Data Science & Analytics

This is the final episode in the Buffalo State Data Talk Summer 2021 mini-series all about internships. This series will explore the process of finding and making the most of an internship. We will be focusing on the field of data science and analytics but many of these tips will be applicable to numerous fields and also if you are searching for a job. From networking to acing that interview our experienced panel of guests will provide excellent tips and tricks to land you your next internship.

 

Transcript:

(bouncy music) - Hello, and welcome to the
Buffalo State Data Talk, summer 2021 mini-series.
All about internships. I'm your host, Heather Campbell, and our summer episodes
explore the process of finding

and making the most of your internship. We'll be focusing on field
data science and analytics, but many of these tips will be applicable to numerous fields. And also, if you're searching for a job

from networking to acing that interview, our experienced panel of guests will provide excellent tips and tricks to land you your next internship. In today's episode,

we'll be talking about the internship. Once you finally land the position, what can you do to make the most of it? And what do you do when
the internship is over? Let me introduce you to
our panel of speakers

Today, we'll be talking to Claire Petrie, a Talent Acquisition and
HR expert from Buffalo. Thanks for joining us today, Claire. - Thanks for having me, Heather. - Dr. Ramona Santa Maria,
the internship coordinator

for the Computer Information
Systems Department at Buffalo State College. Thanks for joining us today, Ramona. - Thanks for having me, Heather. I love talking about CS and data.

- I'Jaz Eberhardt, a journalist, and a Buffalo State College Data Science and Analytics Alumni. Thank you for joining us today, I'Jaz. - Thank you so much for having me.

- We'll be welcoming back to
the show today, Bill Bauer, the Education and Diversity Director at the BioXFEL NSF Science
and Technology Center at Hauptman Woodward Institute. Thanks for joining us today, Bill.

- Thanks for having me. - So let's imagine that, you know, you got your great resume. You got it, you got your
interview, you got the position, you have an internship now.

So, what should you expect
to gain from the experience, and how can you make the
most of your internship? - Talking with everybody you
can at your internship site. You may never meet the CIO or
the president of the company, but see if you can get
up as high as you can.

You may, you have to be ready
for that elevator speech. That elevator speech, if
you don't know what that is, you should look it up. It's like a 10 to 30 second speech that you can say to
somebody who's important

very quickly or ask questions. The idea is if you got into
an elevator with the CIO or the president of the company,
what would you say to them? And how could you talk about yourself, and ask them a question so
that they wouldn't forget you

all in a short amount of time. So, be ready with that elevator speech. Because you're gonna need that every time you're introduced to somebody within your company.

I also think that you should have, you're going to have some objectives that you're gonna work
on with your supervisor. Every couple of weeks, I
would ask my supervisor, am I meeting the objectives?

And if you're not, ask why you're not meeting them, and how can you can meet them. It's really important that you know what skills
you're going to be leaving with

when the internship is complete. You should be able, from the objectives that the
supervisor writes down for you, you should be able to talk about each one of those objectives

on any interview that
you get going forward. - The biggest thing I
think I learned from that, is to always be of service
and don't sit idle. So even if you have nothing to do or you weren't sure what
you should be doing,

cause that happens sometimes, if someone hasn't checked
in maybe in a little while, just ask someone. - You should, you know, really look at ways that you
can just get everything you can

from this experience. It isn't just, you know,
a huge part of it is, yes, developing your skills and having something to add to
your professional portfolio, but look at ways that
you can really make this

an enriching experience for yourself, and that, you know, maybe
your site supervisor can help you as well. Don't be afraid to say, hey, you know, I really would like to learn
a little more about this,

or maybe, can we sort of tailor my
experience a bit more in this way so that it can be, you
know, more enriching. See what you can get. Have fun with it,

and just really look at it as
what it is, an opportunity. This is not just something you have to do, it's something you get to do. So appreciate it to the fullest. - You have some amazing advice.

I wish somebody had told me
the things that you are saying before I had started my career. So I think everyone should
listen to what you're saying, and try to do everything that they can. - Thank you. I appreciate that.

And work it like a job too. Be absolutely committed to it, because this is giving
you a taste of a job that you could very well have. So while you're getting this experience,

also be sure to look at
it as a job in every way. And that means professionalism as well. Don't feel like you can be
lackadaisical or, you know, give half of your effort just
because it's an internship. Well, you know, I'm not getting paid, or,

I'm not getting paid as much
as I would be as an employee, so I don't have to work that hard. You know, it's okay if
I'm a few minutes late or if I'm not, you know, dressing professionally,
I can show up whenever.

Don't have that mindset, please don't. Because maybe the person
that you're working for as an intern will want to
look to give you a job. But if they see that you're not committed, and that you're not taking
your obligation seriously,

you will not be considered. And word of mouth is a real thing, in good, and in bad respects. People will know about your
work ethic from others, you know, maybe someone
you do want to work for

will come to that person saying, oh, I heard this person
was an intern for you. How were they? You want them to have good
things to say, don't you? So then take it seriously.

