The argument is ancient. Should interns be paid for services rendered? Should the lessons they take away from their time with a company be compensation enough? Most industries realize that we don’t live in a world where you can get something for nothing. But some archaic fields still believe that youngsters should work hard and, in return, see no reward for it. Often, in the politically correct lingo of the day, it’s called “paying your dues.” So, if the issue comes up, should you take an internship that doesn’t pay any money? Consider some of the following points.

Is It Worth It?
What can you gain from taking an internship that doesn’t pay? That depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re taking a position at a big company that is well known in its field, sometimes just having a name to add to your resume is reason enough. If you’re a journalism major, an unpaid internship at a major magazine–which are notorious for pillaging interns for free work–could reap dividends when you start mailing out cover letters. In the small world of publishing and other industries, a job offer will often hinge on a strong reference from a recognized name–which you can easily secure with an internship.

The flipside of working with a bigger company is that often interns don’t get the experience they are searching for. Many bemoan the fact that they were treated like another piece of office equipment. Discuss your role and duties when you interview for the position. Also, stress to your supervisor that you’re eager to get involved. Enthusiasm is difficult to overlook.

When you consider a pay-free position, also quietly look into the hiring history of the company. This may be tough, but try to find out if the company has a trend of hiring folks when their internship ends. Ask some of the younger employees or other interns that are there. If the answer is yes, seriously factor this into your decision. If you can suck it up and get by for a few months, you might just skip the torturous task of job searching after graduation.

Think Outside the Bank
While it’s not easy to rationalize paying your monthly bills, think about the other benefits that may come from interning. Depending on the industry, perks may flow like cheap wine. Stories abound in the intern universe of free dinners and concert tickets landing on interns’ desks. Also, if you end up somewhere in the entertainment or publishing industry, expect your social schedule to include some expensed hobnobbing. This facet of the internship may not apply well to those interested in the business or finance world, but you’ll be making money faster than you can spend it anyway.

Digging Deeper
If you are so strapped that a few hours every week interning for free would bury you, just look a little harder. For every 10 internships that exploit students and recent grads, there are one or two positions that fork over some dough. You won’t be celebrating at the Palm, but at least you can splurge on more than Top Ramen.

In the long run, an unpaid internship will come back to benefit you tenfold. As they say, you reap what you sow. When you go the internship route, however, the reaping just takes a little longer when you sow for free.

What do the experts advise? “When your kids are in high school, get them a credit card. Have them start working and putting some of their money towards their payments. They need to understand why it’s important to pay off their debts.” So says Steve Rhode, founder of MyVesta.org, a non-profit financial crisis center.

The Student Outlook
Even before applying to college, its wise to pay a visit to the local college or university financial aid office. Counselors there can guide your research and help determine how much you really need to borrow. If you’re planning on majoring in oceanography, you don’t want to end up with $100,000 in student loans after graduation. You need to be realistic about your entry-level salary expectations.

Financial aid professionals can also advise you on various loans, scholarships, and grants–and whether a public or private institution is a viable choice. “We do quite a bit of outreach to students and their parents,” says Rosemary G. Ferrucci, senior associate director of financial aid at Hofstra University, “beginning at the high school level. We work very closely with high school guidance offices and dispense a tremendous amount of information to them. And we host financial aid nights.”

Once you receive your student loan(s), you’ll have plenty of paperwork to manage. Instead of being bogged down by applications, forms, notices, and statements, maintain an organized record system. You should draft a borrowing plan and precise repayment budget. Robin Leonard, author of Take Control of Your Student Loan Debt, says that will help you figure out what you owe, who you owe, and when your payments are due. When students finally get out into the real world, they may take exorbitant credit card debt with them. To avoid getting in over your head, charge only what you know you can afford. During your college years, try to pay every bill in full each month. You should also get into the habit of saving some money. If taking a part-time job isn’t feasible, try to reduce your consumption. Buy the things you really need–and sacrifice everything else.

