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By Nick Gidwani

The fall semester is winding down and students all over the country are busy burning the midnight oil, finishing final projects and papers or cramming for final exams. The semester had passed by at a frantic pace and once it is all over and the dust has settled you will have the time to think about something else besides schoolwork.

One thing that may be on the forefront of many people’s minds is planning for a summer internship. At this point in the year, very well prepared students who know what they want to do are way ahead of the curve and have locked up their summer internship with a leading investment bank, trending consumer brand, or government agency. Meanwhile, the vast majority of under- and middle-classman may be struggling to chose a major let alone, figure out which industry or job to intern in.

Worry not, an internship is the perfect chance to try out different industries and job roles. The great news is that although the fall semester has almost come and gone, there are plenty of internship positions that have gone unfilled and are waiting for you.

Get a jump on some of your fellow classmates and hone “hard” skills to give you that edge that will make you stand out from the rest. The following 3 skills are currently in high demand:

1. Excel

Excel is Microsoft’s classic spreadsheet application and can be used to store, manipulate, and analyze large amounts of data. It is a great skill set to have and has applications in almost any business setting, from statistics to accounting and finance. If you have advanced Excel skills it can benefit you in most any job where numbers play a role.

2. Content Marketing

When the Internet was in its infancy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists were able to game the search engines by using a very formulaic approach to webpage development, tricking Google into letting it rank #1, but the content was often irrelevant. However, in the past year or so all that has changed. Google made some major changes to its search algorithms and now quality content is the new rage in Internet Marketing. What does that mean? It means that web content needs to be written for a specific target audience, and written well so it engaging to that type of reader or buyer. Content marketing is also about creating interactive content like video and making it sharable. If you are interested in Social Media and Marketing, understanding content marketing is crucial.

3. Interaction Design

Interaction design (IxD), also known and User Experience Design (UXD), is all about designing for the digital world. However, rather than focusing on form it focuses on user behavior. Interaction design incorporates graphic design and web design with psychology. It is an emerging field that is scooping up more and more attention by the day, as computers and the Internet are becoming an important part of our lives. The applications that people use need to be created in a way that is easy and intuitive, and in business situations may encourage purchasing. Knowing the fundamentals of Interaction Design, can help you land a job in product design at gaming, technology, and internet companies.

The aforementioned skills are really just the tip of iceberg and there are a ton of “hard” skill areas that are in demand by employers. To find out more valued skills, you will need to get out and do some research on your own. Talk to your professors, university career services and get some first-hand insight. There is also a ton of information online, including free courses at your disposal.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and build that knowledge and expertise in to round out your resume and get that summer internship!

Lindsay T. is a recent college graduate. She currently writes on behalf of Skyo, an online site that helps college students save money with cheap textbooks and flexible rental options.

By Lindsay Traiman

As most students know, completing an internship during college is a great way to develop skills, build your resume, and explore new industries. Internships, however, can also help you with the job search if you know how to leverage them properly. Whether you are interning right now, have plans to intern this spring, or are looking for a summer position, the following tips will help you use your internship in preparation for the job search.

1. Write down everything you do.

As an intern, make a point of logging all the projects you complete or assist with. After your internship is over, you will want to be able to discuss the specifics of your position in an interview or at a career fair. It is important to know exactly how you added value to the company. You may also learn terms or concepts that you can use later to demonstrate your industry-specific knowledge. Showing an understanding of the industry landscape will make a positive impression during interviews.

2. Update your resume during your internship.

Not only are your tasks fresh in your mind while you’re on the job, but you can ask your supervisor to review your resume for you. He or she will likely be able to improve the language you use in each bullet point and may even provide you with a list of intern duties that you can use. Have several people within the company look your resume over to receive as much feedback as possible.

3. Practice networking

For every interaction you have as an intern, treat it as an opportunity to make a connection. Whether that means attending an industry event hosted by your company or simply meeting a new employee, you have the chance to become a more confident networker with every conversation you have. Exchange information with people you would like to stay in touch with, and add them on LinkedIn. Continue to stay in touch, and you never know what career opportunities may arise for you.

4. Conduct informational interviews.

Arrange to interview people in divisions you would like to learn more about, and prepare a list of questions beforehand. Use these opportunities to find out about different career opportunities, and stay in touch with the people you interview. Not only does this make a good impression at your internship, but it will help you consider jobs you hadn’t thought of before. It can also be a way to learn more about that particular industry.

5. Strengthen your weaknesses.

You probably know some of your weaknesses, and you can also ask for feedback from your supervisor. Once aware of what you need to improve upon, make sure you do just that. Use your internship as a chance to strengthen skills that need work. Not only will you develop a more well-rounded skill set, but you can use this as an interview talking point to show that you are capable of self-assessment and improvement.

