How old is too old to be an intern?

So, if you couldn’t tell from my last post, I am in a bit of a dilemma. Stay at my current position, and cross my fingers that it gets more challenging… or take a huge leap in faith and take a 3 month internship with the PR agency of my dreams in digital PR work.

Right now, my job title is where I want it to be, but my job responsibilities are far from where I’d like them to be (gchat, eat pop tarts, drink diet coke, watch netflix dvds, repeat..). Sadly, this is not because of my slacker ways, but something that is extremely common in this office– the guy down the hall downloads movies to his company computer, another person watches Grey’s Anatomy loudly every Friday to catch up last night’s episode, a VP tunes into Oprah every afternoon… This is my professional life.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been told that if you want to make it in pr/marketing/advertising in either the corporate or non-profit world, you have to pay your dues and start out at an agency. Yes, you pay may be low, your hours may be too many, but this is where you learn, this is what gets your resume looked at… this is what simply gets your foot in the door.

Earlier this week, I was offered an internship with a leading digital PR agency. After one internship interview, another job interview that turned into an internship advertisement, and 2.5 weeks of waiting, I am not faced with what to do. I’ve been talking to lots of people and asking lots of questions and getting lots of feedback. One person says go for it, while another one says stay and be cautious of the current economic situation, stating “At least you have a job in this economy.”

Truth is, I am extremely confused. I’ve applied for several jobs, and put my resume out there to see what happens. 10 interviews later, I am still at my current position, despite the fact that with most of the interviews, I made it through 2-3 rounds of interviewing, was told that my experience was impressive and on one occasion was told that I was the best candidate that they interviewed.

Will the internship help give me the extra something that helps get my foot in the door? According to the Associate Dean at Georgetown, if I took the internship with the digital team, my salary could be up to 40% more than others who don’t have digital experience– and in the summer over 900 applicants vie for 1 of 10 internships at this agency that offered me the internship.

Still, reality is reality…an internship is not a job and can’t offer me what a full-time position could offer: benefits, healthcare, a 401K, job security and a regular salary. If I take this internship, does this make all of my experience at my previous 12 internships and in my current position (even if it lacks any professional experience) moot? I have been out of undergrad for almost 2 years.

Which leads me to my question. How old is too old to be an intern? When is enough, enough? And when can you tell if a company is being honest with you about potential career advancement? You know, if you take this internship, it will help get your foot in the door, the experience that you need, but we can’t guarantee you anything permanent or full-time.

I did a random Google search with just this question: How old is too old to be an intern? And the results shocked me. I read one article from the Globe that talked about a 30-something woman who used to work for Ogilvy in advertising and took time off for a family– and took an internship with another ad agency in her 30s to get back in the game.

I’m curious to see what you think about this? What should I do? I am definitely opened to any suggestions/comments!!!

In the spirit of being a young professional out of college, with a less-than-ideal job, and huge dreams ahead of me, I added this scene from the Devil Wears Prada.

A recession is where career dreams go to die…

As classes at Georgetown start to wrap up this week, and my last semester of grad school steadily approaches, I have done a lot of “soul-searching” and researching on what my next step should be. For as long as I can remember, I have always been told to plan ahead and always think of where I want to be 5 years down the road and plan accordingly. The first person to tell me this was my 9th grade English teacher (who, for some reason I am falling short on her name). She told me that I needed to break out of my shy bubble and suggested that I should join the school newspaper. I was/am a strong writer, so it proved to be a good fit.

After writing a string of articles for the Maroon (oh NP High School, how I occasionally, sort of miss you)– I ended up as the Executive Editor… which led to signing up for the accelerated New Visions program where I was one of the only high school students who interned and went to college classes to pile up even more activities (on top of church choir, teaching Sunday school– don’t worry I am far from a school marm, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Varsity swimming, etc, etc.). I interned for the local magazine, was a student reporter for the local newspaper, and figured my life would be smooth sailing.

Flash forward almost 5 years later and I am a graduate of AU, pursuing my grad degree at Georgetown, and feel like I am standing still for the first time over the past few years. After interning and working for Best Buddies International, MTV, Shop Etc, Washingtonpost.com, and a handful of smaller organizations I feel like I’ve been working for several years. Still, internships are just internships… and recently I have discovered that I qualify to be A.) a professional student, B.) a professional intern, C.) a really worried person who doesn’t know how to plan for the next step in her “career.”