Just professionally do
what is asked of you, show up on time, commit
it like it is a real job. Even if it is an unpaid internship, act like you're getting paid. Do this because you're hoping
to get everything you can

from this experience. And I think the last
thing that I would say is to, to have fun with it, honestly,
I mean an internship, shouldn't just be, you know,
this intimidating thing

or just something that you're
doing because you have to. Really look at ways that
you can get involved. - So a lot of times internships can potentially turn
into full-time positions. So what advice would you
give to somebody, to say,

what's the best chance of
you turning your internship into a full-time position?
What should you do? - So if you're, if it's a campus position, sometimes they're hiring,
sometimes they're not. But if it's an off-campus position,

you should make sure
you let the company know you will be looking for, you are going to be looking
for jobs in the area, and you would love to be able, you're really enjoying your placement,

and if an opportunity
at the company came up, you would love to be able to apply for it. And leave it like that. Be modest about it. Because you want to be
able to be assertive,

saying, yes, I would like a position. But you also want them to know
that you're not so arrogant that you wouldn't just assume that you would get the position. You want to be able to say,

if a position was available,
I would love to apply for it. Would you please let me
know if anything comes up or if the needs of the company change, and I would be a good fit. - That's an excellent point.

I think making sure you're not assuming you're going to get something is, yeah. - You need to have some, you need to be humble, you know, you always need to say
your please and thank you,

and have your manners, things like that. So I think that a lot of
those things that we need in order to get jobs and
internships are pretty basic. It's most of the stuff that
you learned in kindergarten. In terms of, like,

learn how to make friends,
that's your networking, say please, say thank you, ask for help if you need help. But, here's the thing, ask
for help when you need help, but you don't want to be
asking for help so much

that people think you're incompetent. So you're going to have to
look up some stuff yourself. And it's really appropriate
when you're in an internship to say, let's say you're
my supervisor, Heather, Heather, you gave me this assignment

and I didn't really
understand what you meant when you asked for this. I looked up a bunch of things, and this is what I found from my research, but I still kind of don't know
what direction to go into.

Can you help me? So that shows my supervisor,
Heather, they gave me a task, maybe I didn't know
everything about the task, but I wasn't afraid to
research more information about the task.

And if I still didn't know it, then I'm still humble enough to say, I've tried other avenues,
but I still need help. Can you help me? And that really shows the type
of employee that you want.

Somebody who's willing to
do more work on their own to figure out the answer. - How do you think you
can have the best chance of turning your internship
into a full-time position? - Well, I think one thing you can do

that will really help yourself
is to exceed expectations. And so if you figure
out exactly what it is that you'd like to be doing,
or should be doing, rather, and then do more. Go beyond what it is
that's expected of you

and show initiative, they would really take notice, and more seriously consider
you for a position later on. So this could mean reading extra papers or taking your project to the next step.

If you're an academic intern, this could include things like following up after the internship, and see if you can still
help with the project or push for the work to be published.

Getting a publication during an internship is a really big deal
if you can manage that. It is rather difficult to
get that amount of work done in about 10 weeks, but it does happen. And it really helps the students out.

Also, if the program has
some type of a specific track or pipeline that they use
to acquire new talent, and if you've been trained
in their internship program, this really gives you an advantage. And so if you can figure out

exactly what it is you need
to do to get to the next step while you're still there, you can try and get
introduced to the people that will do the hiring
or application reviews for the next step and that
will really help you out.

If they know the name on the application and they know who you are, I think that can really help your chances of being hired later on. And, of course, again,

follow up with your supervisor, make sure you can get good
recommendation letters. - Definitely. So taking the opportunity to
network within the internship, even if it's not maybe
specifically in your program,

you would say is a good,
good use of your time. - Yes, definitely. I know some specific
cases where that's helped, where they went outside of the
group they were working with and tried to meet the people

that would actually be
reviewing the applications for their grad school. And, ended up getting in there. I don't know exactly how much that helped, but it definitely doesn't hurt.

- I'm sure it doesn't hurt at all. And, you know, if you
don't like your experience, would you say that's still
a valuable use of your time? - Yeah, yeah, of course
it would be more useful if you did like it and
continued on the pathway, but,

it is useful to learn what you
don't like, just as useful. And I think, you know, having that
experience is still useful, even if it's something that you, you know, don't want to pursue long-term,

it can help you make
connections with people that may be useful down the road and can help you get
recommendation letters for the next step. And still the training that
you received in that program

could end up being useful
in other settings too. - And also look at an
internship as an opportunity to see if maybe this isn't
something that you love. Maybe I would have done this
internship and said, hmm, I guess data journalism isn't for me.

