We have an excellent paid opportunity for the right candidate to work in the business development department of Business Insider. This person will work on Business Insider's content partnerships, email products, subscription products, analytics, and more to keep the audience and revenue growing at a lightning-quick pace. This is not a "make coffee and copies" kind of internship. 

Candidates should be extremely organized and detail-oriented. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must. Excel mastery is critical. A penchant for numbers is required and light HTML skills a plus. The position is full-time so current students are not eligible (check back with us in the spring for summer opportunities). 

You'll love it here if you are a person who thrives in a startup environment, is self-driven, a quick-learner, and plays well with others. The position is located in our offices in Manhattan's Flatiron District, aka Silicon Alley.

Please contact bdjobs@businessinsider.com to apply. Thanks in advance.

SEE ALSO: Business Insider Secrets Revealed!

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Apple is almost as well-known for its secretive company culture as it is for its wildly popular products.

So, naturally, we were pretty stoked when we found a Quora thread being used by former Apple interns to spill about their experience at the company. 

We've edited some of the standout comments into this excerpt.

Unsurprisingly, Apple interns aren't fetching coffee:

"You get put on a real project, with real responsibilities, and have real impact on product outcomes. You interact with movers and shakers in the company on a fairly frequent basis, and your opinion is valued as if you were an employee."

Besides the legit work experience and the hefty paycheck, Apple interns also enjoy some other perks:

"There were frequent intern trips in to San Francisco, nightly volleyball games at 1 Infinite Loop, outings to various Cupertino restaurants, etc. Even though you're treated almost as a full employee in terms of responsibilities, Apple does a great job of giving interns cool events such as the Executive Speaker Series (intern only talks by Apple's leadership team, including Jobs himself), Intern Field Trips to San Francisco, and iContest, which is an intern ideas contest, judged by Apple execs, with amazing prizes (I won a 1Tb Time Capsule, and a $500 bonus when a patent was filed on my team's idea)."

Apple also offers interns cheap housing:

"Apple offer you a great housing opportunity a few blocks from the main campus for a small price. Those houses are great, fully equipped and they include full access to a pool, tennis court, beach volley ball court and a gym. Apple even lends you a bike for the whole internship.The greatest thing with housing is that you are not alone, you share it with three others interns from all around the world. It is a great way to learn and mix with other cultures." 

"It is actually really cool to see inside the sausage factory. In my case, I was able to watch Snow Leopard come together – from the early stages where it looked just like Leopard and was unstable and broken, until just before it went gold. The mere fact that I knew the codename "Snow Leopard" months before it became publicly known felt kinda cool."

But, of course, this IS Apple:

"It was super cool to get to be intimately involved in products before they came out, and to see the gritty details of past products, even some that never made it to market. But it should be noted that this only applies within your immediate department, as everything outside of your department is on a need-to-know basis."

As an Apple intern, you're surrounded by smart people:

"Apple is home to world-class experts on a lot of subjects. I learned a huge amount of stuff just by being around my teams, especially the Server Performance team. Apple is solely responsible for an entire technology ecosystem, and you can talk to and learn from the people who built that ecosystem. Say you're wondering how dynamic linking on OS X works. Well, you can talk to the guy who wrote the dynamic linker, and he can tell you stuff that nobody else knows."

The huge company has many different departments, though, so the intern experience depends heavily on which team you're part of:

Owen Yamuachi worked on OS X Server Performance and then OS X Server Experience:

"Of my two projects, one didn't have any tangible results (I was basically running some benchmarks on a file system, thus producing numbers to confirm something that the team already knew) and the other one, although I finished it to everyone's satisfaction, will never see the light of day due to external factors.

The Server Performance team consisted entirely of middle-aged guys. I don't have anything against middle-aged guys, but it meant that I basically never socialized with my team outside the office–they generally worked 9 to 5 and then went home to their families."

Yamuachi also disclosed that not every intern gets to work on Apple's Infinite Loop campus:

"My team was located in a distant building on Vallco Parkway, a couple of miles away from the main campus at Infinite Loop. This meant that I was physically separate from most of the other interns, and also there was no cafe in that building. The building itself was also not very pleasant–it consisted mainly of dark, narrow hallways with absurdly high ceilings for some reason, and private offices for everyone. Having my own (needlessly huge) office meant that I could literally go an entire day without talking to anyone else. This has upsides (I had the longest periods of intense concentration I've ever had in my life) and downsides (it got quite lonely).

On the bright side, Apple makes its internship program very accessible for international interns:

"Apple helps you all the way and requests on your behalf the services of an association which will draft all the needed paperwork (and there is a lot). Apple will also vouch for you to the US Customs.

I understand English pretty well, writing/speaking it is another matter. Whether it was at work or with the other interns outside of work, people have always been very patient and nice to me."

A good sum-up of the Apple internship experience?

"All in all I think most interns go away from  the summer with a good sense for the Apple culture and probably a good story or two."

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If you can land an internship at one of Silicon Valley's major tech companies, you're likely going to have an awesome experience doing innovative work while making a great salary.

The perks aren't too bad either.

We recently found a Quora thread detailing firsthand some of the coolest intern perks in tech. We've pulled out some of our favorites below from three of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley and one nearby powerhouse.

Here's what you'll get along with an amazing internship opportunity:

Google intern Debarghya Das says the company hooks them up with free luxury housing, and the office campus itself also has a ton of fun things to do: 

"Google gives us free, and in my opinion, luxury housing. Although we share an apartment we three others, it's equipped with a nice TV, a patio, a kitchen with a dishwasher, 2 baths, a washer and dryer, and biweekly cleaning. We also have access to a 24-hour gym, a hot tub, a swimming pool, a games room, and a park."

"Everyone is less than 100 feet away from a microkitchen, stuffed with all sorts of snacks, fruits and drinks. They also come with a automatic coffee machine and an espresso machine. If there's something you want in your microkitchen, it can be asked for."

"Chess tables, board games, pool tables, table tennis tables and swimming pools can be found frequently around campus. You're encouraged to use them, during work."

Facebook intern Ryan Landay emphasizes the importance of being free to choose your own hardware and inclusive company organized events that you can use to show off for your friends:

"You can choose between an iPhone and an Android phone."

