Two Junes ago I posted an article outlining ways to get around "robots", the ATS that your online application may pass through before getting into the hands of a human being. These programs strip out the formatting and compare your resume text to that of the original job posting and then give a generic score to applications that best fit the outlined criteria.

Let's talk a bit about one of the benefits of completing an internship.

At the end of the spring semester this year, I pushed to have either an intern or a summer assistant who hailed from an outside university. My reasoning was that I wanted to open up the opportunity to a larger pool of talented students. I got my wish and was able to hire a summer assistant from my alma mater; a young woman with more graphic design skill than a freshman or sophomore (which is all we seem to get in my office). I lucked out.

My assistant just worked her last day this week and will hopefully move on to bigger and better things.

In addition to a modest hourly rate, she got a chance to work scripting, recording and editing instructional tutorials using Camtasia; something previously outside of her skills set. The project added expertise in software that is fast-becoming an industry standard tool. She also got to put her personal style on the finished materials. The project was a complete success, and she enjoyed the work, too.

"...thank you so much for mentoring me for what felt like another semester. You taught me so much in such a short time and I wish I could have stayed around for longer..."

Well, she's got a great career ahead of her!