Impact of Coronavirus on summer internships and jobs for new graduates

The interns have to find their own housing. He didn’t want to ask early on but now he will because he may lose the lease if he doesn’t sign soon enough. The apartments are quite expensive for a 3 month lease in a decent part of town close to the office. He did look at some AirBnB’s…some were sublet apartments but were full so he couldn’t view them others were like rooms in a boarding house (private home)…I don’t think that’s a comfortable scenario for himself (or his parents). He’s the only intern from his school but not the only one looking for housing according to the company. They are paying well enough to cover his apartment/living expenses during his internship and to cover his off-campus college apartment while away. However, this is the first time he’s used his own credit without parents co-signing to cover a lease and he’d hate to break it and screw that up. I guess I’m just paranoid but this virus does concern me, even with a healthy young kid…it’s worrisome.

I would hold off signing a lease for as long as possible or get it in writing from the company that they will reimburse the expense if cancelled.

Part of why H’s company cancelled was that the entire management team is spending a good chunk of their day on virus response and the president didn’t think they’d have enough time to put together meaningful projects and provide the necessary mentoring. The employees also have been under a travel ban for over a month and they are also concerned about bringing someone in from the outside who potentially hasn’t been adhering to the same precautions.

It is the case for many firms, not just consulting firms. On the other hand, what they are paying the interns is a drop in the bucket. There is such thing as commitment/obligation and thinking about long term strategy. I lived through many economic downturns, and that included the one in 2008. In 2008 I used part of my budget to bring in 5 additional interns.

I heard (or read ) it some where - how a company behaves now will determine what kind of company it will be in the future when we come out of this crisis. Needless to say, I am very disappointed at my current company.

I would also hold out on signing any housing agreement now. I have a feeling there will be a lot of vacant apartments in NYC and many other places. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those internships would be done remotely.

It would be kinda crappy if the company didn’t cover the costs of the apartment or something like that.

But you just gave me something to talk to my son about! He was just offered 2 weeks ago or so, so he has some time to get an apartment. I had the same worry since It will be on his credit and don’t want to mess that up.

Lots of kids at my son’s school are getting rescinded internships in finance and consulting. He is just appreciative to have one… For now… His is in supply chain which is everywhere in the news. Good thing to understand and appreciate now.

My daughter had arranged housing in DC with other students in the GW dorm apartments. Before she could cancel her lease she received an email from GW University telling the students that all dorms would be closed through the summer and their deposits would be refunded. At least she won’t lose her deposit. Daughter is finally getting over her disappointment about Booz Allen canceling their summer games program and is starting to look for a local internship.

Our youngest planned on working full time at his university lab during a gap year between undergrad and grad school. His overseas travel plans are obviously cancelled. The lab is closed and his hours have been reduced to 1-2 days per week , but he can still do some remote data analysis. He planned a fall 2020 or winter 2021 internship , and we shall see if anything will be available at that time.

My son’s (and all the other interns) internship was officially rescinded today. I know he’s disappointed but it is for the best and I know the company waited as long as they possibly could to see if it could work but these are engineering internships that needed hands on work, not remote. He will continue his grad research work over the summer at his school and perhaps he can reconnect with them at a later time.

My son just heard that his summer internship will be all remote work. He is very disappointed but also knew it coming.
He also had a conference/research in Venice (which obviously got cancelled few weeks ago).

My son-in-law is on the summer internship hiring committee at his NYC law firm. They are not canceling summer internships and would even do it remotely. The issue is the actual hiring and they haven’t addressed that yet.
Lawyers at the top firms are super busy now.

Daughter just received confirmation of her finance internship in NYC. It doesn’t start until mid July. No word if it will be in person or not.

My son, a senior at an LAC in VA, was just offered a job with a large, well known company in Phoenix. He’ll start out in their one year rotational training program. He has an interview with another company in VA on Monday. He’s a computer science major. I really wasn’t feeling very optimistic for him.

