Dilemma?

Wow, it's been a little while. Things have been crazy hectic. Can we get another Spring Break over here, please?! Canada was great - Niagara Falls is beyond words breathtaking. Anyway, I've heard back from a few things. For starters, after my interview for CosmoGIRL.com/TeenMag.com with the editor of misquincemag.com and donatemydress.com, I thanked her for the interview and sent her two blog posts. She sent a reply back saying that this was a perfect follow-up email :) A few days later, the actual editor of CosmoGIRL sent me an email, asking if I could meet her. We casually talked by the couches in the food court of Hearst towers. Awesome. Still waiting to hear what's happening with her though.

Now, I just received an email from M magazine saying, "I would love to go ahead and offer you the summer internship at M magazine :) I think your interview and experience is great and we'd be pleased to have you on board with us this summer..."

And it goes on.

Now, I don't know if I should accept since I'm still waiting on CosmoGIRL.com. But, I don't want to NOT accept and get neither. So, this weekend I met Ariana Finlayson, associate editor of RealBeauty.com. I got a chance to interview her, since she's a successful Hofstra alum. I wanted to pick apart her brain on life after college, internships and having a career. Even she couldn't help me with this "problem."

I've already gotten yelled at because at least I'm getting opportunities, so I shouldn't complain. But my point is that I just don't want to make the wrong impression, and ruin the possible of future opportunities. I emailed Ed2010 yesterday asking for advice.

Ed. Please get back to me!
--Kaitlin

Spring Break!

Spring Break is finally here, woot woot! & what am I going to do with my time off?

• Sleep
• Still go to my internship
• Interview for Hearst Digital Media (tomorrow!)
• Go to Canada

I started telling people recently the I'm going to Canada for Spring Break. The same question is always asked, "Why would you go some place colder for your break?" As I thought about it, it dawned on me that for my last few vacations, I've gone some place colder. Last year, I went to Maine twice, then I went to Venice in January, now Canada? For those who don't know me, one of my biggest pet peeves (the biggest being unflushed/dirty toilets!) is the cold! But when I went to Maine, it was because my boyfriend lives there, when I went to Venice it was for Study Abroad. Now I'm going to Canada to go to the casino with my 19/20 year old friends.

I say 19/20 year olds because this actually matters up there. The age of legality in the part of Canada we're staying is 19 years old. Keep it on the hush, but we've been practicing counting cards. Honestly, I don't believe I'll be counting even though we're legal enough to gamble up there, but it's just been fun practicing with them.

Let's see if we come back with big money! Haha

xoxo Kaitlin

I have a midterm in 3 1/2 hours. I have a phone interview (with M magazine) in 3 hours. I should be freaking out right now, but instead I'm blogging. I figured I'd let this out of my system before cracking open my book one last time, and then skim over an M magazine in case they decide to ask "what is your favorite section?"

Anyway, so I don't believe I've ever said where my current internship is within Hearst, but yesterday I found out that my supervisor left the company. Not a big help considering I have three interviews starting today, and my reference just left the company, along with her company email. Now, I have to ask my professor/adviser to be my reference (again!) just in case someone decides to make a call.

On a lighter note, I just became Campus Correspondent for the online college women's magazine @ HerCampus.com. Pretty great, though I wish I applied earlier so I could've put it on all of the resumes I sent out. Anyway, here are some of the responsibilities I will have, as listed on the website:

What are the responsibilities of Campus Correspondents?

• Editorial: Create new content and upload it to the site on a weekly basis (no web experience required)- i.e., one new article, profile, event listing, poll, and campus cutie per week.
• Publicity: Publicize HerCampus.com and your “My Campus” branch on your campus, including maintaining your school’s Her Campus Facebook group.
• This can either be done individually or by growing a team at your school!

I'm still waiting to see what more I'll need to know before our first posts on the site. Should be pretty awesome though - I'll get to have bylines! Woot woot!

Wow, this post didn't take too long. Still enough time to study for my midterm.
Thanks for reading,

Kait

Spreading Myself A Little Thin

29. That's the number of applications I have sent out (up until this point), TWENTY-NINE. & I'm only hoping that ONE of them wants me to intern for them this summer. As I've already mentioned, I already snatched a WPIX Creative Services Internship for the summer, but that's only two days a week. My friends tell me that I will have no [social] life this summer if I decide to accept another internship. But I look at it this way. If I had a full-time internship, it would take up just as much time as if I had two part-time internships. The plus side of two part-times vs. one full-time = two additions to my resume as opposed to one. And my friends do 9-5s anyway during the week, so what social life am I missing?

The one downside I can find: no time for a full-time summer job.
However, my parents have always supported my education/future. If I want to have two internships and work less (I have a part-time job at Carter's Baby Clothes), they'll fully support my decision because they know that these internships will apply to my resume more than Carter's will.

I know I know, there's a chance that it may all bite me in the butt. But I'd like to think that by stretching myself slightly thin this summer, it will all pay off in the future. We'll see how my time management skills work out.

