<p>Just a heads up for college students (or their parents) who think it’s too late to even think about finding a good summer internship position if you don’t already have it locked up by now.</p>
<p>DS had been working with one of the few local tech firms (his field) since January on a possible summer internship. Didn’t come together - the door never closed, but things never got firmed up either; just floating around in limbo unresolved.</p>
<p>So… he went online Thursday to the jobs website of another local tech firm. Found the <em>one</em> summer internship available; applied online and uploaded his resume. Friday morning, got a phone call. Hired on the spot to start yesterday.</p>
<p>Lesson: it ain’t necessarily so that you have to find all internships starting in the fall/winter. And for all of us old fogeys who doubted that internet job searches could possibly really get you a job? 'Nuf said.</p>
<p>Just wanted to post a word of encouragement to others who might not have found a summer job yet.</p>
<p>thanks so much for the post! I’m going to pass it on to my DS who has done nothing about a summer job yet…there are possibilities still for him! Thanks for encouragement!</p>
<p>I agree. I’ve been looking around during the last couple of months. I want to stay at home, so that has limited my options. There was one job I ended up turning down last month–the money was less than I expected or wanted to handle. I applied for a couple of other places, and I was offered a job yesterday. I have two more pending that I’ve applied for recently. These are all good jobs (I’m overall not a fan of the internship vs. job distinction) and resume-builders that I’ve found right in my area. Be creative and outgoing while searching.</p>
<p>Make an excellent resume with good formatting, write compelling and individual cover letters, and email to follow-up if you don’t hear anything. If you’re not natural at interviewing, go to your career office and schedule a practice interview. </p>
<p>There are a lot of opportunities out there. The less picky you are, the more choices you’ll have. Apply a lot of places and follow-up. Something will work out. If the school participates, monstertrak.com lists very good opportunities.</p>
<p>Another datum: D applied to four internships in D.C. after having had a spectacular one there for five months last year. Two of them had stated preferences for grad students. She was the bridesmaid on one of the remaining two, a place that took only one intern and selected someone who could start significantly earlier and stay significantly later…the asked her to apply for a paid research assistant position next year if she were going to “gap” before grad school. </p>
<p>After assessing things, and beset by logistical difficulties in applying from Europe, about a month ago she decided to start applying for some internships close to home. She contacted a local Congressional office last week and was hired three days later to start four days after she gets back from Europe.</p>
<p>Jmmom…I want to congratulate your son! (TheDad…good for your D as well). I can’t relate so much to the “late” issue, but picking up on your point about looking online…my D is also doing an internship in her field this summer. She looked for internships online. However, the one that she is going to do is not one that had a listing. She found an internship for a firm in NYC, with offices in other major US cities. When she looked up the firm in NYC online to learn more about it to gear her cover letter appropriately, she discovered on their site that they had an office in Paris as well. While there was no internship listed there, she chose to just write the Paris office blindly. She wrote them in French, as a matter of fact. They wrote her back and were interested and she had to send more things and she did and she was hired. She totally found it online, and it wasn’t even a listing for a job but she just wrote them. By the way, she never got the original internship in NYC that she had found online. She even found her apt. in Paris online. Times, they are a-changin’…</p>
<p>jmmom, congrats to your son for looking beyond his college’s CDC listings. There are many opportunities available for students who are willing to search themselves.</p>
<p>Our son used both CDC and his own research too. He got two offers for summer internships through CDC but found the best one on his own-an entertainment industry software developer in the LA area. The downside is that he will be driving across the country and is leaving today! Awk!!!</p>
<p>The process was somewhat time consuming however. In the runup to finals he had to complete several on-line “tests”(he is a compsci major so I assume they were wanting to evaluate basic competencies) and a quite a few tele interviews. The software developer in LA had him on the phone for 2 interviews for about 2-1/2 hrs total during the school day. Scheduling appointments in CDC would have been more convenient. But hey there are worse things than spending a summer in LA.</p>
<p>FWIW, he got his apt sublet through Craigs list went a room opened up in a house occupied by several UCLA grad students. $500/mo with utilities.</p>
<p>Jmmom - thank you so much for the suggestion! I still don’t believe it’s really happening for my S. He has been home from college for three weeks following his freshman year and hadn’t found a job yet - he really just wanted something part-time and even the temp firm that placed him last summer hadn’t found anything. </p>
<p>I was idly searching online mainly for fun for “summer intern” naming local towns - and ran into a posting for a summer internship in his major from a major company whose world headquarters are 15 minutes from our house (I don’t want to give the name but your children have probably been happy with their meals). He applied online Monday (Memorial Day), got a call Tuesday morning to set up an phone interview Wednesday afternoon, got a call Thursday afternoon that he got the internship and they overnighted official application materials. He will join their group of interns in a week assuming nothing goes awry based on the application. The posting requested upperclassman but apparently that was not an issue; he just gets a little less pay than they do.</p>
<p>Now if he was only a little happier - he really didn’t want to work full-time and the 8:00 am start is a big downer. But it’s in his field and how can you pass up the opportunity for an internship after only one year! I on the other hand am ecstatic - he had a great high school career but nothing special in the first year of college. I’m convinced the college name (one of the very top in his major) got him considered and the interview got him selected. I’m sure he’ll feel much better after he starts and understands what it means to be in a formal internship program - we never dreamed he could get one so soon.</p>
<p>So one more reason why I love CC! Great advice!</p>
<p>Marilyn - great story. It is still unbelievable to me, too, how these job things can all work out so well with so little angst.</p>
<p>And, hey, your S may not be thrilled with the full time hours/early start, but I bet he’s proud. And it sounds like the parents in your house are a match for the parents in our house - we are happy enough at the kid’s job to make make up for any deficit he might or might not have in that department ;).</p>
<p>My Dd just got back from a service trip abroad, went on Craigslist and found an internship with a state non-profit consumer research institute. She had an interview yesterday and they “hired” her on the spot. (The “hired” is in quotation marks, since they admitted that they were out of money, but would love to have her work for free.) She, of course, said “YES”! (LOL), and was planning a strategy for finding PAID employment to supplement this, when… she came dancing into my room this morning hollering that she just got accepted off the waitlist for a 6-week foreign language immersion program (which covers full room, board, tuition, 10 college credits, plus free travel abroad the following summer…)----- so… I guess there are still opportunities to be found out there! (edit: Now when was that girl going to get a job and make some money? :eek: )</p>
<p>My D also found an internship at the last minute. She had a job at a new local building/home supply store but it fell through due to lack of customers. I found an engineering internship online. She apllied online. They called a few days later and asked her a couple questions, brought her in for an interview the next day, and gave her the job on the spot. Started three days later.</p>
