Blog Post: Always Be on Your A Game Especially in a Down Economy

I recently heard a story from a friend of mine who had an intern working for her.  She had set up a perfect opportunity up for her intern – even though it was unpaid – it provided the intern with much needed business experience to help increase her skillset/enhance her resume as well as lead to contacts in her dream field.   Well basically the intern dropped the ball on her projects with the justification that it was unpaid and she needed to spend her time on other things including looking for her job.  Well guess what happened next?  Yes you guessed it – the intern interviewed for a job and used my friend as a reference.  Do you think that my friend could give her intern a stellar reference, which is crucial to stand out in this competitive market?  No, obviously not – the intern had not delivered on her promises to complete her work.  My friend had to clearly state the truth that this person could not meet deadlines and did not take the initiative.  Lesson learned – treat every opportunity seriously and go over and beyond the call of duty – you need to do what it takes to make yourself stand out by not only living up to your obligations, but doing a great job even in an unpaid internship.  The truth is that people are doing whatever it takes to stand out in this economy, which includes internships to gain valuable work experience and stellar references.  If you can’t deliver, there are 100 people in line behind you that would happily take an unpaid internship to get valuable experience and a strong reference for a dream job, so remember to be on your A Game at each opportunity – it may well be your ticket to finding your dream job.

Marcy Morrison is a Career Strategist and owner of Careers With Wings (www.careerswithwings.com).  Marcy is passionate about helping others find their dream job via speaking engagements, media appearances, workshops/training, and one-on-one sessions.  Marcy's book “FINDING YOUR PASSION: The Easy Guide to Your Dream Career" (www.myeasycareerguide.com) is on Amazon and is filled with inspirational stories of people living their passion along with practical, interactive tools of how to live your passion.  Marcy also provides career tips via a regular blog and videos on Jobing.com’s website.  Serving as a consultant for Right Management (www.right.com) - the largest outplacement firm in the world, Marcy facilitates career transition workshops in both English and Spanish.  Marcy is also passionate about giving back and serves on the Advisory Board of and donates 10% of her earnings to the Just Like My Child Foundation (www.justlikemychild.org).