How is it going for college freshman getting internships for the summer?

[Anonymous]

My college CS Freshman got a cold call from his website and is doing a remote internship with a company in Silicon Valley during Spring Semester. He will do a FT internship this summer (mostly remote from home with a few travel trips out to CA to “showcase” his work). The company said they have been looking for interns for close to a year and could never find what they wanted. They wanted someone who is well versed in both CS and the hardware side (Computer Engineering). DS does both extremely well apparently

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the insights, this is really helpful.

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if college career services help fine particular opportunities or are most just found on job search boards. It seems like most jobs are posted on Monster, Indeed, etc.

[Anonymous]

It is hard to determine if any colleges do a better job than the next with respect to helping kids get internships/jobs.

Seems like in one breath someone will say my kid is at a top 10 and got this great job…but in the next the kid applied to 400 internships online.

I gather the strength of the program helped the kid get interviews and land the job…but it’s not like they got the job through career services or an on-campus job fair.

It almost seems like there is an inverse between school prestige and how much the school feels it is a primary function to help their students get jobs.

[Anonymous]

My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

[Anonymous]

Most places don't want freshman. They want people who they can evaluate for a future in their workplace, so they are usually taking upperclassmen. Most places who will take an underclassman are just wanting gophers and glorified assistants.

OP's kid, sure, should throw some resumes around, but the likelihood is they will need to get a job at a camp (maybe like TIC locally) or with a bootstrap startup that wants some free labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

[Anonymous]

after going thru it twice, I won’t say frosh summer “internship” is mandatory, but that first internship is certainly a critical one - whether it’s frosh soph or junior year - as it is the first step in a progressive process. Landing something good frosh year - like my DC did this year, and older bro didn’t do a couple years back - will presumably allow that to act as a stepping stone to something better next year. Kinda sux these kids can’t be lifeguards or work in a bagel shop like I did for 4 summers, but is what it is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

Sounds like a conflict of interest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Happens all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors.

Do you ever tell your kids "just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it the right thing to do." Ethics are about doing the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors.

Do you ever tell your kids "just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it the right thing to do." Ethics are about doing the right thing.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors[b].

But in the government, it is unethical/illegal. (Nepotism in the private sector may or may not be illegal/unethical, depending on the situation. But in the government, it is unethical/illegal.)