College Grad Lessons

Yes, the idea sounds a bit crazy, but it turns out that paying for an internship is not that unusual. The Wall Street Journal explained:

“Faced with a dismal market for college summer internships, a growing number of anxious parents are pitching in to help — by buying their kids a foot in the door.

Some are paying for-profit companies to place their college students in internships that are mostly unpaid. Others are hiring marketing consultants to create direct-mail campaigns promoting their children’s workplace potential. Still other parents are buying internships outright in online charity auctions.”

Obviously in an ideal world college students would be able to apply and be accepted to well-paid internship that gave then an advantage when entering the job market after college. Top-notch internships are hard to find, especially when the economy isn’t doing well. However, The Wall Street Journal seems to have over-sensationalized the story. Although there are parents paying tons of money to help their children get ahead, internships come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but my experience with internships was that the program I did that had a tuition fee was the most valuable.

My personal experiences with internships included the following:

The summer after my first year of college (though technically a rising junior), I participated in a program called The Washington Center. Yes this program had tuition and room fees, but my college had an affliation with the program that basically paid for the tuition. Since my family lives in the DC suburbs, I lived at home. The only cost I actually paid was for the 8 credits I earn and my internship was a paid internship. I accepted a position with the U.S. Department of the Treasury after interviewing for several others and receiving a few offers. So why do people paid for a program like this? Maybe a parent is most concerned about their child gaining work experience at what ever expense necessary, but honestly you get A LOT for your money - an internship advisor from the program (sets up interviews, helps place you and staying in contact throughout the program), a course one night a week (I took International Business), weeky seminars/speakers (journalists, embassadors, etc.) and a guarantee that not more than 20% of your internship time would be “administrative.” When you apply to an internship program directly through a company, you are at their mercy. With a program, you get a higher quality experience.

The next summer I took an internship on campus (one that I continued through the next year) with the Web Services Team. This is where I developed about 80% of my current web skills. Also, I now work for the Web Team full-time. No I didn’t pay for this experience, and yes it got me a job, but I didn’t get the city professional experience that I did with The Washington Center.

After graduation, I applied to a lot of public relations firms. Some were with the help of my dad’s professional network and others were through typical job postings. I got interviews from both, but it took awhile before I got an offer. The offer I got was through someone my dad knew at a top PR firm in DC - it was an internship. The internship were 3 to 6 months, with an offer at the end if there was an opening and they liked you. It paid $9.00 an hour (lower than any of my previous internship), but it was an internship that was highly desireable….to most. I learned so much, but around the 2 month mark I got an offer to work full-time at my previous internship. I took the offer because I thought web design was a better fit than PR, even though they are both related.

So of my internships, one was a paid program, one was on campus and the other was through networking. I gained a lot from all of them, and wouldn’t be the employee I am now without having completed each one. However, if I could only pick one of them, The Washington Center gave me the most “professional” experience and insight.

My advice to college students and parents is that the more structure program, although they might cost something, are often worth it. Also, colleges and universities often have an affliation with a program like these that reduce costs. Keep in mind that an unpaid internship can be completed for credit in many cases, so there is still something being gained beyond just the experience itself.

What internship or summer job did you find the most valuable?

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Finding a Job, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.