#internswanted

As the summer approaches, I, like many students, am scrambling hard to find some sort of summer job or internship. Yes it is last minute, but as I’m sure many of you have experienced, applying for a job in January that you want to start in April isn’t always possible. So as I have started applying for these jobs and internships, I have also begun noticing a trend. More and more, internships especially, are expecting more from their applicants. A resume and cover letter are no longer enough. With the popularity of social media nowadays, companies and businesses are utilizing these websites in order to seek out the best, brightest and most creative job or internship candidates.

An internship that struck my fancy, as it was both an area I am very interested in, as well as paid (which is rare!) was a PR internship at MasterCard. As a student of the MIT program at Western, I am constantly sent emails about different internships coming up, and I often end up skimming the page and pressing delete, or not opening the email at all, but this one caught me as a particularly good fit for me. As I became excited at the opportunity to apply for this, and began reading the application instructions, I realized that it wouldn’t be as simple as pressing “Apply” or sending an email. This one required me to not only make a LinkedIn account, which is probably a blessing in disguise since It’s about time I got one, but it also required the creation of online, social media campaign. Being in the midst of final exams, essays and assignments, my immediate reaction was “!#*@?” The requirements were to make a campaign about the world going cashless, actually put it into effect, and see how many followers/hype you can get. Unfortunately, the deadline was April 7^th and I only found out about it April 3, so creating a whole online social media campaign, although possible, was not a likely possibility for me during this exam/final essay time period.

I think that companies who utilize social media as a way to seek out the best potential employees is a pretty smart tactic. Many people put down that they are equipped with social media tools nowadays to appeal to potential employers, yet simply stating this on a resume means nothing. What MasterCard has done is actually forced candidates to prove that they can in fact use social media, and can do so effectively and in a way that could benefit their company. Yes, it was mega annoying for me, as I was unable to apply for the position, but after viewing some other people’s “application” or “entries” by searching #internswanted on twitter. People have really been pouring their heart and soul into these submissions. This really allows MasterCard to weed out those employees who will go the extra mile, from those that just look good on paper. So alas, I will not be working at MasterCard this summer, but based on what I have seen, looks like they will have some pretty amazing interns!