It’s getting to that time of the year where us college students are wrapping up our summer internships and heading back to college. It’s pretty easy to just peace out on your last day and get swept up into the craziness that is your undergraduate education.

You don’t want to do that. Take a moment to run through this checklist to make sure you get the most and continue to get the most out of your summer job experience.

1. Create a space to maintain connections.

I’m not sure how I feel about LinkedIn. The site is pretty ugly from a design standpoint, and I haven’t made made any connections on it to people I didn’t already know. However, LinkedIn does offer a space for you to maintain connections that you made while at your internship.

Take some time to create a complete profile and then add your colleagues and connections. When you begin looking for a permanent position and need to ask for recommendations, you’ll be thankful that you stayed in contact with your colleagues.

75% of hiring managers use LinkedIn to research job candidates before making an offer, so even if you don’t see the immediate benefits on using the site, you can be sure that it is actually important to have a presence here. What if your colleagues aren’t on LinkedIn? See my next point…

2. Send a personal note to any individuals that you worked with directly.

Photo by kcolwell on Flickr

Sending a note isn’t just about sucking up to your boss (although a little flattery never hurts, does it?). Carefully think about what these people taught you and thank them for those specific things.

This will show that not only are you appreciative of your summer experience, but that you can reflect on what you have learned and grow from it. This also creates the space to contact your colleagues by email in the future.

The format of your note depends on the formality of your work environment. In more formal workplaces, a handwritten note might be appropriate, whereas in a more casual environment, a simple well-written email would be received just as well.

3. Make a list of what you accomplished on the job.

Keep a list of all the projects and accomplishment that you directly influenced and the specific impact that these projects had on your company. Be as specific as possible.

For example, instead of “Helped research search engine optimization strategies,” write down “Implemented specific SEO strategies which brought our forward-facing website from #9 to #1 on Google.” Not only will this help you update your resume more effectively, but you’ll also be able to better convey in future interviews what deliverables you have to offer.

4. Reflect on what you learned about yourself and your values.

I ask myself every Monday, “What did I learn last week?” To get the most out of your internship, you have to be consciously aware of what you are learning about yourself. Internships are the perfect time to try things out. Even if you didn’t have the super awesome internship experience you were hoping for, you now know what to look for and what to avoid when you are looking for a job in the future.

For example, I loved working this summer at NationalField because I had full control of choosing and executing my own projects. The startup atmosphere was exciting and fast-paced and I was able to set my own hours.

What did you like or dislike about your internship this summer? Make sure you remember these things when looking for a permanent position in the future.

Pressure… by Casey Serin on Flickr

Most of us could use less stress. With the kind of ridiculous connectivity that we have and the expectation to be constantly “plugged in”, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. And we aren’t only worrying about things that we have to do, but things that we feel like we should do, or could do.

I’m studying abroad in Spain right now. While I don’t have as many have to dos as I do at home, the list of should dos is almost endless (talk with friends, see a bull-fight, make Spanish friends, eat paella, etc).

I am normally good at handling a long to do list, but this shift from have to do to should do has been hard to adjust to, because instead of managing my time, I just get overwhelmed with all the possibilities and usually end up wasting my entire day eating lunch (it’s actually not that hard to do that here).

This change has forced me to think of how I normally manage being overwhelmed, and to adjust that strategy to this new lifestyle of fewer responsibilities and greater possibilities.

So, here’s what we are going to do. Make a list. Making lists is how I solve problems. It clears my mind and is a great distraction when I’m bored in class or at work. This list will have three columns:

So you have your lists. Ideally you’d work from top to bottom until everything was done, but we all know that it doesn’t work like that. We procrastinate, we put things off, we don’t feel like doing things we should do, so we do things we could do instead. Let’s look at 4 of the most common problems people have when they are overwhelmed, and try to come up with some solutions for them. You might have some suggestions for these problems, or strategies that work well for you. Share them with me!

Credit: Jordan Brock on Flickr

You might still think of Facebook as “that social network for college students” but in the past few years it has become much more than that.  Over 2/3 of Facebooks users are out of college and the fastest growing demographic of users is those 35 years or older.  What does that mean for you?  Well, if you are a college student, you probably have received (or will receive) a friend request from your mom, and if you are a mom, you’re probably feeling like you are missing out on your child’s life.  With 13.9 billion minutes spent on Facebook in April alone, you might have reason to feel like you’re missing something.

There are plenty of guides online for beginners using Facebook. Facebook for Beginners has a good list of guides available online.  If you are looking to do something specific, just type your question into Google and chances are you will find an answer.  I don’t want to regurgitate basic how-to’s that you can find online.  Instead, let me tell you:

The default privacy settings that you want to take a look at: (1) Profile, (2) Search, and (3) News Feed and Wall.  Of the three, you are probably most worried about your Profile Settings.  This area controls who can see you and what specific people can see about you.  Let’s start there!

1. Profile Privacy

The default privacy settings for Facebook allow for everyone to see your information.  You probably don’t want this.  Go through and change the drop-down menu to “Only Friends”.  You have to select this for every element of your profile.  Facebook calls this “increased customizability”, I call it “annoying”, but whatever. Make sure to changes the settings for your contact information as well.

Quick Tip: Still unsure whether your profile is actually private?  Test it!  Type a friend’s name next to the “See how a friend sees your profile” box and Facebook will show you how they would see your profile.

2. Search Privacy

Search visibility depends a lot on the purpose of your facebook account.  Take a minute and ask yourself: why am I on facebook?  Through Search Privacy, you can control who can find you in a search.  I often recommend being searchable, just not viewable.  That way, people can find you if they want, but you control what they see.  Here are the settings I suggest:

3. News Feed and Wall

The last section of your privacy settings, News Feed and Wall, gives you some control over what your friends see on their Feed (their Facebook homepage).  I unchecked all of the fields on my account, but it is really your choice.