Your internship is not just a way to build your resume, but an opportunity for career growth. It is an experience that can make you a more confident interviewee, networker, and future employee. If you play your cards right, you can open doors for yourself that will last long after your internship is over.

Thomas Frank (@tomfrankly) is the founder and head geek at College Info Geek, a college blog that publishes tips on studying, technology, money, music, and other student-related topics.

He started College Info Geek for fun, and it now has become one of the highest-trafficked  sites on the ‘net. We asked  him to share his story on how he did it, why he did and his advice for college grads.

What was the moment that made you decide you wanted to start a blog to help others “be awesome at college?”

During the summer of 2010 I was working at a Cyclone Aide, which is my school’s name for orientation assistants. At that point I had learned more than I ever thought possible about Iowa State and was answering hundreds of college questions every day from students and parents alike. Around the same time, HackCollege (one of my favorite blogs) announced they were looking for writers. I thought it would be cool to write for a big blog, so I wrote up a post and sent in my application.

Aaaaaaaaand rejection. I was politely told that my application was great, like many others, but it wasn’t good enough to make the cut.

Instead of throwing it away or making it a Facebook Note, I decided to put my prior web design experience to good use and start my own blog. On a whim, I named it College Info Geek and put up that first post.

What were the first steps to get College Info Geek started?

I was a web designer in high school, so I already had a hosting account I could use for the blog. After I registered the domain and tied it to said hosting account, I installed WordPress and just started writing. I had almost no experience with WordPress at the time, so I just chose a free theme and didn’t do much in the way of customization. In fact, you can see what College Info Geek used to look like back in the day.

After I wrote a few posts on my own, I brought one of my friends on board and we started writing together. For the first few months, that’s all it was; him and I kept a list of post ideas and wrote less than five posts a month.

Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently at the beginning?

When I published my first article, I figured that writing posts and hitting the publish button was all there was to blogging. I thought that people would just eventually find the site after a long enough period of time.

When you’re a blogger, you can’t just post and expect people to find your site. You have to build links and get your name out there by sharing posts actively and guest blogging.

Since then, I’ve learned so much about WordPress, SEO, social media, networking… the amount of knowledge I’ve gained about blogging since I started is incredible. So yeah, I would have done a lot differently. For starters, I would have started posting consistently a lot sooner than I did. For the first 10 months, I was doing anywhere from two to eight articles a month. Now I try to do five articles a week (though I relaxed for a while during Christmas break). Publishing frequently gives people more content to read and more entrance points to your site.

I also would have focused on SEO and building relationships with other bloggers sooner. When you’re a blogger, you can’t just post and expect people to find your site. You have to build links and get your name out there by sharing posts actively and guest blogging. These are two things I’ve been doing a lot lately. It’s also really good to meet the other bloggers in your niche – if I could go back, I would take the time to meet other college bloggers a lot sooner than I did.

What is your advice for college students or recent grads looking to stand out from other job candidates?

Build a personal brand. This is huge. The thing about a college degree is that it’s very cookie cutter – there are thousands of other people graduating every year with the same degree you’re graduating with. Your ability to fill in the right boxes on a test sheet and get good grades won’t be enough to stand out. You need to make yourself known as an expert in your field as soon as you can in order to make an impression.

The first and most important part of this is getting actual experience. Internships and co-ops are the often-cited way to do this, but they’re not the only ways. You can do other things to get experience, depending on your major – get a part-time job during the school year close to your field of study, or start your own project.

After that, you need to build a presence for yourself. Create a personal website that shows off your work or expertise, use your social media profiles to network with your people in your field, make custom business cards, etc.

What have been the “perks” of starting this blog up? Has anything unexpected happened as a result of the blog?

The amount of traffic it currently gets was definitely unexpected! To be honest, I started the blog thinking it would get a small readership, and my only other goal was to have a writing portfolio I could show to employers in order to set myself apart from other graduates.

Since I’ve started, some amazing things have happened.

One of my posts was featured on LifeHacker, and I gained a lot of readers from that. I’ve partnered with some awesome companies including Adobe, Sony, and Vonage, and was able give away cool stuff like an iPad 2 and copies of Adobe CS5 through those partnerships.

In October, Adobe sent me out to Los Angeles to attend the Adobe MAX conference, were I was given a press pass and got to see all kinds of cool new stuff from Adobe and other companies. Free travel was certainly not something I foresaw when I published that first post!

Thanks Thomas! This is a great success story and great advice for students who always hear about ‘building a personal brand’. Get in touch with Thomas through his site.

