By Fan Wang
Murphy News Service
Having 15 internships might seem impossible for most college students.
But not to Lauren Berger.
Berger, a communications major at the University of Central Florida, spoke March on the University of Minnesota campus about how she has become the “Intern Queen” and CEO of Intern Queen Inc., a website that helps college students locate internship opportunities.
During her freshman year, the Clearwater, Fla. native was asked by her “annoying” mother to get an internship, while others in their first year of college were caring about dating, parties and football games.
Berger went to the career center as a freshman to land an internship to avoid her mom’s persistent phone calls. But she got a big “NO” from staff career center and was told that she could not get internships until her senior year.
But that didn’t stop Berger, who started searching for internships online.
“I Googled ‘internships in Tallahassee, Florida’, and I called the first company I saw popped up.” Berger, 29, said.
She said she had always been told in school that “You never cold call,” which she was told could be the worst thing to do. But Berger said she is a rule breaker – so she cold called that first Google popup and she was asked to send her resume that day.
She quickly got an interview and soon was hired to be an intern for The Zimmerman Agency, a Florida-based public relations company.
And with that, Berger’s path to 15 internships during four years of college had begun.
“So, I learned very early on that you do not take a ‘NO’ for answer.” Berger said, “And when someone gives you a ‘NO’, you go and find that ‘YES.’
“And put yourself out there, you take initiative,” she said. “And you tell people what you want to do.”
Berger’s other secret tip becoming an “intern queen” is to stay in touch with the professional contacts three times per year, which also helped Berger to get her first real job after her 15 college internships.
“I keep in touch with them just to say ‘Hello’ with my professional contacts. So, when I moved from Florida to Los Angeles, they all know I was gonna be calling them, cuz I was gonna need a job.” Berger said.
And her persistence, follow-up skills and tenacity helped Berger in 2006 to land that first real job was at Creative Artist Agency, the world largest talent representative. A, Creative Artist Agency. Berger said she was ordering a burger at McDonald’s when she learned about that first job while networking on the phone with a professional contact.
She made fun of herself saying getting a job after college was as easy as ordering a hamburger, but, jokes aside, it is not that easy and jobs just don’t happen by coincidence, she said.
“I was not connected,” Berger said. “My family didn’t know people. I built contacts at my internships over the years. And I stayed in touch with them.”
Berger left CAA in 2008 and in 2009 she started her own business with $5,000 dollars in her pocket. She wanted to take advantage of the experience gained through those 15 internships and to help inspire students to get internships of their own.
Berger created her website, internqueen.com, where students can look for internships and other resources.
Business is going well, Berger said, adding she is working to develop collaborations with large corporations such the one internqueen.com has with Ford Motor Co., in which her company serves as “campus ambassadors” between Ford and its products.
Berger also wrote a book about her many unpaid college internships named “All Work, No Pay,” a guide for students who are still considering their paths.
Students will probably ignore the unpaid internships, but Berger said her unpaid internships were beneficial to her career.
Berger said she would go back to do all of the unpaid internships again in an interview with the former YouTube channel “Pop Trigger.” She told the channel, “I was obsessed with interning,” she said during her “Pop Trigger” video interview, underscoring how her internships are paying dividends for her now.
And to naysayers, Berger tells them: “If I can do it, you can do it.”
Fan Wang is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.