--Kaitlin

Update: Phone interview on Wednesday for M Magazine Editorial, in-person interview on Thursday for Seventeen Bookings and one-on-one interview next Tuesday for Hearst Digital Media. Excited/anxious/going-to-pee-myself nervous all at the same time.

Application Fail

So I'm pretty sure I've become borderline obsessed with internship applications. I sent out my 22nd, 23rd, and 24th today! Little tip though: if you're going to apply to different kinds of outlets (i.e. magazine internships, public relations internships, television, radio, web production, talent, casting, etc.), alway always always remember to change your objective on your resume. On at least five of the applications I sent, I looked over them and realized that the objective on my resume said: To find an internship in the magazine industry. What's the problem with that? I sent it to talent management/casting contacts. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

However, if you somehow manage to make a similar mistake, not all is lost. You could always apply again [next semester], which is what I plan on doing. I made some mistakes today myself; I sent out an application today to who I thought was the Seventeen Bookings/Photo Editor. Must have been a mix-up though since the Bookings Editor & Photo Editor are two different people (I got the contact information through the not-always-reliable Internet). So anyway, I thought I applied to Bookings, but I sent it to the Photo Editor. Yet, subconsciously I must've known it was the Photo Editor because the subject of my email reads: Summer Photo Internship. Now, you might think that sucks for me, but magically today, I received a phone call from the Seventeen Bookings department, and they asked for an interview next week. Their Photo Editor, bless her heart, forwarded my application to the Bookings department. So when they called me, she apologized because she thought I wanted the photo internship, but got an interview with them instead. Needless to say that I was pleasantly pleased (& also dumbfounded since I didn't even know I screwed up).

& now I'm going to leave, so I can try to find a less 14-year-old girl background, and a more senior-in-college one.

Happy Thursday!
--Kaitlin

P.S. I was at a photo/promo shoot for Marie Claire today. Believe me people, it's not a glamorous job. Night!

Seventeen.com Interview?

Ummm... so remember when I said I sent out 20 applications (which I just sent out my 21st, woot woot)? Well, now I received a response today - and it's from Hearst Digital Media!

Hearst Digital Media is a unit of Hearst Magazines, dedicated to the launching of popular publication websites such as the [dot]com versions of Cosmopolitan, CosmoGirl, Harper's Bazaar, REDBOOK, and, of course, Seventeen!

Anyway, they emailed me asking if I was available for an interview late this week, or early next week. After feeling like I was going to pee myself from the excitement, I told them I was available early next week. After all, I need to prep myself! Plus, tomorrow night I will see one of the current interns for Hearst Digital Media at our Ed2010 meeting. I need to know what they could possibly ask! Also, this is my first in-person interview in a long time. Probably since my RA interview around this time last year (which must have been successful, since I am an RA this year). My last interview for Hearst was a phone interview, as was my interview for WPIX. Both must have been successful, since I scored an internship with each. But an in-person interview is so much more personal. They can see your facial expressions, they can tell whether you're thinking or if you're nervous; they can see you sweating or if you're stylish, yet professional based on your attire.

Okay, enough psyching myself out. I should appreciate an in-person interview more, since they can see the real you better than on the phone. And I have enough confidence in myself that I will come off as a genuine dedicated person, who is willing to go the extra mile in her work. And that's the attitude you all should have!

Loving life every day,
Kaitlin

First Blog Post!

Hi everyone!

After seeing this:

"If you're interested in becoming a paid writer, please feel free to submit three writing samples along with your resume and cover letter."

& this:

"You’ll be assisting the web production department, so previous web experience is essential."

on a majority of the descriptions for Summer 2010 internships on InternQueen & Ed2010.com, I decided it was time to make myself a blog to put myself ahead of the game for Fall 2010 semester.

Right before this post, I just sent my 20th application for Summer 2010. That's right - 20th! I've read on every site and resume book that in the Fall, Winter & Spring semesters, it is a smart idea to send out at least 10 applications. For the Summer, double that amount! This is because there is more competition in the Summer, since every college student across the country is now able to apply to internships in New York.

I thought living in New York City would have its advantages when applying, since the Internship Coordinators would know that I am knowledgeable of the city. At least, that is what I thought until I received this a few minutes ago:

Hi Kaitlin,

Thank you for your interest in the summer internship program at MTV Networks. Due to the overwhelming number of applicants in the summer season, we primarily focus our recruitment efforts on those students that attend schools outside of the local area. Reason being, these students do not have the opportunity to apply for our fall or spring programs. Please feel free to submit your resume to me in early July to be considered for our fall internship program, or early November for our spring internship program.

Thank you!

My first rejection. But nevertheless, I will not let it keep me down. After all, this is why we're told to apply to so many. This is also why I applied to smaller communications companies as well (after all, MTV is a big deal).

Tomorrow's another day.

--Kaitlin