Wait, what? Nail polish, in a blog post on Career Planning & Resources? You read that right. As a girl who has recently gotten interested in painting her nails, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what is work appropriate — specifically, what I can paint my nails with this summer at my internship.

I’ll admit: I used to bite my nails. It was a nervous habit, one that I had for as long as I can remember. Strangely enough, the habit died away last summer, and I’ve found that I actually enjoy doing my nails now. It’s something I do to relax while I watch my favorite shows or movies, and a relatively cheap way to pamper myself. I know I’m going to want to paint my nails this summer, but what colors are the best for a work environment?

Really, it depends on what field you’re in. In general, however, every person I’ve talked to has suggested very pale nail polishes — nothing too loud or bright. I’ll start with two work-appropriate nail polishes I own: OPI’s Tickle My France-y, and Sephora for OPI’s Nonfat Soy Half Caff:

OPI's Tickle My France-y, a "naughty nude." Courtesy of opi.com.

OPI'S Nonfat Soy Half Caff, courtesy of polish-holic.blogspot.com.

You can’t go wrong with pink or peachy nudes for a formal workplace. If you don’t like colors on your fingers at all but want a little bit of shine, I would suggest painting on a base coat or a nail strengthener — OPI’s Nail Envy is a favorite of mine. There isn’t any color, but the subtle sheen polishes (get it?!) off your entire look. In my opinion, every girl should have a “safety polish” for interviews or formal work environments. You never know when you might need it!

What about work environments that aren’t that formal, you ask? I hear you. My internship this summer isn’t formal at all. It’ll be at a tech start-up, so the general office attire is jeans or slacks, with a Livefyre T-shirt or a button-down. While I won’t be painting my nails bright yellow or pink, I do have a couple of more exciting shades that will be seeing the light of San Francisco.

Sephora for OPI's Call Your Mother, courtesy of polishpixie.blogspot.com.

More often than not, if you see me around campus you’ll see this color on my nails. I absolutely adore it. A couple of my friends would steal this polish whenever I decided to paint my nails, and I ended up buying them their own bottles so they wouldn’t always take mine! People are always asking me what color it is and where they can buy it. Despite being quite popular, Call Your Mother is a subtle opaque lavender, a color that won’t make you look like you dipped your fingers in fluorescent paint!

A recent trend in nail colors has been matte polishes or top coats. A matte finish on your nails heavily reduces the shine, which brings about an overall subtler effect. Or, if you happen to enjoy classic polishes, you can’t go wrong with a French manicure!

Do you wear nail polish in the workplace? What colors are appropriate for younger women in college or just graduated? Does your workplace influence which polish you choose to use?

Not two weeks before this past winter break, I got a promising, thick letter in the mail, sent from the Registrar’s Office. It could be one thing and one thing alone: the decision in regard to my petition to the Committee on Academic Review for my self-designed major.

Understandably excited, I ripped the envelope open. At the bottom of the intricate form I’d filled out was the typed response from the Committee: Approved self-designed major in Creative Writing for Contemporary Media. Please submit the enclosed Junior Major Form including approval signatures to the Registrar’s Office before winter break.

Fair enough! Two years of worrying between a creative writing major and a media studies major, two weeks of hunting through all five of the Claremont College’s course schedules to find appropriate classes, running between my major adviser’s office and my Scripps faculty adviser’s office for signatures, approvals, and general advice, and writing, editing, and re-writing the petition letter itself had finally paid off. After running into all kinds of roadblocks, I was one step closer to my goal: designing a major I love, and one that will be useful once I step outside of the beautiful walls of Scripps College.

As a progressive liberal arts college, Scripps is open to students designing a major themselves, whether it’s because they want to tweak a major that’s in existence or fuse fields of study. In general, self-designed majors at Scripps are across the board. Here’s a sampling of just a few: Motion Sciences, Chinese-American Studies, Creative Writing, and Writing for Media Marketing. There are many more, and the numbers are growing as students realize they do not have to choose from the pre-selected fields of study offered by Scripps. Continue reading →

Thanks to a myriad of personal and health reasons, I’ve recently had to question whether or not I will be studying abroad in the fall. The decision process was long and complicated, made worse by emotional outbursts, questioning expectations of myself, and worrying about whether or not I was letting others down if I didn’t study abroad. In one of my long conversations with my parents and friends about studying abroad versus not studying abroad, the topic of jobs and internships came up. The questions we found ourselves asking was this: does studying abroad really help you land a future job or internship?

Our answers were split. Clearly, the study abroad experience is incredibly valuable in a lot of different ways. It allows students to see the world and experience culture. It opens doors to new opportunities and activities. You meet new people, grow as an individual, take fantastic pictures, broaden your horizons…but can any of this be put on a resume?

Of course, everyone’s situations are different. Personally, I have had the good fortune to have traveled with my family. Studying abroad wasn’t something that I ever felt I had to do as a Scripps student. The perception is that resumes will always shine brighter if you have traveled abroad, explored the world, and taken a few classes while doing so. Studying abroad helps with problem-solving in almost any situation (language barrier, anyone?), and future employers will certainly acknowledge the fact that you have grown as a person. But does the entire study abroad experience prepare you for a job?

