<p>Is anyone else disppointed that their S or D did not walk away with a job offer at the end of his or her internship? DS was told that his work product was very good but due to the current state of the economy he would not be receiving an offer. Seems hardly anyone interning at his firmwalked away with with an offer and that the ones that did had something extra (i.e. one had already graduated, one was finishing up a Master's). I don't want to say that we expected a job offer but S has always been such a hard worker that we felt somewhat confident that he would end up with one. This really changes things. S had already been talking about going to grad school but I was hoping that he could work awhile first. Now the question is going to be whether or not the economy has adversely affected grad school admissions as well as financial aid for grad school. With D starting college in the fall, we really had not planned to assist S with any of his grad school expenses. Is anyone else in this same situation?</p>
<p>When I saw this title I guessed it was a problem of the economy and not the work ethic.</p>
<p>Tough times. Maybe your S can live at home and work somewhere–anywhere–to save money for grad school?</p>
<p>Is your son a rising senior? If he is, then he shall just look for other job opportunities with other firms. The school’s Career Center will be a good place to start.</p>
<p>OP - I’d take the company at its word, barring strong evidence to the contrary. My niece got an offer with a defense contractor … female plus engineering is an unusual combination. On the other hand the brilliant D of a friend did not get an offer. That may have had something to do with her intern choice of Lehman Brothers!</p>
<p>I think in the long run, the kids who are graduating now or in the next year or so will have an advantage. I know it is not easy as the parents in this situation, but I really believe it is better for things not to come too easily for a person at the beginning of his/her work career. I think they young people will become more frugal, more appreciative of opportunities, and better employees. I would rather get hit with a bad economy in my 20’s than in my 50’s. </p>
<p>Now, I admit, I might not be so philosophical when my rising junior is graduating, but she has already learned that you have to apply to a LOT of internships in order to snag one. </p>
<p>I hope the experience your son had during his internship leads to other possibilities - I am sure his work ethic will be recognized and while his company may not have been able to offer him a position, their positive evaluation of him will certainly be an asset.</p>
<p>Having an internship is better than not having one and the real question is whether he can get a useful letter of recommendation I think. Many organizations are not able to hire interns in this business climate but it does not mean the time was wasted as long as he makes use of the experience as he moves forward. Most kids do not have a realistic grip on what is required to get a job, especially in the present economy. So some useful disappointment now may heighten his determination. Maybe he can ask to sit down with someone and gather some job search tips and mentoring. I imagine many firms feel badly about disappointing promising interns–and would at least be willing to lend some advice and support.</p>
<p>2008 DS finished up a Microsoft Internship, Bangalore. No offer. So DS continue with plans to tour Europe with msft paying the airfare to Paris rather than to Oregon. </p>
<p>DS tours Europe self touring and visiting classmates from HS, undergrad, grad schools. Ends up in Geneva and vegies for a week. Gets a phone call from msft that another internship is available, does he want it. He takes it and they fly him out to Seattle next day. No job offer. </p>
<p>PI says that if DS doesn’t get a offer, DS can go with PI as a visiting researcher in Germany. No offers. DS finally gets an inquiry from his undergrad adviser after he asks for LOR. Gets hired. </p>
<p>notes:
DS will not work for defense and targeted his search to specific areas of his interest.
In no way does DS fault msft and thinks very highly of them and their opportunites. At the time, they said that since he recently graduated, they a hiring quota for new hires directly from school. He has good friends within msft and thinks very highly of their opportunities and people. More than a year of hunting and bingo, a position falls from the sky into his palms. I’d say his dream job. </p>
<p>time and place and luck.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should assume that not getting an offer at the end of his internship means that your son will not find a job. It merely means that he doesn’t have one automatically waiting for him. Companies are being careful. They don’t want to offer jobs a year in advance because they don’t know how many jobs will be available at that time.</p>
<p>Your son didn’t fail to get an offer because his work was poor; it happened because of the economy. He can still apply for jobs at the company where he interned and at other companies (many of which probably also didn’t offer permanent jobs to most of their interns for the same reason). He’s not in trouble; he simply has to go through the process of job hunting during his senior year – something he might have preferred to avoid.</p>
<p>The computer science students who do get job offers after an internship, still tend to do all the interviews at all the companies, rather than just taking the job offered after the internship. So in reality, your son is not in a position that is any different from anyone else’s, as long as his confidence isn’t suffering from the lack of an offer. Just emphasize with him that it is the recession, not him.</p>
<p>My daughter had a job offer rescinded after an internship at an investment firm. It was right after the market melt down last December. The company offered to extend the internship instead. She got so upset she turned it down.</p>
<p>“Is anyone else disppointed that their S or D did not walk away with a job offer at the end of his or her internship?”</p>
<p>There probably are lots of parents and students who are in this position due to the economy. Even before the economy tanked, I knew many students who had done very well on their internships, but weren’t offered jobs because there weren’t jobs available at the firm. Sometimes students had to wait as long as 4-5 months before getting a permanent offer from the company where they had interned. </p>
<p>Getting an internship didn’t guarantee that one would get a job offer from a company even when the economy was decent. </p>
<p>New graduates who lack internships, however, are in even worse shape because many companies don’t want to hire recent college grads who haven’t had at least one internship.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for putting this into perspective for me. DH and I both graduated in the 80s during the last real downturn and we both struggled to find jobs. I was really hoping DS (who has much, much better stats than either of us) wouldn’t have the same experience. I know it builds character and all that but sometimes character building just isn’t what you’re looking for!
