Some Tools From My Job Search Toolkit

Most of us can attest to the fact that looking for an internship or full-time job can be quite painful, especially in a down economy. However, there are many tools on the internet that can help ease the pain. The following are some common and not so common tools that aided me in my search.


Boolean Searches – Not all search engines are created equal, especially when it comes to complex Boolean searches. For me, I found exalead (http://www.exalead.com/search/web/) to be a very powerful Boolean based search engine.


In deriving my search string, I first thought about what values I wanted in a company to work for. I most valued innovation and the ability to creatively solve problems. Working off of these ideas, I derived the following search string: (innovation OR innovative OR "creative solutions" OR "idea generation" OR "idea evolution" OR "idea company" OR "big ideas" OR strategic OR "problem solving") & ("employment opportunities" OR "career opportunities" OR "current opportunities" OR "career possibilities") & ("about us" OR "core strengths" OR "core values" OR "company values") & marketing & .com NOT .org NOT .edu


Some of the hits I got included: Toyota, John Deere, Alcatel-Lucent, Levi-Strauss, P&G, DuPont, Coca-Cola. I knew I was on the right track since I had applied to four of these companies already.


[Note: This may seem very complex to some of you, so I would be glad to help you with any searches you would like to do.]


Twitter – First, I would recommend getting a Twitter account today and start following @MBAHighway (https://twitter.com/#!/MBAHighway). MBA Highway posts lots of MBA internships and full-time positions throughout the day, every day.


Second, I started using Twitter because I am a career changer with fewer connections in the marketing world that I have recently entered. So, I began following marketers, who would tweet the latest trends. However, more importantly, I posted in my profile that I was into marketing and began tweeting on marketing topics, which resulted in marketers following me—an easy way to expand my network. Additionally, I began following companies that I am interested in, who in turn will sometimes follow you back.


Local Newspapers’ Business Section – One of my internship offers was with Rockfish Interactive, a fast growing privately held, online advertising and marketing firm. Being from Cincinnati, I continue to read through the Cincinnati Enquirer on a daily basis. Several months ago, I ran across an article about efforts to establish Cincinnati as a marketing hub, and Rockfish Interactive was listed as a major contributor to that effort. As I mentioned above, I love innovation and Rockfish looked like a great option to look for an internship. Through LinkedIn I discovered that Rockfish Interactive’s Chief Marketing Officer graduated from my undergraduate university and had common connections. I reached out to him, and before I knew it I had phone interviews and ultimately an offer.


LinkedIn Amazon ReadingList App – The Amazon ReadingList application on LinkedIn allows users to list the books they are reading and to leave reviews. More importantly, however, you can see who else on LinkedIn is reading or has read the same books. Especially if they leave a review, this may give some insight into the person’s interests and values. Look to see where they work and what they do…it may end up being something that matches your career interests, and you now have a new person with whom to connect and network.


Undergraduate Symplicity – So you have exhausted the job listings on BYU’s Symplicity site, and you hunger for more options. If you did your undergraduate studies at somewhere other than BYU, you may be in luck. Many schools allow alumni access to their Symplicity sites, and many of the jobs/internships will be unique to that school or area of the country. Certainly many of the job/internship listings will be for undergraduate positions; however, if you see a company that interests you, many listings will include a recruiter’s name and contact information. I reached out to many recruiters, who in turn gave me information on graduate opportunities. If you did go to BYU for your undergraduate, just ask someone like me to give you leads from their undergraduate Symplicity site.


These are just some of the tools I found helpful, and I hope many of you find value in them as well. I would also encourage others to share their toolkit as well. We should all be in this together, so let’s help each other reach our respective career goals and dreams.

David Williams, Class 2012, Marketing

Upcoming Internship: Cummins

Read more!

Chocolate Boxes and Internships

Though I'm not a huge Tom Hanks fan, I'm not shy about pulling an analogy from Forrest Gump in how life is full of surprises. In the movie titled after the main character, Forrest relates to a stranger how his mother always compared life to a box of chocolates, asserting that you never know what you're going to get when you bite into a random sample. Obviously, they didn't buy Whitman's, but that's another story.

I've found the same to be true in my own life and, in particular, through the travail of finding that ideal summer internship. I'll share my story in hopes to inspire future first-years that things really do work out, and quite often not as you expected.