But, you know, for me it was
a confirmation that it is, but sometimes you'll find that what you anticipated you wanted to do is actually nothing like
what you thought it would be. And that's okay, if
you're in that position,

like, don't feel defeated
or that something's wrong. See it as a great thing that
before you took a deep dive into this field or into this career, and wound up absolutely unhappy that you got this internship
to give you a taste

of what working in a certain industry or a certain realm would
be like, and, you know, while you're still a
student or even before, or even when you're graduating say, okay, well I'll figured out
what I don't want to do.

I like to say this, that it's as valuable, honestly, in a weird kind of way I kind of see it as somewhat
more valuable at times to know what you don't want rather than to know what you do want.

Because the things that you don't want are your real non-negotiables. you can say, okay, well I want
a job that has this and this, and that'll allow me to do this. And maybe you'll get something

that doesn't cross every
box off of your goals list, but you'll love it anyhow. You know, you're more
willing to compromise because maybe you work with great people or you work for a great company,

and you have a wonderful experience. But when you say you
don't want to do something or that you're not
comfortable doing something, there is no compromise with that. It's not like it's
going to just magically,

you know, get better. Well, I say that, I'm not a strong numbers person, so I'm gonna get a job as an accountant. I can almost guarantee you,

that's not gonna make you happy. And that's the thing to realize, like, no amount of money in the
world is worth your happiness or worth what you want to do. - Once you've finished your internship.

What should you do then? You mentioned making sure that you stay in contact with
the people you work with. Is there anything else? - I think following up and
thanking them for the experience

is always a good idea. I always remember the
students that do this. I still have their cards in my office. And it's a good way to help you stand out, and show your appreciation

for the work that they put into it. There's one student that gave
me a geranium in a bucket about four years ago, and I still have it, it's still alive. And so every time I
see it, I think of him.

I'm not suggesting that
you should buy flowers for all of your mentors, but it's certainly made an impression. - Yeah, that's definitely
something that not, not everyone would do.

So it's something that,
that can make you stick out. If you have completed your
internship and you're done, is there anything you should do once your internship is over? You just leave the company?

What do you do? - There's a lot of things you can do. First of all, you want
to let that company know that you want to stay in touch. So if you're not already
connected with them on LinkedIn,

you should be connected with them. But, you should always
send a thank you note. It just distinguishes
you from other people. It's please, and again,
kindergarten, please and thank you. So saying, thank you for the
opportunity that you gave me.

I can't wait to use my skills in trying to get a
position in the job market. Very simple, three sentences, and it distinguishes
you from everybody else. Then you take those skills,

and you run to the career
development center and you say, how do I take these skills
and put them on my resume so I can start applying for,
you know, you know, my career. My career! It's so exciting, right?

Like, like I'm just a student and now I got all this,
this, these skills, and, mad skills, right? And now we put them on my mad-resume and I'm gonna get this wonderful career

that's going to satisfy me. - So what is something that
you wish somebody had told you before you started your first internship or professional position? - So It can get stressful
and overwhelming.

I will say that. So I, like, looking back
on my younger self now and what I think is just helpful, you know, to keep in mind
as a current student, is there will be a lot to learn.

There's gonna be a lot
of names to remember. Don't get discouraged, be
present during your training. Try not to be worried about, you know, other things you might have
to deal with afterwards, or trying to remember

something that happened earlier that day. So be present, take good notes, find a system that works for you. So, again, in terms of
how you take those notes, so you can revisit it
later, asking questions.

So everyone was new once. So just remember you can do it, even if it gets
overwhelming and stressful, you will, you'll make it
through it, just do your best. - I Think that's really excellent advice

because I think a lot of
the time when we ask people who've been in a position
for a really long time, they don't necessarily remember what it was like starting out. And I think that that's
a really good point.

That a lot of the time when you go to your very first internship or your very first job, it
can be really stressful. You've never been in
that experience before. So just, you know, take a deep breath.

It'll be okay, you'll get through it. - Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, it may
work out where it is all, you know, rainbows and
butterflies and whatever, but I like to make sure I'm really honest

with this type of question. So, yeah, anticipate it
could be really hard, but again, just be present, take notes, and do your best to set
yourself up for success. - So finally, before we let you go,

is there anything else you'd
like our listeners to know that we didn't get a chance to cover today? - Yeah, what I'll leave everyone with is just that confidence goes a long way. So especially as a younger,
emerging professional, you know,

that imposter syndrome can creep in or those negative or limiting
kind of self-beliefs, so practice that positive self-talk. If you don't believe
in yourself, you know, it's hard for others too, as well.

And your energy's contagious. So just surround yourself with positive, helpful people who can
uplift you, and yeah, just do your best to present
yourself in a confident way, because it will go a long way for you.

- Thank you so much for
listening to this episode from our mini series,
All About Internships. If you liked the episode, make sure you check out
our previous podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts.

And if you prefer to watch, podcast videos are now available on the Buffalo state DSA YouTube channel. For more information about starting your career
as a data scientist,

go to dataanalytics.buffalostate.edu. And don't forget to subscribe so that you get notified each
time we release a new episode of Buffalo State Data Talk. (bouncy music)
 

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