The firm he interned with told him that they just weren’t making offers right now because they didn’t know how much work they would have in a year. If the economy improves, he could still end up with a job at this firm. They also told him that if he decided to go to grad school that he could come back and intern there again next summer so I guess that is a good sign. I’ve told him to try to keep all of his options open. Let the firm know that he is definitely interested in working there but go ahead and interview with as many other firms as possible. He is also going to apply to several grad school programs and try to land a graduate assistantship. Hopefully he can get at least some of his school paid for, I don’t want him to start out with a lot of debt in this economy!</p>
<p>M’s Mom - </p>
<p>You gave your S good advice about letting them know that he’s still interested. He should touch base with the person that he worked for and with the HR department during the year to see if anything has changed (and to thank them for the opportunities offered during his internship).</p>
<p>One of my Ss did an internship with a manufacturing and engineering company last year. They had over 30 interns, and offered jobs to more than 20 of them. S declined the offer since he decided to go to grad school, but he stayed in touch with several people from the company. He was thrilled when they offered him another good-paying internship this summer, even though he had graduated and will be going to grad school in the Fall. </p>
<p>Compared to last summer, he noted signficant changes as a result of the economy. There were only 20 other interns this summer, the students weren’t entertained & dined the way they had been previously, and only one of the interns has been given a job offer so far. </p>
<p>Internships are still a positive experience, even if they don’t result in an immediate job offer. Not only does S have even more solid connections with the company, but some of the interns that he met are going on to work for other companies; all of them stay in touch. Some of the VPs from last year have moved to other companies too, and S is staying in touch with them. By the time S graduates from grad school, he is hoping that some of those internship connections might lead to a job opportunity in a better economy. </p>
<p>Your S’s company is not alone in deferring new hires for awhile. They also know that in this economy, they may not have to compete for these kids. If they’re smart, they’ll at least ask your S to give them a call before he accepts any other employment. In the meantime, keep in mind that your S’s internship with this company might lead to summer employment if he decides on grad school!</p>
<p>I think a lot of companies are being conservative this year. But the stock market seems to be perking along, which means the economy can’t be far behind. By the end of the year, these companies may find that they need those young people that they didn’t offer jobs to. So I’d just hang in there and make alternate plans just in case things looks dismal next spring.</p>
<p>I think lots of companies are in a bad situation - they extended internship offers when the economy was better. Some cancelled paid internship programs altogether; others kept the internships in place so as not to leave the students with no jobs, but had no intention of making job offers (due to the economy.)</p>
<p>Hopefully at least your child will get glowing recommendations from his internship & will still be ahead of others who were unable to do an internship when your child applies this fall for a job post graduation. I have no idea whether S will be offered a job from his summer internship but we’re hoping that at the very least he’ll have more glowing recommendations so he will have better luck when he does start job hunting as he’ll also be graduating in the spring. With the current economy, there are a lot of firms shedding employees so they can’t really be making job offers while they’re laying folks off.</p>
<p>My DD, who graduated in May, was offered a position with the company she interned with last summer. But she worked there over Thanksgiving break and offered to work over winter break as well. She kept in touch with her bosses throughout the year and sent them updates of her portfolio throughout the year. They definitely knew she was interested, haha. My DD also was offered an internship in her college town, but it paid less and didn’t come with free housing/food so she gave up her freedom to come live at home and save, save, save.</p>
<p>My son, a 3rd year neuro major, didn’t get accepted into any of the summer internships he wanted so he asked his former neurosurgeon/mentor if he could intern again (like last year) with him. My son got the job but his hours were cut from last year due to budget restraints, so obviously his earnings are less.</p>
<p>But both kids are happy to have jobs, since their friends aren’t working (or are doing non-paid internships).</p>
<p>If he hasn’t already done so, be sure your son gets a letter of recommendation from his internship that he can use for grad school or in his job hunt (even if that job hunt is deferred until after grad school; best to get the rec letter now while they still remember him).
My organization has not been able to make offers to our interns in the last couple years but to lessen our guilty feelings, we gave stellar recs.
He also should keep in touch the rest of his life with one or two people with the firm; they may hear of other opportunities for him in his field throughout his career, or eventually, at the firm where he interned.</p>
<p>You’ll notice a theme here – the letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>It’s a nice thing to have. Besides saying that the student was reliable or helpful or pleasant to work with – or whatever else applies – thoughtful employers usually include a description of the type of work the student did so that the letter will act as a confirmation of the type of experience that the student puts on his or her resume.</p>
<p>In my opinion, no student should leave an internship without at least asking for a letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I hadn’t thought about asking for a letter of recommendation now. He has his exit interview on Tuesday so he should still have time.</p>