How Internships for College Credits Work

How Internships for College Credits WorkHow Internships for College Credits WorkBy definition, an internshipis a supervised learning experience under the tutelageof a schooled professional. The training received at the office or business site of theinternship should be similar to the training/education received in the classroom. Therefore, college leistungspunkt is often provided to students instead of actual payment. However, its not unheard of for interns to receivecollege credit for completing an internship and to be financially compensated by their employer. Is There a Limit? Depending on the schools policy, students can usually earn between one and six college credits after participating in an internship, but its mora common to receiveone credit point than six credit points. Employers often ask they can provide college credit for interns, but thats a misconception. The role of the business is singular Its to be an on-siteteacher and educator operating in the world of busines s, not academia. Who Decides? Its a big misconception about college credit for internships that the company can decide whether the internship is for credit and not for credit. Technically, its the students university or college that can decide if the student is eligible to receive college credit or not. The decision is based solely on school policy as well as the criteria of that students major, and whether or not the student has already participated in an internship and received college credit. That said, if a student is eligible, you as the business professional should do all you can to help the student receive school credit. Its worth noting that nearly every college and university limits the number of internships that a student can do for college credit. Otherwise, college students would likely spend more time doing internships than attending class. How to Get College Credit To receive college credit for an internship, students have guidelines on how many hours they must participate in the internship throughout the semester. For example, at the University of Connecticut, students must intern 300 hours throughout the semester to receive one college credit. Students work with either the office of their specific major or the general campus career center to learn about and receive internship credit. The specific department within their major or the career center requires the employer to fill out paperwork beforehand that explains the role and responsibilities of the intern at the sponsoring company. The school also requires one or two evaluations to take place throughout the internship. Also, the sponsoring manager needs to fill out paperwork regarding the students performance and specificallydetail the new skills acquired. Because internships are considered learning experiences, when students take on unpaid internships, it only makes sense that they seek out college credit as a way to becompensated for the timetheyve spent and thework theyveperformed. Paid interns are also eligible for college credit.