For as long as I can remember, I was always told to dream big– to aim high. The sky was the limit… and now, unfortunately, the current recession in this country has proven that dreams need to make way for practicality. 12+ internships led me to my current position, in the general field I’m interested in working for… and could lead me to another internship (thrilling, I know).

My big chances at WWD, CosmoGirl, MTV and now in pr agencies seem pretty distant– and now, looking ahead to the future of PR, I have read that now is not the time to dream big– at least for someone who’s just starting out her career.

Still, I can’t help but want to dream big. To tell myself I’d be a big PR exec/fashion editor/famous feature writer and book writer…

Brit Brit’s Back (and so am I)!!

So, I realized while updating my linked in page that it’s been quite a while since I posted an entry on my blog. The past several months have truly flown by– I can’t believe Thanksgiving has past and Christmas is right around the corner!! In the spirit of the Holidays, and Britney Spears’ birthday, I have decided to post BritBrit’s performance this morning on Good Morning America. I can’t believe that it’s been years and years since the first time I saw BritBrit perform– back during NSYNC’s first concert ever!! Makes me feel sooo old!!! Anyways, enjoy!!!!

Paris Hilton’s Message to John McCain– take that old man!

So, far be it from me to praise Paris Hilton, but I was pleasantly surprised when a friend forwarded me this link. It’s Hilton’s response to John McCain’s nasty ad campaign against Barack Obama. Take that old guy! Enjoy!

Marriage. The new form of dating?

Alright… so my question is pretty simple. What is up with young people around my age all of the sudden getting married?

You know who I’m talking about… the random people who, for the most part never really dated in high school/college. The people who met someone right out of school and within months, announces that they’re engaged/married/pregnant.

Now, I may sound like a cynical person in this blog post, and maybe I am. A good friend of mine pointed out to me the other day that over 50% of all marriages end in divorce in the U.S. 50%! I’m not sure where my friend found out this information that she gave to me via GChat– maybe my-friends-are-idiots-and-rushing-into-marriage-instead-of-dating.com

But, I digress. Seriously. What is up with all of these people getting married… and skipping what is, in my opinion, the most important step in a relationship– dating?!?!?

Call me crazy, but I grew up with a certain life scenario in my head, that hopefully will go something like this in my real life: Go to school, graduate, get a good job, meet a nice guy, date for several years (yes, years, not months, people), get settled in my career… THEN get engaged, get married, spend a few years enjoying married life, then have and adopt kids….

Now, maybe my idea of my overall life plan is old fashioned for some of my friends. In corporate communications, I learned that the average attention span of someone is approximately 30 seconds, regarding advertising on tv/the Internet.

Maybe our generation’s attention span (or lack-thereof) translates into the dating world as well. I feel like people are impatient. Hurry up, because I can’t wait… for a career, marriage or established life. We like our food fast and our love lives even faster.

Don’t get me wrong… I am very happy for my friends– especially because they are extremely happy about this new, uncertain chapter in their lives, which will hopefully have a happy ending. As someone who has been there through the worst times in my friends’ short-lived dating life, I am happy that they think they have found “the one”.

I just have flashbacks to a few years ago in my life– you know, the point in life when you almost freeze time for a brief moment and promise yourself that you won’t make the same mistake that your parent(s)/friend(s) made. Being from a “broken family”, I know unfortunately all too well, the woes of a marriage gone very, very bad…

I mean, I understand what it is to be in love and to be so deliriously happy with someone. It’s amazing when it’s good… you know, the fact that he doesn’t put the toilet seat down is cute for the first few months, maybe in even years. But then, what happens after the “newness” of the relationship dies down and when those cute little habits/flaws aren’t “cute” anymore?

To me, personally… I don’t think I’d be able to decipher this after a few months, let alone within a year? Will I love him for all that he is, flaws and all, for the rest of my life? Or will I want to kill him? Will he love me and all of my crazy, neurotic tendencies for the rest of his life?

Now, my mom surprised me the other day by saying something to me that I never would have expected her to say… You just know when you know…. 

Which leads me to the next question. My mom thought she knew my dad was “the one” and look at what happened. Seeing this example in my life, do you ever know for sure, or do you just have to guess and hope things work out for the best?

