man whose service dog wagged his tail and panted happily at every passenger in the car. BART is almost always an adventure.
I take BART from my grandparent’s home in the suburbs to get to Livefyre’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco. The ride takes about 38 minutes, and costs $10 round-trip. I do it at least 3 three days a week. So, what have I learned on these excursions, and how have they translated into my internship? Let’s see:
Build in time to be early. Like my grandpa tells me on a weekly basis, “nothing bad ever happens when you’re early!” While I’m sometimes tempted to point out situations where that might not be applicable (who knows, maybe by being five minutes early you’ll be just in time to get in an accident), the Type A in me sits up and nods emphatically in agreement. I like being early in general. 99% of the time my grandpa is right: nothing bad ever happens when you’re early. I generally get to the BART station ten minutes before my train is due in, and I get a great spot in line to board. Sometimes (usually when I get all green lights on the way to the station; huzzah!) I can even catch the train before the one I was planning on catching. And guess what happens then? I’m even earlier to the office. And that, my friends, is something that will never harm you as an intern. In my first few weeks at Livefyre, I’ve usually been fifteen to five minutes early every day. No one has ever been harmed by my showing-up-before-I’m-due antics. Also, if there are any unexpected delays in the trains, you won’t automatically be late to the office. Good planning pays off.
Respect others. Come on. I know you’re a teenager, with your nose buried in a new book, and it’s early in the morning and you really don’t want to stand all the way into the city, but when that pregnant woman boards the train, you should give her your seat. That’s a given. Also, if you see anyone who might remotely be your grandparents’ age, offer them your seat, too. You’re young and you’re spry, even if you don’t feel like it at 8 in the morning on your way to work. Be respectful, be kind, and pay attention to who might deserve that seat for whatever reason. I’m not saying to jump up and give your seat to the next 50-something businessman who walks in the door, but just be alert. Respecting others shows class, dignity, and maturity. You can bet you want to showcase all of those traits at your internship. Keep your head up and eyes open for the next time you can help out around the office and be kind. Go out of your way to do a little extra work on a project when you’re only required to do the bare minimum. Do your part to clean up the office kitchen if you use glasses or dishes. Keep your workspace clean and tidy so you won’t bother others. The little actions add up.
Work diligently. There are a lot of people who stare into the distance while they’re on BART, and they usually end up dozing off (especially if it’s around 4 in the afternoon). As for me, I try to use the time to my advantage: last week, I read a book about finances. Thrilling, right? Actually, it was a fantastic book (Women and Money by Suze Orman). I learned a ton, and it even sparked a conversation with a man who saw my book from across the train and walked over to share the book he was reading — another book about money! As much as I’d like you to think that I only read really informative, wonderful books like Women and Money, that’s not really the case. I read a lot of fiction. But you know what? Reading is reading, and I love reading. It works my brain, keeps me awake, and inspires my own writing. I’m not dozing off on BART; I’m working, and it just so happens to be something I love. If you keep up the work ethic and keep on working diligently, you’ll see results, and other people will notice. As Nike says…just do it.
Know what you’re doing. We’ve all seen those people on public transportation: they don’t know what or where they’re going. They step off at the wrong stop, then backpedal back into the train, running into people as they go. They walk out and head the wrong way down the platform, straight into the stream of people trying to leave. Or, the truly horrible one with BART — they don’t know how to put their tickets into the turnstile to leave the station and a huge line forms as people wait for them. You can avoid this easily by doing a dry-run of your commute: know how to put money on your ticket, how to get in the station, where to go, what the stops are, and how to leave the station at your destination. You’ll thank yourself the first day of your internship/job. The same is true in the workplace: if you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing on a given task, don’t be afraid to ask questions. No one will fault you for wanting to learn and being confident enough to speak out.
Know your route and where it’ll take you. It’s good to know what trains head all the way to the end of the line and which ones don’t. Don’t you want to be absolutely certain of your final destination? Or, at the very least, where you’re headed and how long it’ll take to get you there? Don’t be afraid to look up the map of the train lines. Don’t be afraid to look ahead in your internship, either — what projects will you be working on in the future? Is there anything you can get a head-start on early? If this is the field you want to work in, ask questions of your coworkers — how can you get ahead once you’ve had to leave the company? Know if your internship is opening doors or inadvertently closing them.
What has public transportation taught you about your job? What have you learned, and how can you make it last?
This blog post was originally posted on Beyond the Elms, a career planning and networking blog for college students, on April 13, 2011.
I had the pleasure of attending Geek Chic: Scripps Women in Technology, which was hosted in the Career Planning & Resources library. The panel included Cat Burhenne (’10), User Operations Analyst at Facebook, Aislinn Hetterman (’00), Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Yahoo!, Julie Lapidus (’11), Student Ambassador at Google, and Melinda White (’91), University Relations, Programs, & Staffing at LinkedIn. These talented women shared their experiences earning a liberal arts degree at Scripps and how they used their degrees to find success in the wide world of technology. Interested in hearing the tips and tricks these women passed on? Here’s a quick list:
Network, network, network. This was the suggestion that could not be emphasized enough. In many industries, and especially the tech industry, networks can make or break your chance at getting a job. In this case, LinkedIn (the “Facebook for professionals,” as many call it) should be your best friend. Add any professional you meet to your network. Don’t be afraid to keep in contact. It was pointed out that many high-profile tech companies only have internships for undergrads through word of mouth — you have to know someone. So don’t be afraid to network!
