Internships for Undergrads

I cannot emphasize this enough: Undergrads must get internships, beginning summer after sophomore year. No more lifeguarding. No more camp counseling. Must apply to dozens of companies to get handful of interviews. Google and LinkedIn searches identify many of them. Google "Fill in the Blank Major Internships Summer 2017, for example. Sons were engineering and accounting majors. Found number of internships posted to university career center websites were limited. Must be willing to go anywhere in country to find a good internship opportunity. Airbnb makes finding housing easy. Takes huge commitment and focus for undergrad to get resume ready, fill out online apps, submit cover letters. You want your child to secure a job when he/she graduates? Make sure they have internships when in school. The personal experience AND the resume building are essential.

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I agree. D had several internships beginning Freshman year and they led to her being hired full time after graduation.
S had an internship last summer and one lined up this year. IME the students I know who did internships found it easier on the job market.

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Internships are not summer only. We’re located near a major state university and routinely hire part-time interns during the school year. We’re on the campus bus route which makes it easy for students to get to us. We’ve taken on a number of permanent hires at graduation after interning. That won’t be available at every school, summer internships are much more common, but depending on your location you might be able to find something while classes are in session as well as summers.

D is HS senior and just started an internship at internet start-up in Chicago. Since we live in a metropolitan area, there are lots of internships listed on internship.com. BTW, this is her second internship. This past summer she interned at a nonprofit doing marketing ads.

In many fields, if one wants to work right after college, internship experiences are indeed very important for the first full-time job. I have spent some time recently going through a few “super star” profiles among those with an elite degree in economics and/or finance. A pattern emerges for overly represented males are as follows:

The summer before freshman year (about 20% doing an internship):non-profit organizations, research universities, local asset management firms, local investment banks, etc.
Freshman-sophomore summer (> 95%): local asset management firms, local investment banks, White House, Federal Reserve, university-sponsored internship or community service program, etc.
Sophomore-junior (100%): Goldman sachs, Morgan Stanley, Apollo, etc.
Junior-Senior (100%): Blackstone, KKR, Bain Capital, etc.

Their first full time jobs are almost always (>90% probability) with the same firms in which they did their junior-senior internship. In other words, on the first day of their senior year, they pretty much secured their full time jobs already.

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I agree that internships are important, and that getting internships every summer is the best path. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them out there. My daughter never landed an internship, despite having excellent grades and applying for many dozens of them each year starting sophomore year. She did not look all over the country, but focused on the state where she attended school and the major metropolitan area where we live. The only internships she was offered were unpaid (essentially illegal) ones, which she declined. It was amazing how many internships wanted experience! So she ended up lifeguarding and waiting tables. I do think lack of experience hurt her in her permanent job search, but she did find a permanent job in her field that she’s excited about, and will start right after she graduates in May.

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You know…having summer internships is a great thing. But having a summer job is also a great thing. Sorry, I believe some longevity in summer work can be valuable as well. Both of my kids worked their way up from entry level positions to better work over the summers they were employed…at the same places. This demonstrated something valuable to employers as well.

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“But having a summer job is also a great thing.”

Yes, or do some volunteer work.

One reason Northeastern University is so popular today.

Many colleges have grants for students who are doing unpaid internships for non profits. Check your career centers to see if your college has any available.

Not everyone can afford an upaid internship. My son worked summers at Tufts. They run conferences and rent out rooms over the summer. He went from doing a menial job the first summer to being the lead supervisor the last one. He learned a lot about managing people, organizing shifts, and working with spreadsheets.

I love also how folks are now calling some summer jobs “internships”.

Having any kind of job that shows responsibility is a good thing.

If you happen to find a summer job in your intended field, all the better.

It is very unfair and it hurts the low income students the most. I have been in contact with a local nonprofit about trying to fund a small stipend to help offset the transportation costs for low income or first generation students. I can’t afford to entirely fund the internships.

The non profit was receptive to that idea and may decide to fund it to expand it. I had laid out how much it costs the students in terms of car availability, insurance, and gas money to do an “unpaid” internship and noted that by requiring it to be for college credit the student also incurs a cost at the college to have the credit be granted. I do believe the light bulb went off for them.

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Folks, it doesn’t need to be an internship. It can be a plain old job. Don’t get riled up about kids who can’t afford to work for free. Employers understand that. Companies can quickly weed out the impressive sounding but dopey internships from actual learning opportunities. Kid worked as a receptionist? Terrific. Kid coded medical procedures in a doctor’s office? Fantastic. Got promoted to shift supervisor at the pizza restaurant where he or she had worked all through HS? Absolutely terrific. Stocked shelves at Target and won the “Best attitude” award by the night manager? Super.

But kids who claim they are “too tired” after a demanding semester to get a job (or internship) and need to recharge their batteries all summer because they are going to be social chair at their fraternity… hmmm. There have always been affluent kids who didn’t need to work for the cash- but even if that’s the case, show a little initiative.

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In theory, I agree. And if a kid is part of a family that can support him through an unpaid internship or provide the funds for that airbnb, it’s the best way to go. And if a kid is in a field where the internships are decently paid, it’s also the best way to go. Mine were both in these kinds of fields. But…that’s not the case for everyone. Low-income students often just can’t go away for the summer for unpaid or even low paid internships. They have to hang onto the part time job that pays the car insurance or will cover books in the fall. The cost of a professional wardrobe can be prohibitive, especially if the income from the internship barely covers living expenses.

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For my second kid’s career, hands on experience is the only way to get the experience needed to start a career. She is fortunate that this summer the site covers housing on site. She has money stockpiled from freshman summer (PAID) and sophomore summer (UNPAID but college grant) that can pay for food and incidentals.

In our rural area transportation costs are the biggest hurdle to having quality work experience.

Some colleges have grant programs that will cover the costs of unpaid internships. (At least some of the cost anyway, I don’t know the details - but it got mentioned at Accepted Students Weekend and U of Chicago when we were there._

Not only for summer but folks may pursue part time work during school semesters/terms, if the academic workload permits. The role of colleges in large cities, like NYC or Boston, cannot be overlooked in this case. My D2 has been doing part-time (10-15hrs per week) during the last 2 semesters in Atlanta. She is studying MechE and it helps to have expertise in a field in demand. D2 does 3-D modeling and she is the one to pick and choose among the various gigs she gets.

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Personally I think unpaid internships should be illegal. My daughter just landed an unpaid internship with a non profit, the CEO takes home several $ millions. Its about doing the right thing.

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Membership in professional organizations (fees are either waived or reduced for college students) along with attending alumni events might be helpful in applying to internships as well.