"Foxes on campus (and the ability to participate in endless debates over whether they’re becoming too domesticated from eating tater tots)."

"Events to bring friends to like the Facebook Intern Carnival with a zip line and the Facebook Summer Party with a petting zoo."

Dropbox intern Bogdan Cristian Tătăroiu loved the company's in-office music room and restuarant-grade grub:

"Giant music room with everything from grand piano to electric guitars and drumset."

"The Tuckshop (our in-house restaurant) literally makes better food than I find in most restaurants I eat in over the weekend in SF."

"The major event that stood out to me this summer was Parent's Weekend, where they flew out all intern parents down to their San Francisco office, housed them for 2 nights, organised a bunch of talks explaining Dropbox to them, where we stand now, our future products, our vision etc. and basically helped them understand why all of us working here are so excited about what we're doing."

Microsoft intern John Stevans says the company takes advantage of its Seattle location with exclusive intern-only concerts and awesome local food:

"Each year, Signature Week is culminated by the Signature Event, the details of which are kept a secret until the very last moment. Interns are herded onto buses and taken to some mystery location. This year, we arrived at an interns-only concert at Boeing Headquarters ... The concert was opened by Macklemore (who is, not coincidentally, a Seattle native) and finished by Deadmau5 — and each intern walked away with a 256GB Surface Pro."

"Most interns got an office to themselves, and the rest shared an office. Some interns ended up working in shared spaces with their entire team because of some big pushes, but even those interns had an office assigned to them. No setup that I saw had less than two monitors, devs had two computers, and as I understand it you could ask for whatever else you needed."

"The cafeteria hosts local restaurants that change each day. The pizza place was a permanent fixture, and I honestly think I miss it as much as the work."

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If you've ever had an internship, or seen "The Devil Wears Prada", you know that sometimes working as an apprentice means fetching coffee, making copies, and doing the busy work no other salaried employee feels like doing. 

This is supposed to teach you what it's like to work in the "real world," and sometimes, you walk away with the skills and contacts to help you get ahead when it's time to catapult yourself into corporate America.

Other times, you don't.

At big tech companies like Google, internships are highly sought after positions, so we were dying to find out: what is interning at Google really like?

We checked out this thread on Quora, where former interns talked about their experiences at Google.

This is what we learned:

It's kind of like college.

Devin Finzer, part of the Google Internship class of 2011, wrote on Quora that the collaborative environment was not all that unlike his experience in his college classes. 

"It's really low-stress," he writes (though he notes other interns may not have shared this same sentiment) "and you get to learn about all aspects of the Google business."

Molly Long was an intern in Seattle this year and wrote on Quora that the Google environment made it really easy to meet other interns, get to know them, and work together.

"There are, quite literally, no secrets."

"The open office also mirrors how open the company is internally," Long wrote on Quora. "There are quite literally, no secrets. There’s [a meeting] every Thursday where Larry and Sergey, the founders, answer company-wide questions, broadcasted to the entire company. They present the new Google technologies so they can get feedback on it from everyone. For example, Google Glass, was presented at [the meeting], several months before it was announced public."

The interns aren't getting coffee.

Paul Baltescu was a two-time intern in 2010 and then again in 2011. He said he worked on tons of different projects, including Display Ads and Mobile Search, which helped him hone his computer engineering skills. 

Long says Google has the system down pat. First, you get a phone call from your host, who tells you a little bit about the area you're being assigned to so there are absolutely no surprises -- you can even choose to decline that project if it doesn't interest you!

"I think this process works out really well for the interns and the hosts," she writes, "and I think most of the interns that I’ve talked to really enjoy what they are working on (me included!)"

They have something to show for their work.

Baltescu has an easy time describing his internship to anyone who asks because he has visual proof of his labor. He worked on a Mobile Search project that helped revamp the Google search preferences page for high end phones. 

"You can check them out," he wrote on Quora, "by going into 'preferences'  on your phone."

It's all about the perks!

Across the board, it looked like everyone was thrilled with the perks that came along with being an intern for Google; the same perks full-time employees get.

Baltescu listed a few: "free food & refreshments, free gym membership, laundry, dancing lessons, etc."

There are also intern events: paintball, laser tag, watch a SF Giants game and all of the summer interns go on a luxury boat trip on the San Francisco Bay.

He and Long both wrote that they were able to travel to other Google campuses as well. 

It's not exactly like the movie.

"The Internship" which stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn came out this past summer, and showcases a fictional tale of two guys trying to score a coveted internship at Google.

Long says her internship experience wasn't exactly like Wilson and Vaughn's.

The perks (everything I described earlier), yes. The ruthless competitiveness towards each other, no. Rather, mos

t major tech companies encourage a collaborative environment. You're not trying to outsmart your friend working across from you or backstab them while they're taking a bathroom break. Case in point, I've helped my friends debug their problems and even point them to people that might help and I'd say most people are equally as friendly here :)

You're important, but you're definitely an intern (and don't you forget it).

Jesse Radin, a former Google intern, posted on Quora that the worst part is "the smug attitude of those who work for the REAL Google. They seem to think that anyone who isn't working for the actual Google like they are is somehow mentally and morally inferior."

Yes, you'll get paid.

The New York Post reported in June that Google interns are among the highest-paid interns anywhere, earning up to $20k for a three-month stint at the headquarters.

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A few months ago, a book about Amazon and its founder called 'The Everything Store' was released. Written by Businessweek's Brad Stone, the book talked about how Jeff Bezos morphed the book seller into a retail giant. That title is certainly accurate since Amazon can deliver anything to customers all over the world.

However, does Amazon have everything a prospective student would want in an internship? We found a discussion thread on Quora where current and past interns dished on what it was like working at the company.

Responses were generally mixed but alot of the participants in the discussion chose to keep themselves anonymous.These are some of the best comments that you need to read

Projects Will Actually Have A Purpose

Unfortunately, many internships force students to do menial tasks like get coffee or pick up dry cleaning. Fortunately, that's not the case when interning for Amazon. According to current intern JJ Liu, the projects that are assigned actually have a purpose for your resume. Here's what he had to say:

"The intern projects at Amazon tend to be of fairly high quality and significance. This is a great facet of Amazon internships, and something that many people here highlight as a unique plus. I remember my interviewer stressing that interns complete meaningful work, and after coming here, I definitely see the truth in his words. In addition to my manager and mentor discussing options for my project, the entire team weighed in and contributed their thoughts on the relevance/usability/difficulty of the suggestions. They even explicitly considered how significant each possibility would be for full-timers, using tangible impact as a factor to weed out less significant contenders. In talking with other interns, this careful deliberation process is common and results in meaningful projects for most interns, which feels exciting. So if you are concerned about the significance of what you work on at an internship, Amazon does a good job in that area."