My junior daughter’s major and work experience are interdisciplinary, so she had applied for numerous internships in 3 different fields and at a wide variety of sites that were diverse geographically and in function–government agencies, university programs, public and private cultural institutions, and some large corporations. In general, even before COVID-19 hit the US, she thought there were fewer opportunities being posted than last year.

In January and February, she had a few interviews and received the normal we-selected-another-candidate rejections, as well as a whole lot of silence that has continued. Of the definite rejections, a non-for-profit media company in NYC eventually emailed applicants in late February to say they had canceled their internship program. A second media company in GA has not formally communciated with her, but their website indicates that recruitment is on hold. Of the 3 university-hosted programs, one seems to be a rejection judging by a passed notification date (unless they are delaying more than they’d warned) but we suspect they will ultimately cancel anyway since I heard that this school just told parents they aren’t sure they’ll even open campus in the fall. A second university in KY had been waiting a bit to decide, but just told her yesterday that while the situation is improving, it’s not improving quickly enough and they are pretty sure they will cancel. The third university offered her a provisional acceptance: if we hold the internship program, the position is yours. It has a later start date than some others, but it’s in NJ so we aren’t too hopeful.

Of the corporations, this week one huge international company informed her they were suspending recruitment for the time being. We saw in the news that they had just laid off 1/3 of their work force, so we expected that. A second company in Seattle just canceled their internship program yesterday, citing financial reasons.

Where we see the greatest hope is for positions connected with the federal government, since her most recent interviews have come from that sector–including one this week. Also, she received several typical rejections last week from government jobs which were not cancellations. Also, two of her other applications are still listed as “under review.”

In summary, the situation is grim but at least she has some hope. Maybe her provisional acceptance will decide to go virtual if they don’t hold an in-person program. I am glad that she’s had opportunities in the past, and that she doesn’t need this to graduate. I wonder if universities will need to waive or reduce co-op requirements for their students.

Aghhh!!!

My son’s internship at Kohler just got rescinded and he got a notice from John Deere also today got rescinded…

Any one got an internship for an rising senior in Industrial engineering… Will do anything!!!

I want him out of the house!!

Help!

Maybe look in the dairy industry or other food industries (or paper or cleaning supplies, etc.) for work in fixing supply chains to make them more flexible, since the dairy industry is apparently wasting milk because the supply chains are too inflexible (drop in demand for restaurant and commercial food service results in unsold milk, while there are still shortages in grocery stores selling milk for household use)?

It is sad hearing all of this bad news. Internships are a big deal. They are very valuable IMHO. I am sorry to hear of so many of these drying up. I am torn whether to post not quite so bad news. However, it seems like someone should have something to say other than “it is all broken”.

My daughter has been told that the funding is still on for her research over the summer. They do not know whether the lab will be open over the summer so they are coming up with other work for her to do. It might not be quite what she wanted to do, but it sounds like they will have work for her.

I am wondering whether government sponsored research might be more likely to continue over the summer for the simple reason that the government does have the right to print money, and does not want the economy to collapse. Having the government keep something going over the summer is probably in the long term the right thing to do.

So far so good for our S. He’s been home now for a little over 3 weeks (started final quarter online last Monday). When he first got home, the company he is interning at this summer emailed to say everything is still on. One week later, they emailed to say that everything is still on even if they need to work remotely. Some interns onboard in May and some in June, so on-site may be available for some interns (company is in the California Bay Area). Last week, S was contacted out of the blue by the company he interned with his sophomore summer. Their message was that if his current internship fell through, he is welcomed back (although might be remotely as they are in CA as well).

So far, so good. Fingers crossed.

DD’19’s is on. She’s been filling out paperwork this week. It may not be as fully fledged as planned but we’ll see.

D’s co-op company has now confirmed they are a “go” three times. Basically she hears from them once week.

D17 just got email that her internship start date in SF is being pushed out from May to June and that the duration will be shorter than originally planned. Keeping fingers crossed!