photos c/o Deeana Kourtney Photography
Fashion was never the industry I thought I’d end up in. Dreams about an internship at Vogue or Louis Vuitton were never on my radar. I was a pre-med major in undergrad and I’m surrounded by family members in the medical field. However, towards the end of my college experience, I turned to business. I started my blog as a creative outlet to offset the stress of organic chemistry classes and I’m so glad I did! When I realized you could make a career out of writing about things you love, I started to take monetization more seriously. Freelancing is hardly a stable path though, especially after just graduating from school. With plans to finish up my Master’s in Business Administration from Clemson this year, I’ve always planned to have a corporate job in addition to the income that fashion blogging provides.
The passion for entrepreneurship and marketing was always there. I helped both of my parents with their private practices growing up and regularly developed their ad campaigns. I realized I enjoyed that way more than science. But if I really wanted to work for a larger corporation one day, I needed to be taken seriously with experience. The best way to get a full-time job in the tech industry is interning or co-oping with the firm. For a couple of weeks, I submitted applications to the heavy hitters like Google, Facebook, and more when I was approached by a recruiter on LinkedIn to apply for Intel. 3 interviews later, I accepted the global marketing and communications position at the Fortune 500 tech company and moved to San Francisco in the summer of 2018.
How do you stand out in a sea of applications for a $200 billion company? The tech industry shows no signs of slowing down. With Uber, Pinterest, Lyft, and Airbnb all positioning themselves to go public this year, there won’t be a shortage of hungry interns ready to get their foot in the door. I remember my interviews specifically asking me more about my blogging experiences than my academic background (which I was very thankful for). Here are just a few ways a blog can help you land that internship:
The amount of time it takes to consistently create content, engage with an audience, and run the backend of a website is not lost on employers. They have to figure out how to do that every single day. Hiring someone who already has that kind of experience is valuable. Being a part of an organization versus taking the initiative to create one speaks volumes of your commitment and leadership skills.
Search engine optimization is a key contributing factor in the success of a brand online. For example, if someone is searching for CPU’s (Intel’s largest product by volume) but their competitor comes up first in results, they lose sales. Fashion blogging is no different. As bloggers, we’re fighting in a very saturated market to be seen by consumers every day. Each blog post is carefully edited for clarity, helpfulness, and optimized for better rankings on Google.
Have you laughed at a brand’s response to a follower lately? Or seen Wendy’s classic clapbacks on Twitter? That’s the result of an employee who takes the time to observe the media landscape. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Keeping up with every meme, hashtag, and trend is exhausting but can be super beneficial from the brand perspective. Bloggers are already on our phones 24/7. Creating the content that resonates with our audiences while also being culturally relevant can exponentially grow your business no matter what the size.
This is a no brainer. Even with the shift of bloggers being more present on social media than actual websites, decent writing skills are a MUST. I don’t care if you’re in medicine, tech, fashion, or art. The ability to carefully craft words into coherent sentences is a hotter commodity than you’d think.
This goes way past LinkedIn. We know how important connections are to landing a job! This isn’t the first time my blog has helped me in my career. 2 years ago I packed up my bags after graduating from Auburn. Wide-eyed and determined, I moved to New York City to work for one of the most exciting firms in digital media, INSIDER, Inc. The first day of my internship I ran into a fellow style blogger (who I knew previously) that started the same month! It was comforting to automatically have a familiar face on the first day. Now, I’m connected to bloggers at each of the big tv networks, tech companies, fashion and beauty houses. There is NO such thing as too many connections so get going!
A resume and cover letter can only do so much. Think how much more a potential employer can get to know you by the quality of the work you’re putting out there consistently for a well-served audience. Fitting into a work environment is just as important as the skills you’re providing. If your future boss thinks you’d make a good fit in their work culture, your chances of being hired skyrocket.
I know you’re probably wondering… But did you get a full-time offer?! Each job experience (paid or unpaid) has provided me with loads of invaluable experience. After a summer full of hard work, I was offered a full-time position to work for Intel in San Francisco. The tips I shared about how to convert your internship into a full-time gig definitely helped me. Not bad for a girl with a fashion blog.
Do you want to be a software engineer? Start a blog about how you like to build PCs from scratch. If you hope to get into a medical school share your stories as you work with clinics in your area or your passion for medicine. Your digital footprint is already out there for potential employers to see. You might as well make it work for you and not against you. Don’t put down the next fashion blogger you see. They might just become your boss one day.
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