The Guide Book To Securing High Profile Internships: A Step-by-Step Guide To Navigating Corporate America

Foreword

By Dr. Daniel Jean & Reggie Walker

Dr. Daniel Jean

The Guidebook to Securing High Profile Internships is an instructive playbook that can help address the growing issue of college graduates being underemployed. Dalvin Josias Sejour shares intimate details of his college journey allowing the reader to learn strategies that can lead to post-college success. 

I witnessed Dalvin’s drive and grit firsthand. I am the EOF Director who accepted Dalvin into college and I can honestly share that he is one of the most accomplished scholars in the history of our program. Dalvin joined my EOF program during the Summer of 2014 and he has been impressive from day one. The EOF Program, of which Dalvin is a scholar at Montclair State University, is designed for low-income highly motivated New Jersey residents. Dalvin took full advantage of our college access program and has changed the course of poverty for his family by maximizing his educational opportunities in and outside of the classroom.

Our background has many parallels. We are both of Haitian descent, both went to urban high schools in New Jersey and both recognize that education is the key to reaching all our personal and professional goals. This guidebook is truly the play by play strategy he used to enhance his college experience and allowed him to truly benefit from his investment. The book is written in a conversational tone and is an easy read for those young scholars who need to identify their passion and or map out a plan of action to achieve all of their personal and professional goals.

Dr. Daniel Jean is the Director of EOF at Montclair State University

**********

Reggie Walker

Having served as Dalvin’s collegiate academic advisor I have witnessed first hand him put every strategy and method mentioned in this amazing book into practice. To watch his journey from wide eyed freshman to an accomplished and seasoned upperclassman student who had secured internships at two of the world’s largest companies, was great. To see him turn those opportunities into greater ones for, securing a 6 figure job before he graduated college, was nothing short of amazing. The Guidebook to Securing High Profile Internships, is everything a person needs to figure out how they can do everything the title suggests. It’s honest and refreshing; written in a way that will resonate with people and encourage them, particularly those from underrepresented and marginalized populations. It’s the type of book that should be given to every incoming college freshman student.

Reggie Walker is the Director of EOF at Rider University

Table of Contents

Foreword      4

Table of Contents      7

Acknowledgment      12

Preface      13

What Is This Book About?      13

Why Should You Trust Me?      13

What Will This Help You With?      14

Why Are Internships Important?      15

Do I Need College For Internships?      16

Who Am I?      17

Set A Solid Foundation      22

What I Did      22

What You Can Do      26

Dalvin’s Challenge #1      30

You Got To Figure Out What You Are Really Passionate About      31

What I Did      31

Affinity Venn  Diagram      34

What You Can Do      40

Iron Sharpens Iron      42

What I Did      42

What You Can Do      46

Dalvin’s Challenge #2      48

If you can't get through the door, climb through the window      49

What I Did      49

What You Can Do      52

Navigating the Interview Process      54

What I Did      54

What You Can Do      60

Dalvin’s Challenge #3      62

Sow the Seeds and They Will Grow      63

What I Did      63

What You Can Do      69

From Stop & Shop to Silicon Valley      70

What I Did      70

What You Can Do      81

Dalvin’s Challenge #4      83

Externships      85

What I Did      85

What You Can Do      88

Interning Internationally Part 1: Preparation      90

What I did      90

What You Can Do      102

Dalvin’s Challenge #5      104

Interning Internationally Part 2: Interning Abroad      105

What I Did      105

What You Can Do      110

Back to Reality      112

What I Did      112

What You Can Do      116

Dalvin’s Challenge #6      118

The Probability Game      119

What I Did      119

What You Can Do      129

The End Game: Converting To Full-Time      131

What I Did      131

What You Can Do      138

Dalvin’s Challenge #7      139

Epilogue      140

Interviews of Other Highly Successful Interns      140

Final Thoughts      155

This book contains some challenge sections, share your answers at the following site:

www.SecuringInternships.com

Find the Challenge tab and share your thoughts with a community of other opportunity seekers.

