A minority of people in this country are actively recruited for jobs, particularly early-career jobs. Most people find their own next job.
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Don’t know what she’s doing but I wouldn’t describe $22 as light.
My engineer soon made $20.50 and a car last summer…his second with the company. I know it may be considered light.
My poli sci kid is making $20 this summer.
Her bf is in finance and getting $25 - but said that’s more than others he knows.
I know some CS kids get $30+, etc. but I think $22, if she’s gaining great experience is fantastic and likely not light. Good for the student.
I like your approach with your kids. Both my kids had jobs…but by their choice - and one is still extremely entitled and that parts not good. Needs to fly to the beach with the bf next week and mad I won’t pay the $450 because you waited til the last week. Sorry - you have a job 
) It sounds like you have really instilled a good mindset in yours - so congrats.
And because of that I’m sure, your 19 year old is in an outstanding position - congrats to them.
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I guess that depends on what you mean by actively recruited. I get LinkedIn offers all the time and I work part time from home for myself (have one client). I think if the kids get out there on LinkedIn and Handshake through their colleges they should get some kind of offer.
@CollegeNerd67 just reporting the salary of my kid and the grocery store offers I saw on Indeed. A lot of the listings don’t give an hourly, but the ones I reported did. I think your country-club server kid got a sweet deal. That is not the starting rate for most first jobs in NC. My Starbucks kid started at $11 or $12 I think and had worked their way up to $13.50 when they left. That was 2022.
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First year engineers make $30/hour for full time (about 60k/annually) in most markets. In small markets, they might make 55k in their first year.
I’m not sure what point you are trying to make, but please check your information first for accuracy.
Environmental science majors, which you referenced above, can find ample opportunities available in many markets both in the field and in education. Those jobs would be, obviously, for less pay than an engineer would make as they are less specialized. Some of them are hyper-local and it can be difficult to break in if they don’t already know where to ask. This would be something that a college’s career services should be able to facilitate.
There is definitely a disconnect between college career services and the hiring market in some places. I don’t think it’s as generalizable as you are suggesting, however.
We are talking about internships.
As to what first year engineers make - and maybe it depends on the market -but my son knows no one making less than $65k but most $80k + for mechE
But the discussion was about an internship.
Env science - I just sent the graduate an in person hiring event with the state water division friday. I’ve still not gotten info from her though - other than the text asking for help. Her LinkedIn is light. In the end, the student has to ‘want it’ - whether they use their school or otherwise.
Not sure what I generalized about the career center or what your comment there is in reference to. . I wish all kids took advantage.
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I read the entire thread. That’s what I am referring to.
The environmental science major you keep writing about should also be directed to check with local nonprofits, not just government. Most environmental science work is delegated to nonprofits even in states with huge appropriations for environmental science work.
I definitely see your point about students keeping up with emails, though. The struggle is real!
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Appreciate the tip. Will tell her. Told her state, county, local, americorps and a few others people referenced.
But honestly I’d like to learn about her so she can get targeted advice.
She asked for help but she needs to play. Asking and ghosting - not a good strategy.
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I would consider it on the light end for a corporate level internship but then again, she just finished sophomore year, and this is her first internship. She is grateful to have it.
I’ve read the whole thread - some random thoughts:
Environmental Studies is a different skill set than Environmental Science.
Internships are often restricted to degree seeking students, not post-graduates.
Companies will look past resume gaps during COVID more so than in 2023. If a job doesn’t come in a few months, graduates need to be doing anything to build on their resumes - classes (even on-line Udemy), part-time work, something.
It’s not unreasonable to spend four hours a day job hunting. Applications are stronger when the resume and cover letters are tailored to the job descriptions rather than using the same letter and resume for all. Building an on-line web portfolio/resume can be a great way to better showcase skills.
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So much sympathy for your son and all the other kids impacted by Covid. For all the kids that had internships cancelled because of Covid, I would encourage them to still list it on their resumes and just note that it was canceled due to Covid. At least that signals to the company that they did do all the hard work to secure that internship and that they passed the bar for that company.
I think that helped for my kid - a science major who decided to pivot to another field and had an internship lined up in that field for summer 2020 which ended being canceled. Kid was able to land a job in that field and I think having the cancelled internship listed on resume really did help or at least didn’t hurt.
