Beyond making coffee, site for interns gives tips

— -- Take two Harvard grads with a combined five summers of intern experience and give them a computer. Add a dose of schmoozing skills, some business smarts and heaping amounts of wit.

Before you know it, you have Intern Memo, the website and thrice-weekly e-newsletter created this summer by brothers Will and Theodore Bressman of New York. They have made it their mission to help the nation's interns get ahead in their fields of choice, establish valuable connections and even have some fun.

Intern Memo also focuses on social activities in New York City, where the site is based. As landing an internship increasingly becomes the doorway to the world of work, Intern Memo is tapping into a nationwide need to share experiences. The Bressmans hope to expand to other cities.

"In the last 10 years, internships have become a prerequisite for entry-level jobs," says Jamie Fedorko, author of The Intern Files: How to Get, Keep and Make the Most of Your Internship. "You can't get one without" an internship.

Will, 25, and Theodore, 23, co-founded the site (internmemo.com), which sent its first e-newsletter on May 28. Their sister, Ellie, 19, markets by word of mouth and on a Facebook group. The e-newsletter now boasts more than 3,000 subscribers.

"There isn't really a resource out there for people who want to be spoken to, not down to," says Will, who, after interning at sports and media corporations, wanted to help others trying to break into careers.

"Interning is a really funny experience," adds Theodore, who has interned at financial companies. "It can be fun, and it can be bad. But if you have the right perspective, it's awesome."

On Mondays, subscribers receive a general behavioral tip, such as developing a good rapport with a boss. Wednesday's "Internal Monologue" features diary-like entries from Intern Samantha and Intern Simon, two real-life interns using pseudonyms to write candidly about office escapades. Fridays offer a "wild card," in which Theodore, in charge of editorial content, compiles a list of mostly free weekend events and often includes transcripts of interviews with professional bigwigs from varied industries.