It depends on what specific job field you would like to enter. Personally, I hope to work in the tech sector, and there are very few institutions abroad that will actively help me toward that goal. One of the few people I know who studied abroad for a specific field is my boss – she attended the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and took post-graduate classes in information management. Clearly, her experience was specifically tailored for her field, as she now works in community management at a tech start-up in San Francisco. Another example of tailoring a study abroad experience for your field would be attending the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome if you’re a classics major. What better choice could there be? On the same note, many institutions offer accompanying internship opportunities for eligible students. Obviously, these are fantastic opportunities to work abroad at an accredited company in your field – that will definitely stand out to your future employers!

However, many study abroad institutions are not quite as specialized as those listed above. In that case, the experience of traveling and living abroad – and the skills acquired by doing so – will have to be enough to shine through in your interview with a potential employer. The name of a school on your resume can only take you so far. For me, studying abroad was not conducive to my self-designed major and wasn’t specifically tailored to the field I want to pursue after graduation. On top of that, it was just falling at an awful time because of personal reasons. I was forced to consider whether studying abroad was a crucial aspect of my college experience, and I eventually decided it wasn’t. Would I have liked to? Sure, at a different time, without having to worry about classes not counting toward my major, and maybe at an institution that applies directly toward my desired job field. Meanwhile, I am already looking into abroad opportunities for next summer. Just because I chose not to study abroad during the school year doesn’t mean I can’t get just as wonderful of an experience at another time. As long as it’s something I’m passionate about doing, a future employer will certainly see that in my resume, and during any interview.

Interested in reading more about the impact study abroad has on your future job search? Kim Gradel’s article, Using Your International Experience to Get a Job, is a good place to start. Click here to read an article about the positives of studying abroad containing statistics conducted by Global HR News.

In my last post, I outlined how I stumbled upon Livefyre’s internship posting on internships.com, and what drew me to go through with the application process even though I was intimidated. I was met with a warm and friendly response, and soon enough I had a date and time for our interview, which was over Skype, a free video calling software. Skype? I’d interviewed in person before, as well as over the phone, but this was uncharted territory, a strange meshing of the two.

While I was nervous at first, I soon realized that Skype fuses the best of both worlds of interviewing. It’s face to face, just like in person, so you can really feel like you’re connecting with the person rather than just speaking to a disembodied voice over the phone. At the same time, it’s as quick and easy as a phone call, so there was no need to worry about traveling to interview in person. I interviewed from my dorm room here at Scripps, while my interviewer was comfortable in her office at the Livefyre headquarters in San Francisco.

Do you think a Skype interview is in your future? Time magazine had a great article about how Skype is changing the job interview process. I’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks from my experience interviewing over Skype for my summer internship.

The list includes:

1. PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE. Should I bold that, too, for added emphasis? As I mentioned in my previous post, doing my research before my interview really helped me stand out as a candidate for the position. In fact, I’m about 90% sure that it got me the internship. As Gini Dietrich wrote in her blog post, do your stinkin’ research and stalk the social networks. Whether you call it preparation, research, or good ol’ Internet stalking, you will definitely be prepared for your interview, with a good knowledge base of the company and people you will (hopefully!) be working with.
2. Dress well. My research showed me that the Livefyre team is serious about their work, but also a group of relaxed, fun-loving people. The dress code in the office appeared to be casual, at least in the Facebook photos they’d displayed. I picked out a sweater with a cardigan to go over it in colors that complemented my skin tone. Since you’re interacting over a screen (and especially if you’re in HD video – yikes!), avoid prints that will clutter the screen and distract the eye. I chose a color that I knew looked good on me and wouldn’t overpower our conversation. If you think you’ll stay put for the interview, you can decide what you want to wear on bottom. If there’s any possibility you’ll be getting up during the interview, complete your outfit appropriately. While it may be comfortable to interview in a professional top and PJs on the bottom, that won’t reflect well on you if your papers blow off your desk and you can’t reach them without getting up. Just sayin’…better to be safe than sorry.
3. Be aware of your surroundings. This was of particular importance to me: I was interviewing from my dorm room. I notified my roommate, put a “DO NOT DISTURB – SKYPE INTERVIEW IN PROCESS!” sign on my door, and cleaned up my room. I also closed my windows, as I live right by a dorm entrance and it can get loud. I made sure the computer was at such an angle so there wasn’t anything conspicuous in the background (my roommate has some political posters on her side of the room – I’m perfectly fine with it, but better to keep things neutral). I picked up anything that made the background look cluttered. It may seem like a small detail for something over Skype, but you never know what may impact your interviewer. Besides, wouldn’t you like to have your room reflect who you are? Having a neat, clean room will reflect well on you as an internship candidate.
4. Prepare. Yes, this is a repeat, and no, you can’t have too much of it. I prepared an entire sheet of questions I had as well as statements (such as what I would do to contribute the first day of my internship) written down, just in case. I didn’t end up referencing the sheet in (this) interview, but I have before in the past and it’s always helpful to have notes to refer to if needed. If nerves strike, you’ll be prepared with thought-out questions and statements.
5. Be enthusiastic. I’m an upbeat person, most of the time. It’s not hard for me to be enthusiastic when talking to new people or when I’m a bit nervous. Make sure you’re being enthusiastic about the right things, though. Be enthusiastic about the company, the product, the people you’ll be working with, the location, and what you can learn at your internship. While I’ve never done anything quite like what I was applying for at Livefyre, I’m eager to learn all I can and made sure that came across in both my cover letter and the interview. If you’re enthusiastic, your interviewer will take note.
6. Skype etiquette. These are no-brainers for people who use Skype regularly (I’m thinking of college kids communicating with boyfriends/girlfriends/high school friends for fun), but it’s good to know if you’re not familiar with the program. Test a call ahead of time to make sure your Internet connection will work. Get the hang of adjusting your screen or webcam to catch you at your most flattering angle. Test out what lighting makes you look great, and learn how to avoid the lighting that makes you look like you stayed up all night. Check and double-check the Skype username of whomever you’re Skyping with. And when it comes down to interview time…be the first to call. I’ve always been the first one to call my interviewer/employer, whether it’s on the phone or Skype. Doing so shows initiative. And here’s a big one: during the actual call, make sure you are looking up. Sometimes it can be tempting to watch ourselves as we talk, since we never get to see ourselves mirrored in normal conversations. If you want to make eye contact with your interviewer, look at your webcam. This is looking directly into the camera, and can be quite powerful. Don’t look away from your computer, unless it’s to check your notes or write something down. In general, the same rules of in-person interviewing apply to Skype interviewing: make good eye contact and smile!

