With fewer than two weeks of classes left in the semester, students are feeling the pressure to get their internships nailed down for the summer.
There is a lot of competition among students to find the perfect internship to build their resumes and potentially get a job offer upon graduation, said Rachel Dunnam, a marketing and business honors junior.
Dunnam said she did not like how she was looking to other people for examples of successful internships rather than seeking out what she was interested in.
“With McCombs, typically, your junior year you get an internship that turns into a full-time offer when you graduate,” Dunnam said. “And typically, the internship you’re applying to junior year is the first internship you’ve ever had, so it’s like you’re applying for the job that will lead you out of college.”
To help with the job search, UT offers many resources to help students find positions and craft applications. Each college has its own career services department and job boards to find internships and jobs, and the University provides access to HireUTexas, which is available to all majors and alumni.
Robert Vega, director of Liberal Arts Career Services, said along with offering college credit for internships, LACS provides help in writing resumes and cover letters, searching for internships that fit students’ interests and career goals and strategizing approaches for connecting with employers.
“Internships — whether in the summer, fall or spring — are highly valuable when considering a student’s post-graduation plans,” Vega said in an email. “Internships are often a pipeline to full-time hiring, which means that success at an internship can lead to job offers.”
Even with all these resources, some students still have a hard time with the application process. From tailoring a resume to going through interviews, applying to internships is time-consuming.
Hayley Wood, rhetoric and writing junior, said she’s used several of UT’s career services but still doesn’t know whether the effort is worth the time sacrifice.
“My schedule is so back-to-back every week, (so) I barely have time to do homework,” Wood said. “I feel like the whole culture of doing internships is just a measuring contest. Students need to ask, ‘Do I actually want to be doing these things, or am I just doing them because I’ve been told I need them?’ It’s kind of one of those invisible check boxes you need for college.”
