how much do internships really matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you mean by Average College. But a kid with internships at FAANG, F500, IB, Consulting is going to get more attention than a kid with summer jobs at the pool. Both will end up fine 10 years down the road but one good internship leads to another, and leads to a solid first job so internships pave the path.

Most college kids don't have FAANG internships, they have nepo internships like OP's husband is proposing. They are probably better than nothing, but when we hire new grads, we prefer real internships or real jobs to a month of take your kid to work day

I got the impression OP didn’t mean they’d have an internship with their father’s organization, but that dad would be trying to call in favors from people he had helped professionally over the years to get them to hire his kids. Not quite the same as a nepo job, if only because the connection won’t be obvious. It’s basically networking, which is a professional skill.

Most companies have rules against nepo but people work around that rule. I've been doing it for the past five years. I hire college students from my former colleagues and in return, they hire my son, daughter, nieces, and nephews. That's how it works in the real world.

Yep! This is exactly how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you mean by Average College. But a kid with internships at FAANG, F500, IB, Consulting is going to get more attention than a kid with summer jobs at the pool. Both will end up fine 10 years down the road but one good internship leads to another, and leads to a solid first job so internships pave the path.

Most college kids don't have FAANG internships, they have nepo internships like OP's husband is proposing. They are probably better than nothing, but when we hire new grads, we prefer real internships or real jobs to a month of take your kid to work day

I got the impression OP didn’t mean they’d have an internship with their father’s organization, but that dad would be trying to call in favors from people he had helped professionally over the years to get them to hire his kids. Not quite the same as a nepo job, if only because the connection won’t be obvious. It’s basically networking, which is a professional skill.

professional skill of dad

[Anonymous]

Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you mean by Average College. But a kid with internships at FAANG, F500, IB, Consulting is going to get more attention than a kid with summer jobs at the pool. Both will end up fine 10 years down the road but one good internship leads to another, and leads to a solid first job so internships pave the path.

Most college kids don't have FAANG internships, they have nepo internships like OP's husband is proposing. They are probably better than nothing, but when we hire new grads, we prefer real internships or real jobs to a month of take your kid to work day

How can you tell it’s a nepo internship? My DH got my DD’s friends internships at a well known financial services company. They were paid and did actual work (and we loved by the employees because they were great workers). But there is 100% no way they would have gotten the internships without his help (internships had already closed).

Likely no, at least with the smart one... I usually advise them not to mention anything about knowing someone in the company, to avoid potential issues with HR or DEI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

It is a very challenging job market out there even for grads with multiple internships. My DS graduates in May '24 with a degree in CS and three CS internships, after his freshman, sophomore and junior, and he still has no offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids should be getting their own internships when they are in college. If they have to rely on daddy, they are doing it wrong.

This is 100% not reality and you are doing dcs a disservice if you believe this. If parents can help, they should. At my dc's college orientation (business majors) they told the parents they can play an important role in helping secure internships.

💯
And everyone uses any and all connections. Even at Ivies. You should too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

It is a very challenging job market out there even for grads with multiple internships. My DS graduates in May '24 with a degree in CS and three CS internships, after his freshman, sophomore and junior, and he still has no offer.

This is very scary to hear! Do you have any guesses on why your DS hasn't found a job? Grades, looking for too high a salary, etc? This is very worrisome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

It is a very challenging job market out there even for grads with multiple internships. My DS graduates in May '24 with a degree in CS and three CS internships, after his freshman, sophomore and junior, and he still has no offer.

Just curious...are more companies separating say Jr year internships vs. FT positions. Meaning, are there now more internships where maybe you just need some extra help for 3 months, but no need for a FT continuing employee so there is no expectation it leads to a job offer from that employer?

Also, I work in finance and every day receive a digest of 50+ companies that have recently raised $20MM+ (and a bunch $100MM+) in funding. While some in the AI space may spend these $$$s on Nvidia processors and cloud computing...the bulk is to go hire people.

I would assume someone with 3 Summers of real internships could find a start-up in an area where they have some experience and make the case to add value day one to some of these companies. No?