Did I enjoy my Skye interview? You bet I did. It was a great way to connect instantly from L.A. to San Francisco, directly into the Livefyre office. Since I’ve used Skype extensively in the past, it wasn’t too nerve-racking. Skype interviews are much better than phone interviews. It is the perfect merge: there is still the immediacy and simplicity of a phone interview, but with the added bonus of a face-to-face conversation.

So take a deep breath, set your computer at the ready, and get your interview game face on!

The application process for internships is always, in my opinion, touch and go. You’re never quite sure when or if you’ll get a response back, especially if the company is huge, as was my experience with an international music company. If a company is expecting enough applicants, they simply won’t get in contact with you unless you’ve made the first round of cuts, and oftentimes you don’t know how long that first round of cuts will take. So, how do you ensure that you’ll stand out and be noticed by your future employers and will get a call back? Let’s think. How does someone make an impression on you? Why does someone stick in your memory long after you’ve met?

Odds are, that person made a fantastic first impression. In the application process today, a first impression is made in your cover letter. For my application to join the Livefyre team, I wrote a cover letter in a nervous, smiling frenzy. Even though the last intern at the company had been a college grad, and I was sure I was out of my league, I sat down and wrote an honest letter that wasn’t based off of a format or generic letter. I confessed that I didn’t know much about professional online community management, but I was eager to learn. I emphasized the fact that I helped run an online community for fun, and I’d always enjoyed helping out members with their problems. I had worked at a start-up before, and I talked about what a fantastic experience it was and how I wanted to continue in that line of work. The response was quick, and it was clear that my enthusiasm and my eagerness  to learn at their company. After all, that’s what an internship is all about. Make sure you write an honest cover letter addressing what excites you about the company, what you can learn from them, and what you can bring to the table. You’ll be noticed for your enthusiasm and tenacity right away.

What cements a person in your memory? Remembering their name is a good start. Always do your research. I made sure I scoured the Livefyre home page, Facebook page, and Twitter account, as well as researching who would be interviewing me and what exactly I would be doing in the company. That research paid off, too. The day of my interview, I saw that my interviewer (and future boss) was discussing a blog post with a Livefyre user, Gini Dietrich. The article just so happened to be called First Impressions: Eight Ways to Avoid a Bad One. Yikes. I followed the link and read the article, which was absolutely wonderful. Since Livefyre breeds live discussion on blogs, I tuned into the comments, which were flying in. Industry professionals were all chiming in with interview do’s and don’ts, and what their best interviewees had done to seal the deal with the company. I was reading this the day of my interview. I took about two pages of notes, taking time to address what my interviewer liked and didn’t like in internship candidates. At the time, it felt a little bit like Internet stalking, but you want to know something? Researching my future boss and reading what she was discussing got me the internship.

You see, even if I felt like I was going overboard at the time, I brought up the blog post in my Skype interview a few hours later. My boss was pleased that I’d been researching the company as well as following her work. Not soon after our interview, I saw that she posted a new comment on the same blog post:

You wouldn’t have been able to believe my excitement after that. Not only had I secured my internship (huzzah!) but the CEO of a well-known marketing firm in Chicago was following me on Twitter, too! I’d secured my internship and already started building connections. All of it started with an honest, thoughtful cover letter where I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind about the internship opportunity, and a healthy amount of research before I interviewed. Believe me, both are completely doable, and you’ll stand out against your competition because of it!