You are not in this alone.

Acknowledgment

First and foremost, praise has to be given to God Almighty. He gave me the mind, body, and soul to prepare and take advantage of all the opportunities presented to me.

Second, love has to be shown to my partner in crime, Ashley, for loving me unconditionally and always supporting my ideas, no matter how outlandish and wild they might be.

Third, to my siblings, Dahanah, Nickendson, and Jenifer and to my many cousins, aunts, and uncles. Some time it took a tag team effort to raise me and I will never take for granted the love you all poured into me. You all kept me level headed, humble, and taught me important life lessons.

Fourth, I want to thank my Aunt Resilia (she is literally like a Mother to me) for putting the fear of God into me on earth and instilling the Haitian culture in me. The worst thing is to lose your cultural identity because you are not geographically where your roots are from.

Last but not least, I want to acknowledge my Uncle St. Jacques (he was like a Father to me). God rest his soul. He set the standard for what it means to be a man. He was a jack of all trades and did not let his current situation determine his destination: truly an important life lesson.

Preface

What Is This Book About?

I want to hop into this book by first stating that I am no expert in technology or securing internships. While that might be that imposter syndrome talking, simply put this book is just a reflection of my truth. This book will explore how I navigated Corporate America as a son of immigrants, a first-generation college student, and frankly all while being a Black Man in America. I think that is what you call a 3 Peat.

This book was initially going to be about how I secured internships in technology, but I wanted to make the scope a bit broader. Every student needs an internship or some kind of apprenticeship to thrive in this Information Era. With all the information available on the internet, there is no excuse as to why you shouldn't have at least a surface-level understanding of the field or practice that you are trying to get into.

Why Should You Trust Me?

This book isn't a traditional how to guide because most of those tend to prey on the pockets of innocent people seeking guidance.  The experiences in this book are my truth and to verify that, you can search my name on LinkedIn or Google.

As far as my own accolades go, I have interned with quite a few big names including: Facebook, UPS, Stitch Fix, Google, CNBC, and Bonjoro (An Australian based company). I am a published co-author in the field of Social Computing on my work titled Encounter Opportunity Browsing,  under the distribution of ACM (The Association for Computing Machinery). I pitched my small-business, Dalvin Digital Design, during Newark Tech Week and won free office space for a month sponsored by Equal Space, a tech co-working company located in Newark, New Jersey. Therefore, as you are reading through, please keep in mind that I have been there and done that. My mission here is to help you to also be there and do that for yourself.

What Will This Help You With?

My goal is to demystify internships and show you what it felt like trying to navigate the obscure entity that is called Corporate America. Thankfully,help came from mentors, friends, and advocates along the way, but once you are in that interview room, it's all about you. No one else can interview for you or prove how good your skills are.

To use this book to its fullest extent, I will separate the chapters into two parts. The first being What ‘I’ Did, which will be an anecdote about my life and experience. The second being, What You Can Do, which are key takeaways and practical tips you can use to refer back to. Lastly, certain sections will have a Dalvin’s Challenge where you can jot down some thoughts and reflect using the instructions found before the Acknowledgment section.

Why Are Internships Important?

Internships are important because they help you figure out what you want to do and what you don't want to do before you start your first role in your career after graduation. Being that there is a big difference between a job and a career. A job is when you are simply completing a task to make money. While on the other hand, a career is your passion and life purpose, where the side effect is being paid while doing it.

The worst thing is to pick a major, graduate from college, obtain a job in your field, and hate the role within the first few months. This could have been partially avoided by getting the most amount of experience as possible before you left those college doors. Because, once you graduate and those student loans begin piling up, pivoting jobs can be hard because you can't, Find yourself, when Sallie Mae is knocking at your door asking for her cut of your check.

Each internship I have brought me closer to figuring out what I like and dislike in my industry. When you are interviewing for your