I guess the reason for this post is for a few different reasons. From my last post, I wrote about my thoughts on life/new boyfriend. For some reason– my good friends/family members are in shock that I have a serious boyfriend. Certain family members (I won’t name, names *coughCarolcough*) like to freak me out by telling me that they think that this relationship will last basically for the rest of my life (yes, my stomach is going into my throat right now as I type this)…

AND, the other is a little simpler. I just want my friends to be happy– I’m talking, long term, good life decisions happy. Far be it from me to have the best moral compass when it comes to my own life, but I sure as hell, have a stronger moral compass when it involves people I love and care about (in situations that I am not emotionally attached in).

So… I guess the happy takeaway message from this is that marriage doesn’t have to be the final answer.

So close to reaching that famous happy ending…

I’ve taken a much needed hiatus to my weekly blog postings. A lot has happened since my last posting, personally speaking (promise no more media theory– class is over!). A 2 year on-again-off-again relationship ended– for good. I got a new job, working in public affairs for an association downtown. And, I had to say goodbye to my grandmother on Christmas day. Life has changed so much in these past few months– and I’m honestly no where, where I originally dreamed I would be.

I think that it’s funny that everyone has this idea of the perfect happily ever after. I remember growing up with Disney movies, singing and dancing with all of the girls in my class, dreaming of having the happy ending. You know. Girl meets Prince Charming. Girl falls in love. Girl marries Prince Charming. And then they lived happily ever after… but instead what really happens is the end credits hit the screen, and the lights come on, and you have to get up and walk out to the real world.

So far, I’ve had quite a journey so far in my short 22 years of life. I’ve met some interesting people along the way, and have learned many lessons that my Disney heroines probably wouldn’t have learned in their full 16 years of life– I’ve hit some road bumps, both personally and professionally, but have always decided to pick myself up and move on… in search of my own, happily ever after.

Mind you, there were quite a few times– well, maybe several times, when I cursed happy people I saw– you know the happy couples you see walking together in the mall, the ones that are in the metro, sitting in front of you–or the young people your age who have outdone their expectations of where they’d be at that point professionally, and decide to rub it in your face at happy hour… Yes, a few months ago, I felt like my path of life was chosen for me. Work and school would be it for me, with the occasional awful, awkward date with a few random guys. I think at that point, I didn’t want to hear anyone utter the word “Happy” let alone “Happily Ever After.” (For all of you who put up with me at that point, I thank you, and think you were smart not to say anything, because you prob would have been decked).

But then a funny thing happened. I went home, and locked everyone out of my life– well everyone except for my family. One day my grandma noticed my less-than-happy, but I’ll pretend-that-everything’s-perfect smile. She looked at me and hugged me and told me that I deserved to be happy, but I had to be ready for it. Now, I did not deck Grandma, but at the time I kind of rolled my my eyes on the inside.

After my grandma died, I really started to think about what she said. I think what I’ve learned from all of the lessons my grandmother taught me was, just to live your life for you, and not for anyone else– and that it’s ok if life doesn’t go entirely according to plan. I type these words, as I sit here, choking back tears. This may sound cliche, but I really think it’s true.

I went back to DC after Christmas, and decided to throw myself back out there in the small pool of decent, single guys in DC– and decided that I’d really try this time too. And do you know what, things seem to have worked for the best. I have found an amazing boyfriend who makes me so happy. Yes, people, the Queen of Random Dates has ended her reign.. lol. And sometimes, when he does little sweet things for me that make me smile, I like to think that my Grandma helped lead me to him.

I may not have found my happily ever after just yet. And I think I’m ok with that. I’m not ready to close the storybook of my life– I’m only 22! But, I do think that I’ve come close to my happy ending…

Citizen journalism– going against text book method….

Two weeks ago in class we discussed the concept of citizen journalism. For those of you who don’t know, citizen journalists are active citizens who decide to step up and do reporting that they feel that is missing from mainstream media. You know, the folks that aren’t satisfied with the Katie Curics of the network news conglomerates. Citizen journalism is not a new concept– it’s about as obvious frankly in my opinion as blogging.

I know what you must be thinking. So what? There’s something to me that feels kind of strange for citizen journalists to call themselves journalists. Yes, I understand that unlike doctors or lawyers there is no degree that a journalist must aquire in order to “practice.” But still, it feels weird. Call me crazy, but I’d kind of like to think that the profession of journalism is too hard for just anyone to decide that they want to be the next investigative reporter…

I think New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller would agree with me, as he stated that traditional reporters have training that is needed to be a journalist.

