Archive for the 'Jennifer S.' category

Interning After College: Why I Loved It!

Jun 28 2012 Published by under Jennifer S. 

by Jennifer S.

I bet there are a lot of you out there who recently graduated and are out there trying to find your first “real” job, full-time, benefits and all that jazz.  Not having any luck?  Why not through some internships into the mix?

Yes, even after graduation you shouldn’t be ruling out internships while searching for a “real” job.  I had two internships before landing my first full-time job and I started my second internship almost 6 months after graduating.  Here’s why I enjoyed having an internship post-college.

I had more time to commit
My first internship was about three months long, and besides my 20 hours/week there I was working part-time, going to class and commuting to my internship (2+ hours one way, depending on the traffic).  It was great, but hectic.

With my second internship, I felt that i could commit to a longer internship (ended up being there for 6 months) and it felt like a lot calmer experience.  I was still working part-time and commuting, but I wasn’t trying to finish that paper at the last minute anymore.  I didn’t have to give up my weekends to study.

I expanded on my first internship
My first internship was very focused on public relations and was at a much larger nonprofit.  I gained great online writing and editing skills from this, but it was very focused.

With my second internship, I was still doing public relations and communications but, since it was a much smaller organization, I got to do a wide spread of projects.  A little bit of graphic design, helping out with events, fundraising and even Google AdWords campaigns.

I’m still involved with them!
It’s been a year since my second internship ended and I’m still involved with them  It might just have been great timing, but towards the end of my internship they started up a social media volunteer committee.

 

Have you done a post-college internship?  Tell us about your experience in the comments!

6 responses so far

Take a Selfish Day (or Weekend) Stat!

Mar 30 2012 Published by under Jennifer S. 

by Jennifer S.

I’ll make a confession, I’m writing this blog post at 6:30 pm the day before it will be posted.  You might say, “Jennifer, it’s Friday.  You had the whole entire week to write this post!”  And, you might be right.  But I decided to selfish and disconnect myself this past weekend.  That’s right dear reader, I took Larkin’s post last week to heart and became responsible for my own happiness.

You can find pages and pages of posts out there on why we should take some times for ourselves and how good it is for us, body, mind and soul.  SELF magazine even has a monthly feature that shows how a reader took a “SELF-y day”.  But how many of us actually do this?  I’m guessing a lot of you, like i used, think about taking a day for ourselves but never get around to it.  Is it because you don’t know what to do?

I don’t blame you, even if I’m going to enjoy myself and disconnect from the online world I still want a plan.  Here’s what I did on my selfish weekend, to get you thinking about what you could do in a weekend, an evening or even an hour to make yourself happy!

  • Find a great sale:  If I need to buy something, even if it’s just groceries, I feel a sense of accomplishment when I get a great deal on it.  This weekend, I got two candles for the price of one (the only time I’ll be these candles is when they are BOGO) plus a full-sized hand soap and reusable bag for free.  What is better than getting four items for the price of one?
  • Take a walk:  If you haven’t been listening to the forecast, Minnesota is gorgeous!  Seriously, we are breaking record temperatures set in the early 1900s.  I took advantage of this early summer and walked around my town.  I even found out that there is a park nearby with great walking trails that I went to about three times.  After this winter, it felt great to walk around, in the sunshine, without a coat.
Yes, this is what March in Minnesota looks like.
  • Read some “non-intellectual”:  I had two choices of reading this materials this weekend, Brave New World or a year’s worth of Cosmo.  Yes, I took the trashy magazine route.  After reading blog posts that are suppose to make me think all week long, it felt great to not be forced to think.  Time went by quickly (and yes, I sat outside and read).

I hope that my selfish weekend has given you some ideas of something to do, even for an hour, that is only for you and makes you happy.  Log off your computer, step away from the smartphone and just think about yourself!

What are you going to be selfish about this weekend?

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What Did I Forget to Bring to a Conference?

Feb 28 2012 Published by under Jennifer S. 

by Jennifer S.

All of us are going to need to pack for business travel at some point, and I bet most of us have already made a trip or two.  I went to New York back in October, but it wasn’t until I went to a local conference that I realized how essential some items were.  Because I forgot them! Thankfully, the conference was only about 20 minutes away from my apartment so when I figured out what I was missing I could grab it the next day. Here’s a list of 3 things I somehow forgot to bring along.

iPhone Charger and Cord

Especially after last week’s chat on how millennials feel the need to be connected all the time, I know what you’re thinking.  How could I have forgotten to bring along a phone charger? Well, the answer is I didn’t use my phone that much during the first two days and just charged it overnight when I got home. I never thought that I’d use my phone enough to drain the battery, but I almost did on the last full day. It was the one day that I did a lot of tweeting from a session, which took up a lot of battery life. But I’ve learned my lesson and am never without my charger and cord, even if I’m just at the office!

Snack Food

I have a very set schedule of eating every couple of hours and my body rebels if I don’t get my snacks. So, if your body is used to a very specific way of eating like mine is, make sure to bring some nutritious snacks that you can eat quickly. I made sure to have a couple of granola bars in bag, since they didn’t take up much space in my bag, didn’t need to be kept cold and I already had them on hand.