There Won't Be Many Social Events For Interns But That's Not Bad

JJ Liu admitted that there could have been more bonding events for interns to take advantage of everything Seattle had to offer but the relaxed company culture made up for that.

"In my experience, Amazon working culture is quite casual and easygoing. But this doesn't mean people don't work hard; some work 12 hour days regularly, and people are almost always very busy with many tasks to do. In general, however, they still find time to relax and have a good time. I had to switch teams during my internship, but both have their own ways of having fun, such as some form of social "hangout" event on Friday afternoons. The people are very talented, as well. The specific dynamics of each team can vary; for example, my first team members often socialized outside of work, but that doesn't seem to be the case with my second team. My second team, however, has random Nerf gun fights, which didn't happen in my previous team. However, one cross-team constant seems to be the presence of foosball tables in all of the break rooms and the ongoing foosball games. Oh, and on my new floor, people also bring their dogs in :)"

You'll Need To Promote Yourself As Much As Possible

While most of these commenters agreed that this was a great place to build your work portfolio, they also advise incoming applicants to be prepared to sell themselves as much as possible. One anonymous participant wrote that it was "too structured" working there.

"My mentor spent only 5 hours with me over 12 weeks, even though I asked for his help on some very Amazon-specific stuff, and many occasions. My manager felt I was given enough help and support, and I clearly was not, which came as a surprise to me."

That same post still recommended the internship for interested students.

"I think I got a chance to learn a lot here. The scale that Amazon works at is just amazing, especially for someone who is studying and has very little industry experience."

Be Prepared To Have Thick Skin

Another anonymous commenter divulged that you'll need to have some thick skin to handle your tenure there.

"My experience had been horrible. A nightmare in short.If you want your internship to not to suck as mine.

Please follow some pointers:

1. Be eternally perky.

2.Advertise yourself shamelessly.

3.Managers don't give a damn about you.All they care is you are delivering some thing or not.

4.Get yourself mentally prepared for some de-motivational speeches.

5.Don't get dejected by the code monkey projects they give you."

Conclusion

Amazon sounds like it will challenge students and will give them fulfilling work to do. Although the corporate culture could challenge some applicants, it would be an excellent company to have on your resume. A challenging internship will be perfect for preparing students for the real world. However, the Amazon internship sounds like it would be suited for aspiring web designers. The thread never explained how you could apply for one of these jobs but you should check the company website frequently.

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I saw a lot of interns come and go during my time at the Brothers Lehman. Some were good, some were bad, but honestly, I can’t remember any of them. You know why? Because I had other s*** to do than to deal with stupid interns.

I was running a giant trading desk with a multi-billion dollar book, and I was spending most of my time plugging holes, trying not to lose money to customers or to sales guys or to errors.

When I wasn’t fixing other people’s f***-ups, I was drinking in a bar or drinking at home. I had very little energy to sit around at teach the futures basis to some kid.

So the first thing you will learn as an intern is that Wall Street folks are primarily self-interested and they don’t really care what you do as long as you stay out of the way. Some of them will even give you a “project” whose sole purpose is to keep you out of the way. Beware the “project.”

Nobody really cares whether you do a good job on the project or not. If you sit in a corner working on a project all summer, chances are that when the HR people come around to ask if you should be hired full-time, even if they remember your name, they won’t have an opinion about you.

But the alternative, sitting right next to someone at the desk all day and constantly asking questions for six weeks is a bad idea, too. Unless you are an excellent conversationalist, and you actually know something about the markets (you don’t), this is going to get old fast. So being an intern is all about a good mix of being visible and invisible, and being visible and invisible at the right times.

But here is the key point: although most financial folks are cranky and insufferable, the one thing they do have in common is that they have a passion for what they do, otherwise they wouldn’t be sitting there doing this stressful job for progressively less pay while being called a**holes on a daily basis by the financial press. As I’ve traveled around, nobody loves their job more than traders and bankers, even though you’ll never hear a rah-rah speech about it.

So, as an intern, if you know enough to ask the right question, that shows that you are informed about what is going on and that you care about the industry, too, then you’ll get me talking and we’ll have a nice conversation. And maybe I will remember your name.

Read the rest of the post at Wall Street Oasis >

dailydirtnap.com, author of Street Freak Twitter: @dailydirtnap

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We have an excellent paid summer opportunity for the right candidate to work with the Business Development team at Business Insider. This is not a "make coffee and copies" kind of internship. This person will gain exposure to Business Insider's content partnerships, email products, international partnerships, analytics, and contribute to audience and revenue growth. 

Candidates should be extremely organized and detail-oriented. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a must and strong Excel and light HTML skills are a plus. A penchant for numbers is required. 

You'll love it here if you are a person who thrives in a startup environment, is self-driven, a quick-learner, and plays well with others. The position is located in our offices in Manhattan's Flatiron District.

Please send resumes bdjobs@businessinsider.com to apply. Thanks in advance.

SEE ALSO: Business Insider Secrets Revealed!