I guess your background in journalism (or lackthereof) really shows where you stand in this debate.

The addiction that is facebook

I recently read Cullen’s facebook posting on Quitting facebook and thought that she was right now. Facebook is such an amazing networking tool. But, really after you become obsessed with the famous networking site, can you break your addiction. I think Cullen brings up an important point– the drama that occurs as a result of everyone and anyone you know using Facebook. You know what I’m talking about– tagging those pictures of yourself playing beer pong in the frat house… or “friending” people of the opposite sex and writing scandalous wall posts, even though you’re “In a Relationship” with Joe Schmoe….

Facebook is fun, but when does it get to be too much? I know several people who have gotten into fights because of what they’ve done on that site… it’s ruined friendships, relationships and in some cases, chances for some friends to get jobs.

I wonder if I’d be able to live without Facebook though… could I really quit Facebook? While I’d like to say no… I am so addicted (right before this post, I checked my profile, and I guarantee you I’ll check it at least once or twice more before I go to bed tonight)… Hey, at least I can admit my addiction!

The marketing of a President: what we all learned from Dean

 

This week’s reading was interesting. Looking back at recent Presidential campaigns, it has only been recently that Presidential candidates have really embraced Web 2.0; Dean in my opinion being the first of them to really take it on full-force.

I think it’s interesting to look at the Presidential race today. Both Democrats and Republicans embrace the Web with open arms. It’s where all of the voters are… where they get their news, where they read about their candidates and now, where they can hear their candidates speak about the important issues.

Republicans realized that YouTube is important in their race to the Presidency, as the popular video site hosted a Republican debate.  Users could go online and video tape themselves asking candidates questions directly.

I think that politics has come a long ways… but still has a long ways to go…

Random thoughts on life… brace yourself, readers!

Alright, so I have decided to use this blog post as a random way to sort out the past few weeks of my life in all aspects. Flash back to May 16, 2007… it was graduation and I was ready to start my life in the “real world” and get out of AU. My best friend and I threw up our caps and swore to each other that all of our hard work in school would finally pay off…

Flash forward 6 months, and I am beginning to question everything. My life right now reminds me of a John Mayer song… I think right now, I am experiencing my quarter-life crisis and let me tell you people, it is rearing its ugly head.

For the past 4 years, I was convinced that I would be a journalist… I’d pay my dues, take some grad classes and be the next Anna Wintour– except I’d be the Executive Editor of a magazine more like Vanity Fair… something with a little more substance than Vogue.

The week after graduation, I went under the knife… I had prolonged having jaw surgery for 4 years, and I was finally ready to put the surgery behind me and move on with the rest of my life.

It is now November. I have a job, a great apartment, am going to grad school– which I love (and I am being honest, Garrett!) but I still feel unsatisfied. You know the old saying, “When it rains, it pours”… well that pretty much describes my life.

My jaw problems have resurfaced. My jaw has begun to revert back to the way that it was pre-surgery. Long story short– my jaw hurts and after almost 6 months of not really being able to eat, I am still having problems! Great, just great… even better is the fact that the only solution the surgeons/doctors can come up with is more surgery.

As if this wasn’t enough stress, I am faced with the age old dilemma– well, for most of my friends at this point in my life– do you take the job that pays the bills, or do you take the internship that is your dream job? Choices, choices, choices… MTV, Edelman PR or just play it safe?

To make matters even worse, my world seemed to completely crash last week, after my on-again-off-again boyfriend ended things for good– as I suspect he was trying to do the noble thing to encourage me to move back to NYC. Normally, if this was the only dilemma I was facing, it would be no sweat… but between my current health situation, my career dilemma and other random stress, I felt like nothing else could go wrong.

I apologize to dump my dirty laundry on you all, but I know that writing can be therapeutic and I felt like writing a blog post about the past week might make me feel slightly better… I suppose, as my mother says, “things could be a lot worse.” And I suppose that is true.

Thanksgiving time is always a good time to reflect on life and think about everything and anything that you’re thankful for in life. Yes, sometimes life sucks (believe me I know), but at least we can be thankful for Hallmark holidays that allow us to be with our families (yes, I’m talking to you Uncle Paul) and stuff our faces with lots and lots of food.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!