Next week, we’ll hear again from Thomas about his own personal internship experience. Stay tuned!

Tonya Vrba is a senior at the University of Iowa. She is double majoring in Journalism and International Studies with a focus on human rights. While studying abroad in Northern Ireland, she earned a Certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster in Derry. Tonya started working with DatingSite.Org in August 2011 as a means of gaining writing and PR experience. She is also the creator and writer of Find a Job After College.

By Tonya Vrba

When I attended my first career fair earlier this fall, one of my most surprising selling points ended up being my personal website, “Find a Job After College”. It has many functions – It is a school project, a job search tool, a personal brand and a medium to express my creativity. What has propelled my site into further success are the strategies for self promotion I have learned through my internship at DatingSite.Org. The strategies I use to promote the company are the same tactics I have come to use to promote my personal brand to potential employers.

I am convinced that every college student should have a personal website to promote themselves. As students, we hear a lot of advice about networking and job searching. In my experience, the most successful students are the ones who are innovative in how they promote themselves. For example, I got a LinkedIn account after being repeatedly told by professors and advisors that I should. By this time, however, having a LinkedIn account was not unique but expected. Nicole Crimaldi, founder of Ms. Career Girl, Inc., told me in an interview “If you’re not on LinkedIn, you don’t exist to recruiters.”

“I predict the next step in the evolution of resumes to be personalized professional websites… Innovation is not in the blog itself, but what you do with it.”

Consider the Technology Adoption Life Cycle. First, only a few people – called visionaries and technology enthusiasts – use a new technology or technique. Eventually the majorities of people adopt the technology and finally, after everyone else has begun using the technology, the skeptics give in and start using it as well. When promoting yourself, you want to be the innovator. Use a new tactic while it is still new.

Resumes have evolved into creative resumes and now further into Presumes (Prezi + resume). I predict the next step in the evolution of resumes to be personalized professional websites. Be an innovator. Take a risk. Promote yourself in a way few others have. These are the things that will make you stand out.

Blogging sites have been around for a long time. Innovation is not in the blog itself, but what you do with it. Use the blog to promote yourself and your personal brand. I use WordPress.com, a free blogging platform, as I know many professional companies that use a paid form of WordPress for their sites. Using WordPress specifically helps me because I am learning skills I will use on the job to create my personal blog.

As a journalism major, having a blog is an ideal way to showcase my writing style. Many other creative forms of study benefit from blogs as places to showcase videos, art, music or anything else you create. For other areas of study, a personal website may be less of a blog and more of a portfolio.

Create a page for your resume, complete with links to the websites of previous employers. Interview yourself and post the video. Create a Presume and show off your creativity, personal style and ability to easily learn new technologies. These are qualities every employers wants.

By far the most important tactic I’ve learned from my work with datingsite.org is networking. Find a company you may like to work at someday. Research them and post your research on your website. Link to the company website and email them about your interest. You don’t have to be in a creative area of study to do this. I talk a lot on my blog about passion and how important it is to employers. What better way to show off your passion than to research and promote a company of your own free will?

If you read my previous posts on my career fair experience, you will know that this action is the most important. The interview I got was not a result of meeting them at the fair or having a creative resume. They wanted to talk to me before the career fair even started. They had seen my face and my work online already. My personal website and interest in their company is what got me that interview. It’s what will get you one as well.

Do you have a personal blog or website showcasing your resume or jobhunt? Leave a link in the comments below!

Question of the week: Are you concerned about potential employers reading your blog posts?

In this week’s Up/Down we had 1,808 responses and the majority of you said you aren’t worried about your employer reading your blog entries.

YES

28% (499)

NO

72% (1309)

A good number of recruiters and savvy bosses do monitor prospect and even employee blogs.

Being careful not to mention your employer or any kind of work issues is a good start when it comes to personal blogging (in the last Up/Down 89% of you indicated you don’t mention your internship/employer). However, just because you don’t specifically mention your current employer when blogging doesn’t mean you are safe from future repercussions. A good number of recruiters and savvy bosses do monitor prospect and even employee blogs. Keep in mind they are not just interested in what you are saying about their company or work-life in general, they are also interested in finding out about personal beliefs and affiliations that may be counter to the mission.

Remember, every company has a brand image to protect and many will go to great lengths to protect that image. Blogs depicting wild party weekends or chronicling spring break road trips may cause a prospective employer to be a little uneasy, particularly if the images are counter to what the company represents. I’m a firm believer in being yourself and projecting an accurate image of who you are, but that image should be consistent. If companies you may be applying to are somehow shocked by your postings, you need to think about the consistency of the personal image you are portraying to them. So, be genuine in who you are, be smart about what you talk about on-line, and know your broader audience.