Truth and Consequences
If you let your loan payments slip, you’ll probably hear from your lender. Tougher consequences may come later. Your federal and state income tax refunds could be intercepted, a portion of your paycheck might be withheld, or you could even be sued. Utter carelessness leads to actions like these. For example, if you relocate upon graduation, don’t forget to notify your loan servicer. Have all loan correspondence forwarded to your new mailing address; you don’t want to miss balance statements and requests for payment.

After graduation, if your dream job doesn’t work out, don’t panic. Many lenders now offer flexible repayment options for those faced with an economic hardship. There are graduated repayment plans, which are based on your current income. You can even package multiple loans into one, reducing your monthly payments by extending the repayment period.

Above all, if you fall behind in loan repayments, don’t ignore calls from your loan servicer. Explain your situation before it worsens. Erin Love, a Sallie Mae (Student Loan Marketing Association) representative, advises being proactive if problems come up. “Servicers would rather assist a borrower with a variety of options that will bring the account current,” she says, “than just let the loans default.”

Are Internships Becoming Obsolete?
In fact, a recent study conducted by the International Journal of Manpower found that many college graduates see little correlation between internships and future workplace success. Yet a small school of naysayers, career counselors, and workplace consultants believe internships are still alive and well. “I think internships are here to stay,” says Todd Raphael, an HR consultant. “Employers place just as much value in internship experience now as they ever have. After all, it is the Information Age, so knowledge and skills are more important than ever. Education–even higher education–doesn’t always provide the right amount of either. On-the-job training is left to pick up the pieces.” Raphael believes that internships are getting a bum wrap due to the supply and demand of certain high-profile industries.

“In Silicon Valley, companies are finding it tough to bring on college students as unpaid interns when they’re hiring a lot of young people for well-paid positions,” says Raphael. “As a result, unpaid internships may be on the decline overall in IT. In Washington DC, however, where there’s a huge supply of people who want intern jobs on Capitol Hill, senators and congressmen can get by paying nothing.”

An Individual Basis
So, how do recruiters feel about recent grads with great grades and extracurricular activities, but no internship experience? Raphael believes that an internship may or may not matter to recruiters–it all depends on their client’s specific job need. “Do they want someone they can train?” he asks. “Or who has a solid work ethic, enthusiasm, and works well with others? Do they need someone tonight who knows Perl and can help fix the Web site? In the latter case, they’re more apt to go for someone with an internship under his belt.

“If a company wants a management consultant to boost the bench–someone who can learn the ropes and move up–they don’t necessarily need an experienced applicant. On the other hand, if they need someone to meet with a client the next day, they’ll probably look for some internship or co-op experience.” For the recent grad with little or no internship experience, Raphael advises they prove themselves by putting together a concrete set of ideas and suggestions on how they will help the company. “It doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong. What matters is that you’ve shown you can think like a CEO. People in control will see that you’re not thinking in abstractions, but dealing with real business problems, developing solutions, and getting business results.”

The most rewarding internship experiences may be found in small, growing businesses. “In a fast-paced environment,” Raphael adds, “they’re going to need you to fill in the gaps. You’re probably going to receive greater opportunities at a smaller company than you would at a large firm.”

Looking for That Career Boost
Raphael knows that an internship catapulted his own career. “I did internships for the governor of Ohio, Senator John Glenn, and a lobbying firm in Washington DC. I was basically acting as a full-fledged employee–a lot of the people at some of these jobs barely knew I was an intern.”

The tight labor market, he says, is no excuse to shun internship and co-op opportunities. In fact, the right kind of experience could be the one factor that moves your resume from the “maybe” pile to the much leaner “definitely” stack.

Emily Kolod, a junior at Smith College, Northampton, MA, believes the most valuable coupons are the ones that offer a dollar off, ‘buy one, get one free,’ or a free item – which she goes after every chance she can. “Usually, I look for coupons for contact solution and batteries.”

Sarah Dudley, also a junior at the college, believes there’s true value in coupons, and boasts coupons for a variety of items can save you even more money. “Using coupons for video rentals and pizza, I usually save five to $10.”

