Always send the email

I have officially been an intern at Obsidian for a little over a week now, and I can say with 100% certainty that I would not be here if it wasn’t for the wonderful power of LinkedIn.?

I don’t think I started using LinkedIn seriously until the last year of my undergraduate studies. I was beginning to think about graduation and entering into “the real world,” so I needed to find a way to get my name and resume out there for everyone to see. What better way to do that than to use the internet?

LinkedIn is an awesome resource for finding jobs and internship opportunities. It’s also a great place for potential employers to find your name, which is what happened to me. Courtney Ellett, Obsidian’s owner and fearless leader, was looking to hire, found my profile and sent me an email seeing if I was currently looking for full-time employment.?

At the time, I wasn’t looking for a full-time job. I was just about to start my last year of graduate school at the University of Memphis, where I also work part-time for the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media as a graduate assistant. I’ve always heard about people networking and getting messages from employers on LinkedIn, but this was the first time that anyone had reached out to me. You could definitely say I was a little shocked when I read Courtney’s email.

After the shock wore off a bit, I knew I needed to email her back. Even though I wasn’t ready to take on a full-time job, this was still a great way to get my resume in front of someone in a field I wanted to work in. While it might not lead to a job right now, I could still use this opportunity to network. I responded to her as soon as I read it.?

I thanked Courtney for reaching, explained my current situation, asked her about any other potential part-time or internship opportunities and pressed send. Courtney passed that email along to Lauren Hannaford here at the firm, and, as they say, the rest is history.

When someone reaches out to you, don’t hesitate to respond. If you’re interested in a company or working in a specific field, find someone to send that message to. Internships are a great way to learn (and perhaps even land that first industry job). You can gain knowledge through real-life experiences and really understand what it would be like to make that internship into a career.?

If I was to give one message to the world, it would be to always send the email. Obsidian wasn’t advertising an internship, but I asked about one anyway. What would be the harm? The worst they could’ve said was they weren’t looking for an intern right now, and life would have still gone on. However, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t send that email back and ask.