Seth Fendley (@RawkforChrist) is a senior pursuing a double major in speech communications and public relations at Arkansas Tech University.  He is currently employed as both a social media manager and youth pastor.  When not online he is found out playing disc golf or debating on the Arkansas Tech Forensics Team.  He blogs weekly for cstrom.com and during the school year at ReThink: Christinaity.

BY SETH FENDLEY

Another job opportunity had just escaped my grasp. A hiring process that I spent cultivating via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for a month.  When you apply to wear shirts for a living, Jason Sadler (the owner of iwearyourshirt.com) wants to make sure the people he is hiring have the capabilities of using social media to their fullest potential.  So this is what I did for a month, in hopes that I could land this dream of a job; wearing shirts for a living.  However, this didn’t happen. So in the end, I settled into the IWYS community and began preparing for the 2011 hiring process (which is coming soon).

I figured part of this preparation should be landing an internship focused on social media. I updated my Twitter profile to say “looking for a job in social media.” On January 22, a Denver Internet marketing company called cstrom sponsored a day on IWYS.  After some tweeting about the daily sponsor, while moderating the live chat the owner of cstrom sparked a conversation with me. He informed me that he was interested in hiring me as a social media manager.  This led to a glowing recommendation from one of the shirt wearers.  The owner and I began emailing. By March I was employed as a social media manager.

As simple as it sounds, it took some work for me to be in this position. I have three tips for landing a job on Twitter:

1. Be Professional

If you are going to seek a job through Twitter, avoid any embarrassing topics that might not get you hired.  Don’t be spammy either. Talk with business professionals in your field through social media about tips they have for jobs (they just may have an opening for you!).

2. Find your niche

Obviously a job in social media is easy to seek through social media.  You may be looking for something more specific or not social media related.  Follow the industry leaders, start conversations, remember to be professional about things, though.  I once tweeted that I would love to work for Groupon, within an hour Groupon had replied with a list of openings they had.  Don’t be afraid to take risks!

3. Content is Key

Twitter is all about sharing content.  Once you know your niche, share content related to your niche.  This will catch the eyes of those in the industry and potentially lead to a job (especially if you are Retweeting their content).

Did you land your job or internship as a direct result of Twitter? Let’s hear about it! Tell your story in the comments below.

There were 379 responses to last week’s Dr. Woody question and the overwhelming majority of you said “No!”

YES

14% (53)

NO

86% (326)

Well, since only 1/5 of you responded to even having a blog (the previous week’s question), it’s no surprise that the vast majority of you don’t plan to make money that way… at least not directly.

Remember, professional blogging, in a similar way to social media, is more of a vehicle for promotion than an actual way of generating revenue in-and-of-itself. Many media organizations like Fast Company, Psychology Today, and Fox Business, to name a few, use “free” bloggers who are looking to reach out to their audiences to promote themselves as experts or advertise whatever services they have to offer.

Is your blog an asset to your career search or a liability? That depends what’s on it — and where you want to be hired.

You can blog if you want to. You can leave your friends behind.

By Alex Braun

Any time you declare an opinion, you’re taking a calculated risk. On one hand, you might earn someone’s respect and establish yourself as a thoughtful, intelligent person. On the other hand, your comments might be dismissed, misinterpreted or even used against you.

The more technology turns our smallest musings into public record, the more you’ll hear the same refrain: “Be careful what you type!” It’s a well-intentioned sentiment, and there’s a lot of truth to it. But excessive restraint makes it harder for us to brand our personalities — and what seems like the safe choice can actually lead to missed opportunities.

I know this from experience, because I once thought long and hard about whether to include posts from my personal blog on my professional portfolio. My first instinct? No way. A lot of my writing there had some risque comedy elements — biting sarcasm, not-infrequent profanity and some subject matter that certainly could have scared off some employers. In fact, that’s why I didn’t even list my full name in the byline.

… Excessive restraint makes it harder for us to brand our personalities — and what seems like the safe choice can actually lead to missed opportunities.

But then, when I was asked to provide writing samples for a few job applications that required strong verbal skills, I realized something. As many potential landmines as those posts contained, they also felt like my best storytelling. The comments and traffic on my blog proved I could build a loyal following with an audience many of my potential employers wanted to connect with. And when I really thought about it, the bosses I wanted to work for might appreciate a risk-taker.

I decided to link two of my favorite personal blog posts on my professional websites, with a disclaimer that they contained some content that might be inappropriate for, say, a corporate blog. Within a few days, I had a phone interview with Internships.com — and the marketing director told me she thought my post about a fourth-grade self-esteem exercise was hysterical. Not that I would always have the same linguistic license on the company website, of course — but, when considered with my more professional samples, it proved I could write in a wide range of tones. That, and I probably wasn’t going to be a drag around the office.

