Author Spotlight
Matti Crabtree | The Harbinger Online If you were to look purely at the statistics behind the college graduate unemployment rate and debt, you would a) faint b) abandon all plans for college c) apply for a job at a nearby McDonald’s. With the current college graduate unemployment rate at 9.1 percent (an all-time high) and the average student loans owed at $25,250, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers. However, before you trade in your books for burgers, take a hint from three SME graduates who have landed internships while still in college. They are living, breathing proof that it is possible to get a job that you love despite this topsy-turvy economy.
Drew McNamara – Stylist
A current sophomore at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Drew McNamara is interning for a company that most could only dream about. As a PR intern for the French shoe designer, Christian Louboutin, McNamara is responsible for promoting Louboutin’s current line and choosing people to market the shoes. In addition to this prestigious position, this job also comes with some major perks. McNamara has all access to any of the high-end shoes and is actually encouraged to wear them to show them off to the public. But the best part of his job isn’t merely sporting a pair of $1,000 studded loafers. The best part of his job is that he is in constant contact with A-list celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Lil’ Wayne about their footwear choices.
“One day the Backstreet Boys’ stylist emailed me and said they would be performing at Perez Hilton’s birthday party,” McNamara said. “They all wanted to wear Louboutin’s and match and be edgy. So I pretty much pulled all of the spring and summer men’s line for them.”
After a brief fitting with the Backstreet Boys, McNamara gained the respect of these ‘90s pop heartthrobs while also gaining an invitation to Perez Hilton’s birthday party himself.
“It was a really big event and tons of celebrities were there,” McNamara said. “That’s really when the hard work pays off and you get to actually be socializing with your clients and see the shoes on their feet.”
While this job is very glamorous in itself, it did not come without a lot of hard work and hours put in beforehand. McNamara spent the previous summer interning for another celebrity stylist doing more “desk” type duties. It was at this internship that he was introduced to the people at Louboutin.
“I went to some parties and events with them and became really friendly with them,” McNamara said. “I one day asked if they were hiring and their representative flew into interview me that week.”
McNamara attributes his success in being hired to his ability to network. For him, the most important thing in business and acquiring a job is establishing solid connections with people.
“Put yourself in situations where you are going to be with people who have the same interests as you,” McNamara said. “Also, remember people’s names and be nice to everybody. You never know who could get you your first job down the road.”
As for McNamara’s future plans down the road, he has some pretty high aspirations. With a 14- year dance background, movie and song producing skills and a lot of knowledge about French shoes, he is a rare combination.
“A lot of fashion companies are creating short films to promote their look books and new seasons,” McNamara said. “I think I could produce music for the score in it, film it and style it. That would be a dream for sure.”
And in the meantime, he will continue hanging out with Hollywood starlets and rocking trendy French shoes.
Andrew Goble – GQ
Walking through Times Square in a sleek suit and knit tie, Andrew Goble appeared to be merely another businessman headed to a lunchtime meeting. However, if you had stopped him on the street and asked him where he was going, he would have told you that he was only a freshman in college on his way to his first job interview for GQ.
“My first interview was very nerve wracking because it was one of my first interviews ever,” Goble said. “The actual job is in Times Square so I was in the area where all of the flashing lights are. They had to check my ID to let me in and security guards escorted me upstairs. The GQ office was a humbling place to be.”
But perhaps what is even more humbling is the fact that Goble secured the internship solely based on his high school journalism experience. After two interviews he was given the offer to work on the magazine’s online social media campaign. According to Goble, the ‘next big thing in journalism’ is merging the website and publication into one. This means that Goble will be in charge of writing the links to the articles that will be posted on Facebook and Twitter.
“During the interview they asked to see my personal Twitter account, which I was not ready for,” Goble said. “Thankfully though my mom follows me, so it is generally pretty tame. They [GQ] have around 160,000 followers, so it is pretty exciting to know that my 140 characters will get out to that many people.”
In addition to remaining calm throughout the interview Goble attributes his success in his interview to his well-thought-out answers. Instead of answering immediately after a question was given, Goble was articulate in his word choice.
“I’m always frustrated when people say ‘I’m hardworking and creative,’” Goble said. “I just don’t really care for adjectives. It is always better to describe characteristics or tell a story that somehow speaks of yourself.”