I knew I had a different path from the start. Being in tech marketing, my search was very different from other marketers looking for roles in CPG or Retail. Tech starts their recruiting season much later and causes much higher stress levels to the spouses of students looking for tech internships. Fairly early in the game, I interviewed with Adobe in Orem. The series of interviews went well and I received an internship offer around the turn of the year. I was convinced that it would be a great opportunity (and still think it would have been in many ways) and was on the verge of accepting it... until we took our Tech Trek to the Bay Area. The experience there was eye-opening, and I decided that the best thing for my career path would be to get out of Utah. I was particularly interested in getting to Silicon Valley and started looking at options there.

I couldn't keep Adobe on hold any longer, and took a big leap of faith when I declined their offer. Through feeling out different companies, I decided to focus on two that I felt were a best-fit for my personality and goals: Amazon and eBay. I could go on for a while explaining the "why" behind those, two, but I'll forebear.

While still waiting for internship requisitions to open up at eBay, some good news came from Amazon in late February. I was contacted to go through a first round of phone interviews. That was when things got a little interesting.

First off, the recruiter sent a confirmation email referencing a cell phone number that I had not used for 3 years. I wrote him to correct it and asked how they got it. It turns out, I had an old Amazon profile. I updated the phone number with the recruiter and on my outdated Amazon careers profile and forgot about the incident. That is, I forgot about it until the phone interview came. As is common, one of the interviewer's first questions for me was to walk me through the resume. Having rehearsed this a good number of times with my Sherpa, Rick, I confidently started with "Well, I graduated with a degree in Spanish..." and ended with "... and that's when I knew it was time to come back for the MBA. And I've loved it here."

I was surprised to hear his reply, "Wait... so, you're going back to get an MBA?"

"No," I answered, "I'm about to finish my first year of school. I'm looking for a summer internship."

"The SFA (Senior Financial Analyst) role?"

"Actually, marketing / retail management."

"Hmm. Well, let's go on with the interview anyway."

The interview actually went really well and the follow-up (Amazon does back-to-back phone interviews) interview was very similar. "Tell me about yourself." "I'm Lewis...Spanish...Online Marketing...MBA..." "Oh, you're marketing?" "Yeah." "Well, let's interview anyway."

I contacted the recruiter to clarify things and they promptly rectified it and set me up with some marketing interviews. I kind of knew pretty quickly that they weren't going quite as well. One of them was just nightmarish (I got put on mute several times, making it impossible to get a read on the interviewer).

About a week later I heard back from Amazon's HR department. They told me that, not surprisingly, marketing wasn't very impressed but that the SFA guys were interested - pending my interest in finance. "Finance?" I thought to myself. "Why not?" I agreed to a follow up interview, which also went surprisingly well. Then, just a short 2 days later, they extended an offer.

The moral of the story? Sometimes the path is twisted and completely not what you would have assumed it would be. But hang in there because things work out. Life really is like a box of chocolates, just hopefully with a lower concentration of saturated fats.

Lewis Gunter, Class of 2012, Marketing

Read more!

Three Secrets to Nailing the Internship

You have edited your resume 20 times, written 10 STAR stories, practiced interviewing dozens of times, made a dumb comment during an informational meeting, been rejected by your top company, cried, prayed, cursed the MBA program, prayed again, found a new ‘top’ company, and finally received that beautiful call with the long awaited words, “We would like to extend you an offer!” Now you are happy again—you love the MBA program.

So what’s next? Now you must nail the internship!

After surveying several second-year MBA’s, I believe I have discovered Three Secrets to Nailing the Internship—

1. Make Getting an Offer Your Goal

2. Impress Your Manager

3. Network Strategically

Make Getting an Offer Your Goal:

“A successful intern is one who starts an internship knowing their primary goal isn't to 'learn a lot' or 'develop new skills,' but instead knows that their primary goal is to 'get an offer' at the end of the summer.” –Tara Hair, Interned at P&G

I asked a few first year students to share what their primary goal is for their internship this summer. The most popular answers were—“add value,” “create a network,” “learn,” “gain experience,” and “do a good job.” I don’t have statistics to show how important it is to have “getting an offer” as your primary goal. However, I do have a relevant story I want to share from an alumnus who interned at his “dream” company. This individual’s main goal was to do well on his projects throughout the summer, so he spent most of his time in his office perfecting them. At the end of his internship, though people were impressed with his work, he didn’t get an offer. He hadn’t done what the company expected from an intern. The point of this story is not that you shouldn’t do a great job or learn new skills. The point is that after all your efforts what you really want is a job, not just a pat on the back. Therefore, make that your goal.

