Personally, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There is plenty to be thankful for in life, and all of the delicious food, plus spending time with family and friends are not too shabby either. Though Thanksgiving is probably the most well-know event in November, there is also this day that is know as the biggest shopping day of the year. The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is a day where millions of Americans jump start their Christmas shopping, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, to search for the biggest and best sales and deals of the season. As I was out shopping this past weekend on the day after Thanksgiving, I realized how shopping on this day was similar to looking for the perfect internship.
Shopping on Black Friday first takes careful planning and preparation, and then takes patience and excitement to be successful throughout the process. It all starts on the Thanksgiving, when you pick up the newspaper with all of the advertisements for all of the fantastic sales for the next day. The large pile of coupons and sales from every store ranging from toy stores to department stores can be extremely overwhelming to the untrained eye. This is just like the initial searching for the perfect internship; you have so many sources, from the Internet to professors to family friends with connections in your field of study. Once you have all of your coupons or internship opportunities, you have to break them down into smaller and easier to handle groups. Begin by sifting through your list of internships and combining them into categories and deleting any that you are absolutely not interested in.
Next, when preparing for your day of shopping, you would go through each category of coupons and advertisements and make a list of which stores you are going to go to and what you are going to be buying at each. When starting your internship search, it is a good idea to have a master list of all of the internships that you apply for and put key information on the list like contact information, due dates, and any other important information, like website usernames and passwords for applying.
Now you had done all the prep work, you are ready for the actual event. So get a good night sleep and get ready to start early to get the best deals. As with Black Friday shopping, you have to start early when searching and applying for internships. Well, I guess you do not need to apply for internships at 4:30 in the morning, but starting early gives you the most time to fill out applications and find that exact internship that you are looking for.
Once you are out at the stores or at the computer filling out applications, you have to be patient. Both of these events can be stressful–your patience and determination can go a long way. If you keep your spirits up and believe that you will be successful, you will find that perfect internship, or even that perfect sale item. I hope you had a successful Black Friday shopping experience and I wish you luck as you begin to search for and apply for that ideal internship experience. Just remember to keep your energy and spark up, use all of your resources, and be patient the whole time.
Dawn Siemiet is a student at Central Michigan University and will graduate in December 2010 with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a major in Human Resources Management and minors in Legal Studies and Leadership. If you’d like to find more out about Dawn, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.
