Are internships drying up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am in the minority but I do think it is unethical and shameful to ask for special favors for one’s child when there are candidates in the pool with better qualifications.[/quote

How do you know what the qualifications of the other candidates are?? Or are you assuming that every child of every parent that has any kind of pull on this thread is an unintelligent, incompetent moron? What if those kids are NMF’s Deans List at an Ivy or Top 20?

By calling in a special favor from a friend or relative the parent is deciding a priori that the child was unlikely to get the job on merit alone. In any case, I wasn’t inferring that the child was incompetent. Asking for special treatment is unethical regardless of the child’s qualifications.

You judge but you obviously don’t work in business. And you obviously have never benefited from anyone endorsing you in your career to help you get a leg up. It’s how the world works. And not just during internships. Every VP in every company has been given the nod somewhere along the line.

Some people are given the nod because they're really, really good. Cream naturally rises to the top. I think that's hard for some to understand, especially if you (or your kid) is average and would never get a second look without constant pushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am in the minority but I do think it is unethical and shameful to ask for special favors for one’s child when there are candidates in the pool with better qualifications.[/quote

How do you know what the qualifications of the other candidates are?? Or are you assuming that every child of every parent that has any kind of pull on this thread is an unintelligent, incompetent moron? What if those kids are NMF’s Deans List at an Ivy or Top 20?

By calling in a special favor from a friend or relative the parent is deciding a priori that the child was unlikely to get the job on merit alone. In any case, I wasn’t inferring that the child was incompetent. Asking for special treatment is unethical regardless of the child’s qualifications.

You judge but you obviously don’t work in business. And you obviously have never benefited from anyone endorsing you in your career to help you get a leg up. It’s how the world works. And not just during internships. Every VP in every company has been given the nod somewhere along the line.

Some people are given the nod because they're really, really good. Cream naturally rises to the top. I think that's hard for some to understand, especially if you (or your kid) is average and would never get a second look without constant pushing.

[Anonymous]

IMO They aren’t promoting cream as much as they used to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am in the minority but I do think it is unethical and shameful to ask for special favors for one’s child when there are candidates in the pool with better qualifications.

People in this forum will say all kinds of things that it is unethical and shameful to pull strings in order to help your kids; however, they turn right around and do the same thing to help their kids when they are in positions to do so.  I will say this, everyone here will do the same thing if they have the opportunity.  

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC a sophomore at a top 5 college has no luck so far.

DS is a college junior and he will have an 11 weeks internship this summer for $55/hour at a tech company. Last year he got a $35/hour 11 weeks internship as a college sophomore. He got both internships through my BIL who is an SVP at the company. The company selected him over two CS candidates, one from UPenn and the other one from Brown. In summary, who you know will trump the top 5 colleges.

Seems like you are bragging, instead of being embarrassed over how your relative is squandering investors’ funds.

The PP is not bragging.  He/she just tells you what going on in the real world.  

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got three internship offers in December '22 and January '23, accepted one offer and declined the other two. Today, the company that he accepted the offer informed him that due to budget constraints, it has to rescind the offer. The same thing also happened to one of my nephews that a different company that offered him the internship also rescinded the offer. It is now almost March so it is almost possible to find an internship. Anyone in the same boat as DS?

The lesson is he should have accepted all. Both my kids accepted two summer jobs. One will most likely get a pulled offer. That is the new world we live in

Terrible advice. Don’t teach your kid to accept
More than one offer on the chance that one of them will fall though. Because he’s knowingly leaving the company with an issue if it doesn’t fall though and he ends up picking the one he wants to stay with.

+1 This is how we wind up with unethical people in society. Parents like this right here.

(Instead of teaching integrity, keeping your commitments. It is actually sad to see it in real time.)

Why in the heck are people here defending companies that have absolutely no problem not keeping their commitment? I actually understand rescinding FT job offers because that is open-ended agreement and better a candidate focus on working for a company that expects to employ them...but internships? Again, the absolute cost of the internship program is fairly miniscule, and they could easily reduce the time (i.e., cost) by 1/3 yet it is still valuable for the student. Even if they tell students that if current economic conditions hold, there will not be any FT job offers at the end of the Summer...it is probably still better than leaving a kid high-and-dry this late in the school year.