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Ask your manager, “What do I have to do to get an offer?”

· At least bi-weekly, ask for feedback to see if you’re on track to landing a full-time offer.

· Before each decision, ask yourself, “Will this help me get an offer?”

Impress Your Manager

“You have to learn how to manage your boss. You have to understand your boss's style of preferred communication and delivery methods. If you don't clearly understand them, you are unlikely to be successful. You need to tailor your work style and work outputs to match what your boss is looking for.” Mark Lingenbrink, Interned at Cisco

Your manager has the most say on whether you get an offer. Crucial Conversations professor, Kerry Patterson, teaches that your main role as an employee, whether you like your manager or not, is to “make your manager look good.” Learn what your manager really needs and deliver it in a manner he/she approves and this will increase your chances of securing an internship.

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Before you begin any assignment, ask for clear directions, results, and deadlines.

· Look for simple “extra” projects your manager needs done and volunteer to do them.

· Before diving into a difficult problem, run your action plan by your manager.

Network Strategically

“As important (if not more) as the actual work that you do are the relationships that you make. I was able to connect with 50 – 60 individuals at various levels of the company simply by reaching out.” Mike Christensen, Interned at P&G

The third and most common way to secure an internship is to network (of course it is; we wouldn’t want to ruin the reputation of business students worldwide). One successful networking strategy I applied during my internship at Microsoft, was taking advantage of the “intern status.” I could send anyone an email stating I was an intern and they would make time to meet with me. As a result, I interviewed several VP’s, General Managers, Directors, and CFO’s. Another strategy is to ask for advice and be coachable. People love to help and coach others and because they’ve been at the company much longer than you, they will be able to steer you in the right direction. Lastly, remember to be proactive. I was fortunate enough to receive a list of 30 individuals, who my manager had handpicked, to network with over the summer. Since most interns will not have this luxury, create your own list of influencers you want to meet. Remember you are always being evaluated. The more people you learn from and network with, the more people you will have advocating your full-time offer!

Vital behaviors to implement:

· Make a list of people you want to interview and contact at least 2-3 of them per week.

· As people offer advice, act on it and send them an email telling them what you learned.

· Find people who have accomplished similar projects and strive to learn all you can.


Edgar Cheney, Class of 2011, OB/HR

Interned at: Microsoft

Read more!

The Ride of Your Life

If you are entering the program this fall, and are nervous about landing the perfect internship, you are not alone. All MBA students in the program have felt this way at one time or another. But, don’t worry; there is hope.

The internship search can be a rollercoaster ride. One minute you are on top of the world after getting an interview with a company you are interested in and the next you are feeling dejected when that same company turns you down for an offer. For this reason, I asked a few second-year MBA students who each landed phenomenal internships late in the winter semester last year to share some ideas on what they did after their first, second, third, (and so on) choices for internships fell through. I have included some of their ideas and some additional thoughts below.

1. Stay focused on your goal and maintain the right perspective. Speaking of keeping the right perspective, one student said “There are so many fantastic companies that don‘t recruit at BYU. One of the main reasons why so many great companies do recruit at BYU is because people found internships at a company that didn‘t recruit here and left a good impression. Not getting an internship with a company that recruits at BYU is a wonderful opportunity to open doors for BYU and make a difference for yourself and future students.” Another student I spoke with said “last year I didn‘t have anything once finals were over but I kept looking and ended up with five offers.” Stay focused on your end-goal and maintain a positive attitude. The results will come.

2. Continue to practice and maintain a sense of urgency. Be humble enough to seek guidance and help from others in your internship search. Take advantage of the insights, expertise, and feedback that your Sherpa, second year mentor, can give to you. But, don’t stop there. Reach out to other first or second year students that can give you different perspectives, feedback, and suggestions. Keep networking and practicing your interviews. You need to be prepared when an opportunity presents itself.

3. Use the alumni database and the Holy Grail (Excel spreadsheet filled with connections to hundreds of companies). Speaking of using the alumni database, one student said “I sent dozens and dozens of emails out and likewise did dozens of informational interviews with people at my top companies, who I found through the alumni database and the Holy Grail…each of these contacts helped me understand the company better.”

4. Last but not least, never give up. Keep working hard. Never stop talking to people inside and out of the MBA program about your internship search. You will get out of the internship search what you put into it.