In retrospect, both ladies have to admit, coupons are cool and help to keep money in their purses!

Sidebar: Aside from the usual places to maximize on your college dollar-deals, the Internet offers a coupon-clipping haven of sites for click- and-print coupons. Check out the following sites, and you’ll be on your path to sure-fire savings:

*www.valupage.com

*www.coolsavings.com

*www.coupons.com

*www.smartsource.com

• Just spending all your time into the early hours of the morning surrounded by books and notes is not a happy place to be for most people.
• The key thing to remember is you have only got a short amount of time in each question to show the examiner that you understand the main points of the subject well.
• The absolute first thing your mind needs is an overview of the subject – rather like the index of a book or a website. Once you have this, you can start to add the important facts you need to remember for the exam. It’s a bit like the human skeleton – all the rest of our body hangs on that – so get a good understanding of the “bones” of the subject – you can use mind mapping to help you.

1. Objectives: What are my revision objectives – be specific – which subjects & subject areas?
2. Priorities: What are the priorities – which subject areas are most important?
3. Topics: What are they key topics I must know about?
4. Time plan: How can I plan my schedule to make sure I spend enough time in each key area?

It all sounds very straight forward – and it is – it is just doing it that is the harder bit – go to it and good luck!!

PS and remember – work 40 minute blocks with 20 minutes off – that way you actually get to remember what you revised and don’t overload your brain!! ]]> http://www.kelloggforum.org/revision/feed/ 0 http://www.kelloggforum.org/project-management/ http://www.kelloggforum.org/project-management/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:48:08 +0000 Khan http://www.kelloggforum.org/?p=186 What we are talking about here… Just about everything you do in your studying you can call “a project” – whether it is revising for an exam or writing a report.

A “project” has a beginning, middle and end – simple! It may also involve you in research at any stage. Why it is important to “think projects”… By thinking in terms of projects – you force yourself to map out a route from where you are to where you are trying to get to. Work can be coming at you in all directions and so in order to avoid getting “blown away” by it all – let’s get organised! What you need to know… Phase 1: Definition – decide what you need to do and by when – map out a plan.

Phase 2: Research – get started! The sooner you start making some inroads into all this the sooner your unconscious mind can start working for you (see “Whole Brain Thinking).

Phase 3: Analysis – doing the bulk of the work.

Phase 4: Conclusion – bringing it all together – finishing it off cleanly. The next steps… Lets give you a helping hand here! Fill in the spaces with the different things you need to do in each phase for each project. You can make a separate schedule for each project or put them all on a single spreadsheet. Keep updating your plan week by week as you finish tasks and phases and new projects start. Keep a paper copy in your pocket at all times to remind you what you need to be doing. Have fun and enjoy!!

” where attention goes, energy flows” so… put your attention in the wrong places, put energy into it and you will end up in trouble one way or another. Focus on your next drug experience – and you will have your whole body negatively affected in the longer term. On the other hand, focus on staying fit and you will be fit.

It’s common sense folks, you can work out the simple truths for yourself.

Stress, on the other hand is different. Stress is about the way you feel as you respond to external and internal pressure being put on yourself. You can stress yourself out as well as external factors can. So how do you need to deal with it? First of all let’s be aware of the stress curve:

No stress = no drive = no result. Too much stress and you can’t function. Next Steps… Things have got to change! So let’s start by asking yourself these 3 simple questions:

• What stresses me out?
• What does it do to me – how does it make me feel?
• What do I need to change myself and/or my situation to reduce my feelings of stress?
• Who do I need to talk to about this?

• Your values are the foundations of your life
• The things you hold onto when all else fails
• They are lived out as the way you behave
• They are experienced by you as the way you want to be in the here and now

Values are the states of being that I want to experience, for example:
Love – Happiness
Success – Caring for others
Giving – Listening
Belonging

Values are also states of being that I do not want to experience, for example:

Being rejected – Being disliked
Being misunderstood – Being lonely
Being poor Why it is important… You need to understand your values because they determine your behaviour to a large extent. What you need to know… If you live your life in a constant fear of being in a state you do not want to be in – you will behave in a different way to that if you lived your life trying to achieve those states you do want to experience.

