The Internship Process is a Joke

<p>I disrespectfully disagree.</p>

<p>Ditch the childish ego (and atrocious command of punctuation while you're at it) if you want to get your point across. </p>

<p>Otherwise, don't complain if people judge you for judging others.</p>

<p>You disagree? Explain. Atrocious command of punctuation, explain? I'm not complaining you can go ahead and continue to be a jackass and attack me with name calling like "Dawgturd", but in the end you are making yourself look like a child ****.</p>

<p>Texas I completely agree with you. Experience and connections are way more important then grades. I have a 3.7 GPA and majoring in finance had a really tough time finding anything as a sophomore I was told I need more experience. So I landed a job as a dell rep, very flexible job, decent money, and a laptop out of it.</p>

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Perhaps the post isn't clear....some internships do pay decently, most of those are available to students in top programs, and on campuses where career centers and recruiters are active. If that's not the case on a regional public campus, most of the internships are unpaid, or very low pay. Now, if you can afford to take those great. If not, if you need to make your expenses and tuition contribution, well you might not do an internship.

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<p>DuelingApps this is horribly inaccurate information. Companies have set internships, it's not as if they vary pay based on school. It's not as if they post 20/hour for one college and 5/hour at another. </p>

<p>Sure, the recruiting won't be as strong (one of the few concrete benefits of going to a good school) but that doesn't mean you can't succeed. The underlying assumption people make when they say it doesn't matter where you go is ambition and a strong drive to conquer obstacles. I highly doubt there were no opportunities for your sons. Most employers look positively on any working experience too, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.</p>

<p>Dawgie - to be fair, you're an accounting major, and your friend is in engineering. Some majors have a harder time finding internships that pay as well, though most are still better than the wages for cleaning windows and whatnot I imagine...</p>

<p>I was just trying to make a point that internships pay decent, i realize being in business major (accounting, finance, econ), engineering, and CS get paid more than most majors.</p>

<p>The main point I was trying to stress was that work experience does matter, and DuelingApps is really spouting off nonsense.</p>

<p>Collective - Nobody said it was a matter of assigned hours. Where did that come from...suffice it so say that when you don't live or attend school in a major market area and companies are not interested in your campus, you've got a big challenge ahead. Yes, you can apply on line, with few hits. Yes, you can forward letters, make calls, but unless you have a 'hook' you're up against the students from recruited campuses and connected others. Let's not forget that if you happen to get a decent paying internship in a major market area, there are expenses associated with living there etc. All I'm saying is that internships aren't accessible, possible, realistic, attainable for all students. To best position for internships you'll best be at a recruited campus, in a major market, or have well connected career center folks or friends. Yes, it does matter where you go to school, and some students will be successful from regional campuses, the rest...You can highly doubt whatever you want, kids here are living it friend. In terms of "wages for cleaning windows and whatnot" those jobs involve quite a bit more than "windows" and pay well for this region. Plenty of folks working at it, but you can of course only "imagine".</p>

<p>Redo your resume and highlight your previous business experience. D2 just finished her sophomore year and was able to get a paid internship with a large baseball organization...she's a marketing/sports management major. She did have summer employment through local parks and Rec before that but that's it!The internships are out there. Don't give up!</p>

<p>Congratulations on the internship! Sounds exciting. I'd be so interested to know how your D made the initial contact with the organization. The students I speak of don't necessarily have business experience - one of the issues. The experience they have is more full time summer employment at labor & service jobs. They've applied via internet, through various agencies, through the so called "career center" at school. They've had their resumes evaluated by others and the glaring issue - no previous related experience, thus no calls. Key word apparently being 'related'. Some have pointed out that they're competing with hundreds of applicants from schools where companies actively recruit. Local companies here are very small and may have sporadic need for an unpaid intern, the larger companies outside the region are recruiting at other campuses and getting students from those. They don't have interest in a 3.5ish gpa from a regional campus. It seems the biggest challenge is getting an interview in the first place. The lesson seems to be go to a school with excellent connections/recruiting. These are all good kids with decent grades and great enthusiasm. They'd be an asset to any organization.</p>

<p>There are 4 summer interns at D's place of employment. The other three were brought in through college "fairs". All are from different schools...small LACs and large State University. My D was in the right place at the right time, met the President of the company in a social setting with no idea about the internship. He remembered her, contacted her and the rest is history. I'm just glad she's getting paid and getting college credit!!! She is looking for an internship for next summer already...would love to find out more about the Nike program. Also has some early feelers out for something in Denver that looks promising. </p>

<p>She is a marketing/sports management major. She is also a student athlete. When putting her resume together she highlighted organizing and working sports camps, working local Parks & Rec programs, volunteering at school with student Marketing organization and working on campus for her business professors. I really think how you package the experiences are important. Remember to network! She has told everyone she knows that she is looking for next summer and contacting old coaches, teammates and calling family friends and friends of friends. Good Luck!</p>

<p>playing poker doesn't prove to them that you're reliable and disciplined...that's why they like people who've held down (even low-paying) jobs...if their old bosses give the thumbs-up, it means that the candidate in question was dependable and dedicated, which is essential to good work performance. </p>

<p>I think a lot of people think they can just stride into a well-paying, interesting job without toiling through some crap-paying boring/awful ones first. Pay your dues, OP. Unless you're really wealthy/connected, you're going to have to at some point.</p>