Internship. The word alone can strike fear into the hearts of many college students. Should you get one, and if so, what kind? How do you find it?
University Career Services is a valuable on-Grounds resource for students, especially rising third- and fourth-years. In addition to online listings through CavLink, UCS organizes the on-Grounds job and internship fairs each semester. Companies attend these fairs to advertise their programs and to recruit students for positions.
UCS will host its annual spring job and internship fair Feb. 3. At least 120 companies from the corporate, nonprofit and government sectors, are expected to attend.
This annual fair, though a valuable resource, is not the only opportunity for University students to explore their options, including those off-Grounds. One such upcoming event is a Feb. 18 panel on government and non-profit organizations at Georgetown University, to which UCS will be transporting University students.
Heather Rudd, assistant director for experimental learning at UCS, recommends using a multitude of strategies to cover all potential opportunities.
One area she said students should consider is the University alumni network - which extends to about 20,000 former students through UCS' contacts.
"University alumni are a very strong resource," she said, "not only as contacts, but to give you an idea of how they personally have used their major professionally."
Rudd said she does not recommend asking alumni directly for internships, but rather for advice and to use the connections they offer to find positions.
"Look for listings online, identify companies and organizations in your area of interest and see what they have to offer," she noted.
She added that sometimes a more proactive approach is effective, such as directly asking a company to create an internship position.
Daunting or daring as that may sound, asking a company to create an internship is not as unusual as it might seem. Many students are able to use family connections to find positions - this is simply a more formal way of creating future connections.
"I'm filing out as many applications as I can to places where I might know someone or have a connection, such as a U.Va. alum working there," second-year Architecture student Kyle Bancroft said.\nA multitude of strategies would then appear to be effective: online listings, personal connections and face-to-face interactions. But what if those listings or encounters do not seem to be there?\nRudd noted that certain fields are more likely to advertise for positions than others.
"Commerce and marketing companies tend to travel to Charlottesville and attend fairs more so than non-profits and environmental agencies," Rudd said. The absence of conspicuous listings, however, does not mean internships are unavailable in those fields.
These are the instances that require more persistent searching, but sometimes the necessary resources to do so are already just a click away.
If you have already declared a major, you may be part of a department e-mail list-serv. In addition to providing information about courses and events pertaining to your studies, faculty members use list-servs to pass on information about companies searching for suitable interns. Companies that directly approach particular departments often have fairly specific qualifications in mind for potential interns, and the list-serv offers employers an efficient way to tap into just such an applicant pool.
Third-year College student Florette King said she came across the internship she is applying for via an e-mail sent out by one of her Global Development Studies professors. But a problem may arise in terms of making yourself stand out among a sea of students who will have completed similar courses in the same field.
"Employers want to see how you are spending your time as a student," Rudd said. "Your clubs and organizations are evidence of your time management skills, your leadership skills and your motivation: This is what companies are evaluating."
She added that employers also are interested in an applicant's grade point average, volunteer work and past jobs as evidence of an organized student.
Rudd noted that many internships are aimed at rising fourth-year students because they already have completed the necessary coursework. She explained that some students wait until at least their third years to apply to internships and work on building their r
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