Flats

Now, this is specifically for those of us who wear heals. I wore heels for two days at the conference and by the end of the day, my feet were hurting. Not the best feeling if you have to drive home in heels too. If I had thought ahead, I would have thrown a pair of flats into my car and avoided the pain. Bring along a pair of flats, especially if you are not used to being on your feet all day long, and your feet will thank you!

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To learn more from and connect with Jennifer, follow her on Twitter – @JenniferLSpies
You can also follow the entire Millennial Chat team here.
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What do you bring along to a conference or workshop?
Are there some things you wish you had never brought along?
Comment below, join the discussion on Facebook, or tweet us!

4 responses so far

The Hate Side of My Love-Hate Relationship with Twitter

Feb 17 2012 Published by under Jennifer S. 

by Jennifer S.

I love social media, as much as one can love technology. I love the connections it creates.  I love how easy it is to share information and ideas. But, as much as I love social media, I also hate how some abuse it. What do I hate? Here are some of the top things Twitter abuses that make me want to scream.

Image from flick.com/evilerin

The “You’ve just followed me on Twitter, here’s fifty million other places to find me” DM
I’m at the point on Twitter that if I follow someone, it’s because of what they are tweeting. So what I hate is the impersonal, automated direct messages that I get right after following someone that links to their Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Tumblr, Google+ profile, blog, website, and on and on. It’s great to know that I could stalk you on all these other places, but I’ve made my choice to follow you on Twitter and that’s where I am connecting with you now.

I’ve heard the case of “I get so many people asking me where else to find me, so I find this easier” but would it really kill to you add a short “Thanks for following me, I’m also active on…” and choose the site people are asking you about most often?

Facebook Posts…on Twitter?
I will have to say, my alma mater is guilty of this and it frustrates me. They are the reason this way of cross-posting bugs me so much. All their Facebook posts automatically post to Twitter and then also link to the Facebook post. It might be an easy way to fill up your Twitter feed, but I do not know a lot of people who want to link jump all over the Internet to read a post.

Facebook and Twitter are two different platforms with different expectations for their posts. Take the time to repurpose your Facebook post for Twitter and the shorter format. This goes for any cross-platform posting you do, don’t just use Hootsuite to type in your post and click on all your social media accounts to post the exact same thing. Take the time to customize the post for each platform and I bet you’ll find a lot more interaction.

Hashtag Overkill
Short and sweet, make your hashtags count. Be hashtag responsible. Don’t get me wrong, I love hashtags (and really should use them more often). They are great for organizing your tweets with others and searching for tweets, whether it is on a topic, event or Twitter chat. But they also cut down on the readability of your tweet, so don’t make every single word a hashtag. People might find your tweet from a hashtag search but it doesn’t make you look very Twitter-literate.

Not Using Shortened Links
Please, you only have 140 characters (or 120 if you want to increase your chances of being retweeted) don’t make most of it a link. Use a product like bit.ly or hoot.ly to shorten your links and then you have more room to explain what your link is all about. 99% of the time, full links don’t give me a clue to what you are sending me to. Save characters and tell me where I am going and why I should click on your link.

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To learn more from or connect with Jennifer, follow her on Twitter – @JenniferLSpies
You can also follow the entire Millennial Chat team here.
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Well, I feel better know that I’ve let out all my Twitter hate. Want to rid your conscious of all the social media hate you are holding on to? Post your pet peeves below, I promise you will feel wonderful afterwards!

One response so far

Getting Healthy….with a Phone?

Jan 30 2012 Published by under Jennifer S. 

by Jennifer S.

We are almost a month into 2012, and I bet many of you made resolutions that you’re no longer keeping or not as enthusiastic about.  To help out those of who made the resolutions of “losing weight” or “getting healthy”, I thought I’d share some of the apps I use to keep myself on a healthy track.

Best of all, these apps are free!

Lose It! (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android)
I’ve been using Lose It! since mid-November and it is the one app I use everyday.  It is a calorie tracker and I really like how simple it is to add in what I ate and how much I exercise.  I like that it gives you a daily and weekly look at your calorie budget and that I can just scan in foods that I eat with a barcode (as long as they are not a store brand).

The app itself is pretty minimal in terms of what data you get out of it:  daily and weekly summary of calorie budget and nutrients, along with an overview of your current weight loss.  The place where Lose It! really shines for reporting is on it’s website (loseit.com) where you can see and export 12 different reports.  You can see how this app is perfect for a data geek like me!

LA Fitness (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android)
I joined LA fitness about two weeks ago and I love that they have an app.  I can look at class schedules for any LA Fitness gym (there are 14 within 20 miles of me) and know how the instructor is, what the class is about and what I need to bring.  It also sets up reminders for classes I want to take and sends it right to Google Calendar.  So, there’s no reason for me to skip a workout!

 

 

 

RunKeeper (iPhone, Android, Windows 7 Phone, Nokia)
I’ve only done two runs with RunKeeper, but I already love this app.  I’ve done some Couch to 5K programs on the iPod, but I really like that this app tracks my route and gives me so much data after I’m done.  I can see my speed for each interval, for each minute, and where exactly I ran.  I’ve also got it set up to automatically send updates to Facebook after each run, for a little bit of extra motivation.

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To learn more from and connect with Jennifer, follow her on Twitter – @JenniferLSpies.
Or you can follow the entire MillennialChat team here.
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Now that I shared with you some of the healthy living apps I’m using, what ones are using?

One response so far