Impact of Coronavirus on summer internships and jobs for new graduates

DH works in banking and he says all the mainframe programming is in COBOL. Prior to the pandemic the bank he works for had just started a project to find a vendor to build them a brand new system. Their current one is a mishmash of a variety of different technologies going back to the 70’s. It’s proved a real challenge recently as they have implemented a wide range of new financial supports to help clients weather the current economic reality and they’ve had to get it all up and running in a really tight time frame. Writing all the new required code, making sure it works, and that it conforms to regulatory requirements in many cases just couldn’t be done that quickly leaving them with having to resort to manual workarounds.

DS19 is fortunate to have landed a job for the summer due to DH’s connections. He will be working remotely from home for one of call centres for the bank DH works for. Not a fun job but it pays well. Most of his friends have not been as fortunate.

Sigh. My daughter received another internship cancelation notice today from a program in Washington D.C. affiliated with the federal government.

@TheGFG - sorry to hear that.

Some schools subsidize or pay for non-profit internships. They may be willing to pay even if the position is eliminated.

Good news: D received another provisional internship offer–this time with a government agency in Washington DC. Funny, but she had applied to other jobs in DC under the exact same umbrella organization and and it was one of those which I posted above had canceled for safety reasons.!
Odd–same zip code, similar position. Regardless, nothing is firm yet so this opportunity too may not pan out.

By the way, has anyone’s kid ever stayed in Capstay intern housing? DC university options are currently unavailable, and the nice DC intern housing company we used in the past is just too expensive given the lower pay of this job. Thanks!

That may help with the pay, but not the experience that can help the student get a better job (or any job) at graduation later.

Yep. Join the club. My son’s was canceled right after signing his contract and them sending him housing information… He’s still trying…

Unpaid and low-paid internships, especially those in high-rent cities, have always been financially unfeasible for many students. But now with summer intern dorm housing unavailable due to campus closures, the situation has become even more difficult.

As for the aforementioned college subsidies for unpaid internships, I think the sums offered are generally insufficient to make a difference for middle class or lower class kids. The maximum grant offered by D’s college is $500, and of course there’s a competitive application process and strings attached. One of the expensive LAC’s she considered attending offers every student $2,000. Much better, but that won’t even cover rent for 10-12 weeks in NYC or DC, much less food and transportation. The Ivies might provide more help, for those blessed to attend them. However, those students are more likely to land the high-paid internships anyway.

When D2 was in college her school covered her room and few thousand $. Last year her graduate school gave her $6000+ for last summer. D2 has always been more interested in public sector. This summer is the first time she will be working in the private sector.

Internship is really more for resume building instead of making any meaningful money.

For many students, both purposes are desirable or necessary. While students from high SES families may not need the money, those not from high SES families need to consider the money as well as the experience and resume building. Hence, the internships that are good for resume building but are low paid or unpaid are much more accessible to students from high SES families.

Given the recession/depression, I think it is safe to assume there will be fewer internships available in the foreseeable future.

My son is graduating in May. He had a summer job lined up for a program for kids with ADHD and was really looking forward to it as he had gotten a promotion. Alas, the program won’t run this year so that’s out. He has a job offer for next academic year to be a teaching fellow at a prep school (day). I really hope that holds as he will be crushed if it falls through. He has to halfway across country for it but school provides housing so at least there aren’t leases to sign etc.

To Momofzag and others whose kids have lost their opportunities: we are so sorry! Hopefully some positions will re-open in a month or so.

One rejection letter D received said there were 600 applications for the program. Even before the crisis began it was stough to get internships!

Supposedly D will be receiving an offer letter without a start date. Just hope she can get housing in DC last minute!

@TheGFG . Start looking now. It’s pretty expensive in DC. Other’s that know the area better might be able to suggest something cost effective. Sometimes there are older people looking to rent out a bedroom for the summer. This might be a good option is a safe neighborhood? I would start looking now and making contact. I would also contact the local universities since they might have a department for offsite housing. If so then they will have a website of kids also looking to lease their apartments for the summer. You can greatly negotiate rates also since something to these students is better then nothing. Also many are very lenient with move in and out dates. My daughter just did this with her apartments. Remember these are students and they really want to try to help each other…Just a fyi

The fact that many have to work from home, it’s really hard to bring people on board who have little to no experiences. Also, when the money is tight, interns and co-ops are the first to be cut (before cutting employees). I feel so bad for the kids.

We wrapped up summer intern selection by Jan/Feb each year. Our program is competitive, but not as competitive as the big financial or consulting firms. Had I know things go to shite like this, I would push for more of them.

I have 5 co-ops that should be finished in May but we extended them until end of the summer. Summer interns will be be on-board as normal. It’s just more work for us to manage the interns and co-ops at the same time, especially doing it remotely. We have a lot of work, it’s not the issue, but our lives would be more difficult with the additional resources, believe it or not. Many just flat out told me they don’t want to deal with interns or co-ops at the moment. Okay, fine, but don’t think that this doesn’t go against you in your year end review.

Update: this morning, an hour after D spoke with her prospective supervisor and received onboarding information, the offer was recalled. The internship is suspended at best, cancelled at worst.

@The GFG - So sorry for your D! Mine needs to go for her preemployment drug screen but we aren’t going to feel comfortable until she’s actually at the company working. So nerve wracking!

I am so sorry. That just sucks, once again. I think all of us in this boat should have the kids start their own thing this summer. Have no clue what …

@momofsenior1 Once your daughter is actually on the company campus let us all know and maybe we can convince them to take on more kids with varying interests…LOL…Throwing good vibes your daughters way!!!

My niece is a junior and had a summer job at one of the Big 4 (on the consulting side). The summer job was cancelled but they offered her a full-time job after graduation. So, she is very pleased.

My D17’s internship has evaporated. She is now thinking of spending the summer studying for the GRE and LSAT and working remoting for the think tank she works with during the year.