Over the past few years internships have become increasingly important for students as they play an ever larger role when applying for jobs after graduation. According to national data, 63 percent of students hired after graduation last year had at least one internship. Many of those students had more than one, and many also had what are called ‘related internships’ — for example, an internship at a law firm for a student who wishes to pursue a career as a lawyer. For liberal arts students, the percentage is even higher.
Not only have internships become critical for applying to jobs, graduate schools, too ,are now frequently looking for internships on applicants’ résumés. Roseborough explains that they want to see evidence of dealing with “adult-level problems in a real work situation.”
Internship activity at the CSO picks up in February and continues throughout the spring semester, with students coming in for one-on-one meetings, resume help and networking advice.
“Spring is a very busy internship time,” said Roseborough. While historically the majority of students seeking assistance from the CSO has been juniors and seniors, recently underclassmen have begun to come to the CSO for help finding internships.
“We’re seeing many more sophomores and first-years than before,” said Roseborough, a fact she said the CSO is “thrilled” about.
As the ongoing financial crisis has forced businesses to maintain tighter budgets than in previous years, many companies are seeking unpaid interns rather than hiring new employees. A growing number of college graduates are now settling for these unpaid internships as a way to gain work experience when paid employment opportunities are scarce, which has resulted in increasingly tough competition for coveted internship spots.
This year, internship applicants have been dealing with tighter deadlines and more demanding application processes. “The very competitive internships go quickly, in about January,” said Roseborough, citing Google as an example.
“There has only been a slight return to Wall Street internships,” Roseborough also said. Wall Street internships, a key résumé builder for students looking to pursue a career in finance, are now incredibly difficult to get without personal connections or an already stellar résumé.
In addition, the financial crisis has also put a strain on students, and as more of them need financial assistance, unpaid internships are just not an option without some type of grant or stipend.
This year, of 154 applicants for grants from the College, only 45 students were able to be assisted, due to the limited availability of funds (an additional eight students were selected for specific College-funded internships). Although funding remains limited, every year the number of applicants has gone up.
“Recently the College has been doing more fundraising, but it’s not a big push. It’s not at the top of the list,” Roseborough said of the effort to offer more funding for unpaid internships. She also explained that Middlebury has fallen behind its peer institutions in this regard, as many other schools made a bigger effort to fund raise before the economic crisis began.
As a result, many students are looking for paid summer jobs instead of unpaid internships. “A lot of students make that a polar thing, jobs or an internship,” Roseborough said.
Stephanie Henderson, ’11, is one of the many students who will live at home and work at a restaurant in her hometown this summer.
“I applied for internships, but nothing really worked out,” she said. “Waitressing is a really good second option. And living at home is free, so that’s a big plus too.” Henderson also commented that after spending her spring semester in Madrid, she hopes to earn back some of the money she spent there, a concern she shares with many other juniors who study abroad.
Although getting an internship can be daunting for students who don’t already have outstanding résumés, Roseborough explains that Middlebury students have some unique options available to them.
“The smartest thing for students to do is J-term internships.” She explained that there is virtually no competition for internships during Winter Term, and because the College offers credit, students have even more options for where to intern. Students can intern in January at companies where they would not be able to in the summer because, for legal reasons, college credit is required.
Middlebury students also have access to a large database of alumni, MiddNet. According to site analytics, 1,230 volunteers have been contacted, 15,000 searches have been made and there have been 40,000 site views.
“We teach students to effectively network with MiddNet,” said Roseborough, continuing that the alumni database can be an incredibly valuable resource for career advice and even job offers. “Parents and alums have a really vested interest in seeing students succeed.”
Internships are "critical," says CSO
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