Where is their integrity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got three internship offers in December '22 and January '23, accepted one offer and declined the other two. Today, the company that he accepted the offer informed him that due to budget constraints, it has to rescind the offer. The same thing also happened to one of my nephews that a different company that offered him the internship also rescinded the offer. It is now almost March so it is almost possible to find an internship. Anyone in the same boat as DS?

The lesson is he should have accepted all. Both my kids accepted two summer jobs. One will most likely get a pulled offer. That is the new world we live in

Terrible advice. Don’t teach your kid to accept
More than one offer on the chance that one of them will fall though. Because he’s knowingly leaving the company with an issue if it doesn’t fall though and he ends up picking the one he wants to stay with.

+1 This is how we wind up with unethical people in society. Parents like this right here.

(Instead of teaching integrity, keeping your commitments. It is actually sad to see it in real time.)

Companies may feel it’s unconscionable to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who have given their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.


Why in the heck are people here defending companies that have absolutely no problem not keeping their commitment? I actually understand rescinding FT job offers because that is open-ended agreement and better a candidate focus on working for a company that expects to employ them...but internships? Again, the absolute cost of the internship program is fairly miniscule, and they could easily reduce the time (i.e., cost) by 1/3 yet it is still valuable for the student. Even if they tell students that if current economic conditions hold, there will not be any FT job offers at the end of the Summer...it is probably still better than leaving a kid high-and-dry this late in the school year.

Where is their integrity?

The companies may feel it’s wrong to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who gave their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got three internship offers in December '22 and January '23, accepted one offer and declined the other two. Today, the company that he accepted the offer informed him that due to budget constraints, it has to rescind the offer. The same thing also happened to one of my nephews that a different company that offered him the internship also rescinded the offer. It is now almost March so it is almost possible to find an internship. Anyone in the same boat as DS?

The lesson is he should have accepted all. Both my kids accepted two summer jobs. One will most likely get a pulled offer. That is the new world we live in

Terrible advice. Don’t teach your kid to accept
More than one offer on the chance that one of them will fall though. Because he’s knowingly leaving the company with an issue if it doesn’t fall though and he ends up picking the one he wants to stay with.

+1 This is how we wind up with unethical people in society. Parents like this right here.

(Instead of teaching integrity, keeping your commitments. It is actually sad to see it in real time.)

Why in the heck are people here defending companies that have absolutely no problem not keeping their commitment? I actually understand rescinding FT job offers because that is open-ended agreement and better a candidate focus on working for a company that expects to employ them...but internships? Again, the absolute cost of the internship program is fairly miniscule, and they could easily reduce the time (i.e., cost) by 1/3 yet it is still valuable for the student. Even if they tell students that if current economic conditions hold, there will not be any FT job offers at the end of the Summer...it is probably still better than leaving a kid high-and-dry this late in the school year.

Where is their integrity?

This site is read by patents, not CEO’s.

The poster was appalled to see how unethical another parent is (in advising their teen child).

Are you saying, we can lack integrity because some companies do?

Again, nothing to model for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got three internship offers in December '22 and January '23, accepted one offer and declined the other two. Today, the company that he accepted the offer informed him that due to budget constraints, it has to rescind the offer. The same thing also happened to one of my nephews that a different company that offered him the internship also rescinded the offer. It is now almost March so it is almost possible to find an internship. Anyone in the same boat as DS?

The lesson is he should have accepted all. Both my kids accepted two summer jobs. One will most likely get a pulled offer. That is the new world we live in

Terrible advice. Don’t teach your kid to accept
More than one offer on the chance that one of them will fall though. Because he’s knowingly leaving the company with an issue if it doesn’t fall though and he ends up picking the one he wants to stay with.

+1 This is how we wind up with unethical people in society. Parents like this right here.

(Instead of teaching integrity, keeping your commitments. It is actually sad to see it in real time.)

Companies may feel it’s unconscionable to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who have given their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.


Why in the heck are people here defending companies that have absolutely no problem not keeping their commitment? I actually understand rescinding FT job offers because that is open-ended agreement and better a candidate focus on working for a company that expects to employ them...but internships? Again, the absolute cost of the internship program is fairly miniscule, and they could easily reduce the time (i.e., cost) by 1/3 yet it is still valuable for the student. Even if they tell students that if current economic conditions hold, there will not be any FT job offers at the end of the Summer...it is probably still better than leaving a kid high-and-dry this late in the school year.