This weird research-backed, goals-setting hack actually works

This weird research-backed, goals-setting hack actually worksThis weird research-backed, goals-setting hack actually worksOver the past four years, Ive discovered many incredible ways to hack my habits, set better goals, and improve my life. I have taught myself to love running, dramatically improved my diet and found the focus to write a bestselling book. Understanding how the mind works and using it to affect my daily behaviors has yielded tremendous dividends.However, there is one goal thats nagged at me for years that despite my best efforts, Ive never been able to achieve - going to the gym consistently. I hate lifting weights. Hate it. I disdain the strain, the sweat, the smells - all of it. The only thing I like about working out are the results. Unfortunately, theres no way to enjoy the benefits of going to the gym without, you know, actually going to the gym.Thats not to say building muscle is all that important. Diet has a much greater impact on body weight and health tha n exercise. But given that Ive already hacked my diet and no longer struggle with eating right, I wanted to finally get to the bottom of this stubborn challenge.Why welches this one goal so hard to set? If I could figure out a way to overcome this challenge, perhaps it would provide insights into how to tackle other difficult to achieve goals.Habits vs. know-hows There is a differenceRecently, it seems habits are everywhere. A slew of new books, not to mention countless blog posts and apps, guarantee a whole new you by harnessing the power of habits. However, almost all of behauptung well intentioned authors promise too much. Many over-prescribe habits as a solution to problems they just cant fix.So what are habits, really? According to Dr. Benjamin Gardner, a psychologist focusing on habit research at Kings College London, habit works by generating an impulse to do a behavior with little or no conscious thought. Habits are simply how the brain learns to do things without deliberat ion. These impulses can be put to good use, but only certain behaviors can become habits.Building a habit is relatively simple - just harness the impulse. For new habits to take hold, provide a clear trigger, make the behavior easy to do, and ensure it occurs frequently. For example, by completely removing unhealthy food from my home and eating the same thing every morning, my diet became a healthy habit. I extracted the decision making process out of what I eat at home.However, if the behavior requires a high degree of intentionality, effort, or deliberation, it is not a habit. Although proponents of habits tout them as miracle cures for doing things wed rather not do, Im sorry to say thats snake oil. All sorts of tasks arent habits and never will be. By definition, doing things that are effortful arent habits.Unfortunately, this means behaviors that require hard work and deliberate practice arent good candidates for habit-formation. For example, although I make time for it every day, writing is not a habit. Writing is hard work. If I waited for an impulse to write, Id never do it. To get better at writing requires concentration and directed effort to make sense of the words as they go from the research to my head and then to the screen. Similarly, lifting weights isnt a habit because getting stronger requires working harder.So if these type of behaviors arent habits, what are they? Theyre know-hows. A routine is a series of behaviors regularly practiced. Routines dont care if you feel an urge or not, they just need to get done. When I finally realized I would never succeed at making going to the gym a habit, I began looking for how to establish a routine instead.Now lets get back to the meat of this technique, goal setting.Burn or burn The ultimate goal-setting hackA word of warning. Before I share one technique I used to finally get myself to go to the gym regularly, I need to share a few disclaimers.First, this technique, as effective as it is, can be da ngerous. It is a very good way to get you to do a routine but provides no safeguards against doing the wrong thing again and again. Goal setting will hurt you if you set the wrong goals. If youre doing something counterproductive, this technique will only get you to do more of it. For example, doing tons of sit-ups wont help you (and may actually hurt you) if youre also drinking sugary sodas every day.Second, this method is not good for getting other people to do things. This is for personal use only so dont try and force it on people who have to do what you tell them, like employees or your kids.Finally, this isnt the only method you can use and admittedly this is a rather brute force strain of behavior change. If learning to love a behavior is an option, I recommend trying a different technique. For example, Ive written about finding your MEA your Minimum Enjoyable Action. The MEA method is great for simple behaviors you enjoy doing. I learned to love running because I always enj oyed going on walks. Finding my MEA proved very effective at slowly improving my stamina until running replaced walking as an enjoyable pastime.However, there are certain things we just dont like doing, but we must do anyway. These behaviors require diligence, grit, hard work and consistency. This is where what I call the burn or burn technique comes in.How it worksPick your routine. For me, my routine was hitting the gym.Book your time. Make time in your schedule for the routine. If you dont reserve the time as you would booking an appointment or important meeting, the routine wont happen.Find a crisp $100 bill. Other denominations will work too but it has to be an amount youd hate to lose.Find a lighter.Buy a wall calendar and place it somewhere youll see every day. My calendar is in my closet and its the first thing I see when I get dressed in the morning.Tape the $100 bill to todays date in the calendar and place the lighter somewhere visible near the wall calendar.Now you have a choice to make. Everyday, when the time comes to do your routine, you can chose either option A and do the routine, which in my case was to feel the burn in the gym, or option B and literally burn your money. You cant give the money to someone or buy something with it, you have to set it aflame.Yes, I know its technically illegal to destroy government tender but the reason this technique works is that you should never have to actually burn the money. Instead, the threat of watching your money go up in smoke makes this technique work. Ive been on burn or burn for six months now and I havent burned a bill yet. (UPDATE Im going on 17 months now and still havent burned the bill.)Why it worksAs radical as burn or burn sounds, theres good science to support why its so effective. For one, its no surprise we hate losing money. But why not pay yourself for doing the routine instead of taking money away? Social scientists tell us humans feel the psychological pain of loss twice as powerfull y as the satisfaction of a gain - a phenomenon known as loss aversion.Furthermore, people are notoriously awful at predicting their future actions. Sure, Ill go to the gym tomorrow, Id say, but when tomorrow came, Id find an excuse. The theory of hyperbolic discounting helps explain why what we say we will do in the future is not what we do when the time comes to actually do it. We are present-biased, meaning we fail to properly value benefits we wont realize for some time. These psychological tendencies conspire to keep us from doing the things we know we should.The burn or burn technique works by binding us to a financially painful contract so we cant weasel out of it when the task needs to get done. In fact, a similar technique was shown to be amazingly effective at helping smokers kick their addiction to cigarettes. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that when smokers were asked to risk their own money, they were much more likely to quit.Unfortun ately, the researchers in the smoking study found that very few smokers would agree to risk their money. Perhaps these test subjects knew that if they wagered their own cash, theyd have to actually stop smoking, something they likely did not want to do.I too struggled with starting burn or burn because I knew it meant Id have to actually do the uncomfortable work. Then, I finally realized how ridiculous this line of thinking was. Why would I resist a goal setting technique that virtually guaranteed I would accomplish my goal?If I wasnt ready to commit, then I should forget the goal altogether. But if I really wanted it, I should gladly put money on the line to make sure Id do the heavy lifting. After several weeks of difficult deliberation, I finally made my decision. I nailed the calendar to my wall, taped my money to the date, and put my lighter on the shelf where it still sits today and every day.Nirs Note This article on goal setting was originally published in early 2016 but go t such a great reader response that I decided to expand and update it along with adding the video above. Let me know what you think in the comments.This column first appeared on Nir Far.