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For a lot of us, graduating from college was the easy part — it was finding a job afterward that made us wish we could start freshman year all over again. If you're like me, you weren't given a trust fund or poached by recruiters. So searching the web for hours on end, connecting onLinkedIn, and completing countless applications became my daily routine. Even with four internships under my belt, I had no idea just how competitive the job market was. I realized that the best way to get my foot in the door was to expand my search for internships (that would accept recent graduates). I found an open editorial internship position here at POPSUGAR and decided to go for it. Although the internship was only supposed to last three months, from day one, I knew I wanted to turn it into a full-time job. With hard work and a little luck, I was offered a full-time position! Although there's no magic formula, here are 10 ways I turned my internship into a job (and you can too!):

1. Make friends: It's tough to be new in the office, especially if you're an intern. That's why it's so important to put yourself out there and get to know your co-workers. I remember taking an extra trip to the water cooler or bathroom. I also worked communal areas to meet as many people as possible. Here are some conversation starters! I also mingled with new co-workers company events. Go to happy hours, game nights, and other office get-togethers to show your fun side.
2. Be professional: Just because I was one of the youngest in the office didn't mean I wanted to act or be treated that way. I made sure I stayed professional and mature. You can still crack jokes and have fun; just avoid talking about getting drunk with your friends every weekend. If your co-workers view you as responsible, then they will trust you with more projects.
3. Ask the right questions: After I received an assignment, I wasn't afraid to ask for clarification if the directions were unclear. However, before I asked, I made sure the answer wasn't obvious or could be found in our office training manual. You don't want them to regret giving you the project when they could have done it themselves in the first place.
4. Go above and beyond: Although this might seem like a given, you should always do more than what is expected of you. I tried to prove to everyone that I was hungry to learn more, take on extra work, and get the most out of my experience. If you find yourself checking Facebook in your downtime, then think about how you can better utilize your time.
5. Work with everyone: Work with people other than your direct supervisors or other interns. I tried to support as many people in the office as I could. If your managers are thinking about hiring you full-time, they will probably ask around the office to get feedback from other employees. This is where interacting with different people in the office worked in my favor — they vouched for my hard work.
6. Assess the office culture: Every company has a unique office culture. Figure out the culture, and try your best to assimilate. If your colleagues are quiet and work long hours, you shouldn't play your music out loud and leave early every day. If you find yourself unhappy with the office culture, don't force it. The company is probably the wrong fit in that case, and you should pursue other options.
7. Ask for feedback: After about a month into your internship, ask for feedback about your performance. Being open to advice on how to improve, showed I was able to take constructive criticism and that I genuinely want to grow professionally. I wanted to prove to my manager that I was invested in the company's overall success as well as my own.
8. Express your goals: After you ask for feedback, you should also be upfront about your goals at the company. If you express early on that you wish to be hired full-time, then your managers will have you in the back of their heads when a position opens up.
9. Figure out timing: Timing is everything. Luckily, the timing worked out perfectly for me! Keep an eye out to see if any full-time positions might open up. If there are not any spots available, then make sure to leave on good terms. When a position does open up at the company, your manager will most likely want to hire you instead of someone she's never worked with before.
10. Stay flexible: If you love the company and a position opens up, jump on the opportunity! Even if the job description is not what you pictured for yourself, you should be open to all possibilities. And who knows? The position could be something you really enjoy. I never pictured myself in my current role but I've learned so much and really love it!

Even though this postgrad uncertainty can be stressful, try to remind yourself that everything will work out. And if you don't get hired, it's not the end of the world. There are other opportunities that might be even better than you could have imagined. So take a deep breath, and embrace the journey.

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SEE ALSO: 5 Ways To Inspire New Interns

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It's intern season. 

Each summer, students make a pilgrimage to an office and learn what it's like to be a part of a team, have work that has real, live consequences, and sometimes, do a lot of filing. 

SEE ALSO: The Top 10 Intern Mistakes

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It's intern season again. That means thousands of ambitious college students and recent grads are about to embark on an eight-week journey in which they'll gain invaluable experience.

Not only will each intern get their foot in the door — but they’ll also have the opportunity to hone their skills, build their resumes, network with professionals, and increase their chances of landing a full-time position. 

"This internship may be the start of a long-standing career in the industry," says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, and author of "Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad." "So you'll want to use this opportunity as a way to start developing yourself as a professional who delivers quality work with a great attitude. In turn this could lead to recommendations, lasting business relationships, and a full-time job."

To make the most of their experiences and stand out from the crowd, interns should always do these 15 things:

1. Do your homework before your first day. You most likely researched the company while preparing for the interview. Even so, the night before your start date you should refresh your memory and do some additional research on the organization's history and culture, says Kerry Schofield, a psychologist and chief psychometrics officer at Good.Co, a professional assessment and self-improvement platform.

"By being prepared, you will feel more confident going into the internship," Kahn adds. "Start your first day with a general understanding of the industry, its buzzwords, the company, and your boss. This will make you sound more knowledgeable and confident." You can also setup a Google alert for the company to track any recent press, he says.

2. Dress for success. "You've heard, 'Dress for the position you want, not the one you have,' a million times," Kahn says. "Find out from the hiring manager what the office environment is like, and take it from there." It is better to be known as the best dressed intern, than to be known as the one who is too casual.

"In general, dressing and acting professionally not only gives a good impression and makes it clear that you're willing to make an effort, it can be psychologically beneficial," Schofield explains. Research has shown that the way people dress affects not only the way others see them, but also how they see themselves, including how they think and feel about their own abilities and the work they're doing. "'Dressing for success' really does work."

3. Treat the internship like a real job. If you want the employer to take you seriously, you need to take the job seriously. "To get the most of an internship, regardless of the pay, interns should treat their internship like they would any job," Schofield says.

You need to remember that your work will have an impact on the organization. "You're learning in an active, real-world environment, so your contributions (and your mistakes) affect other people."

4. Have a "just in case" outfit in your desk drawer. Always have a tie or pair of heels at your desk because you never know when you need to make a last minute outfit change for a meeting or work event, says Morris Rishty, CEO of REAL Underwear. "This will also show your employer that you're well prepared for future situations."

5. Practice good time management. Interns have a lot on their plates, so it's important to be organized, be careful not to take on too much, and to let someone know if you can't complete a project by the deadline, Schofield says.

6. Socialize (with a filter). Since you're treating this position like a permanent job, you'll want to take the time to get to know your new colleagues. "It's great for interns to get to know one another — and their superiors — but be careful of the amount of personal information you share and how you behave while socializing," Rishty explains. "Your new colleagues and fellow interns may act like your friends, but it's always best to socialize with a filter just in case."

7. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions and step outside your comfort zone, Schofield says. This shows that you're willing to learn and have a genuine interest in the job and company.

8. Be flexible. People, and organizations, have different thinking and communication styles and various ways of doing things. "If you can learn to be adaptive, you'll broaden your opportunities considerably," Schofield says.

9. Network. Aside from socializing, you'll want to network with your new colleagues. "Take the opportunity to build as many quality relationships in your internship as possible," Kahn suggests. "The more colleagues know you and what your capable of, the more support you will have once it's time to turn your internship into a full-time job." 

