Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 10:21     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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
Post 05/07/2024 10:15     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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
Post 05/07/2024 10:11     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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
Post 05/07/2024 10:00     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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
Post 05/07/2024 09:59     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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
Post 05/07/2024 09:58     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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).
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:56     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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.


+1000

It doesn’t even have to be a F500, consulting, etc. Doing internships related to your career field will position you in a better place than unrelated summer jobs. The summer at freshman year it’s fine to work as a camp counselor, as a lifeguard, etc. But the summers after sophomore and junior year students really need to have internships. It’s very competitive out there.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:52     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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.


Disagree (and I think your orientation person is the one doing kids a disservice). And we wonder why we're barely launching capable adults into the world?

I'm grateful my own father recognized that researching and landing internships was part of the learning process (which I did entirely myself and which led to multiple job offers after graduation).

Park the damn snowplows.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:48     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
Anonymous wrote:I agree with your husband. And to the PP who says they should not be relying on daddy in college, why not? The kids at HYP are, I guarantee you. You think they're sending in their resumes blind and just have their fingers crossed? Even the ones with great grades are having mommy and daddy hook them up if they can. It's the way the world works.


+1.

My husband has been ready to retire for a couple of years (MD at a global investment bank) but is delaying that until our child gets that coveted post-junior-year internship.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:48     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:44     Subject: Re:how much do internships really matter?
Anonymous wrote:Regarding careers, internships/personal relationships are more important than one's college.


network/connections are much so important that most people just do not realize until it is too late. A college student who attends UMD with network/connections guarantees to get an internship over someone who attends HYP but without connections if they apply for the same job/internship at the same company. I've seen it multiple times at five places where I've worked. This also happens in the Fed gov too.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:43     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
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.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:31     Subject: Re:how much do internships really matter?
Regarding careers, internships/personal relationships are more important than one's college.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:30     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
Anonymous wrote:I agree with your husband. And to the PP who says they should not be relying on daddy in college, why not? The kids at HYP are, I guarantee you. You think they're sending in their resumes blind and just have their fingers crossed? Even the ones with great grades are having mommy and daddy hook them up if they can. It's the way the world works.


It's practically the whole reason HYP is coveted and prestigious (but the kid who don't have those connections don't know they won't benefit from it until they get there).
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2024 09:25     Subject: how much do internships really matter?
I agree with your husband. And to the PP who says they should not be relying on daddy in college, why not? The kids at HYP are, I guarantee you. You think they're sending in their resumes blind and just have their fingers crossed? Even the ones with great grades are having mommy and daddy hook them up if they can. It's the way the world works.