The current ultra-competitive job market seems to have encouraged many of the students who flocked to Jackson Gym yesterday for the Tufts Career Services Internship Fair. Although the Fair has traditionally been well attended, the country's economic troubles may have motivated a broader range of students to seek out summer internships.
One sign of increased demand for internships was the attendance of a greater number of underclassmen, Director of Career Services Jean Papalia said. "Students seem to be looking for internships earlier and earlier. We have seen many sophomores and first year students this year," she said.
Career Services has seen an overall increase in interest for summer internships from underclassmen this year. The majority of students applying for internships and attending internship workshops this year have been sophomores, and freshmen have been the second largest group, said Marie McCool, assistant director of Career Services.
These students are likely interested in gaining experience early on, Papalia noted. "In a tight job market, you really need to be as competitive as you can be and that means getting experience before you graduate," she said.
Since the current job market may make it more difficult for upperclassmen to secure permanent positions after graduation, many seniors and graduate students were also in attendance. But company representatives said that an internship is by no means a guarantee for full time employment within the company. "I honestly don't think [the companies here] are hiring," one graduate student in electrical engineering said.
Still, almost all of the companies at the Internship Fair acknowledged that "it certainly helps to have a foot in the door," one representative from Washington Group International said. Having a contact person inside the company to provide networking opportunities is also helpful, the representative said.
Completing an internship may also leave a student with "a better chance of a repeat internship," in addition to establishing a relationship with the company, a Pfizer representative said.
But Tufts students will be competing with large applicant pools for many positions, the Pfizer representative said. "[Pfizer] receives hundreds of resumes and will select only ten to 12 students for summer internships," she said.
Senior Eric Wahl, who was recruiting for summer teaching internships through Summer Bridge Cambridge, echoed this warning. "There is incredible competition," he said. The Summer Bridge positions "are virtually unpaid and there are still probably 300 applications for about 25 positions." Students are willing to work for so little because they are desperately seeking experience before looking for full-time jobs next year, he said.
Students had mixed reactions to the number and type of offerings at the fair. Some students were enthusiastic about simply getting their names out to companies that offer internships. "I came here with ten resumes and I have one left," sophomore mechanical engineering student Rosie Osser said.
But other students found the Internship Fair to be "limited in the amount of its resources" that related to certain interests, junior Daniel Espinal said. Espinal is majoring in International Relations and would have preferred options related to his projected career in investment banking.
"I can't speak badly of the Career Services department, though," Espinal said. "They have been helpful in setting up an interview for me.
Career Services helps students find internships with workshops that show students how to find available opportunities, according to Papalia. "We get them online and show them websites where they can find internships, or we help them develop their own [through Tufts]," she said.
Although they did not have concrete numbers, Papalia and McCool estimated that 80 percent of students do internships with many students doing multiple internships.
Though many students, particularly underclassmen, feel they do not have enough real world experience for an internship, they should still apply since students are welcomed in all stages of their academic career, company representatives said.
Companies seemed to be most focused on students' motivation. "You don't have to have a lot of experience," Pfizer's spokeswoman said. "We are willing to teach because it is an internship, but the student has to have a good attitude."
The Fair featured nearly 30 companies, ranging from engineering firms, to non-profit organizations, to magazine and radio networks.
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