10. Find a mentor. While it may seem intimidating, interns should ask their boss or someone they admire in the company out to lunch to learn about their experience at the company and ask for any words of wisdom. "This shows the intern isn't afraid to ask questions and is willing to learn from a senior person," Rishty says. Then, if you click with this person, ask if they'd be willing to take you on as their mentee. 

11. Take initiative, but accept guidance."Volunteer, within reason," Schofield says. Employers will be impressed if you're eager to help — but don't simply sign up for everything. "A few jobs done well is better than twice as many done badly, or not finished."

But also keep in mind that while enthusiasm and confidence are great, as an intern, you are ultimately there to learn from more experienced individuals. "Keep in close touch with supervisors and colleagues to be sure what you're doing each day is in line with the organization's priorities," Schofield adds.

12. Be respectful, but assertive."Interns should expect to both be taken out of their comfort zone and to do boring but necessary tasks with good grace," Schofield says. However, if you feel you're being taken advantage of, you must speak up.

13. Challenge yourself. Try to challenge yourself by doing something you have never done before, Kahn says. "Utilize your coworkers and bosses to learn and develop your industry skills. These skills will enrich your professional portfolio making you more appealing to future employers."

14. Keep tabs on your accomplishments. For the benefit of future job applications, immediately begin keeping track of specific facts and figures about your performance. "This will impress potential employers," Schofield says.

15. Ask for feedback. As an intern, you may not have a formal review until the end of the summer — so it's important to ask for feedback on a regular basis, Rishty says. "This shows the employer you're taking initiative and willing to make the changes necessary in order to succeed."

This feedback will also start uncovering your strengths and what you need to improve on, Kahn adds.

SEE ALSO: The 15 Best Internships In America

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It's intern season on Wall Street, and some of those on the inside (and outside) are taking to anonymous social media app Yik Yak to post about their experiences and to bash other firms. 

Similar to an anonymous Twitter, Yik Yak gained notoriety after being banned from high schools and middle schools for cyber bullying.

The app features different threads with topics ranging from Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom. You get the idea—it's popular with the younger kids.

There's also now a thread on Yik-Yak dubbed "The Interning Wolves of Wall Street", full of references to major banks, jokes and intern culture. Daily Intelligencer's Kevin Roose pointed out two days ago that NYU students have been using the app to make fun of Goldman Sachs interns. 

Since the app is anonymous and open to everyone, there's no actual way of knowing if these are coming from real Wall Street interns or not. Still, it's an amusing way for users to pass the time, poke fun at banking interns, and hate on rival firms.

Posts range from talking about work:

To play:

To taking shots at other investment banks (mainly Goldman Sachs):

On the chance that any Wall Street interns are actually using it to share thoughts or complaints, it's conveniently anonymous! Just remember to turn off your location, and post away. 

NOW WATCH: 10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your iPhone

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We recently laid out the 15 ways you can make the most of your internship. But, as it turns out, there are also some easy ways to blow it.

If you really want to make a good impression and ultimately land a full-time job, you'll want to avoid these 19 mistakes:

1. Forgetting the pre- and post-internship phases. Before your internship starts, ask questions, take tours, and generally get to know the organization you'll be part of, suggests Kerry Schofield, a psychologist and the chief psychometrics officer at professional assessment and self-improvement platform Good.Co. "After your internship, follow up with thank-you notes; update your resume; and stay in contact with people you met."

2. Getting frustrated or complaining about being bored. Most internships start slow and build up, says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, and author of "Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad." "Not all companies have a structured training program or welcome receptions for new interns — so be ready to roll up your sleeves and find opportunities to contribute."

3. Dismissing the small tasks. Know that some tasks are just a test, Kahn says. "Even if your first task isn't worthy of your talent or potential, jump right in and be enthusiastic. Remember every task builds upon the last, so if you do a mediocre job on the simple things, then there is no way your boss will help you step up to the big projects." You'll have to walk a bit before they let you run.

4. Ignoring instructions or advice. Even if you think your boss and colleagues are in the wrong, it's important to respect that they've been doing the job a lot longer and may know things you don't, Schofield says. "Not to say they're incapable of being wrong, but if you think that's the case, handle it diplomatically," she says. 

5. Sitting back and waiting. "One of the biggest mistakes I see interns make is that they sometimes don't take advantage of all the opportunities in front of them," Kahn says. "If you sit back waiting for something to happen, nothing will. You need to be proactive, by making the most of your internship to get the most out of it." 

He says you should volunteer to do something you think is needed. "Help a coworker, or ask for more responsibilities," he suggests. "And always show your willingness to put in the extra work."

6. Getting sloppy with email."A work email shouldn't be written like you are texting your best friend, but many interns tend to forget that," says Morris Rishty, CEO of REAL Underwear. As an intern, it's especially important that you always proofread your emails at least three times before hitting send. "A poorly written email can show the boss that you have little interest in the position and aren't taking the job seriously."

7. Asking questions without first trying to figure out the answers on their own. It's a given you'll have questions in your new role, but instead of bombarding your boss every 10 minutes, first take a moment to think about whether there's any way you can find the answers on your own. "After this, if there are still some questions you simply couldn't get answers for, create a list to bring in to your boss," Kahn says. "This will show your ability to problem solve and be sensitive of their time."

8. Underestimating how time-consuming certain projects may be."Be time-wise," Schofield suggests. "Don't take on more than you can handle."

As a rule, people underestimate how long a task is going to take, so when you're working out the timeline of a project, be generous in your time estimates, she says.

9. Taking criticism personally. Constructive criticism is all part of the learning process, and not everyone will be polite about it, Schofield explains. "Don't tolerate bullying or disrespect, but do grow a thick skin — that way you'll learn from your mistakes instead of repeating them."

10. Arriving late. Showing up late for work or to a meeting, shows you're not reliable and could leave a bad impression with your employer, Rishty explains.

11. Forgetting names. "It may be overwhelming initially — but this is one of the simple first steps to get someone to know and trust you," Kahn says. "Use a personal notepad to take notes on everyone you are meeting, this way you'll never forget their names." 

12. Dressing inappropriately. While some offices celebrate Summer Friday or Casual Friday, interns still need to dress professionally, especially if they're going to be interacting with clients and high-level staff, Rishty says.

