Why You aren't Getting Scholarships and Internships + How to Fix it
When I decided to go to college I knew I was going to need a lot of help.
As a first-generation student not only was I going to need tons of money to cover my necessities but I was also going to need support to navigate the professional world.
How did I go from barely being able to get an internship for myself to being recruited to teach other students how to find their dream internship/ job?
A CASE STUDY
First lemme say IT WAS NOT EASY.
I started college with stars in my eyes and I had big dreams but as I mentioned I didn't have the typical support system that most people did.
When I first started college I joined just about every club in the book, overloaded my courses, applied for internships within the first few months and did everything I was told to do and guess what? By the end of my freshman year, I had almost nothing to show for it.
I was crushed. I felt like the universe was conspiring against me. What was the point of hard work if you end in the same place you started?
Even though I felt like a failure and I was moping around, I'm a go-getter at heart and I KNEW that there was something I could do to help get the scholarships, internships and amazing opportunities I wanted.
I went from applying to over 20 internships and getting rejected from all of them to:
Becoming a resident Assistant
Getting invited to attend an advocacy conference in DC all expenses paid
Getting an internship at the largest museum in my state
Received over $3000 in extra aid for living expenses
Getting offered a job at my college to mentor other students on career exploration
All within a year! CRAZY, right?
How did I do I finally get Internships and Scholarships?
My journey to figuring out the secret sauce started when I took a free Skillshare class by Hamza Khan called “Do things tell people: the power of personal branding”
The course blew my mind and by far has been the best investment of my time I have ever spent.
Here's the thing that most people don't figure out until it's too late. Getting what you want comes down to positioning yourself as someone who not only wants those things but can PROVE why you want those things.
Let me break it down
Do things (Get as much experience in your interest as you can) +tell people (Document) = More success!
It's that simple!
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Let me explain how I did this to give you a better idea
As I explained, my freshman year I had A LOT of experience but as I said I wasn't getting any positions and moving up because I wasn't communicating what I was doing so other people could recognize and worst I couldn't communicate how any of those things were helping me to get to where I wanted
So when I decided to fill in the other half of the equation. I got to work looking at all the experiences I already had and divided them to see what skills I had learned from each and then I tried to gather pictures, anecdotes and other physical proof I had of those experiences.
Once I was able to have ALL the experience I had from clubs to conferences and classes I took what seemed relevant to the types of opportunities I was looking for.
Quickly I noticed a big gap in work experience. As a history major, I wanted to work in a museum but had barely even spent time in one.
So I signed up to volunteer twice a week at my local museum to get some experience in my industry. I did this for about 2 months before I felt like I had the type of experience I was ready to TELL PEOPLE about.
How to build your personal brand
Now it isn't about telling people it's about telling the right people. To tell the right people, you want to know who your audience is at all times.
You see the BIGGEST mistake you can make when it comes to “telling people” is not tailoring your experience to your audience. Yes, it will take more time but it will be worth it and be much more effective.
You don't have to do this from scratch every time. I knew that in general the audiences I would be talking to are:
My college (when I apply to on-campus positions) in which case I would want to show off all the work I do at the school and show my commitment to the college
Internships - I would want to communicate my passion for the field so I would highlight my classes, grades, and volunteer experiences
Scholarships - I would want to communicate my commitment to my education and point out specific instances where I prioritized my education
Once I knew who I was talking to and I had the types of experiences I was going to highlight for each audience I started to build my presence online. I did this in two major ways:
I completely revamped my LinkedIn (I have a full post on how to set up your LinkedIn )
I created an online portfolio- Using my college's computer lab I was able to get a free domain where I used the software Elementor to create my portfolio from scratch.
It took me three weeks and a lot of troubleshooting but in the end, I had a digital portfolio where I highlighted my favorite papers that I've written, pictures of me in the different roles I've had on camps and any relevant experiences that are worth sharing. In this case, I knew both people from my school and possible jobs would see it so I made sure to include both my campus involvement and my work experience.
My personal portfolio
Once I had those two avenues filled I made sure to create streams where people could find both my LinkedIn and my portfolio. I added my portfolio link to EVERY job I applied to and I made a goal to connect with 100 more people on my LinkedIn.
No, I didn't spam anyone but before my LinkedIn had about 20 people on it and I never made an effort to reach out to anyone but that HAD to change.
Over the span of a month, I gained over 100 LinkedIn connections of people I actually knew and then I had even more eyes on my profile which meant more people who could SEE me doing the things I wanted to do.
You see that step was absolutely critical!
It all comes down to personal branding and if you don't start positioning yourself to be seen as you wish to be and not as you currently are then you're always gonna be stuck in the same place.
When I got offered my internship I had never actually worked in the field but I took a bunch of ragtag experiences and I was able to show that I may not have the formal experience but I had the passion and willingness to learn.
So let's recap the steps you need to take
Create a list of all your experiences and note any gaps that may need to be filled which can be done by volunteering or shadowing.
Compile evidence of your favorite work that you've done (include anything from class projects, career fairs, conference, professional events and much more)
Build your digital presences by picking two networks to focus on ( I recommend LinkedIn and a personal website)
Build your reach by making sure you have enough connections on your professional networks (reach out to people! Build your audience) and always share links on your resume and cover letter
Personal branding has a lot of other elements and I'm going to go over in my next blog post exactly how I created my brand from my portfolios to the colors to the word that I use in all my professional networks to communicate the where I want to go professional and target my dream Jobs.
Stay tuned!