Negotiating Salary in a Still Tough Job Market

In this market, many job candidates are desperate for an offer – any offer. But even if you are new to an industry or have been unemployed for a while, is it smart to blindly accept the first number that an employer throws out? I don’t think so.

Once you are inside an organization, raises are small and promotions are often slow coming, so you have to do what you can to maximize your salary and benefit package right out of the gate. But how can you do this when the employer has the upper hand and hundreds of qualified candidates from which to choose? Continue Reading

6 Salary Negotiation Tips for Recent College Grads

Are you interviewing for a new job and getting the point where the hiring manager, recruiter, or other human resource professional is asking you how much money you want? If so, welcome to the world of salary negotiations. Don’t dread it. Embrace it. You’re in a rare position to substantially impact your compensation by helping to convince your future employer how much you deserve to be paid. These six salary negotiation tips may just make the difference between you being underpaid and therefore probably being unhappy versus you being paid what you deserve and therefore more likely to be happy in your new job: Continue Reading

Dating Website Helps Managers Sleep With Potential Hires

I founded this business 21 years ago and really thought that I had seen just about everything in the employment world but then a press release crossed my desk today that made my jaw drop. Incredibly, SeekingArrangement.com bills itself as a dating website for Sugar Daddy’s (typically male managers) and Sugar Babies (typically female job seekers). Not sleazy enough for you? These, ahem, matchmakers are now trying to leverage the recent revelations that President John Kennedy apparently had an 18 month affair with a 19 year White House intern.

Which sleaze to tackle first? Well, let’s start with the JFK story. According to her recently published memoir, Mimi Alford had an 18 month affair with President John F. Kennedy when she was a 19 years old virgin, while she was working as a White House intern. Though this revelation may come as a shock to those who thought the White House would be resilient to such clichés, it actually marks the beginning of an upward trend in American society. Today, such workplace affairs between a much more powerful Sugar Daddy, and a much younger Sugar Baby is, unfortunately, already well entrenched in the American popular culture. Continue Reading

Videos and PowerPoints From FedCollege Recruiting Conferences on 12/7 and 12/8/2011

On April 1, 2011, Steve Tiufekchiev of RECSOLU and I co-organized the first FedCollege recruiting conference for federal, state, and local government employees who were involved in the hiring of college students for internships and recent graduates for entry-level jobs and other career opportunities. The conference was at The George Washington University’s Marvin Center in Washington, D.C.

Partnering with RECSOLU on this non-profit venture was a natural as Steve and I work well together and RECSOLU’s services are quite complimentary to the job postings, targeted emails, banner advertising, targeted cell phone text messaging, and other job board services sold by CollegeRecruiter.com. RECSOLU is a leading recruiting software, solutions, and services company, whose clients include more than 100 major corporations. Their packaged solutions enable their clients to achieve their college recruiting goals more effectively, with less staff time, greater efficiency, greater accuracy, and less cost.

We had hoped for 50 attendees to the April conference and were pretty happy when we ended up with 72 attendees. It was apparent to us that we should host another but we didn’t want to end up with even more attendees so we split the conference into two days with corporate and non-profit employer representatives scheduled for Wednesday, December 7th and government employer representatives scheduled for Thursday, December 8th. It was a good thing that we split the conference into two as we ended up with over 80 attendees between the two days. The smaller number of attendees per day really paid off as the sessions became more interactive than they would have been in larger rooms and attendees were able to meet and visit with each other much more easily. Continue Reading

How to Convert an Internship into a Permanent, Full-time Job

We’re approaching the end of the summer but the end of any season is a time of strife for interns everywhere. Almost all of them want to convert their internship either into a better internship or into a full-time, permanent job with their employer. These interns typically ask questions such as:

• How can my internship help me get a real job?
• Is it worth taking an internship in hopes of turning it into a real job?
• What can I do to turn my internship into a real job?
• How should I handle the awkward period between interning and graduation?

For the answers to these questions about how to turn your internship into a permanent job, watch this video:

Continue Reading

What to Do at the End of Your Internship

Here are some very common questions asked by interns as they’re approaching the end of their internship.

• What if I hate my internship?
• What should I have learned by the end of my internship?
• How do I end my internship on the right note?
• Can I raid the office supply cabinet when I leave?

If you have any of these questions, watch this video to get your answers:

Continue Reading

Marketing Your Internship

The competition to recruit quality interns is as stiff as the competition to find quality internships. Companies from around the country have representatives on college campuses who are working hard to sell their internships to the most promising students.
Once again Dr. John Sullivan of San Francisco State University provides a list of methods – culled from his article “Internships: Recruiting the Very Best College Interns.” – to help you stand out in a crowd.
1. Offer short-term projects: Some students are reluctant to commit their entire summer to an internship. Whirlpool came up with a concept that gives students more flexibility by offering internships of varying duration that can be completed throughout the year.
2. CEO talks: Campus speeches given by company CEOs have achieved incredible results for companies like Microsoft, Google, and Ernst & Young.
3. CEO calls: Calls from CEOs or other company executives to targeted students with internship offers have been almost 100% effective for companies that have attempted it, Dr. Sullivan says.
4. Post a video: Use sites like YouTube to post a video about your company or that profiles your current college interns or new hires.
5. Use “green” recruiting: Gen Y is very environmentally conscious, so if your company recycles or has other eco-friendly practices, make it known to targeted candidates.
6. Offer technical training on campus: This gives students a hands-on education that will complement their academic studies. And it will give you a chance to screen potential interns or new hires in the process.
7. Conduct career seminars on campus: This gives you increased visibility and lets potential interns or new hires know what your company has to offer.
8. Make “same day” offers: HIghly sought after students should be given an offer within one or two days of interviewing. This will prevent their going to a competitor because they’re frustrated by the delay — interns blog that waiting is one of their biggest pet peeves about the internship recruiting process, according to Dr. Sullivan.
9. Rewrite your internship descriptions: Write your internship descriptions like advertisements, emphasizing your company’s best qualities.
10. Provide students with choices: Don’t scare candidates away with rigidly structured programs. Be flexible in terms of “projects, locations, the duration of the internship, or which business unit”, says Dr. Sullivan.
11. Write a blog: Blogs and podcasts are all the rage with college students these days so Dr. Sullivan suggests “having a recent hire, intern, or manager write a periodic blog that addresses college student issues” as a way to make your company more appealing.
12. Provide “local” internships: If your company has an office in the town where you’re recruiting, allow students the option to do an internship there, instead of being forced to relocate.
13. Do “wow!” things: Try following Google’s lead by doing something totally over-the-top like sending free pizza to the dorms or student lounge during final exam week, Dr. Sullivan recommends, adding that you should make it notable enough to be featured in the campus newspaper.
14. Offer video interviews: It’s not always easy for students to interview on site. Be willing to allow a quality candidate to conduct an interview by video or over the telephone.
15. Hire interns early in their academic career: Competition for seniors is tough. Since students are encouraged to start doing internships as early as sophomore year, why not take advantage of the opportunity to attract the best candidates ahead of the competition.
16. Hire them both: Because college students often develop close relationships with their peers, take a chance and hire not only your chosen candidate, but his friend, too. Dr. Sullivan says this makes it more likely that you will get the best interns.
17. Check your negatives on the Internet: It’s vital to keep up to date on what’s being said about you – good and bad – on the Web because “your image can be tarnished very quickly,” Dr. Sullivansays. He recommends visiting vault.com because it is a commonly used source of information for college students. And address any negative comments right away before they’ve had a chance to solidify in the minds of candidates.
18. HIghlight internships on your corporate career Web site: Make sure that internships are featured on your company Web site and that the message on your site is consistent with what you’re pitching on campus.
Always remember that your best candidates will be researching you as heavily as you will be researching them. As long you’re honest and straightforward about what they can expect from your company, you should do well on any campus where you’re recruiting, and with time, your reputation as a good choice for internships and entry-level jobs will grow.

Recruiting Quality Interns

It’s not easy to find the right person for a job. Weeding through resumes and conducting interviews can be time consuming and even discouraging if no one really seems to stand out. Finding quality interns isn’t any easier; however, if you offer quality candidates internships that provide them opportunities to apply what they’ve learned at school and to participate in work groups with regular employees, you will probably solve the problem of how to find quality new hires.
More and more, companies are looking to former interns when they want to hire someone for an entry-level job. This can work out well if the company provides a challenging and enjoyable internship, and if the interns are hard working, qualified, and eager to learn and become a part of the team. Jim Stroud, in his article “When Recruiting Interns Remember, You Can’t Fake Being ‘Cool,’” he recounted a story about an intern who had a disappointing experience interning with Intel. The intern in question told a friend who then told Stroud, and the story continues to spread, because students will talk about their internships. And they’ll talk more about a bad internship experience because they feel cheated. The complaints of the Intel intern got around to the career services department of his university and they are no longer interested in working with Intel. According to Stroud, “many companies have blacklisted themselves at major universities” by not providing enjoyable internships.
Dr. John Sullivan, Professor of Management at San Francisco State University’s College of Business offers 13 ways to find quality interns in his article “Internships: Recruiting the Very Best College Interns.”
First: Make use of graduate assistants because they often work closely with the best students.
Second: Use interns who are already doing internships with your company. Dr. Sullivan suggests paying the interns a stipend to recruit other students.
Third: Seek help from recent graduates who are new hires with your company.
Fourth: Use student referrals. Offer some sort of compensation ( i.e. mugs with the company logo, daily planners, t-shirts, etc.) to students who send top candidates to your company for internships.
Fifth: Use online contests to attract students and assess the level of talent that’s currently in the market.
Sixth: Use professional student groups. Offering to sponsor the group or one of their meetings, Dr. Sullivan says, will give them a positive of impression of your
company, which can serve you well when seeking referrals.
Seventh: Use networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Eighth: Conduct Internet searches, looking for students who have won
scholarships or awards.
Ninth: Enlist the aid of faculty internship advisors. They know which students are looking for internships and which ones show the most promise.
Tenth: Offer scholarship contests.
Eleventh: Request faculty referrals, but be prepared for the possibility of rejection. Not all faculty agree with this practice.
Twelfth: Attempt to recruit student mentors.
Thirteenth: Purchase an ad in a campus newspaper.
These methods can help you to find just the right candidate for the internship your company is offering.