So here is a little exercise to help you find out your:

Since 1966, an estimated 40 million students and their families have borrowed approximately $270 billion dollars in federal student loans to pursue post-secondary education, according to Erin Love, public and media relations representative for Sallie Mae (Student Loan Marketing Association).

Given today’s skyrocketing tuition costs, it’s not surprising that 82 percent of all enrolled medical students have education debt, according to Love’s research. The news isn’t any brighter for aspiring lawyers either. In addition to undergraduate loans, the average law graduate faces $80,000 in debt by the time his or her repayment schedule kicks in, according to a recent article in Student Lawyer Magazine.

Yet, as staggering as these student loan statistics are, borrowing is on the rise. Medical students took out more than $1 billion in federal loans in 1999, says Love.

Real World Worries
With a degree in hand, many college grads enter the job world not only having to repay their student loans, but loaded down with credit card bills, too. Almost 52 percent of young adults aged 18-24 carry plastic–and an average monthly balance of $584 per card, according to Steve Rhode, founder of MyVesta.org, a non-profit financial crisis center.

Let’s face it, to obtain a credit card, all you really need is to be of legal age (18) and have a pulse. And creditors will extend credit to medical and law students in particular, based on their income potential, according to Rhode. “The [creditor] game is to extend the maximum amount of credit they can to you so that you can’t go anyplace else.”

The problems begin when student expectations for the future clash with the economic realities of life. “As many American students get close to graduation, they think that the money’s going to start rolling in and they naturally take on more debt,” says Rhode. “Many of them actually feel compelled to get a new car. Doctors often feel they have a certain image to keep up to appear successful to their peers.”

If you’re banking on earning the big bucks in this job market, keep dreaming. A starting salary in the six figures is the exception–not the norm–for the newly minted doctors and lawyers of today. The median starting salary for law grads is $50,000, according to Student Lawyer. Even if you work for a big firm in a large metropolitan area, where you may be able to negotiate better-than-average wages, the costs of rent, transportation, clothing, food, and student loan repayment will siphon off excess cash flow.

Loan repayment takes 8 percent or more of the typical graduate’s monthly income, so you may want to re-think that BMW lease and go for the Honda instead. And just because you received a tempting mail offer for a high-limit credit card, “it doesn’t mean you should accept it,” Rhode advises. “You can tear it up and throw it away.”

Financial Foul-Ups
Living on borrowed money causes serious anxiety for many students. “The hardest part of getting out of debt may be overcoming your denial,” says Rhode. “While being in debt seems like a real life crisis, credit bills don’t kill people.”

If you find yourself in over your head and you can’t make payments on one or more of your student loans, don’t freak out. There are a slew of resources from repayment programs to debt counseling organizations and books that exist today to help you get your financial life in order. For starters, it’s worth investigating if you are eligible to cancel or defer your student loans. The process for obtaining and maintaining a deferment involves a great deal of paperwork and government red tape. And one of the following conditions must apply: you die, you are unable to work or go to school because of a terminal injury or illness, or you attended a trade school that went belly-up or falsely certified you.

You can also defer payment on certain loans if you are unemployed–but actively looking for new work. According to Robin Leonard, author of Take Control of Your Student Loan Debt (Nolo.com), you may be entitled to a three year deferment if you receive public assistance, such as welfare.

Even if none of this applies to you, there are still options. Teachers who serve certain populations–including low-income or disabled students–may qualify to have their student loans canceled, according to Leonard.

In order to recruit health care professionals for communities in desperate need, the National Health Service Corps extends loan-repayment funds to health care professionals who commit two years to priority health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). The benefit can reach up to $50,000. For eligibility and regulations, check out the bphc.hrsa.gov Web site.