Know what to put on your resume. What piques a recruiter’s interest? Prior internships, for one thing. Experience is paramount to show future employers what you’ve already accomplished and experienced, particularly if it’s in the field you would like to work in.
Do your research. The Internet is a fantastic tool for gathering information on your employer. Even if you think you know everything about the company, go and look online for more information. What are the problems they may be facing, or might face in the future? How can they grow? More importantly, how can you help make the company a stronger workplace? What can you bring to the table?
Show your enthusiasm. This may not be hard for Scripps women, since we’re an enthusiastic bunch to begin with. Don’t be afraid to show how excited you are by a job or opportunity with a company you love. Who wants to come off as boring, anyway? I know this helped me in my last internship interview: I confessed that I’d never done professional online community management before, but the notion of connecting with people online and sparking meaningful conversations was exciting to me. I was later told that my enthusiasm (!) and willingness to learn made my cover letter stand out. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind!
Be passionate. We all have passions. Whether it’s related to the field you want to work in or not, sharing what interests and drives you to a future employer shows depth and integrity. Want to work at Google, but you’re dedicated to saving sharks with Oceana North America? Are you dedicated to raising funds to keep music education in public schools? Maybe you love to volunteer at your local animal shelter, because really, who doesn’t enjoy loving on cute animals? Don’t be afraid to share what excites you, and what makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning. What do you do for fun? What energizes you? If you’re passionate and driven, odds are that you will be just as passionate about a job you enjoy — employers will notice.
While these women focused on how to succeed in the world of technology, their suggestions are helpful for any field. If you want more specifics on the technology field, however, these alumna are a fantastic resource for you. From this fantastic event alone, I’ve met a handful of inspiring women and gained insight into a field I’m interested in — a priceless experience!
This blog post was originally posted at Beyond the Elms, a career planning and networking blog for students, on April 20, 2011.
In one of my posts, I tried to address the question of whether or not studying abroad helps you land internships or jobs. I mentioned how my study abroad experience wasn’t working out, though I wasn’t too concerned — I’m finding internships already, and I can always study abroad in the summer. For many, however, studying abroad is a huge part of their undergraduate career, a high point in their four years at Scripps College. The experience can help define them as a woman, a student, and a person.
A few days ago I received an email from Neva Barker, the Director of Off-Campus Study at Scripps. She’d read my post and wanted to weigh in on how helpful studying abroad can be to the job and internship application process. She wrote:
Does studying abroad help you get a job or an internship? My answer to that would be – only as much as any other experience you may add to your resume might. There is nothing magical about listing any one thing on your resume, really. What is important is being able to articulate what skills you acquired that you can put to good use in helping the company or organization accomplish its goals. That is what employers are looking for, and matching your skills to what the company needs is the key to getting that internship placement or the job of your dreams.
The hard part about job and internship interviews is being able to think on your feet and come up with smart, succinct answers to the questions thrown your way. Neva was right: there is nothing magical about listing one thing on your resume (though I’d imagine that saying you competed in the Olympics, or something as equally surprising to an interviewer, might work in your favor!). The important part is whether or not you can articulate how an experience, job, or internship can help you in your future job, or how it helped you grow as a viable individual for the position. Neva stressed just how important this was in her email. After all, what good is an entirely life-changing experience abroad if you can’t say just how it changed your life?
Surprisingly, not that many applicants are very good at answering my question: “So tell me about your time in X country. What did you learn from that experience?” Often students will talk about how amazing their time abroad was, how great it was to see the world and meet new people. That does nothing to move them on to the next round of interviews. They may talk about their personal growth — and while that is nice for them and is a slightly better answer, it is not what I care about as a potential employer. However, the students who will grab my attention are the ones who reply something like this, “To be honest, it was quite challenging and I learned to think on my feet and how to problem solve when confronted with a situation I had never faced before. I am confident that these skills and strengths that I honed while studying abroad are qualities that I can use to help your company adapt to the rapid changes that are occurring in this industry.” Students should illustrate the development of analytical skills, the ability to work as part of a team and with diverse populations, to communicate cross-culturally and show a familiarity with local customs in a different cultural context, etc. Those are the responses that will get my attention.
I can already hear people thinking it: “But I can come up with a response like that from my experiences on Scripps’ campus!” Well, that could very well be true. I know that I have personally been in situations during my time at Scripps where the outcome was similar to the ones listed above. I have certainly developed my analytical skills, I’ve learned how to work as part of a team on various clubs and athletic teams, and my communication skills have certainly seen a jump, too. Neva and I discussed this:
Learning to think critically and write well are the crucial skills to master in an undergraduate education. One can do that without ever leaving campus, but I think studying abroad can certainly offer such experiences. By taking oneself out of the familiar, perhaps those opportunities are more easily recognized.