I love the scripture in Ether 12:6 that states, “Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith”. If we persevere and have faith through tough times and trials, the Lord will eventually bless us. This certainly applies to the rollercoaster ride otherwise known as the internship search process. Stay positive, keep working hard, and put your trust in the Lord. The blessings will surely follow.

Mark Lingenbrink, Class of 2011, OB/HR

Interned at: Cisco

Read more!

Using the "Force" of the OBSA

Not so long ago, and not so far away there was a techie gone HR, a.k.a. me. I was a career-changing madman trying to land an internship then, and now, a full-time career in the vast and broad field of Human Resources. I began the MBA experience knowing that the ambiguous, the challenging and dare I say mystic world of HR and Organizational Behavior was for me, but I had no clue as to HOW to turn that into reality. The answer came in the form of a student organization, the Organizational Behavior Student Association (OBSA).

The reader needs to know a little bit about the author to fully appreciate the magnitude of the change. I worked for over 8 years in technology, and at the end of that career was exposed to some advanced org design issues that transitioned my interest from the binary to the strategic. I quit work and began the school year full of optimism and hope, sure that despite the drastic shift in career fields I would quickly find success (this is where the evil Sith Lord laughs).

The OBSA provided support on all fronts: networking, resumes, interviewing, and more (for only $19.99 plus shipping and handling – payable to George Lucas). Armed with positive criticisms and feedback, I took to the job search like a techie at a Star Wars convention. Informational interviews, networking, resume submissions, but in the case of this wayward “Jedi,” the chance to interview never materialized.

As I watched my fellow classmates interview and enjoy fly backs, I felt as if I had not only failed to “use the force,” but had been encased in an “occupational carbonite block,” eat your heart out Han Solo. So I put on a brave face and tried to commiserate with my peers as they shared stories about how hard their interviews were, or how frustrating their fly backs had been, and rejoice in their individual successes. As December began, and I felt like I didn’t even have an Obi-Wan Kanobi for an only hope, the OBSA stepped in a had a few second years speak to us at a ProSem. These particular second years had found their internships late the year before. Their words of encouragement, sympathy and faith were exactly what this “Padawan learner” needed.

Because they took the time to share their emotional, difficult and sometime miraculous stories, I found the courage to keep searching for any chance I could find. My family made it a matter of much fasting and prayer and in the end I found my internship through a connection in the OBSA. As the school year rapidly neared its end, a member of the OBSA presidency reached out to me about an opportunity a connection of hers had in her organization. This company (in the fortune 50) was looking for an HR intern with a technical background, you don’t need to hear the voice say, “Use the force!” to realize that this was the perfect opportunity.

To summarize this epic story, the OBSA is focused on training and preparing the students in the HR track to be successful in the job hunt and in their future careers. This it does extremely well, however, the most valuable asset that this organization has provided me is a network of dependable, successful, and supportive friends. It has helped me build lasting relationships that will be a treasure to me both professionally and personally.

Josh Kruse, OB/HR, Class of 2011
Interned at: Northrop Grumman

Read more!

My Most Important Project

This year has held a lot of firsts for me. First time living in New York City, first real corporate job, first real HR role, and the first time I have felt like I am not performing at super-star level. I started my internship with GE at NBC Universal with a few great plans, and after almost two months of work, I have turned those great plans into more vague and convoluted plans. But I haven't really produced anything.

But now that I have just passed the halfway point, the panic has started to set in. What am I going to do if I can't present something awesome, something awe inspiring, something worthy of a job offer? I am starting to wonder if I am going to have anything to show, or if I will end up like the comic Brian Regan, standing in front of the CEO with a cup of dirt. "So tell me about your project, Kelsey." "Uh, it's a cup of dirt. Can I go home now?"

So I did what any intelligent MBA would do; I talked to another MBA student, because I realized A) they had already been through this and B) we are pretty good at validating each other. This wise MBA grad gave me some good advice. "They're not expecting you to revolutionize the company, they just want you to make an effort to fit in. They want to see you talking to people and making friends. So start talking and quit stressing."

I quickly realized that the most important part of an internship is actually a continuation of what we learn during recruiting. It's all about the networking. You can't neglect the power of relationships, even when projects and mangers and deadlines seem to be staring you in the face. In the end, it is the people you meet that will make your internship experience, not the projects you did or didn't complete. In the long run, no one will really remember what you did, and that's a very good thing when you are standing up there holding a cup of dirt. But if you have built lasting relationships, then you will have nailed your internship.

—Kelsey Harris, Class of 2011, OB/HR

Interning at: GE at NBC Universal

Read more!