<p>College D is a Chemistry Major in her sophomore year at regional LAC in southeastern state. She wants to intern next summer, both to get a higher salary that will help reduce the amount of loans she has to take out, and to get some experience in a possible career interest in Food Science.</p>
<p>I let her take the lead in this job search, but she is not finding much out there, and she is frustrated. Her career center gave her a list of websites to search, but couldn’t offer any concrete leads. (This LAC doesn’t offer Food Science major.) And when she does find a Food Science internship, it is limited to “Food Science majors only”. </p>
<p>I am encouraging her to call on the HR department at major Food Companies, to try to make a connection.</p>
<p>Any other ideas out there for digging up Food Science, Food Manufacturing, or Food Research and Development internships for next summer? I am assuming now is the time to start making calls and finding out deadlines, or am I pushing her too early?</p>
<p>One of my cousins is a '14 food science grad. She interned at Cargill in Memphis. Go to Cargill website and look at their internships page. There are “Quality Management Chemist Intern” positions that are available to Soph/Jun. chem majors (among other majors)–multiple locations in IA, NE, TN, OH, IN, ND. Apply on line. And keep looking. . .</p>
<p>What is her long term goal? Many chem majors opt for grad school, and if she goes that route she’ll want to have some research experience under her belt. </p>
<p>DS (and engineering major) got on campus during the summer after his freshman year… and that is how he knows he does NOT want to go to grad school ;)</p>
<p>At least she is looking at the right time of year, good for her. My kids have used career services, contact with professor, contacts with older students who have graduated. They have made list of target companies and watched their websites, too. If she doesn’t have a LinkedIn accounts, she should create one, a lot of jobs are posted out there (there is a search function).</p>
<p>My daughter is a food scientist who graduated in May 2013. It is an undergraduate major at her Big Ten school and t companies who come to her school to recruit for paid summer internships only interview students in that major each fall. She and most of her classmates interned with companies the summer before their senior year and often were offered full-time jobs early in their senior year with start dates soon upon graduation. My daughter appears very happy in her research and development job at one of the big U.S. food companies, but from what I can tell, food scientist jobs like most jobs these days are highly competitive. There does not appear to be a high rate of attrition among older people in the field. For example, all of my daughter’s R & D colleagues are significantly older than she is That said, there are many avenues other than R & D for someone to pursue under the rubric of food science. But those who post graduation secure jobs in the field almost always majored in food science as undergraduates.</p>
<p>Some companies limit internships to students who are between Junior and Senior year only. Keep this in mind when looking at intern job posting - they should specify this.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the suggestions. Please keep them coming. So far, we have realized D probably can’t get a food science internship, but maybe she can look for a chemistry internship at a food company. And we learned she will most likely need to go straight on to grad school for Food Science before she will be a good candidate to get a food science job.</p>
<p>I asked, and she does have a LinkedIn account.</p>
<p>She has been to her Career Center, they were nice and tried to be helpful, but they just didn’t have contacts for Food Science.</p>
<p>She is employed by her Chemistry Dept, and is currently in charge of chem lab materials and set up, is a teaching assistant in the labs alongside the professor, and is researching this semester to design labs for next semester’s chem labs. Next semester she starts her actual research, and is being groomed to take over as Senior Student Employee over all the Chem student employees in her senior year. She is making great connections with her professors and will have great recommendation letters for grad school.</p>
<p>I will encourage her to converse with her professors about summer intern options. She has the option of continuing her research at her college over the summer, and it could possibly lead to published research. But the pay at the school is 10 cents over minimum wage, and her fast food job she can come back to at home pays $9.00 plus opportunity for overtime. Plus, she would have to pay for housing and food costs out of her low wages.</p>
<p>If you know a college student who has had a good experience interning at a large food company in any position, please share.</p>
<p>Ask her if she knows housing plans for junior year If she is going to off-campus apartment, she might have to pay for a lease starting in June whether she lives in the college town or not. </p>
<p>have her apply to a chemistry summer REU…they’re funded by the National Science Foundation, usually provide a stipend, housing, and a great experience.</p>
<p>The earlier she applies, the better. If she decides to apply to a few, have her get her LORs lined up soon (and give the profs a polite deadline.)</p>
<p>Both of my kids did REUs and they absolutely loved the experience.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids can you explain compensation for the summer REU ? Where did your kids live, where they in a campus dorm or an apartment? Where they paid enough to cover costs AND put some savings away to pay toward their next semester’s tuition?</p>
<p>She should set her net wider than just food companies. A research internship in another related discipline will supply her with skills that could be valuable in her food science career: analytical chemistry etc. Look at biotechnology associations’ sites as well as major pharmas. Kiddo, who never had intent of doing bench research, did a research internship at a large pharma in molecular biology and thought it was helpful. For example, WBBA compiles a list of internships not only in biotech:</p>
<p>She should apply to as many consumer products companies as she can find. I know several chemists in the sector and they move around in the companies. One was at Mars developing Starburst flavors, another is at Colgate-Palmolive and works on fragrances. </p>
<p>That is admirable, but if I were you, I would be talking to everyone I know about it. I have a daughter at a U in a large city, who has looked for internships in a field in which I know lots of people. She has had a steady stream of internships without my help at all. (Partly due to her perseverance and partly due to being in a large city.) </p>
<p>My son needed an intership to finish his associates’ degree. I was at a party in another town and met a couple who happened to mention their son’s job…and he happened to be someone who could hire interns in my son’s area. Through that connection, my son got an unpaid internship which turned into a decent part time job.</p>
<p>Two food based companies with multiple internships are McDonald’s corporate, and General Mills. DS interned at the first in IT all three summers of college, and I worked for the the latter for over 10 years.</p>
<p>REU’s are administered buy the individual school, so each is slightly different. In general, you can expect an 8-week program with a stipend of ~$400-$600/week + travel allowance + free room in a dorm. Food is additional. They can be very good experiences.</p>
<p>School is a time to learn. I would think minimum wage in a relevant experience in a university lab with the expectation of publishing, even having to pay for housing, would trump the possibility of overtime and having free housing working at a fast-food joint near home, especially if she will be applying for graduate school to competitive universities and hoping to get fellowships to have that school paid for.</p>
<p>I would look to government labs. If she can find a contact in a government lab (through LinkedIn, maybe), she can ask for names of researchers in industry, or of companies/divisions doing work close to what she wants. Government employees often can be in oversight roles and can have a good handle on the “landscape.” Conference session chairs from recent conferences may also be good.</p>
<p>Offices, such as HR, may be the wrong place to look, especially for low-paying summer jobs. If she finds what she wants, it may be straightforward for a department to open a requisition and get her hired; but there may not be one currently open if she simply looks in at HR.</p>
<p>My experience is more of people searching for internships in Dec. - March, and having something in hand by March -April. She has a jump on things starting this early. She should also check back with places in a couple of months. REU sites may not even be updated yet to the upcoming summer’s opportunities.</p>