[Anonymous]

My kids got internships on their own with their own merits.
It boost their confidence and is a better way in every angle for long run vs daddy taking care of them.
However, I guess it's still better than nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

It is a very challenging job market out there even for grads with multiple internships. My DS graduates in May '24 with a degree in CS and three CS internships, after his freshman, sophomore and junior, and he still has no offer.

Which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have high school and middle school kids. Every time I mention to my husband that I am worried about their futures (they're good kids but average and not destined for HYS), he says things like "don't worry I will hook them up with internships." And "even if they decide to do something in a different field, a good internship can be a steppingstone and provide work experience, a reference" etc. He says he's been doing favors for people for a long time just for this purpose.

Is this true, in your experience? A good internship makes up for an average college?

Internships matter regardless of whether you go to a top college or an 'average' college. Remember though, your resume gets you in the door. Whether or not you get the job will still depend on your performance at the interview relative to your competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have high school and middle school kids. Every time I mention to my husband that I am worried about their futures (they're good kids but average and not destined for HYS), he says things like "don't worry I will hook them up with internships." And "even if they decide to do something in a different field, a good internship can be a steppingstone and provide work experience, a reference" etc. He says he's been doing favors for people for a long time just for this purpose.

Is this true, in your experience? A good internship makes up for an average college?

I pretty much owe the entire course of my career to my junior year internship on Capitol Hill because of the connections I made and one particular person who took it upon herself to be my mentor. I do think if you do a good job in an internship opportunity that can happen. It wasn't a resume thing, it was a work/connection/trust-building thing.

+1

Same experience here

[Anonymous]

And all this time I thought you just had to be a DEI candidate to secure a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids got internships on their own with their own merits.
It boost their confidence and is a better way in every angle for long run vs daddy taking care of them.
However, I guess it's still better than nothing.

I’m the one whose DH got their daughter’s Freud an internships and I will say the kids were worthy. There are tons of kids with great resumes out there. It helps to have someone get yours to the top (just as it does in full time employment). Sometimes the AI does not do a good filtering job and good candidates are filtered out or HR is filtering and does not understand exactly what some of the experience is. When I hire, I like getting recommendations from good employees because I know they won’t recommend someone who will harm their reputation. It’s the same here. Do companies hire kids without an in? Of course but the in can help get over the resume screen hump or give an extra bit of confidence because most folks won’t push for someone who would not make them look good.

It’s awesome that your kid got in without this but don’t do them the disservice of believing these things don’t matter. Right or wrong, it’s how it is done much of the time. The system is crowded and broken. FWIW, I would never hire someone just because they are someone’s friend or child. They have to be good. The connection just gets them an interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internships on college are critical. Does not matter how you got it. I am hiring for an entry level position and just got a resume from a 2024 grad at the same top 25 school my DS attends (he is a rising senior). She is in the same major and has a nearly perfect GPA. I was shocked that she was still looking for job. Then i looked closer at her resume. While she has GREAT on campus activities and a great GPA, she has only had one tangentially related internship. By contrast, my DS will soon start his third internship directly in his major field. I guess I’ll eat my words next May if he doesn’t have a job either, but to me, that’s the difference. He looked at her resume and said it’s a problem that she has as many bullet points under her sorority leadership than the one actual work experience. He’s right.

I am in recruiting and absolutely yes, good consistent and related internships can trump being in a more well known school.

It is a very challenging job market out there even for grads with multiple internships. My DS graduates in May '24 with a degree in CS and three CS internships, after his freshman, sophomore and junior, and he still has no offer.

Just curious...are more companies separating say Jr year internships vs. FT positions. Meaning, are there now more internships where maybe you just need some extra help for 3 months, but no need for a FT continuing employee so there is no expectation it leads to a job offer from that employer?

Also, I work in finance and every day receive a digest of 50+ companies that have recently raised $20MM+ (and a bunch $100MM+) in funding. While some in the AI space may spend these $$$s on Nvidia processors and cloud computing...the bulk is to go hire people.

I would assume someone with 3 Summers of real internships could find a start-up in an area where they have some experience and make the case to add value day one to some of these companies. No?

Yes but I think those companies generally want “real” experience. Many of the summer internships are glorified paper pushing to create the pipeline….