In my accumulated two years as an unpaid intern at a variety of different magazines and websites, I have learned a LOT about the art of interning. I’ve worked with super nice people, but have also had horribly scary bosses who think they’re better than you — and I have spent countless hours trying to impress and suck up to those same people. And, well, I kind of rocked those internships. I worked hard, stayed organized, and tried my hardest to stand out in the crowd. At each different job, I had at least one or two people who told me constantly that there was no way they could get anything done without me.

Everyone knows the whole purpose of working long hours FOR FREE is to make some amazing contacts, get some great references, and most important of all: potentially get hired full-time. Yes, internships can be a total pain in the ass for a practically poor college graduate or student, but if you play your cards right, they can also be MAJORLY beneficial. I got my current full-time job (finally, YAY!) thanks to a former editor I interned for who gave me an amazing recommendation to a friend at the company I now work for. So here are my tips on how to easily be the life-saving intern who makes an impression.

Dress the part. For some internships, there’s a pretty standard dress code that’s easy to follow. For others, not so much. I know journalism jobs can be super casual – employees wear anything from suits and dresses to jeans and Uggs. Go by your office standards, but always make sure you look nice no matter what. You might not have to wear heels, but get a nice pair of flats or cute sandals, and try not to wear flip flops. How you dress is an indication of how seriously you’re taking your job. Walking in wearing the top you wore to the bar the other night or your fave Juicy hoodie is inappropriate and will only make you look inexperienced and young.

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If you Google “Post-Grad,” a lot of articles come up about suffering from depression once you graduate college. And yes, I will say that it can be depressing at times, but really — it’s not so bad. Although the last six months have gone by incredibly fast, I have learned a lot when it comes to adjusting to life outside of college.

So, here’s the ultimate post-grad survival kit (or at least what I’ve figured out over the last six months):

1. Stay Busy – Keep your ass moving at all times. Don’t hang out on the couch day after day, keep busy – whether it’s working a job, interning, or taking pottery classes.  Do anything that will keep you busy. I’ve thrown myself into the LSAT, and trust me, it’s kept me occupied. Who knows how I’ll feel once my LSAT journey is over, but for now … it’s what I do to keep busy. Busy leaves little room to do #2.

2. Don’t reminisce too much – If you do nothing but think about college, you’re going to do nothing but miss college. Avoid this as much as you can. If something comes up in conversation, talk about it, but don’t sit in your room and look at pictures from your sophomore year every night. It’s okay to admit that college was one of the best times of your life, but it’s not okay to let that ‘best time of your life’ define the rest of your life. You should have the attitude that the best is yet to come and college was just a stepping stone. Or yeah, you’ll be depressed like all those articles say. Read More »

For years, women’s participation in the United States workforce was greatly limited. However, throughout the country’s history, women have made great strides toward equality in the workforce. We even get to run blogs!

So today, in honor of the female CEOs, doctors, teachers, political figures and more, our friends from the CreditScore Blog are helping us celebrate women in the workplace. Read More »

Post-grad life is a lot about taking two steps forward only to take a step back. Some days, you feel like you’re ahead of whatever curve you’ve set for yourself and then other days, you feel like you’re falling behind. Although you have a lot more freedom and responsibility than life as a college student, the constant evolution of figuring out what to do next and what’s right is never ending.

Example: Two months ago, I scored what I considered to be my dream internship. I was meeting and interviewing celebrities, hanging out at some of the fanciest Hollywood locations, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at LA parties, frequenting red carpet events, and finding out celebrity gossip before the masses. And now, well … I decided this isn’t for me. There I go again. Two steps forward, and now that I quit, I feel like I’m one step back again. When can a girl get ahead?

In college, I feel like everything was a constant one-up. You know, where you out-do yourself and then you’re like “Damn! Look at what I accomplished.” Post-grad is more of a sporadic line graph that goes all over the place, where you have highs and lows and they fluctuate more than Lady Gaga’s outfits. While I like to think that all of this yo-yoing will get me to where I want to be, it can feel a little frustrating. Read More »

A new study has found that women get royally pissed when they’re given a nickname in the office.  No, they’re not talking about that time your boss got drunk at the holiday party and called you Tits McGee.  The names included on the no-no list ranged from the benign “kiddo” to the slightly more (okay, a lot more) bizarre “poppet”.  While the study was conducted on women of various ages in the workforce, I do suspect this aversion to causal titles had to have stemmed from somewhere.  Perhaps a too-friendly college professor?  A nagging group of guy friends?  A fake-nice roommate from hell?

Becoming so drastically offended by someone referring to a peer as “dear” (also on the list at #8), just seems a little extreme to me.  I know you’re all probably envisioning some grotesque, perverted, middle-aged dude with a heavy breathing problem leering at you while rasping, “Hey darlin’ (#2) , bend over. I think I dropped my pen.”  And yes, that would be gross.

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A few weeks ago, when my alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning (after hitting snooze at least four times), I rolled out of bed feeling like the very definition of a hot mess. My hair was stuck to my cheek, I reeked of alcohol, and my head was pounding. I stumbled into the bathroom, convinced I was still a little drunk, looked in the mirror, and thought about the 12-hour day I had ahead of me. “I am never drinking before my internship ever, EVER again.”

The next week, the same thing happened all over again.