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Thank you for this suggestion- I’m sure he never considered doing this. I appreciate your empathy.
Absolutely! I have seen plenty of resume with “xyz internship cancelled, so I took a class, learned Italian, wrote a book” whatever filled that time.
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If you are interviewing for a professional job, prep work should be more than 30 min. You should know about the company, division, interviewer(s), public information, specific knowledge about the profession (to answer some brain teaser questions). You may also call up some contacts (maybe through school/friends) to get additional info about the job.
When D1 was looking for a banking job, she read up on financial news and tried to form her opinions in case she should be asked. She polished up on her math and stats skills because she knew she would be asked to do some problem solving. She also practiced her interview skills with me and few of my friends. I wouldn’t have been happy if she told me that she only prepped for 30 minutes.
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True, but that information about the industry and her skills only needs to be done once. The positions are the same whether at Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, so an applicant just needs to further brush up on company-specific information
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This assumes a large public company or one that is heavily covered in the news. There are many professional jobs at small firms where very little information is available. You can prep as well as you can but if there is little info available on line and no one from your college works there, there is only so much you can do. Fwiw, most of my professional career has been with companies of less than 100 employees and no one from my alma maters.
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Kids either overthink or underthink what “prep” means.
You do NOT need to research the bios of the General Counsel, Head of Investor Relations, SVP Compliance, etc. when interviewing for an entry level position at a large bank. You do NOT need to read two years worth of press releases. This is overthink.
Underthinking is not being able to answer the question “why banking” or “why product marketing” or “what is it about the P&C Insurance industry that interests you”.
Rather than suggesting that new grads spend hours and hours “prepping”, I’d suggest making sure that they are reading-- fairly regularly-- the national news media on “what’s happening in the world”. If you are interested in a role in sustainability/climate change, you should know that the UN just released a study on XYZ noxious gas which has been covered extensively by the WSJ, NYT, Economist, FT. If you are interested in a role in aerospace engineering, you should have read last week’s story (again, covered extensively) on whichever airline canceled an order for 100 aircraft at a major producer. If you are interviewing for a job as a fourth grade language arts teacher, you ought to know about the major longitudinal study just released (and covered extensively) pointing out the issues with Whole Language vs. Phonics.
I interview kids all the time who are so proud that they found me on Linkedin and have memorized my biography, but can’t be bothered to read a daily newspaper.
Yikes!!! Don’t research your interviewers; don’t memorize the balance sheet of the company. Be a “citizen of the world” and read the newspaper, have a passing familiarity with the major outlets which cover the industry you are interested in; if you claim you want to work in “digital marketing” know what convergence means, why it is important and disruptive, etc.
I interviewed someone who wanted a job in social media who had no clue about the various Tik-Tok controversies, why foreign ownership can be problematic, etc.
Really- you’re a social media guru and you DON’T read a newspaper, CNN, and any of the 50 publications which cover the media industry???
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I also have to point out that single, young 20 something should be able to work a 40 hpw job and also have 4 hours per day to devote to job hunting if necessary. Plenty of people work an extra part time job. My co-worker has worked two full time jobs (both min. wage type jobs) for nearly 30 years while raising a family. For 7 years I also worked a full time job, while coaching 20 hours/week (7 months/year) while raising two kids (and also trained for marathons).
If you really want it, it can be done. It’s called time management.
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For smaller companies like you list, an applicant is expected to show up to the interview with an understanding of what that company does, what the company’s mission is, and how their skillset would benefit that company in a substantive way. They should also be prepared to demonstrate their main skillset by both demonstrating it and discussing it in the context of the broader market in which the business operates, both politically and commercially. No less prep for smaller firms than for large or publicly traded ones. That’s a common mistake that applicants make, and I’ve seen many an applicant overlooked for this very reason.
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Unfortunately, I rather doubt most of the new jobless college grads are devoting all their free time to industry research, or they would not be jobless for long. More likely they are researching Netflix and Tik Tok.
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I’d love an intelligent discussion about Netflix and Tik Tok- their business strategy, their pricing model, how they saw a gap in the marketplace and went about filling it, while keeping their eye on their customer’s needs and the competitive arena. That would be a fantastic thing to prep for an interview.
Telling me about which shows you watch and how you learned to bake sourdough bread by watching 50 Tik Tok’s? Yawn.
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