Would an internship for a recent grad be useful?

My school does not have a career fair in the fall. I don’t know why but the career center doesn’t have any marketing jobs.

I have done a few internships while not in college, in my 50’s and 60’s! I found them on craigslist or on organizational websites. But not paid.

If you need to work, why not get a “regular” job (restaurant? retail?) and then do a job search during the fall semester and after graduating.

If you don’t need to work for financial reasons, maybe focus on school and the job search for January.

The career services office should be a resource. Hope so, anyway.

Internships are often paid. I am not sure where you live but there are still many listings for summer internships on Indeed in the Chicagoland area. I agree you shouldn’t take any more unpaid gigs.

It sounds like your school’s career center isn’t helpful. Does your school use handshake, a job/internship listing site? Are your resume and LinkedIn profile up to date? If so, start reaching out to alumni from your school who work in jobs/at companies of interest to you. Good luck.

Yeah they have handshake and I have appiled to a few jobs on that so far but going to wait until August to apply to even more. I have messaged back and forth with a few alumni from my college and I have tried making geniune connections with them however I always feel like I am the one putting in all of the effort to stay in touch.

You are the one looking for a job…so you would need to put in more effort.

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I think of an internship as an extended job interview. If the internship is fir the right job at a company you want to work for, it just might be worth it.

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Unpaid internships are allowed for non-profits, educational settings (universities, perhaps working on a federal grant project), or if the student is earning credit for the work. They are NOT allowed for a private employer who is benefiting from the work done by an intern without paying the student.

If this student graduates and is not getting credit for the work, that’s just an employer not paying minimum wage.

I know but why would i put in effort if the person does not seem to care to stay in touch for more then a few months?? connections should not be one sided.

I want to but when i ask for advice in different facebook groups for some reason people suggest internships after graduation even though i have experience in social media management.

yeah i am not sure why but i have had some people suggest internships for after graduation even though i have done a few internships in college.

Unpaid internships after graduation would only apply to types of work that are so competitive that the entry-level job is an unpaid internship (and that can be of dodgy legality in many cases).

If that is the case for the kind of work you are looking for, you may want to consider different kinds of work where entry-level jobs are normal paid jobs because the labor market is not so skewed against employees.

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It is weird to me how people still suggest internships to me even though i am almost done with college. I am sick of doing internships and I want to start a real full time job after college.

Yes but I have done a few internships already and can’t afford to work for minimum wage.

Where are your classmates who recently graduated working in marketing? Ask them.

Makes sense.

You need to put in the effort- you want something they have- connections to their company, or introductions to people in their professional networks, associations, etc. What do they possibly need from you??? That’s why it’s one sided.

You should be launching a professional job search, and get your career services team to help you. Even if there is not career fair in the Fall, they can help you in a dozen ways- editing your resume, helping you write cover letters targeted to the types of opportunities you are interested in, getting you student memberships (generally free or cheap) to various professional associations which have job boards for their members, getting you access to lunch and learn type meetings in your field, etc.

You need to broaden your targets- social media, PR, corporate communications, product marketing, ad sales, crisis communications, etc. Any of these fields can launch you. Ignore the internship advice. You are living in a historically tight labor market (economists think it hasn’t been this easy to get a job since WW2 when so many people were serving in the armed forces that actual jobs were going begging) so take advantage of your luck!

Forget Facebook. That’s not how to get a professional-level job. You need to be using Linkedin, and making a compelling profile (and learning how to use the networking features) is the most important marketing project you have right now!!!

Good luck!

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You know nothing about me. I do put in effort. I put in a lot of it and i always try to stay in touch with people who i have met two to four months ago. however connections should not be one sided. they should go both ways. I have done several internships and none of them have positions right now or anytime soon since they are small companies. I have Linkedln but when I message people barely anyone responds and the people who do respond don’t seem to want to stay in touch. honestly I think i will have better luck applying instead of networking especially since i got way more interviews for internships in college from simply applying to internships.

OP has had good advice and the the thread seems to have run it’s course. Closing.

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