I think you can all understand – making time for both work and play in the summer is hard.  In the winter, when it’s cold and gross out and there’s not as much as to do, it’s a little bit easier to get cozy in bed at a decent hour when you know you have to be up bright and early on a Wednesday. (Or, if you do enjoy a Tiki Tuesday, you can always sleep right through lecture the next morning….) But in the summer… not so much. There aren’t just bars to go to with your friends, there are barbecues and beach bonfires and house parties and fun things going on almost every single night. And it makes it even harder when a few of your best friends have nothing to worry about but part-time jobs. So this whole summer, since I have a little problem turning down doing something fun, I have been trying to figure out the perfect mix of working and going out. Unfortunately for me, I don’t only have my internship to worry about (although it is the most important) – I also have my part-time waitressing job which PAYS for my internship.

When I first started my internship, my social life kind of died for a little bit. During the winter and spring, I made work a priority – not only did I have to wake up at 6:30 am and travel into New York City three times a week to intern, but I also had to waitress every other night until pretty late, and make time to cover events in the city. I stopped going out and getting wasted all the time because I was either too tired from work, or I knew I had to be up early. And let me tell you – it was no fun. At all. Read More »

When I first started this internship in December, there were only a handful of other girls with me. We spent most of our days interning together gossiping quietly behind our computer screens, venting angrily about the ridiculous tasks we were asked to do, and showing each other funny YouTube clips to pass the time. For the entire spring semester, we bonded in a way only unpaid jobless college graduates can: we shared tips on how to get jobs and which websites had the best job postings, we discussed the different interviews we had gone on, and made fun of the other editors in the room with us. We became Facebook friends and followed each other on Twitter, and eventually, we started going out for dinner and drinks throughout Manhattan.

And at the end of the semester, when their internships had come to an end and I was the only one left at the magazine, I came to the sad realization that it was time to make new intern friends.

For a little while, I was one of the only interns at the magazine. I missed my friends from before – there wasn’t anyone to go on 5 o’clock coffee runs with – but while I couldn’t wait for the other interns to start, a part of me liked having all the responsibility. The summer interns started to slowly trickle in at the end of May, until suddenly one day I walked in and they were everywhere. Read More »

[F or most college students, summer means one thing: an unpaid internship. We’ve been there and we feel your pain. Whether you’re making copies, making coffee runs, or just trying to make your mark on the industry of your dreams, it’s much easier to get through it all with a little help from your (CollegeCandy) friends. So come back every week to listen/sympathize with/vent with our anonymous intern as she does her thang at a big time magazine in New York City. Because, let’s be honest, what else do you have to do in that cubicle all day?]

It’s no secret that interning can be a dull job. In fact, sometimes internships get such a bad rep that we forgot that they can also have some pretty amazing perks. In the field of journalism and magazine writing, one of those perks is being given the opportunity to cover red carpet events. At my internship, it’s hands down everyone’s favorite thing to do and for obvious reasons. I mean, free alcohol, free finger foods, a chance to meet celebrities AND reporting credit? What could be better?

I’ve met tons of other over-eager interns out there while I’m working the carpet and while some of them try to act all cool and casual, when it comes down to it, we’re all super excited to have a chance to talk to some of our favorite celebs, especially when it’s someone we love. (When me and another intern met Ashley Olsen the other night, we were both squealing like 12-year-olds at a Justin Bieber concert). Read More »

My ideal Friday night.

Riddle me this. Why did no one warn me that 3-day weekends don’t exist in the real world?

Maybe I was naive and in a college bubble, but I truly had no idea that people worked full days on Friday. Like it still blows me away me when my boss gives me a ten page to-do list on Friday at 4:00. By that time I’m in full weekend mode and already planning my outfit for the night. And by outfit for the night, I mean figuring out which pajamas will be the most comfortable while I drink wine alone in my bed.

I can barely get up the energy to go out on both Friday and Saturday anymore. Hell, I barely have the energy to move myself from my couch to my bed at 10 p.m. on Friday night after Ugly Betty is over. I’ve turned into a pathetic version of myself. A version that I’d be hazing and probably rolling my eyes at if I were my former cooler, drunker, college self. I actually enjoy spending my weekend nights eating cookie dough and watching deleted scenes of The Notebook. I’m one Friday-night-in away from buying matching pajama sets. Read More »

As winter break winds down, I’m starting to have nightmares of exams, a jam packed calendar, and having my alarm wake me up before noon. But no matter how much I dread it, next semester is coming and it’s coming fast.

Obviously this has me tearing apart my closet, sifting through piles of jeans and tanks and blazers, letting them all duke it out for a place in my tiny suitcase.

After packing my must-have PMS sweats, I moved on to “work attire,” because, sadly, instead of lounging around the house all day eating leftovers, I will actually have to wake up early and go to an internship when I get back to school.

After my pair of black dress pants and a modest sweater dress made the cut, I was extremely bored. Am I really going to go from partying with friends in my leather jacket and sequined mini to a stuffy button up? I felt my fashionista heart breaking into a million pieces.

That is until I stumbled upon Express during a daily web-surfing session and found the High Waist Cotton Pencil Skirt in Geometric. Suddenly a light bulb went off: Just because I have to wake up early and go to an office like an adult doesn’t mean that I have to leave my fashion-forward college self behind. Read More »