Hi Everyone,

Melissa Varischetti here, owner of FindAJobPA.com. 

It’s June, and that means time for cookouts, school breaks, and (for a lot of folks) the start of temporary jobs and/or internships. Although the type of work can vary widely, and internships can be paid and unpaid, there are 3 guiding principles that I’d like to share with you to help you make the most of this upcoming internship or temporary job. 

1. Connect With EVERYBODY at that Internship or Job

Hopefully this isn’t the first time you’re hearing this. One of the main selling points of an internship, especially the unpaid ones, is the opportunities you’ll have to make an impression on all sorts of people. Regardless of how long you’re at this position – whether 10 days or 10 weeks – meet as many folks as you can and add them to your network. Whether you connect on LinkedIn, or just add their info to your phone contacts for use as future references, the more people you know, the better your odds of a future job opportunity.

And not just at that company, but really anywhere as folks tend to move around frequently, and you never know if someone you knew at a prior temp job or internship will one day be in a hiring position for a job you’ve applied for. Just make sure you get folks’ permission to use them as professional references in the future, and if (down the road) you need their reference, definitely reach out again to confirm they’re still willing to put in a good word for you. 

2.  Use This Experience To Build Your Resume

When thinking about a resume, you really want one that showcases all your diverse experiences and talents. Even in a short job or unpaid internship, you’ll be able to distill your duties into something that stands out on your resume. Let’s suppose you take an 8-week internship at an Accounting firm doing mostly data entry and other tasks. Rather than just listing “data entry” on your resume and leaving it there, you could highlight how what you did brought value to the firm. For example, “increased process efficiency and streamlined data by ensuring all records were appropriately documented on systems of record”.

This verbiage shows two things: first, that you actually did work for this company, and second, that you made their firm better by what you did. Not to mention it also provides a great starting point for that future recruiter or hiring manager to say “tell me more about that” which will let you share more about what you did. This is also a great opportunity to “name drop” any company executives you reported to or presented to. Especially with internships, executives like to be involved with the interns and see what they’re doing, which helps with networking (see the first point above) and also showcasing that diverse experience on your resume. 

3. Be Smart With Your Earnings

Obviously this point applies to more than just summer cash, but it’s especially important if this is one of the few times you’ll have to earn money before going back to school in the fall. After making sure you’ve paid off any outstanding debts and everyday expenses, see if there is any opportunity to either save some money, invest it, or stockpile it for future job expenses or opportunities. Maybe you end the summer with a spare thousand bucks – consider parking it away in case you ever need to hop on a flight for a promising job or grad school interview, or perhaps pick out a few new sets of business professional clothes. Those come in handy for more than just job interviews – chances are you’ll have to go to a wedding, funeral, or dance at some point and you may as well have something nice to go in.

The bigger point of this section (and this blog post) is that NOTHING is insignificant with temporary summer jobs or internships, including any money you earn. Each experience you have, and each person you meet, is another opportunity to nail down what you love to do, and plan for the future. 

As we wrap up this month’s blog, I just wanted to remind all of you that we’ve still got lots of great jobs posted on FindAJobPA.com. We’ve got a few new additions from last month including an Accounting Assistant / Office Manager role at Focus Accounting. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments, drop a comment on this post, send me a message on Facebook, or email [email protected]. 

Until next time,

Melissa