Other Options
If you’re in way over your head and facing hard times, consider applying for a forbearance. In this instance, your loan holder may allow you to postpone or temporarily reduce loan payments if you are experiencing hard times. Forbearances are often easier to obtain than deferments and they will keep you out of default, according to Leonard. The downside is that interest will continue to accrue while you are not making payments, regardless of what type of loan you have. This means that your loan balance will increase during a forbearance period.

Your loans have probably been placed in default if you’ve missed one or more loan repayments for a period of time (typically nine months). Be prepared for the consequences, such as receiving harassing letters from a collection agency or having your default reported to national credit bureaus. More serious actions may include adding collection fees to your student loan balance, having the Department of Education take hold of your IRS tax refund, having your wages garnished, and even being sued.

And nobody wants that.

But paying back your student loans does not have to be nerve-racking.

Take the stress out of repayment by being smart. Know how the student loan system works, and come up with your own strategy. Before starting out, always remember that your lender wants to help you pay back the loan. Defaulting on a student loan or being delinquent is not a good idea – it will damage your credit history and prevent you from getting future loans, cause great aggravation, or even worse, prevent you from getting a job that requires a credit check. It’s also bad for the lender. They would like their money back. That’s why they are always willing to work with you in developing a repayment schedule that is satisfactory to everyone.

There are various ways that lenders can structure your payment schedule:

• Loan Consolidation. Another option for easing the repayment burden is loan consolidation. Simply, you are combining all of your student loans into one. This simplifies the payment process, and it can also reduce your monthly payment. Your lower-rate loans will be combined with higher-rate loans to determine an average interest rate – this can work either to your advantage or disadvantage, so make sure you do the math. Evaluate the trade-offs and decide what is best for you. For more information, contact the student loan consolidation program at 1-866-311-8076 
• Fixed Repayment Plan. The first option is a fixed repayment plan. Under this plan, you would pay the same amount each month for the life of a 10-year loan. You’ll know exactly how long it will take to get rid of the loan, and the amount of interest you will pay is absolutely predictable.
• Graduated Repayment Plan. A graduated repayment plan works on the assumption that your ability to repay a loan will increase as your wages increase. With this plan, your minimum payments start out low, but then increase every two years. You can stretch out the payments until you can afford to pay more.
  There are no penalties for paying off your loans ahead of schedule. No matter which payment plan you are on, you can always pay more than the minimum, if you can afford it.
• Income-Contingent Plan. If you are really strapped for cash, you may be able to get an income-contingent repayment plan. Here, your lender looks at your adjusted gross income to come up with an appropriate payment schedule. For this route, you’ll need to demonstrate a real financial hardship, but don’t be afraid to pursue this plan if you need help.

ADDITIONAL INFO: FinAid

• Deferment. It is possible to postpone paying off your loans for a specific period of time. You become eligible for a deferment if you go back to school (a tempting reason to go after an advanced degree and pile up more loans), have a temporary disability or lose your job. There may be other qualifying events, so always consult your lender. It is your right to defer your loans, if you can prove that you qualify.
• Forbearance. Like deferment, forbearance allows you to push off those payments. However, you do not have an automatic right to a forbearance. A forbearance allows you to postpone payments for a period determined by your lender, generally 18-24 months. A forbearance is usually granted in cases of economic hardship where a deferment does not apply. You may have to demonstrate financial problems, and reapply every six to 12 months.
  In both cases, you will be responsible for the interest that accrues. If you have a Subsidized Stafford Loan,the federal government will pay the interest during the deferral period, but not if you have a forbearance. You have the option of paying only the interest during either deferral or forbearance. This will reduce the total amount you have to pay back at the end of the postponement period. Or, you can allow the interest to accrue.

The most important part of your repayment strategy is organization. Keep records, and hang on to everything your lender sends you. Open correspondence from your lender promptly. Phone immediately if you don’t understand what they sent you. Notify your lender of pertinent changes in your life, employment status, or address. Remember, they want to help you.