13. Not asking for clarification. If the requirements of a task or project aren't clear, ask for more details, Schofield says. If the task is deliberately open-ended to give you a chance to learn and show initiative, make sure you have all the information and resources you need before starting, and don't be afraid to ask for help or advice.

14. Forgetting to double-check their work. It's easy for an intern to quickly do a task to get it done, Rishty says. But it's imperative that you double-check your work before submitting it to the boss, since even small errors will make you seem sloppy.

15. Using their cell phone. Don't make personal calls. Don't text. Don't surf the web. In fact, you should just put your phone away during the workday so you're not tempted to use it. 

16. Leaving projects unfinished. Not finishing an assignment shows your employer a lack of commitment and that you're not a hard worker, Rishty says. "Always finish your work before the deadline to show you have good time management skills and that you're committed to the job."

17. Taking too much time off. Every company has its own policy — but the experts say interns should refrain from taking too much time off for vacations, especially if the internship is only eight weeks long (or less). 

18.Allowing themselves to be taken advantage of. Interns may work for little or no compensation, but the experience should be of mutual benefit, Schofield says. "If nothing else, you should be learning something. If you're not, don't be afraid to point this out. Be aware of your rights as a worker."

19. Forgetting to document your internship. Keep a journal or private blog of your experiences, and write a review for yourself afterwards, Schofield suggests. 

SEE ALSO: 5 Ways To Inspire New Interns

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In an unusual move, Nancy Meyers has cast her former assistant in a key role in The Intern, the Anne Hathaway-Robert De Niro workplace comedy she is directing for Warner Bros.

The movie began shooting Monday in New York, and the script sees De Niro playing a 70-year-old widower who discovers that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Wanting to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site run by Hathaway’s character. 

The movie has a small cadre of actors playing interns — Pitch Perfect’s Adam DeVine is one — but one role proved elusive. After a series of readings and tests failed to turn up suitable candidates (one actor is said to have met with Meyers more than 10 times, according to sources), Meyers turned to her former assistant Jason Orley to fill the part.

Orley worked for Meyers when the writer-director made her 2009 film It’s Complicated. After that stint, he also worked as an assistant to Modern Family director Jason Winer. This will be his first acting role, but it wasn't a slam dunk. Orley put himself on tape and ended up meeting with the notoriously picky Meyers five times before landing the gig.

But it doesn’t look like in-front-of-the-camera work is the end goal for the 25-year-old, who is repped by UTA and Mosaic. The L.A.-based Orley also just had his script Big Time Adolescence optioned by financier StarStream Entertainment (Lee Daniels’ The Butler), which will fully finance the project. The script is a comedy about a 16-year-old who slowly gets corrupted by his older sister's ex-boyfriend.

The Intern is being produced by Meyers with Scott Rudin and Suzanne Farwell.

SEE ALSO: Sting: My Children Won't Inherit My Wealth

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Interns at Twitter make the equivalent of $81,000-a-year salaries, according to Glassdoor, which surveys tech workers.

And Twitter isn't even the most generous tech company with a paid intern program. That honor belongs to Palantir, the somewhat secretive artificial intelligence and data analytics company. It pays interns the equivalent of an $84,000 salary. (Internships don't last a year; here's one that lasted 10 weeks.)

Bloomberg's Sarah Frier has a great deep-dive look at the intense — and lucrative — recruiting environment for tech interns.

Here are the top five paying companies, ranked by monthly intern wage, according to Glassdoor:

1. Palantir: $7,012
2. VMWare: $6,966
3. Twitter: $6,791
4. LinkedIn: $6230
5. Facebook:$6,213

Microsoft, Google and Apple are all on Bloomberg's list too, paying similar rates.

Interns can be in high school and start in their teens, Bloomberg says. But the rates of pay they get at tech companies make them richer — at least temporarily — than many of their parents, Bloomberg says:

It’s become standard for engineering interns to snag free housing, transportation and salaries of more than $6,000 a month, according to job-search site Glassdoor Inc. That compares with the $4,280 average monthly income for U.S. households in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the top 10 companies paying the most for interns, all are technology companies except for Exxon Mobil Corp.

Read the whole thing here.

SEE ALSO: Analysts Say Twitter Is Heading To $60 Per Share — Here's What's Driving It Higher

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Silicon Valley’s greenhorn high school interns are raking in a lot more dough than the average American, Businessweek reported yesterday.

The average intern salary of big data monolith, Palantir, is $7,012/month, or almost double San Francisco’s per capita income ($3,939, measured in 2012 dollars). Starved for top talent, tech giants are recruiting the nation’s top young minds — not just with dollars but also with personal meetings with their celebrity CEOs.

“When I got the e-mail saying — oh my God — Mark Zuckerberg wants to meet you, I had to make sure nobody was playing a prank on me,” one young coder told Businessweek.

The chart below shows how Silicon Valley’s top monthly intern salaries compare to each other, to the average San Francisco internship payout, and to a traditional retail internship.

(Note: the numbers are based on GlassDoor data and retailer Nordstrom’s hourly wage is an estimation, converted to a monthly salary based on a 40-hour work week.)

Interestingly enough, Silicon Valley isn’t a treasure trove for everyone. The industry’s meritocratic tendencies also extend to intern pay: The highest Facebook intern makes seven times as much as the lowest. That’s nearly twice the inequality of the average San Francisco internship, and four times the inequality of retail internships.

So, Bay Area parents, get those kids coding early — it may be the only path that doesn’t land them back in your basement after college.

SEE ALSO: Interns at Twitter make nearly the equivalent of $81,000 a year — and they're enot even the best-paid interns in tech

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No interns have it better than those working for tech companies in Silicon Valley.

It would stand to reason that Apple's interns have some of the best jobs around. 

When you're working for Apple, there's no such thing as busy work.

You get put on a real project, with real responsibilities, and have real impact on product outcomes,"said Nate Sharpe on Quora, who worked on the iPod design team. "You interact with movers and shakers in the company on a fairly frequent basis and your opinion is valued as if you were an employee."

One way Apple treats its interns like employees is by pulling back the curtain on its projects.

