Intern Summer Program 2009

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The RIC Brings Back the Interns Summer Program, Offering a Pittsburgh Tour to interns

For the seventh consecutive year the Regional Internship Center (RIC) will

RIC Summer Program

RIC Summer Program

host an Intern Summer Program in an effort to attract and retain young creative talent in the Pittsburgh Region.  This year’s Summer Program features 12 different events in five different neighborhoods offering an exclusive 2 month Pittsburgh tour to interns working in Pittsburgh this summer.

Our Intern Summer Program adds value to any company’s internship program, by giving their interns a social outlet, allowing them to network with each other, and serving as ambassadors for their company or university.  The greatest outcome of the Summer Program is that it showcases the region to hundreds of interns, the majority of whom are not from Pittsburgh by offering them a Pittsburgh tour.

Historically, internships often transition into full-time job offers, thus retaining a good number of talented young people and adding them to the region’s workforce.

Regina Anderson, Director of the Regional Internship Center notes, “Students sometimes don’t have the opportunity to explore different neighborhoods outside of their campus.  These students have great academic training, they demand great jobs after graduation, and they want to know there are other young people in our city to hang out with after work.  They are pleasantly surprised how much there is to do here and how accessible these neighborhoods are.  That’s how we create diverse and engaged communities.  The RIC’s Summer Program helps bring all of those elements together.”

This year’s schedule includes kayaking on the North Shore, a Pittsburgh Pirates game, a scavenger hunt on the North Side, and many more exciting events that will give your intern a fun and informative Pittsburgh tour!

To Join our Intern Summer Program, click here

Resumé Mistakes You Want to Avoid

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Resume Mistakes

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You want your resumé to stand out, especially now that the job market is over-flowing with misplaced job seekers, many of whom have a substantial amount of work experience. Preparing your resume can be a great opportunity for you to showcase to potential employers an advanced writing skill.

Readability

Since an employer typically views a resumé between 2.5 and 20 seconds, you want to be sure that the majority of your resumé is quantitative. For example, instead of saying:

“Was responsible for generating and increasing sales in my division”
Say:
“Increased sales by 15% in my division in one quarter”

Also be sure to use bullet points- it makes your resumé more reader-friendly.

Think about you resume objectives

One thing that I noticed about my resumé was that I named it properly. A lot of times, students will send me their resumés to me to forward on to employers and they will simply name it “resumé.” If I have a folder of resumés that are all named exactly the same, I have to open all of them to find the one that I am looking for. An employer could be accepting dozens or hundreds of resumés, and if they decided to take a second look at yours and cannot find it, then you might be out of luck. Be sure to name it as your full name, preferably “last name, first name.”

Another thing that I have noticed about student resumes is some actually do not include an e-mail address! We live in such an e-mail and online saturated world, that this can be a terrible oversight. If an employer wanted to e-mail you, but you didn’t bother to include an e-mail address, they might scrap it. Your ultimate goal is to have an employer contact you. So you need to make sure that it is extremely easy for the employer to get in touch with you by making sure that your resume easy to find in a digital folder and that it provides your contact information.

What kind of additional information should I include?

What if the position description asks for references? Don’t include them on your resume. Provide them separately, and only provide them when asked.

Please include your GPA on your resumé, even if it is not so fabulous. I was recently talking with an employer who said that they will typically not hire a student as an intern if they did not have at least a 3.25 GPA. Notice that I said “typically.” The employer said that if they receive a resumé that does not have a GPA listed, it gets scrapped. I then proceeded to ask what happens if they have a lower GPA, but like the resumé.

The employer said that they will ask why the GPA is low- imagine that- a chance to explain! Employers do understand that things happen that are outside of our control. It only takes one semester of having a chronic illness, or having a sick family member, or a death of a loved one to completely mess up your GPA. The employer said that if they have a reputable excuse (please don’t make one up) that they will give the student a chance.

If you ever have a question about your resumé, please don’t hesitate to contact the RIC staff! We love helping internship seekers!