Why It’s Important That Your Next Internship Include Global Experience

Getting experience through internships is a key part of a college student’s education; but lately there has been increased emphasis on students expanding their horizons beyond U.S. borders and experiencing other cultures, in addition to getting real-world experience in their chosen career fields.
Maya Frost, author of The New Global Student, had this to say when asked why it’s important for college students to do internships internationally as well as in the U.S.:
“Experience abroad–whether it’s study, volunteer, internship or work–can provide a tremendous boost in terms of both personal development and career options. But don’t sign up for that junior year college semester abroad assuming it will help you get a job–employers know that most organized programs offer nothing more than a chance
to party internationally with American friends. Instead, choose options that provide true cultural immersion rather than the “submarine” experience in which students are technically immersed but never get wet.

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Double Parked Outside Starbucks

In most cities and towns, it’s against the law to double park. Running in to the local Starbucks to get an extra hot skinny latte isn’t an exception. Yet, that doesn’t seem to bother some of us. Apparently, they think the rules don’t apply to them. They don’t just double park, they cut into lines at airports, they don’t stop at Stop signs on the road, and they leave their garbage behind on park benches.
Why do these people act that way? Unlike Freud, I don’t think their parents messed them up. No, I think the reason is much closer to home. Consciously or unconsciously, they’ve come to the fixed opinion that they aren’t covered by the rules. They believe that they’re simply too smart, too important, too special to worry about the silly little strictures that order life for everybody else.

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The First Practice of FIERCE LEADERSHIP

It’s my opinion that today’s “best” practices of leaders not only fail to resolve the problems they’re meant to resolve or achieve the results they’re meant to achieve, they actually escalate problems. I’d like to recommend alternative practices to take their place. After all, reality has shifted and those who cling to old practices that no longer serve them and perhaps never did, will fail to thrive. Seriously. Fail to thrive.
Here, I will touch on the first “best” practice and hope to provoke your thinking, in subsequent entries, regarding all six.
Consider that you are always practicing something. The question is: what are you practicing. And why? Are you emulating practices of well-known, global companies, many of whom are now struggling and, in some cases, bankrupt? It’s time for some original thinking.

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Job Descriptions Made Simple

Writing job descriptions can be as complicated as you want them to be. In all my years of recruiting, there are some accepted conventions that seem to be in every good one. Remember the purpose here is to have a clear outline of duties and responsibilities to make the screening process as direct and simple as possible. Putting on my legal hat here,though I’m not claiming to be a lawyer, it also is good practice to have a documented format as part of your hiring criteria. (For more on that contact a good employment lawyer.)
Required Elements
Here the categories that should be addressed are with a brief overview of each:

• Job Parameters – The basic who, what, where and when of a job. What is the job title and department? Who does it report to? Where is the job located? (if necessary) and what is the schedule (days/hours) of the position if necessary?

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Alternative Teaching Programs Offer Unique Internship Opportunities

In California some teachers are taking the back door route and doing internships to help them get them a job teaching in a classroom. These are individuals with rich life experiences who have valuable information to share with students. Earning their credentials through an alternative certification program may be the way to go for many mid-life career changers who may feel that they are “too old” to go back for more education.
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Article by, Penny Loretto, a career counselor at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York, has her own private career counseling practice, Career Choice, and is About.com’s Guide to Internships.

Personal Branding Interview: Julien Smith

Today, I spoke to Julien Smith, who is the New York Times co-author of Trust Agents, with Chris Brogan, and one of the first podcasters. Julien talks to us about what a trust agent is, why it’s important in the online world, and then gives some examples of trust agents. He also explains how you can build an online following and what he learned while writing his book with Chris.
What is a “trust agent,” did this title always exist and why is it important in the digital age?
I consider trust agents to be a new phenomenon- only recently have people been able to take control of channels by themselves, get known worldwide by being a part of a wider conversation, etc. We often point to people like Oprah in the book as being pre-web examples of trust agents, but the more we go on, the less these people will need to have huge audiences to do a great job at building influence- it’ll be more about connecting to a specific niche (or tribe, as Seth Godin would say).

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Doing an Internship for Credit this Fall

If you are looking to do an internship for fall semester check with your college to find out what the deadline is to apply. Also, check on the appropriate paperwork that needs to be completed and who needs to complete what sections.
Students usually will need to apply for fall internships for credit during the first couple of weeks of each semester. You will also most likely need to have a faculty sponsor for the internship. You can check with your college advisor or a faculty member in the department where you are looking to get credit to make sure that you complete all of the paperwork on time. Continue reading …
Article by, Penny Loretto, a career counselor at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York, has her own private career counseling practice, Career Choice, and is About.com’s Guide to Internships.

Is Fear Holding You Back?

This post will take a look at how fear can hold you back from achieving your goals — in this case, preventing you from creating and promoting your personal brand. Through understanding how fear works and impedes progress, you will be able to push it aside and take the action you need to reach your goals.
This post has particular meaning for me because two weeks ago today I was involved in a bad car accident — the SUV I was in was broadsided by another SUV that ran a red light at an intersection. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, followed by the most surreal and thankful moments of my life — I have never been so aware of the fact that I was alive.
How lucky were we?
The reporting officers that night later told me when they arrived on scene they thought there were at least four or five fatalities because of the damage to the vehicles — luckily, everyone involved in the accident walked away with very minor injuries, but it was only a matter of inches and the outcome would have been very different for all of us.
If there are such things as miracles in this world, this was one of them.

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Revealed: PBB Experts and Personal Branding Success

Success stories are inspiring, so I asked every Personal Branding Blog contributor to describe when they first felt their own personal branding success.
Enjoy.
Dan Schawbel:
There were two main instances that had proved the power of personal branding to me and they both happened in unison. First, after six months between March 14th and August 1st, Fast Company wrote about everything I was doing in this space, including this blog, the magazine, the articles I was writing for other magazines, the online TV show, and the awards. Once that Fast Company article was published, back when the site looked much different and each article had ten times more visibility, it was picked up by my company’s PR group and sent to a Vice President. I was then recruited based on my passion outside of work, that I had considered a hobby and I was able to co-create a ‘brand’ new position called “social media specialist.” Once that occurred, I had a very compelling story, which eventually became the book Me 2.0! I had proven to myself that I was taking the advice I was giving, with great results.

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Consumer generated content: Posterous Makes it Easy to Source the Wisdom of the Crowd

I was reading a Tweet from Steve Rubel which directed me to an example of a newspaper in the US using Posterous the free blogging platform (that I am posting to here) where you can post using email.
The Austin American Statesman ‘Weather Watch’ page says:
This has been a summer we won’t likely forget — thanks to the record-setting heat. Today, we get something of a break and, for the third consecutive day, should stay under 100 degrees. We’re expecting folks to get out and take advantage of the relative cool.

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