"It was super cool to get to be intimately involved in products before they came out, and to see the gritty details of past products, even some that never made it to market," Sharpe said. "It should be noted, however, that this only applies within your immediate department, as everything outside of your department is on a need-to-know basis."

When interns aren't working on these top-secret projects, they're often encouraged to attend events.

"Even though you're treated almost as a full employee in terms of responsibilities, Apple does a great job of giving interns cool events such as the Executive Speaker Series, Intern Field Trips to San Francisco, and iContest, which is an intern ideas contest, judged by Apple execs, with amazing prizes," Sharpe said.

That intern culture extends to housing, which Apple organizes.

 "The greatest thing with housing is that you are not alone, you share it with three others interns from all around the world," said Maxime Britto on Quora, who worked on the Safari team. "It is a great way to learn and mix with other cultures."

And that's all without mentioning one of the most attractive elements: great pay.

"If this is important to you, Apple offers the highest intern pay of any internship I've heard of, including the wonderful California overtime rules," Sharpe said.

Former employees also have plenty to say on Apple's interns.

"There is a good culture that develops among the interns, and they get to work on real projects," said Bob Borchers, a former Apple executive in product marketing, on Quora. "In my team, tasks ranged from helping with the launch of the original iPhone, to doing a complete competitive analysis of the mobile phone sector ahead of the launch of the iPhone 3GS."

Convinced yet? You can apply to be an Apple intern here. 

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As businesses hire unpaid interns in breach of minimum wage regulations, we chart the story of interns

Internships are now a rite of passage for anyone hoping to secure a job after graduation.

If you’re lucky, you might get valuable experience within your chosen career. Or you might spend two weeks making cups of tea and photocopying.

There are 100,000 unpaid interns in the UK, according to data from think-tank IPPR, but the practice could be in breach of employment law.

Interns that perform valuable tasks are considered workers, not volunteers, according to government guidelines, and so they are subject to national minimum wage.

According to a YouGov survey of 682 businesses on behalf of Intern Aware, 69 per cent of companies find interns useful for their business.

But 26 per cent of the companies surveyed pay their interns nothing, or less than the national minimum wage.

And 82 per cent of companies using unpaid interns admitted that they were doing work that was useful to the business — which would classify as a breach of employment law.

Of the companies surveyed, education businesses were the most likely to use unpaid interns, with 43 per cent of internships not receiving a salary for their work. Although more IT & telecoms interns were paid, with 15 per cent receiving no money at all, a further 26 per cent were paid less than minimum wage.

Construction companies were best for interns, with 57 per cent paying minimum wage or above, while hospitality and leisure firms were the most generous, with 45 per cent paying more than minimum wage.

Ben Lyons, co-director of Intern Aware, says that unpaid internships can limit opportunities for less affluent graduates, who can’t afford to support themselves without a salary.

And hopes of unpaid internships leading to a job could be unfounded—companies that pay interns are more likely to see internships as a valuable recruitment strategy than businesses using unpaid interns.

Some 48 per cent of employers who paid interns regarded internships as an important means of recruitment.

Companies that pay interns:

Compared to 32 per cent of businesses who did not pay their interns.

Companies that don't pay interns:

Most graduates expect to experience an underappreciated slog at the beginning of their careers. But don’t let employers confuse an enthusiastic graduate with a chance to stop paying wages.

Related articles:

Bank intern who died after 'working for 72 hours' felt pressure to excel
McQueen apologises for advertising unpaid, full-time internship
How to succeed as a fashion intern

SEE ALSO: The 19 Worst Mistakes Interns Make

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I saw the massive line of interns long before I could see the venue.The young crowd waiting outside Broadway Studios in San Francisco on Tuesday chatted with friends and checked their phones, eagerly awaiting to get inside.

Approximately 2,000 interns from around the Bay Area signed up to attend Internapalooza, an industry-sponsored event for Silicon Valley’s interns to meet each other, chat up potential employers, and hear some of the tech industry’s finest give advice and share experiences from their younger, soul-searching years.

Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram, Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal, and top tech journalist Kara Swisher were among speakers. Overall, the lineup  included eight white men, one man of color, and two white women, which spoke volumes about the current state of tech’s not-so-diverse demographics.

Scanning the Internapalooza audience, I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of gender and ethnicity. Examining Silicon Valley’s young generation of interns can tell us a lot about the future of technology and about the new faces of leadership. 

While there is a lack of diversity among tech's current leaders, the Internapalooza attendees suggest just how multifaceted the future of Silicon Valley may be. 

Waiting in line to get into the sold-out event  felt worse than waiting in line to get into a club. 

Interns stood shoulder-to-shoulder inside the steamy venue. A few wore business casual, but many were decked out in the true tech wear of t-shirts, jeans and backpacks. The aroma of free hot dogs didn’t help the claustrophobia, nor with the nostalgic feeling of filing into college orientation.

Many of the interns in attendance were  college students or recent college graduates—50% of attendees were rising seniors at their universities. One hundred attendees were interns at Salesforce, 90 came from Google, 50 interned at Facebook and another 50 at Apple. Close to 200 interns hailed from UC Berkeley, and more than 150 attendees studied either at Harvard, Stanford or MIT.

The Silicon Valley culture of interns is unlike the Devil Wears Prada, fetching-coffee type of industry jobs, or the kinds of cheap labor positions that are pervasive within Manhattan and Los Angeles’ media-based internships.

Here in San Francisco’s tech industry, companies actively seek interns as potential full-time employees, and not just semester-by-semester rotations of unpaid staff. It’s a competitive market and the statistics of the attendees at Internapalooza are proof. Over half of the interns in attendance major in computer science, and 80% have studied something related to engineering.

Speakers hit the stage around 7 p.m, giving life advice in an almost believable, I was a kid once too! fashion. Quick words were said about the necessity of figuring out the rest of their lives. These pieces of advice must have seemed daunting and unreachable coming from the leaders who have already made achievements in technology.

For the many interns looking to break into Silicon Valley, their personal stories were a little more raw.

Cori Shearer, Intern at Pandora

Hearing about Internapalooza from a Bay Area interns group on Facebook, Cori Shearer attended, wanting to be inspired.

“I’m always on the hustle and grind, so sometimes I need events like this to reinvigorate my energy and to remind myself why I’m here in the first place,” says Shearer.

