Hello Real World: Student’s Approach to Great Internships Co-ops and Entry Level Positions
by Jengyee Liang
Paperback: 146 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (February 8, 2006)
Language: English

We all learn from others experience, we all stand on the shoulders of others work. Jengyee Liang presents her real life experience from which all students who are looking for an internship or an entry level job can benefit greatly. We learn great deal more by doing something than by reading about something. So internships in that aspect present a unique and beneficial experience. This book will serve as your guide to get into that boat. This nice little book consists of 6 parts, actually seven. All quotes are taken from the Liang’s book except for the last one which is from Creating Passionate Users blog post.
Part 1: Where to Start
“You don’t have the luxury of experimenting for two months and bailing if you end up not liking your work. So, you should take care to practice working and practice interviewing. Internships and co-ops are your dress rehearsals for your career.”
This part starts of with some tips on who/when/how you should read this book. And then goes onto to explain when you should start looking for internship and presents a nice information about what you can as a freshmen, as a sophomore, as a junior or as a senior do about internships/co-ops.
Part 2: The Job Hunt
“Be proactive. Being proactive basically means not limiting yourself to a single source for finding job leads. Try everything.”
Great advice on hows, whats and wheres of job hunting. This part consists great tips on where to look for employment, art of mingling(aka networking), being positive. Liang advises to treat your job search like a 4 unit class, this is so true, you have to take job search as serious as a class. Explains how to choose right company(like big or small), resume, reference letters and interview preparation tips.
Part 3: From offer to first day on the job: sealing the deal
Liang presents the importance of having the luxury of multiple offers and how to handle multiple offers. She then presents the need to have pre-conversation with your to-be-manager and what to ask her/him to ease your transition into your new job.
“Just like you don’t need perfect grades, you don’t need to attend a prestigious school in order to enter the workforce and succeed in the real world. Your employer is concerned with the work that you do, not your academic background. You’ll make more friends too if you don’t flaunt a superiority complex.”
Part 4: Once you are there : Shining at your new job
This part gives an overview what to expect at work place and how to make most of your internship. Tells you how to balance your work and social life, how to get used to and take leverage of the corporate ambiance, how to cope with surprises. Includes some great tips like keeping journal, project log as tools for tracking your performance.
“Companies value a well-rounded student and a well-rounded employee. They want to see you interact with your coworkers and enjoy yourself at work.”
Part 5: Reflecting on your experience
Liang presents some tips on how to evaluate your internships experience. Whether your experience was good or bad, Liang tells about how to leverage this experience for your future internship or full time jobs.
“I encourage you to appreciate your internship because this is an exploratory time where mistakes are expected and won’t be crippling to your career. This is also an opportunity for you to meet new people and hopefully, experience living in a new place.”
Part 6: Tables turned
Liang presents a case study of an intern and explains important aspects to keep in mind in order to convert the internship to full time offer and to have a pleasant internship. She presents employers perspective on how interns are evaluated, lets you see the other side.
There are 6 appendices which can be chapters onto themselves, so I consider this as seventh part of the book, as each appendix has great information like “Internships vs Co-Op”.
Read this and this post at CPU by Kathy Sierra on story telling
So, what are you doing to help your users on a hero’s journey? What can you do to associate what you do/make/sell/write/build with a hero’s journey? What can you do to help your user through the “I Suck” phase and into the “I Rule!” phase
Thats what this book is about, excellent story about her own experience. Liang’s book is available on Amazon.com for $15, costs about 2 movies tickets(with your student pass), fairly priced and packed with excellent information. And Jengyee Liang perfectly understands about this short span attention world, thats why this book about 150 Pages, you can read it in about 2 hours. And read it again and again. You can get more information at the book’s website
I guess I’ll write about my own experience in other post.