Author, spokesperson and CEO of InternQueen.com, Lauren Berger visited the University of Illinois on April 16, 2013, to speak with students about how they can land internships that will prepare them for their future.
If there’s one woman who can inspire students to go after their dream internships, it’s the Intern Queen herself, Lauren Berger, who interned at 15 different companies before graduating from the University of Central Florida.
Today, Berger is the CEO and founder of InternQueen.com, an online aid to students in search of internships. The site, which launched in 2009, allows students to find and apply for internships, and also offers advice on how to make the most of the internship experience.
“When I was an intern, I had no one to help me with my internship journey or my thoughts about the future,” Berger said. “So, hopefully with Intern Queen, we solve this problem for students.”
As the founder of Intern Queen, Berger wears several different hats on a daily basis.
In addition to traveling around from campus to campus to speak with young hopefuls, the young entrepreneur says she is responsible for handling all the site’s clients and content. To ensure her clients are happy, Berger makes sure they find the best interns for their companies. Pertaining to content for the site, she wants only “the most original and fresh ideas when it comes to internships” to appear on Intern Queen.
As for advice on how to score the perfect internship, Berger has plenty of tips to share. Throughout her lively talk on Tuesday, which included exciting stories from Berger’s own internship years, she emphasized three main points to the roomful of captivated listeners: “Tell people what you want to do, spell it out for them and never take no for an answer.”
Berger is living proof of this bold philosophy. During her internship years, this Florida state native was never one to settle for the status quo and consistently pushed the envelope. She even managed to score her dream internship at US Weekly Magazine after Ken Baker, who at the time was the West Coast US Weekly Executive Editor, unexpectedly called her and asked her to fly to Barbados the next day. Her mission was to do some celebrity gossip investigative work. But, that’s a whole other story.
According to Berger, both paid and unpaid internships are more competitive than ever because studies show that 80% of employers require intern experience before hire. So, how did Berger work her way up the internship ladder to acquire what many would consider “dream internships?” She says it’s not because she was super rich or equipped with superpowers, but because she was “able to get it done.”
“I think that the best thing you can do is walk in [to your internship] every single day and just think ‘How can I take this one step further,’” Berger said. “It’s not all about the first day, but about day twenty. It’s about keeping that consistent, lasting impression.”
In addition to maintaining a lasting impression throughout one’s internship, Berger says students should work to build a professional network, and then maintain those relationships by staying in touch. Berger swears by following up by phone or email at least three times per year and touching base with professional contacts to build deep, below the surface relationships. Berger also advises students to follow up interviews with hand-written, thank you notes for an added personal touch to connect with employers.
“Everyone starts somewhere and not everyone is successful right off the bat.” Berger said. “Everyone deals with their own series of rejections and challenges. It’s important to understand that, and put yourself out there anyway.”
In Berger’s book, “All Work, No Pay,” the young author offers an array of additional, helpful suggestions on how to find an internship, build effective resumes, make connections, and gain on-the-job experience. When using the Intern Queen site, students can apply for as many internships as the want free of charge, and gain advice on anything from how to apply to what to wear to an interview.
“Rejection is not forever, it just means not right now,” Berger said. “You have to consistently tell people what you want to do, spell it out for them, and never take no for an answer, because you never know what is going to happen.”