Youre Underqualified So What

Youre Underqualified So WhatYoure Underqualified - So WhatJob advertisements can be intimidating - especially if youve found one you really want, but feel like your current experience makes you underqualified. But that doesnt mean you shouldnt apply.Applying for a job youre underqualified for - and even getting that job - can have a lot of benefits. When working a job that might binnenseem out of your league, you can break the boredom you once had at a more comfortable job, while giving yourself new challenges and opportunities to advance your career.So what if youre underqualified? Below, weve outlined how you can write your resume to align to your dream jobs description, how to nail the interview (and post-interview), and how to set yourself up for success when you land the position.How to Amp Up Your ResumeExamine the order of qualifications in the job listing. Usually, the most important ones are first. Focus on your skills and qualifications as they relate to the job listin gs first several qualifications.If you lack some of those, try to bridge the gap between those requirements and other experiences you may have that are totenleise related. If you still dont have transferrable skills, determine if any of the qualifications are something you can start working on now, like knowing the ins-and-outs of spreadsheets or a software program.Secondly, determine your experience - whether its from school, volunteer work, an internship or other unpaid work. A potential employer usually will not consider your experience invalid just because it was unpaid. If anything, it may speak to your character that youre passionate enough about your work to do it without pay.You can also consider a chrono-functional resume. If you have skills and qualifications that are more important than your job history, a chrono-functional resume will highlight those skills and experiences over your employment history. This will allow your qualifications to be highlighted instead of bur ied by unrelated work.How to Nail the InterviewWhats the first step to nailing the interview? Thorough preparation.First, research the industry. Are there certain words youre unfamiliar with, programs you havent heard of, or general information you may not know? Conducting as much pre-interview research as you can will go a long way when youre underqualified for the job. If you can show that youre in the know, the job could easily be within your reach regardless of any underqualifications.When interviewing for a job youre underqualified for, figure out what makes you unique. What do you bring to the table that may be beneficial to the company and will make you stand out among other applicants? Determine what those additive skills are.Do you have any personal contacts who could be beneficial to the company? Or, do you have a certain skill set that the company hasnt considered but would benefit from? Discuss those additional skills that could potentially outweigh qualifications you do nt have.Also come prepared with a portfolio. If an interviewer isnt totally convinced that youre qualified, letting them actually see your work can put you in a different light and show that you hold the necessary abilities to do the job.Learn about preparing questions to ask during an interview How to Stay Relevant Post-InterviewNow, its the waiting game. Even hours after an interview, its hard not to sit by the phone or computer waiting for that call or email even though you know it could be weeks before you hear back.So, the next most important part of this job process - especially if youre underqualified - is to stay relevant and top-of-mind to the hiring manager.Within 24 hours of the interview, email a thank-you note to your interviewers. This will put you in a positive light, but remember to keep it modest. You can also send a handwritten note, between one to three days after the interview or the follow-up email, if you send one.Lastly, continue your research. If youre call ed in for a second interview, youll be able to show that youre still passionate about the job when coming in with more information than before. Additional research will also allow you to ask more questions you may not have thought to ask during the first interview.How to Be Successful at Your New JobThe first few days (and even weeks) at a new job are always the hardest, especially if its full of tasks and knowledge that seem a bit over your head. But dont fret just yet.If you were hired for a job you first thought you were underqualified for, remember that you were hired for a reason. Many companies go through a rigorous hiring process before deciding on one person - and you are that person.Also remember to be confident, as self-doubt can do a number on your performance in the workplace and can be potentially visible to supervisors and lead to negative consequences. Take that feeling of being underqualified and channel it in a positive manner like pushing yourself to be in uncomfo rtable settings, learning new things, or asking new coworkers questions. Online courses, mentors and additional research can also help you gain confidence in new, uncomfortable work environments.Build an Impressive ResumeWith the right resume, you can elevate yourself to the top of the resume pile, even if you are underqualified.Create a resume that will land you at the top of the pile - and get you the job