Even as Goble spoke of his interview, he recounted a story that was very telling of his character.
“After my interview the editor told me that I would hear back from him by the end of the week, Goble said. As I was walking outside in New York to meet my brother for lunch, I got an email from GQ telling me I had landed the job. It was funny because they did it in really a suspenseful way. I couldn’t really even come to terms with it.”
It was through this story that Goble was able to illustrate perfectly how much more effective a story is rather than a simple sentence explaining what happened.
Besides Goble’s unique perspective on the interviewing process, he also possesses insight on why internships are important. For Goble, this internship will be a way to find out if he wants to remain in the field of journalism while also opening doors to a future job. From watching friends and family, he has learned that it is vital to be open-minded in the interviewing and internship process.
“I think a lot of people say ‘I want to work at this place’ and then they put all of their effort into one thing and it falls through,” Goble said. “I interviewed with some companies that I wasn’t that interested in, but the experience made me more confident.”
Another aspect of journalism that Goble seems to be fairly confident in are the obstacles that it presents. Because he is well aware that the first couple years of a journalistic career aren’t necessarily the wealthiest, he has a realistic mindset.
“A lot of journalism internships are unpaid, so I’m prepared for it,” Goble said. “I think an unpaid internship can have increased dividends than another job with no other chance of a career in the future.”
For Goble, the ultimate goal is satisfaction not salary.
“Being happy in a career cannot be understated,” Goble said. “But it also can’t be shown in how much money you are making as a freshman in college.”
Micah Melia – HALO Foundation
For Micah Melia, a current freshman at the University of Kansas, this summer will be all about art projects. However, Melia won’t be spending her time recreating the crafts on the Pinterest home page or working on painting a self-portrait for school. In fact, Melia’s major in school isn’t even related to the field of art. What Melia will be doing is interning at a nonprofit organization called the HALO foundation. This foundation focuses on providing education for homeless youth through educational lessons and crafts.
“What I really liked about HALO is that it is focused on education as breaking the cycle of poverty instead of just volunteering and helping out in a broad sense,” Melia said. “They actually have programs that say “we use art” and “we use education” to help our community and the world.”
Before Melia started her job search she wasn’t sure about what type of nonprofit she wanted to work for. She attended several career fairs at the start of the year and joined volunteer organizations on campus that further informed her about her passion. She then searched online for nonprofit organizations and came up with a lengthy list and set out her résumé to eight different places. Even though only two of the eight organizations returned her requests, she was sure that she would be happy with either of them.
“Make sure you like everything you are applying for,” Melia said. “That way you won’t be settling for one that comes back to you.”
According to Melia, working at the HALO foundation is far from ‘settling’. By interning at this nonprofit organization she is gaining valuable experience in a field that she feels she is likely to pursue.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the experience I will get with the HALO internship because that will help me know what I want to do,” Melia said. “I think it [this internship] is a good thing to do before a job because I don’t have to sign an official contract and get stuck doing something I don’t want to be doing.
However, it doesn’t seem that this would be a likely problem for Melia. Despite only being a freshman in college, she has given careful forethought to her education and future. She knew that if she was going to intern or work for a nonprofit organization, she would need to be relatively debt-free.
“With a lot of the organizations I am looking at they don’t pay very well, but since I go to KU I won’t have any debt when I graduate,” Melia said. “I think especially for students that come out of college with a lot of debt they have to take a job they don’t necessarily want because it pays more.”
Although her internship is unpaid, Melia feels that it is well worth her time. Through working 20 hours a week at the downtown KC office, she will gain hands-on experience in what it means to be a HALO ambassador. She will be in charge of maintaining the relationships between the workers and the orphans, along with their Big-Brother and Big-Sister mentors. She will also coordinate the art projects with the mentors and have a chance to interact with all of the school age children in the orphanages.
“Art is the form that these kids will use to get their feelings out about the situations they are in,” Melia said. “It is also a way to teach people what an orphan is and what HALO does.”
To Melia, the education aspect makes it all worthwhile.
“I am really passionate about it [education] and I think it is key to breaking all of the horrible social problems that we have in our country.”
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