TechView
Online
An internship experience
can help you determine your
career path, focus your degree
program, and ease your
transition from the workplace
to the classroom.
TechView Online
About TechView
TechView is a bi-annual publication sponsored by NIU's student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), an international organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication.
Although TechView and the NIU student chapter of STC are not sponsored by the Department of English, we included excerpts from the current newsletter because many STC student members are also English majors and English interns.
Purpose
Articles
Market Yourself on a Home Page
Graduating with Internship Experience
Market Yourself on a Home Page
by Jennifer Ruegge
Interaction through personal computers has become commonplace. People from all walks of life are discovering new ways to access and distribute abundant amounts of information by going online, surfing the Internet, and even creating their own web sites (commonly known the home page). For those new to cyberspace, a personal home page is your own site on the World Wide Web. No longer are web sites used only for advertising by large corporations. Today, home pages can be created to promote your business, describe your hobby, or even to provide your resume for prospective employers.
Creating a home page that includes your resume is now a popular alternative to the old-fashioned method of printing and posting copy after copy of paper resumes. Many job-seekers are taking advantage of this new alternative, but if you are new to this idea, there are some things to consider before going online say NIU Computer Science majors Brian Sokolnicki and Ryan Pritchard.
Sokolnicki points out that when you first place your home page onto the web, the address is not widely known; therefore, the majority of those accessing your resume are friends. However, you can increase the number of hits (the number of users opening your home page) by creating links from other home pages. Sokolnicki also suggests that a home page be visually appealing. Eye-catching sites can catch the browsers' attention, making them more likely to stay and browse through that page rather than move on to another site. To help decide what is appealing and to help you generate ideas for your site, spend some time browsing the web.
How Can You Post Your Resume?
All web sites are stored on servers, and therefore your first step is to find a server that you can use. If you are student at NIU, you may have server access through a fraterntiy, sorority, or academic organization. If you are employed, you may have access through work. Most online services such as America Online or CompuServe and independent Internet providers usually offer space where customers can have their own site. Once you have found a server, you must create your web site. According to Sokolnicki and Pritchard, there are two ways to display a resume on a home page: you can convert your resume into a web document by adding the necessary html codes, or you can scan your resume as a graphic image and place that image on your home page.
The process of creating home pages with access to resumes is a growing trend that is likely to attract more students as they know where to begin. You will find many guides and examples of resumes on home pages by searching on the web. Using Lycos (a web browser), I searched with the key word "resumes" and found a wealth of information. Career Magazine has a home page with tips on creating resumes. It also includes a resume bank that provides many different example resumes. Some resume banks are open only to employers, but others are open for the public to view.
Also, through its own home page, the Society for Technical Communication provides members with a place to post their online resumes. (http//:www.stc-va.org/)
Soon the process of job-hunting will be conducted regularly through computers. In addition to job seekers posting resumes, many companies have job information links on their web sites. It is certain, with almost every employer looking for computer experience regardless of the job title, a candidate whose resume is found on a home page may appear highly qualified for a position.
Suggested Web Sites
Graduating with Internship Experience
by Jodie Fredericksen
In today's tight job market, recent graduates indicate that good jobs are becoming harder to find because so many job applicants have previous experience. By serving an internship, you too can enter the job market with experience in hand. Internships allow you to experience the job market, discover what types of jobs appeal to you, and help you focus your career goals. Often, the internship experience can mean a higher starting salary after graduation. Greg Grogan, an August 1996 English graduate and former intern, found this to be true. He said, "I entered the job market at a higher rank and salary than I would have otherwise. Skipping over entry-level work (and pay) was a tremendous, unexpected benefit of my internship." Other interns, like December 1996 English graduate Nancy Antol, have been hired as full-time employees by their sponsoring companies.
Grogan and Antol, like many other students, found their internships through the English department's internship program. Other students have found their positions through NIU's Cooperative Education/Internship Program.
When Can I Serve an Internship?
Internships are available to graduate and undergraduate students and are not restricted to the traditional semester. In fact, they can begin at any time during the year. The weekly time commitment varies also. It is quite common for students to arrange part-time internships during the fall and spring semesters, working 12-20 hours per week while also attending regular classes. During the summer semester, many students choose to serve full-time internships. But regardless of your chosen internship schedule--full-time or part-time, throughout a regular semester or across semesters--the payoff is tremendous.
How Can I Get Started?
So how can you get involved? While there is no one best way to prepare yourself for an internship, the English deparment's internship coordinators suggest the following:
1997 Fall Schedule of Events
Online Resume Workshop
Eric Hoffman, Coordinator of the Networked Writing and Research Lab at NIU's Department of English, will lead this hands-on workshop.
Wednesday, October 22, 1997 at Noon in Graham Computer Lab 1.
STC Dinner/Meeting --Chicago Chapter
NIU student members will travel to Countryside, IL to network with professional members (don't forget your resume), and to listen to a presentation on Job/Task Analysis.
Tuesday, November 11 at 5:30 p.m.
Contact Jan Knudsen at (815) 753-6618 for more information.