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Book gives inside advice on internships
Brighton grad at Columbia writes student guide on how to get chosen.
BY STAFF WRITER
MATTHEW DANEMAN
It seemed like a no-brainer kind of assignment - write a guide for college
students about landing internships.
Ellen Rubinstein, a Brighton resident and Columbia University student,
already had a pretty sweet internship at Simon & Schuster, the publisher of
such literary household names as Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark.
So putting together a guide for a small, nascent publisher, Natavi Guides, should be a breeze, right?
Of course not.
Scoring a Great Internship "was a lot more time consuming than I thought it'd be,'' said Rubinstein, 21. "I thought 'I know how to get an internship, because I got one.' But apparently not."
Natavi Guides, launched in early 2002 by a couple of recent Wesleyan University graduates and based in New York City, has built a small library of slim, inexpensive guides on various collegiate issues, such as deciding on a major and studying abroad.
The books are written and edited by college students and recent graduates who responded, as Rubinstein did, to job descriptions posted at a couple of dozen schools around the nation, said Natavi managing editor and co-founder Avi Spivack.
A 1999 graduate of Brighton High School, Rubinstein is a senior who has a double major in English and East Asian studies. Early last spring, a few weeks after getting her application, Natavi contacted her about writing an internship guide.
The research entailed thinking about the major issues in getting an internship, such as resumes and cover letters, Rubinstein said.
She also e-mailed numerous people, such as college counselors, and talked to the internship coordinators at Viacom Inc., of which Simon & Schuster is the publishing arm.
"A lot of little details I never would have thought of, such as never use boldface type or italics because it smears in photocopying," she said. And in retrospect, getting her own internship in the editorial department of trade paperbacks was "dumb luck, I would definitely call it," she said.
The research and writing started in mid-May, once the spring semester at Columbia ended, with the first draft due in early August. There was some back-and-forth over a few small editing changes, and the 112-page book was completed in the fall.
"She really did a great job," Spivack said.
"It looks really nice and official,
"Rubinstein said. "And it looks like I know what I'm talking about."
She received five complimentary copies, four of which went out to friends and family. She kept one for her own job interviews. She also received some pay, and gets royalty checks.
The book is available at
Amazon.com,
Barnes&Noble.com, and some college bookstores.
"It is pretty cool, I gotta admit," Rubinstein said. "I'm addicted to
checking the sales ranking on Amazon."
For more on Natavi Guides, go online to
www.studentshelpingstudents.com
E-mail address: mdaneman@DemocratandChronicle.com
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DemocratandChronicle.com
Copyright 2003 Gannett Rochester Newspapers
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