An intern at Pandora, Shearer works in sales technology and on building ad products.

She is also quick to discuss the need for more diversity in tech—noting that many startup’s lack of gender and racial variety occurs when founders look only towards their friends to build their company.

“You need to be in business with people who aren’t like you, and take risks to start your own company. As a female minority, I really want to do something innovative and helpful in the future,” says Shearer.

The Pandora intern hopes to see more people of color on stage at events like Internapalooza.

“Not seeing people on stage that looks like you has an effect because you want to be able to look up to someone,” says Shearer. “This affects future generations, but I am hopeful for change.” 

Brian Clanton, Intern at Zynga

Developer Brian Clanton is a first-time intern at Zynga, and hopes one day to become a development lead.

Clanton says he finds it difficult to set himself apart from other interns in Silicon Valley’s ultra-competitive race towards tech employment. This feeling is made all too real while standing amongst the hundreds of interns gathered in the venue.

“In order to set myself apart I need to do well in school, gain lots of work experience, and just work on different projects,” says Clanton.

We awkwardly shuffle amongst groups of interns and gawk at the sheer number of people in attendance. I ask him about the fanaticism surrounding Silicon Valley. What makes the tech industry such an appealing place to work?

“Kids want to work in Silicon Valley because there’s an image projected out there that it’s a lot of fun, and that all of these companies have great working environments. They have hammocks! It appeals to a younger generation,” says Clanton.

Meron Foster, Intern at Captûre Wines

Meron Foster says that she wants to pursue technology because that’s where the future lies. An intern at Captûre Wines, Foster works in sales and events, but not being a technically-inclined person often leaves her feeling left out of the tech bubble.

“It’s tough to find jobs in Silicon Valley. It’s a tight-knit circle, and if you’re not ‘a techie’, it’s intimidating to break into that culture. But I’m good at sales and marketing. It’s just hard to portray that to the tech industry without any tech skills,” says Foster.

Like Shearer, Foster wants to see more people of color working in tech. Although the hundreds of interns at Internapalooza are diverse in gender and ethnicity, the leaders of tech companies often are not.

“Events like this have a lot of young people of color here. Tech has lots of folks of Asian descent, but that’s still a specific color that tech indulges in. This will change with time. There are so many different people, and tech is not closed off to us,” says Foster.

As I leave the venue, the doorman tells me more than 60 interns who could not initially enter waited throughout the night to get inside. With such overwhelming interest, the tech industry is clearly not hurting for qualified candidates. The draw of Silicon Valley for these interns may be as superficial as hammocks and nap pods, or perhaps it's the in desire for inclusion and for more diverse representation. 

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Getting an internship with a large Wall Street firm is notoriously difficult.

This year, Morgan Stanley accepted only 1.1% of applicants for its summer internship program. Similarly, Goldman Sachs only took about 2% of applicants in 2013.

These are even lower acceptance rates than the nation's most exclusive universities. So if you're a student coming from a "non-target school," (not top tier school) you're going to have your work cut out for you.

Wall Street's bulge bracket banks are known for recruiting from the most elite universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other Ivy League schools. However, some of the biggest names in finance came from unexpected backgrounds.

Alexey Loganchuk is the founder of Upgrade Capital, an organization that aims to change the way firms recruit new employees. Loganchuk told us about a couple ways to differentiate yourself, based on what he's seen.

Here's how to give yourself an edge, regardless of your education.

1. Form relationships with any connections you have.

No matter where you went to school, chances are you'll find some alumni who went into finance. Find those connections, and build them into strong and lasting relationships. This doesn't mean just sending them an email every now and then, but being on a personal, first-name basis. Go beyond just networking. One of the most valuable assets you can have is someone in the industry who is pulling for you.

Loganchuk encouraged students to reach out to financial firms to learn more or create those contacts. Financial firms are usually very willing to send representatives to speak with students. Even if you are not from a target school, don't be afraid to call up some of these firms and show your interest.

This also applies if you want to turn an internship into a full-time job. Having someone who sponsors and mentors you will help not only in grabbing a position, but for your future career advancements as well. "In general, it's an uphill battle for anyone," Loganchuk said. "In the end, it really comes down for everybody to making personal connections."

2. Practice for the job you want to have.

Learn as much as you can on your own, and read everything you can about markets and investing. This should come from an intrinsic appetite for knowledge and figuring out how the market works. The legendary investor Bruce Kovner went from being a taxi driver to a hedge fund associate after proving he had read more financial works than those interviewing him.

"The best student investors I've met so far, it's kind of absurd, they literally have read 50+ books on investing," Loganchuk said. "This one kid that placed into J.P. Morgan read 35 books just last summer." 

3. Determine and cultivate a specific skill set.

Figure out where you best fit into the industry, what skills you need, and then work on developing that set of skills. Loganchuk said many beneficial relationships with industry insiders come from demonstrating value in a unique way. 

He said students have the tendency to treat internships like classwork, and focus on only following instructions. Then, they end up shooting themselves in the foot, by doing exactly what made them successful in school.

"When you're dealing with the trading floor and investments, these people aren't your professors. They don't want to sit there all day and teach you, and spoon-feed you information," he said. "This might sound very simple, but it's something which the overall majority of interns fail at."

4. Focus on the way you present yourself to firms.

Financial firms are also looking for someone who has intellectual humility, who can accept criticism and work through it, Loganchuk said.

However, another part of success is knowing when to keep calm after a loss. Loganchuk said one intern he knew through Upgrade Capital lost a fair amount of money on a trade because of sudden geopolitical events. The student went around the entire floor apologizing, "basically being a bit of a wreck."

"You're not helping yourself if you're actively presenting yourself as having failed in some way," he said.

Learn to walk the line between accepting bad trades and arrogance.

5. Get involved with firms and portfolio managers early.

Loganchuk said one action students can take is emailing portfolio managers to ask for feedback. If you have an investing idea that's relevant to a certain firm, send the portfolio manager your work. "If the work is solid, a fair percent of the time the PM responds," he said. "And you can do this regardless of where you go to school."

"Now, if your email reads @princeton.edu or @umissouri.edu, that might make a small difference," Loganchuk said. "But it's not as huge as people might think. Especially at smaller firms. Larger firms, from what I've seen, can be much more stubborn, much more elitist."

Good luck out there.

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