Eventually, she and I circled around to the topic of perfectionism, which, as many Scripps students know, is quite common on our campus. We’re driven students, no doubt about that! Studying abroad certainly opens doors to the possibility of failure. One might make a mistake in the language and have a misunderstanding with a native speaker, one might get lost in their city on the way to university and have to explain why they’re late — the list could go on and on. Is failure necessarily a bad thing, though? Neva and I agreed that failure is ultimately a learning process. After all, what is that saying from William Hickson? Oh, right: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” As long as you pick yourself up after a failure and learn from your mistakes, it can be an incredibly successful experience. What better conversation topic could there be for a job or internship interview?
Studying abroad offers many opportunities for risk-taking and failure. Ultimately, students learn that it is okay to fail, and they find the courage to pick themselves up and try again. Study abroad is not the only way these things can happen, but if a goal for studying abroad is to make oneself a more attractive applicant for an internship or a job, it can certainly be a significant factor. If you talk to most people who are happy in their jobs today, they will probably tell of a career path that was not linear, that did not happen without some fits and starts, some failures and disappointments that, in retrospect, just turned out to be just another opportunity trying to get their attention.
So, can studying abroad help you land an internship or job? It certainly can. While it may not be right for everyone, it probably won’t harm your chances at getting a job or an internship. At the very least, it will be a memorable growing experience, one that employers will always be able to talk about with you in an interview — just make sure you have a great response for them about how it helped you grow as an individual, and makes you just right for the job.
By the end of our discussion, Neva had come up with a new personal motto: “Failure is just a new opportunity trying to get my attention.” I think that’s a darn good motto to live by…don’t you?
This blog post was originally posted on Beyond the Elms, a career planning and networking blog for college students, on March 15, 2011.
Thanks to a myriad of personal and health reasons, I’ve recently had to question whether or not I will be studying abroad in the fall. The decision process was long and complicated, made worse by emotional outbursts, questioning expectations of myself, and worrying about whether or not I was letting others down if I didn’t study abroad. In one of my long conversations with my parents and friends about studying abroad versus not studying abroad, the topic of jobs and internships came up. The questions we found ourselves asking was this: does studying abroad really help you land a future job or internship?
Our answers were split. Clearly, the study abroad experience is incredibly valuable in a lot of different ways. It allows students to see the world and experience culture. It opens doors to new opportunities and activities. You meet new people, grow as an individual, take fantastic pictures, broaden your horizons…but can any of this be put on a resume?
Of course, everyone’s situations are different. Personally, I have had the good fortune to have traveled with my family. Studying abroad wasn’t something that I ever felt I had to do as a Scripps student. The perception is that resumes will always shine brighter if you have traveled abroad, explored the world, and taken a few classes while doing so. Studying abroad helps with problem-solving in almost any situation (language barrier, anyone?), and future employers will certainly acknowledge the fact that you have grown as a person. But does the entire study abroad experience prepare you for a job?
It depends on what specific job field you would like to enter. Personally, I hope to work in the tech sector, and there are very few institutions abroad that will actively help me toward that goal. One of the few people I know who studied abroad for a specific field is my boss – she attended the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and took post-graduate classes in information management. Clearly, her experience was specifically tailored for her field, as she now works in community management at a tech start-up in San Francisco. Another example of tailoring a study abroad experience for your field would be attending the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome if you’re a classics major. What better choice could there be? On the same note, many institutions offer accompanying internship opportunities for eligible students. Obviously, these are fantastic opportunities to work abroad at an accredited company in your field – that will definitely stand out to your future employers!
However, many study abroad institutions are not quite as specialized as those listed above. In that case, the experience of traveling and living abroad – and the skills acquired by doing so – will have to be enough to shine through in your interview with a potential employer. The name of a school on your resume can only take you so far. For me, studying abroad was not conducive to my self-designed major and wasn’t specifically tailored to the field I want to pursue after graduation. On top of that, it was just falling at an awful time because of personal reasons. I was forced to consider whether studying abroad was a crucial aspect of my college experience, and I eventually decided it wasn’t. Would I have liked to? Sure, at a different time, without having to worry about classes not counting toward my major, and maybe at an institution that applies directly toward my desired job field. Meanwhile, I am already looking into abroad opportunities for next summer. Just because I chose not to study abroad during the school year doesn’t mean I can’t get just as wonderful of an experience at another time. As long as it’s something I’m passionate about doing, a future employer will certainly see that in my resume, and during any interview.
Interested in reading more about the impact study abroad has on your future job search? Kim Gradel’s article, Using Your International Experience to Get a Job, is a good place to start. Click here to read an article about the positives of studying abroad containing statistics conducted by Global HR News.
I’ll admit, I wanted to keep the wrapping paper just for the heck of it.
Amen. I’ve always been a victim of trying to tote my laptop around everywhere. I’ve either had purses that aren’t supposed to serve as laptop bags forced to do so (usually extremely uncomfortable on my shoulders, neck, and back), or I’ve hauled around laptop bags that just aren’t made with women in mind and end up feeling extremely unstylish. As most women know, neither of those situations turn out well!
