how much do internships really matter?

[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

WTF are you talking about. A 10 week internship is an internship on the resume. It will read as Finance Intern, Supply Chain Intern, Enginering Intern. And there is no way you are going to tell whether an applicant got the job through nepotism or alumni or luck.

Haha, I always grill them on what exactly they did during the internship and somewhere in the middle of that I slip in something like “so, was it hard to get this offer?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In business, internships during the summer between the junior and senior year are critical and often lead to full time job offers at the end of the summer before starting the senior year.

If you're targeting a top tier Investment Bank, P/E, Wealth Management, Consulting, or Tech start ups, then an internship from a top-tier targeted school is the best way to get in the door. Often, it's the only way. You may still get recruited from outside of top tier schools but it's exponentially harder.

Family and friend connections may get you an interview but you still have to compete. Where these connections are helpful is they know how the interviews and case studies work, and can prep you.

It's harder to get an internship than a full time offer because there are far few internships role compared to full-time.

-Current Campus Recruiter for Management Consulting

If the connection comes from MD, CFO, or COO, you will be hired because the people who interview you have to report to those honchos. The last thing you want to do is to offend them.

Even when you attend those target schools, unless you have connections, the probability of getting hired at those places is also very low.

Agree with almost everything you wrote except you don't get an automatic pass at my firm. If you're on the bubble, we will give you the benefit of doubt and accept you. If you're unqualified, you get a polite reject.

The probability of getting hire is low because we get 200+ resumes for 50 shortlisted candidates resulting in ~15 offers for 10 spots. Those few getting offers are scrutinized by their peers and by our employees. If we hire someone unqualified purely because of their connections, we jeopardize our credibility and affects morale. Plus, I may have to work with that person on a project and that would suck.

This. As the initial screener/hiring manager for an intern I can give a courtesy interview to a friend's kid. But after that there is a skills test and then I have to narrow the pool to 3-4 candidates to be interviewed by a panel of 2-3 others in my dept. They are making the final decision and I'm not going to recommend an inferior candidate to them since that hurts my credibility. Even if it's the CEO's kid (but our CEO would not expect us to hire their kids, YMMV)

[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

WTF are you talking about. A 10 week internship is an internship on the resume. It will read as Finance Intern, Supply Chain Intern, Enginering Intern. And there is no way you are going to tell whether an applicant got the job through nepotism or alumni or luck.

Haha, I always grill them on what exactly they did during the internship and somewhere in the middle of that I slip in something like “so, was it hard to get this offer?”

Any well coached kid is going to know what to say. Tough rigorous process, video interview, personality assessment, followed by case study or panel interviewers. Who actually says, my dad or my mom or my aunt hooked me up. C’mon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In business, internships during the summer between the junior and senior year are critical and often lead to full time job offers at the end of the summer before starting the senior year.

If you're targeting a top tier Investment Bank, P/E, Wealth Management, Consulting, or Tech start ups, then an internship from a top-tier targeted school is the best way to get in the door. Often, it's the only way. You may still get recruited from outside of top tier schools but it's exponentially harder.

Family and friend connections may get you an interview but you still have to compete. Where these connections are helpful is they know how the interviews and case studies work, and can prep you.

It's harder to get an internship than a full time offer because there are far few internships role compared to full-time.

-Current Campus Recruiter for Management Consulting

If the connection comes from MD, CFO, or COO, you will be hired because the people who interview you have to report to those honchos. The last thing you want to do is to offend them.

Even when you attend those target schools, unless you have connections, the probability of getting hired at those places is also very low.

Agree with almost everything you wrote except you don't get an automatic pass at my firm. If you're on the bubble, we will give you the benefit of doubt and accept you. If you're unqualified, you get a polite reject.

The probability of getting hire is low because we get 200+ resumes for 50 shortlisted candidates resulting in ~15 offers for 10 spots. Those few getting offers are scrutinized by their peers and by our employees. If we hire someone unqualified purely because of their connections, we jeopardize our credibility and affects morale. Plus, I may have to work with that person on a project and that would suck.