Where is their integrity?

The companies may feel it’s wrong to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who gave their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.

+1 my company just had layoffs. They had already cancelled the internship program for the summer. People would be really pissed if they were losing jobs and the company was still paying money to bring in students.

[Anonymous]

At the parent orientation for my freshman ds's business college the Dean flat out told us to get ready to work our own connections for dcs internships.

[Anonymous]

DS had a business internship last summer he was hoping to return to this summer. The company has been doing layoffs so we suspect the internship program may be cut but no official word yet. He has been applying for others as a backup but so far no luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS had a business internship last summer he was hoping to return to this summer. The company has been doing layoffs so we suspect the internship program may be cut but no official word yet. He has been applying for others as a backup but so far no luck.

My DC too. DC had a great internship last summer with a major tech company on the business side (had this confirmed by early December 2021 and DC got this internship on their own). At the end of last summer, DC was offered another internship for this summer by same company, but recently had a conversation with their boss, who said there was a lot of chaos in the company right now and he advised DC to look elsewhere. It wasn't really a direct rescinding of the offer, but a gentle push. DC was very worried about the situation in tech right now, but luckily has another internship lined up at a start-up. Full disclosure - nepotism connection got DC this new position. DH is a tech entrepreneur and everyone he knows helps each other's kids get internships and jobs after graduation. That's just the way it's done.

That said, this year is much harder for internships than last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got three internship offers in December '22 and January '23, accepted one offer and declined the other two. Today, the company that he accepted the offer informed him that due to budget constraints, it has to rescind the offer. The same thing also happened to one of my nephews that a different company that offered him the internship also rescinded the offer. It is now almost March so it is almost possible to find an internship. Anyone in the same boat as DS?

The lesson is he should have accepted all. Both my kids accepted two summer jobs. One will most likely get a pulled offer. That is the new world we live in

Terrible advice. Don’t teach your kid to accept
More than one offer on the chance that one of them will fall though. Because he’s knowingly leaving the company with an issue if it doesn’t fall though and he ends up picking the one he wants to stay with.

+1 This is how we wind up with unethical people in society. Parents like this right here.

(Instead of teaching integrity, keeping your commitments. It is actually sad to see it in real time.)

Companies may feel it’s unconscionable to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who have given their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.

So, it makes the laid-off employees feel better that the company is also screwing-over the interns?


Why in the heck are people here defending companies that have absolutely no problem not keeping their commitment? I actually understand rescinding FT job offers because that is open-ended agreement and better a candidate focus on working for a company that expects to employ them...but internships? Again, the absolute cost of the internship program is fairly miniscule, and they could easily reduce the time (i.e., cost) by 1/3 yet it is still valuable for the student. Even if they tell students that if current economic conditions hold, there will not be any FT job offers at the end of the Summer...it is probably still better than leaving a kid high-and-dry this late in the school year.

Where is their integrity?

The companies may feel it’s wrong to bring in new employees, even interns, while laying off employees who gave their time and skills to make the company a going concern and contribute to its profitability.

[Anonymous]

My junior in high school has an internship at a tech company this summer. Pay is $18/hr and he’s getting 40hrs a week. Found through his school where he did a 2 day program in his field is interest and asked for a summer job and they said they could use the help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS had a business internship last summer he was hoping to return to this summer. The company has been doing layoffs so we suspect the internship program may be cut but no official word yet. He has been applying for others as a backup but so far no luck.

My DC too. DC had a great internship last summer with a major tech company on the business side (had this confirmed by early December 2021 and DC got this internship on their own). At the end of last summer, DC was offered another internship for this summer by same company, but recently had a conversation with their boss, who said there was a lot of chaos in the company right now and he advised DC to look elsewhere. It wasn't really a direct rescinding of the offer, but a gentle push. DC was very worried about the situation in tech right now, but luckily has another internship lined up at a start-up. Full disclosure - nepotism connection got DC this new position. DH is a tech entrepreneur and everyone he knows helps each other's kids get internships and jobs after graduation. That's just the way it's done.

That said, this year is much harder for internships than last year.

+1

That's how things work in real life, even in the tech world.