My son is a college junior, economics major, 3.8 GPA, applied for about a dozen summer interns. But still hasn’t heard from anybody. He wasn’t involved in any clubs except for campus symphony orchestra. How come he didn’t receive even a phone call. Is it because he is not active on campus? I am so worried for him.
When is normal time students hear from them?
When did he apply? I heard banks recruit as early as sophomore year for junior internship, but many companies recruit in the fall for junior summer.
He started last christmas. some due dates are in Feb. He also went to campus job fairs. but still didn’t hear anything. o wonder if it’s because he is not involved in many campus activities?
Has he tried emailing each internship program and following up on his application status?
Does his school have a career center that can review his resume, help with his elevator pitch, practice interviewing skills?
@Gumbymom , @momofsenior1 Thanks for the suggestions. I think this might be that he is lack of.
Being proactive and following up with the employer/program was something my older son found very important in getting his resume/application considered.
Internships can be a lot harder to get than we think. My D originally applied to a dozen, waited a couple of months, no word. Applied to another dozen, same response. Applied to a couple more dozen, a few responses and telephone interviews. Sat down over her winter break and applied to another 50 if I remember correctly. In the end, she had about ten telephone interviews, a few offers that she turned down and then an offer from a Fortune 100 that she took. I think one of the problems is these companies get so many applications (remind you of anything?).
My D is also a junior economics major. She applied to a lot more than a dozen internships. I would guess she applied to about thirty. Anything she saw that looked remotely interesting and she could argue she was qualified for got an application.
Judging from her activity, I think we are right in the midst of hiring season for interns. She had two phone interviews a couple weeks ago. Last week she got one offer from one of the phone interviews. This week she has an in person interview with the other company. Then she just had an initial contact from another. I think if your son hasn’t heard anything yet he should start applying for more jobs ASAP.
It depends. I hear from some schools they don’t hear back till mid March /April.
A dozen is too few. It’s a numbers game. He needs to apply to a lot more and he needs to follow up after submitting each application. Is he also networking through LinkedIn? He should do that. Reach out to alumni from his school who either currently work at the company or did.
What types of internships is he looking for? The big financial services firms will have completed their hiring for the summer, unfortunately. But smaller companies should still be hiring. He needs to apply widely.
And honestly, his lack of campus involvement is going to be a problem for many. As someone noted above, like college admissions, the competition for internships is fierce.
To answer your question, some companies just don’t get back to every one that applies. Many though will eventually send a rejection email.
I do want to counter the people who are saying that the big banks are all done already. D’s interview later this week (an all day affair) is with a very large financial institution. Maybe most of them are done, but not all.
I’m pretty sure your daughter has a final superday, me29034. That is long after the application period, prescreen and initial interview periods closed.
Yes @roycroftmom She did call it a superday. I guess they have many candidates in and rotate them among interviewers.
But regardless, OP’s son needs to start hustling. He can’t just sit waiting for the phone to ring which is what it sounds like he is doing.
I found out my non STEM kid did do several interviews and is in the process of doing interviews. Just didn’t know about it because we rarely contact him. He keeps us in the loop when he thinks we should know. Seems like on one of them, interviewing person is a prof in his college affiliated with a program.
@archaea Hopefully it’s not to late for him to get very active and secure something this summer. If not, the lesson learned and what he should apply going forward (starting now) is alumni networking is key. OCR will be back in the fall for full time hiring (upon graduation). He needs to go to all those info sessions, coffee chats, etc. But…he needs to network and find people who can help him move the process along. He should do that ahead of OCR.
S found that out this winter break (he’s a sophomore). He applied to several shops. I told him to go to linkedin and reach out to alumni (may take several per firm). He had a lot of success doing this. Several info interviews (phone) with alumni who passed him on to others and …magically, HR started sending him the digital interviews. Without that, his application / resume was sitting in a pile with hundreds. It takes a lot of effort but it’s great experience.
My daughter is a freshman but brought in dual enrollment credits and has junior standing. She is an accounting/finance double major but has not taken intermediate accounting yet. By the end of this semester she has finished all her general ed and all her business general ed except for senior capstone.
Today she got two emails for internships. One was to set up a phone interview and the other for an in person interview for next week. Then this afternoon she went to a career fair. She was offered an interview tomorrow on campus. One company rep said she sounds promising but wasn’t sure if they can take her until next summer. A second rep said he would contact he the end of the month to early April.
It sounds like around now in March is when our local companies are looking. She knows she may not qualify for anything yet but she is trying.
Maybe he can send an email to his contact person, if he still doesn’t receive feedback then it’s time to look for another option.
Agree that a dozen is not many at all. Some students that I know end up applying to hundreds of summer intern positions before even getting a single interview. The best way is to go through the career office at the university, as they typically have a direct line with the hiring manager.