utexas2010

Sorry if i sound like im complaining but im a little fed up with this-

about to finish my sophmore year with a 3.9 in Business/Gov double major and I have been rejected at every internship i have applied for due to "limited work experience"

Idk if anyone agrees with me but I have never had a part time job because I am an entrepeaneur at heart and have made ALOT more money doing little things (even gambling/poker) and I have felt like 7 dollars an hour was never worth my time, especially if it would affect my grades.....now it seems all of this is coming back to haunt me

does anybody else share similar views? should I get a part time job to satisfy other peoples needs (I highly doubt I will though), what ever happened to the days were good grades were enough?

oh ya I might try an experiment where I keep all of my resume the same and then add two part time job experiences and see what happens haha

IhateCR

lol if you think you are an entrepreneur at heart, why do you need an internship then? You can be Larry Page and you will make more money than a lot of firms. Maybe you are extremely intelligent but you cannot demonstrate that you can actually work in the company.

utexas2010

I agree but now the system is set up where internships are looked at as almost mandatory, I want to enter the job force for a few years to save money, clear any school debt, but I also need an internship for my major (required to graduate), edit- im not just some antisocial bookworm either lol, alot of extracirriculars, but my source of income will not be from the iternship/job, I just need it for experience purposes and its becoming a pain in the ass

Convergence

"limited work experience" is probably their way of saying wait a year...I believe most internships are handed out to juniors. Either that or you might be lacking in extracurriculars....try to highlight the entrepreneurship activities you've done on your resume if you haven't yet.


If you can't get an internship this summer I would seriously consider interning for free/etc. just to get some experience....that coupled with your high gpa should give you more options come junior year.

Dawgie

Deserved it, should have worked at the mall when you were younger. I suggest you find any type of work this summer. You'll be fine next summer though. They will typically be looking for rising seniors. No need to cry about it, you should have knew from the start.

utexas2010

thanks for the responses, convergence I agree completely, probably need to wait until next summer

dawgie- like I said before i was playing poker/selling imported items throughout high school making more money in one weekend than a part time job would pay in 2 weeks, but I appreciate the response and your probably right i should have started looking for a job last summer (I became familiar with internships last summer so the time Ive had to look for one has been limited), not crying just trying to see if anyone else was in a similar situation

-to say I deserved it is a little questionable, if I come across an interesting position/ part time job that will either teach me a thing or two or is extremely fun I will pursue it, money is not the issue with the job but the internship is strictly to meet my degree requirement as I have no intention to accepting any job offers through the intership or working at a place for a long period of time

Dawgie

I see I see. No worries you'll find something next year.

theoneo

Perhaps "limited work experience" meant structured work. They don't care that you made money playing poker because poker doesn't instill the same values and skills demanded of a conventional employee - basic things like a strong work ethic, organization, accountability, responsibility, punctuality, professionalism, and working with people. What kind of previous work experience does your resume have right now? If it's lacking, that's your problem.

It also probably reflects the fact that most internships are reserved for juniors. But then you should still try to do something constructive this summer, even if it's a regular part-time job in retail or something, just so you have some kind of work experience and professional references. Or else next year you'll be competing against other juniors who have years of work experience - even if it's just part-time - and that's a leg up for them.

Also, did you mention poker, selling imported items, and your entrepreneurial goals in your interviews? Maybe they don't give the impression that you're serious about a strenuous work-oriented career. IMO just saying that 7 dollars/hour isn't worth your time indicates that you may not appreciate having to work your way up. There are rewards to starting off in those positions - for example, being promoted to a position of leadership like shift manager or lead (or whatever) looks great on a resume because it shows you've been recognized for doing well at a job instead of looking down on it as pointless and boring.

cryptography

the point of work any structured internship/work experience is for the experience not for the money. people take non-paid internships for the summer to position themselves for next year, whereas they well could have worked at another high paying job.

i dont' know when you were born but i don't recall there ever being a time when good grades were enough.

Dawgie

You gotta put your hours in kiddo.

asdfjkl1

It might be your resume. Maybe hire someone to fix it up and make it more appealing. I've heard stories about people not getting hired until they fixed it up. And suddenly, they had job offers. Appearances matter considering that the first thirty seconds of a job interview basically determine what an employer thinks of you...

CollegeKid

Eh, as someone who got an internship with minimal work experience... I'd say it's because you are a sophmore. They don't wnt sophmores. They want juniors (or internship the summer before last year).

I've talked to recruiters and asked them about that. They don't expect great, lots of work experience. I mean, hopefully you have SOME EC's or something to show you do something outside of schoolwork and hanging out, but you don't need anything spectacular... simply because they don't expect it.

You are looking for an internship, clearly, it could be the first time, and at best... what you had some pointless minimum wage job? Those don't teach you much anyway.

Don't worry. You'll be fine next year.

Dawgie

CollegeKid, I have a feeling you don't know much about job searching. Graduating recently as an accounting major, I know getting an internship at PwC is one of the easiest things possible after by seeing 75% of the accounting major work there. They hired about 2800 interns alone last year. Not every industry is as high demand as accounting.

As far as the sophomores comment, that is only mainly true for highly structured and organized internships like IBanking or Big 4 internships. Although there are exceptions for Big 4 internships such as punks that go through INROADS or whatever. Many other smaller firms or less structured internship positions are willing to hire sophomores as interns.

Minimum wage jobs aren't pointless, they show personality and help you develop soft skills and team work. It shows you are taking initiative. When you are a freshmen/sophomore in college, this is mainly what you got going for you. I worked a minimum wage job after my freshmen year and built off that as a base. I found 2 internships related accounting in my sophomore year as a result of it. That helped me get an internship at Deloitte, which by the way is easily the most selective of the four (Deloitte & Touche profile for young professionals: BusinessWeek see applied vs accepted, or interns per year vs other 4). This allowed me to find two additional internships before graduation. Point being, use the momentum of each experience to seek other opportunities. Don't look down on smaller positions.