Sunday, September 4, 2011

Using Twitter to Find an Internship

When I checked my Twitter last Thursday I expected to read tweets about my friends' first week of classes, celebrity gossip, and updates on my favorite non-profits, however to my surprise I saw one tweet that caught my attention. Baking for Good, an online bakery that donates 15% of its sales to a charity of your choice, tweeted:

"We're hiring! Charitable bakery seeks passionate marketing/sales director. Tweet us for more details or send us your most awesome friends!"

I thought to myself, if only this tweet was two years from now, this position would be perfect for me! I realized that a full-time job was out of the question right now, but perhaps if Baking for Good was looking for marketing help, maybe they could use an intern? So I tweeted:

"@BakingforGood What about a marketing intern? :)".

To my surprise, I received a tweet at me that said:

"@ColleenWormsley not out of the question! pls email resume + paragraph abt your ideal oppty to emily [at] bakingforgood [dot] com. Thx!"

I quickly drafted a description of what I would do as an intern and sent my resume to Emily. What started out as a simple tweet has turned into an online internship for the semester!

My internship story is just one example of how Twitter can be a useful tool when searching for internships. Many organizations post internship and job opportunities regularly on their Twitter accounts, so if there is a company or organization that you would love to work for, following them on Twitter could be your first step toward your dream job! Even if the company doesn't post job opportunities, it always helps to know as much information as possible about an organization before you apply for an internship. Following an organization on Twitter can provide you with up-to-date information that will put you ahead of the competition.

This past summer I applied for an internship at DoSomething.org. The first thing I did before applying was follow @DoSomething to learn more about the organization and keep up with all of the programs that it offered. This proved extremely useful during my interview and I was able to land an awesome internship.

There are also Twitter accounts that are dedicated to posting intern opportunities such as @internqueen and @NYCinternz. These Twitter accounts are great to follow because they post various opportunities everyday.

Twitter can be a beneficial tool during your internship hunt. Who knows, maybe if you tweet at your favorite organization, you can land an internship there too!

Follow me on Twitter! @ColleenWormsley

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