Rant On Interns: Education Vs Experience

The Great Debate – Interns: Experience Vs Education

Do you hire interns based on experience or education? I’ve had a very interesting experience successfully securing an intern, but I also want to hear from everyone else. Great responses deserve their own blog post, and they are to follow.We got feedback from a head hunter turned career coach, Christian Hasse, where he offers advice for interns. Erik Anderson runs a marketing company and weighs in as someone who’s had a lot of experience hiring and managing interns.

Until then, here’s my journey through intern hiring.

The marketing department where I work recently went through an intern search as a result of my suggestions and our clear need for extra hands in said department.

Since this was the department’s first interns, we decided to take a no-risk approach by testing the waters with an unpaid position with an honorarium  upon completion, based on performance (and, unadvertised, potentially a junior position).

Through our interview process, I learned that a lot of students seemed to apply for everything without really 1) doing any background research and 2) really being keen on a position or company. We had students (and recent grads) come in without knowing anything about our company/brands or even the position applied for. Most never really bought into the position or company before interviewing – taking the “I’ll apply for everything and anything, then choose based on what I get” approach.

Jason Calacanis Tells Mark Zuckerberg To Grow Up and Fix FB’s Privacy Policies

Open Message to Mark Zuckerberg from Jason Calacanis

We Need Take A Stand: Privacy On The Web.

I know complaining about Facebook’s changes is sooo 2008… and I’m aware that it’s a free service, so if I don’t like the new policies, I (in theory) can easily just leave…

I understand that I was well-warned of the changes that were just implemented on my account, (even wrote a blog post about it – Facebook’s Upcoming Changes: Great For Brands, Shit For Users) yet I was utterly horrified when it happened.

Facebook’s Upcoming Changes: Great For Brands, Shit For Users

Once again, the online world is a flood with rumours that FB is implementing a crapload of changes to both privacy and usability. Some changes, like adding QR Codes, are positive for users; while others, like unprompted opt-ins, are shit for users but great for brands. Here’s my understanding of what to expect.

Auto DMs – I Hate You

Nothing annoys me on twitter as much as the auto DM (direct message)… It clogs my inbox, annoys the hell out of me, is incredibly impersonal, and usually communicates the “me, me, me” instead of “what can I do for you.”

Yesterday, I got to the point that I almost messaged each poorly constructed one back telling them where to stick the book/brand/product/blog they were trying to push.

Even worse are the auto DMs with a link – for two reasons: one, right off the bat you’re trying to sell me something (yourself, your brand, your book); and two, with all the phishing schemes, you seem like a spam bot. Safe to say, you send me one with a link, and you’re getting unfollowed.

This opinion, however, is met with varying degrees of agreement and lots of heated debates. With that in mind, I’ll alienate some tweople by listing the recent examples I’ve encountered of terrible and bearable auto DMs.

Terrible
“You’re cool! Facebook me: http://tr.im/vOlQ; CAUTION:10 Cardinal Sins of Twittering http://tr.im/mMMd” Nothing about me or why I’m supposedly cool.. what a poor mass-message.

“Thanks for connecting, I hope it is productive. Grow and Spread your dreams http://ow.ly/iDsK” Am I supposed to click on your ambiguous link? Eat it.

“Looking forward to your tweets. Please get to know me thru my intro video: http://www.ipodiums.com/qlcoach” Great example of the “me, me, me.” why should I care?

“How 2 Leverage Facebook in Google http://tinyurl.com/seotip How I gained So many Followers http://tinyurl.com/bftwitter” Its the last part about gaining followers that sounds so spammy!!

“Thanks for following me! My tweets are usually about technology, things may make you sit up and say HUH but always positive and outgoing…” Seriously? get over yourself.

Bearable
“Thanks for the follow!!!” – @ufathom
“Thanks for the follow. Look for tweets about major (and some minor) things going on around the winery and in the vineyard.” – @crushpad
“Thanks for following me, I promise you update you with interesting Social Media news updates.” – @DeeptiAtrish

The DMs I really like are personalized, like this one from @cruzgary, “hey thanks for the follow! im going to check out myhosting as I am thinking of switching hosting companies..great tweets!.”

Another recent favorite of mine was this one from @djbhorner, “Thx for following! Definitely think that great conversation works well with great wine! Let me know if interested in video online research” because it mentions a bit about the info on my profile (conversation and wine) and allows me the opportunity to make a business connection – without being a hard sell.

Besides, isn’t the point of social media to connect with people and have real, 2-way conversations?

Do you use auto DMs? What do you find effective?

Start the debate.

Want more? Follow me @smichm