This. As the initial screener/hiring manager for an intern I can give a courtesy interview to a friend's kid. But after that there is a skills test and then I have to narrow the pool to 3-4 candidates to be interviewed by a panel of 2-3 others in my dept. They are making the final decision and I'm not going to recommend an inferior candidate to them since that hurts my credibility. Even if it's the CEO's kid (but our CEO would not expect us to hire their kids, YMMV)

I mean, I made a phone call to the COO of my former employer. DS got in touch, spoke to him, spoke to the SVP, kept in touch. Several months later when they got their recruiting process sorted, received a link to apply, got an offer the next day. Yes there was a hiring manager that was part of the interview process. Also an HR manager. But, DC was getting the job, didn’t matter what either said. But ou can see it from whatever lens helps you think you have relevance.

[Anonymous]

My kid would b/c he doesn’t dissemble even when it would be expedient to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has hired a lot of interns, internships are helpful if for no other reason then a college kid is not blindsided by the 9-5 (even in today's telework world) of an actual job. The difference between kids who worked or had an internship of any kind, related or not the eventual job, is very noticeable compared to kids whose parents told them school was their job.

I hate to burst your bubble but my experience is opposite. I studied CS in college and it was hell for me. When I graduated in 2010 and got my first job in cyber security, it was so much easier than college. I couldn't believe they paid me 100K+ to do this job. I had to stay up so many nights in college to finish CS projects. I didn't have to spend anytime after 5pm for my work. Even now as a SME in cyber security for DHS, I stop working after 3:30pm and get paid 290K/year.

So, was college worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In business, internships during the summer between the junior and senior year are critical and often lead to full time job offers at the end of the summer before starting the senior year.

If you're targeting a top tier Investment Bank, P/E, Wealth Management, Consulting, or Tech start ups, then an internship from a top-tier targeted school is the best way to get in the door. Often, it's the only way. You may still get recruited from outside of top tier schools but it's exponentially harder.

Family and friend connections may get you an interview but you still have to compete. Where these connections are helpful is they know how the interviews and case studies work, and can prep you.

It's harder to get an internship than a full time offer because there are far few internships role compared to full-time.

-Current Campus Recruiter for Management Consulting

If the connection comes from MD, CFO, or COO, you will be hired because the people who interview you have to report to those honchos. The last thing you want to do is to offend them.

Even when you attend those target schools, unless you have connections, the probability of getting hired at those places is also very low.

Agree with almost everything you wrote except you don't get an automatic pass at my firm. If you're on the bubble, we will give you the benefit of doubt and accept you. If you're unqualified, you get a polite reject.

The probability of getting hire is low because we get 200+ resumes for 50 shortlisted candidates resulting in ~15 offers for 10 spots. Those few getting offers are scrutinized by their peers and by our employees. If we hire someone unqualified purely because of their connections, we jeopardize our credibility and affects morale. Plus, I may have to work with that person on a project and that would suck.

This. As the initial screener/hiring manager for an intern I can give a courtesy interview to a friend's kid. But after that there is a skills test and then I have to narrow the pool to 3-4 candidates to be interviewed by a panel of 2-3 others in my dept. They are making the final decision and I'm not going to recommend an inferior candidate to them since that hurts my credibility. Even if it's the CEO's kid (but our CEO would not expect us to hire their kids, YMMV)

I mean, I made a phone call to the COO of my former employer. DS got in touch, spoke to him, spoke to the SVP, kept in touch. Several months later when they got their recruiting process sorted, received a link to apply, got an offer the next day. Yes there was a hiring manager that was part of the interview process. Also an HR manager. But, DC was getting the job, didn’t matter what either said. But ou can see it from whatever lens helps you think you have relevance.

This just shows that different companies have different cultures. My son's experience with internship applications -- references help get an interview but don't override other factors -- has been more like how my company does it. But I definitely know kids who got an internship because a higher-up made a call that overruled any other considerations. Which means, yes, work all your connections, but don't be surprised if it's not as easy as you think it will be.

[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

WTF are you talking about. A 10 week internship is an internship on the resume. It will read as Finance Intern, Supply Chain Intern, Enginering Intern. And there is no way you are going to tell whether an applicant got the job through nepotism or alumni or luck.

Haha, I always grill them on what exactly they did during the internship and somewhere in the middle of that I slip in something like “so, was it hard to get this offer?”

But why does that matter? Shouldn't it matter that they did a good job, had good references, learned something, etc?