I had already taken the biggest risk of my life in quitting my Louisiana magazine job during a recession to move to California. Now, a week before I had to pack my life into a U-Haul, another risk had paid off.

I’m not saying this approach always works for everyone as well as it does for writers. But at the very least, I think that taking some time to blog about current issues in your career field is more likely to help than hinder your job-seeking efforts, as long as you avoid statements that degrade other people (racism, sexism) or cast doubt on your ability to be a good employee (complaining about previous bosses, emotional rambling, drug/binge drinking references).

If you blog and blog well, this is your reward: Employers will remember you as a thinking, breathing human being as opposed to a name in a stack of papers.

There were 488 responses to this week’s Up/Down, and the vast majority of you said “No!”

YES

20% (97)

NO

80% (391)

I see this as good news. I’m hoping the 80 percent of you in the “no” column are out enjoying the summer!

For the rest of you, the term blog was coined in the late ’90s and was derived from the term “web log”, which was the original term for an on-line diary. No doubt, the modern day blog has certainly evolved from its roots as personal diary. Today bloggers post about everything from celebrity mishaps to political commentary.

As intriguing as blogging has become, there are always risks! Keep in mind that whatever you post has the potential to exist in cyberspace indefinitely, which means that friends, family, and prospective employers may all come across your posts at some point. So if you plan on blogging, make sure to be comfortable with what you are going to put out there!

Angel Sanford (@TampereAngel on Twitter) graduated from University of Oregon with a B.S. in business administration and marketing. She recently returned from an internship in Scotland to live in her hometown of Portland, Ore. Besides visiting craft breweries and trying to get on the show ‘Portlandia’, she is also looking to start her advertising career in Portland.

By Angel Sanford

I recently left a job interview feeling deflated. I had spent hours preparing for behavioral questions, but they asked one question I was totally unprepared for: “Why should we hire you instead of an applicant with 10-15 years experience?”

I stumbled upon my answer, thinking maybe the quality of my experience could be more important than the quantity. That didn’t work. Like me, many entry-level, post-internship applicants are looking at jobs which require years of previous experience. We have to prove our 0-12 months of work has prepared us enough for the job, and interviewers can be harsh!

President Obama and former President George W. Bush campaigned against many opponents with more political experience, but they successfully emphasized other important qualities to get the job.

Therefore, I’ve taken some time to think through what else we have to offer. You know you can’t beat out the other candidates on the basis of experience. What you do have, though, is potential. I know it may sound cliché, but it’s all in how you package it.

I like to think of potential as a function of four parts. All of these are unique to the individual, and naturally portrayed in an interview. They outline what you specifically bring to the table: an adept base which can be molded through years with the company.

Potential = Skills, Character, Perspective, and Expertise

Skills

You have the basic skills required for the job. Whatever it might be — Microsoft Office suite, foreign languages, team communication, organization — you’re on par with the other applicants, and ready to learn more.

Character

You fit the mentality of the company.  Quick reacting or thoughtful and strategic, structured or loose, team or individually-oriented; every office is different.  Show you posses many of the same character traits as the company. If you don’t, you’re still maturing professionally and will adapt quickly to the company culture.

Perspective

You have a viewpoint that none of the other applicants have. You may be young, but your unique background or lifestyle will bring a fresh perspective to the company. It inspires creativity. You’re not ‘jaded’ by past professional faux-pas. Start-up companies especially prefer someone who is not stuck in a bureaucratic mindset.

Expertise

You have a capability or interest that is unique to you. For example: an interior designer with only 1 year work experience, but a degree in color therapy, has unique expertise in color. It may seem difficult to decipher, but expertise is not the same as experience. Everyone can have a niche that they know well. You can single-handedly broaden the company’s competencies.

For a great example of rivaling experience with potential, I think back to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.  Yes, Obama campaigned on policies and positions, but he also campaigned on change, and hope. With only two years in the United States Senate, his advantage over the more established candidates was a fresh new way of doing politics. Gregory Craig, a lawyer in Washington, D.C. saw Obama speak as a senator and said of him,

“In my judgment, he showed more insight and maturity than Bill Clinton at the age of 60 in terms of understanding himself.”

I believe we all want to hear that about ourselves. Obama’s potential shined through because he knew his strengths in skills, character, perspective and expertise. I wish I had known mine before the interview.

Now don’t be afraid to go up against experienced candidates! Chances are, the “ideal candidate description” is less about years experience and more about potential.