Summer Internships
I have been receiving many emails and inquiries from students about summer internships. Many students have the impression that I have the ability to "place" students in internships. Some students tell me ...."I need an internship for the summer ." Or "Can you help me get a summer internship?" The truth of the matter is that I cannot fill that need or help you land an internship. You must do that! I tell you this not because I don't want to help but because I need you to understand how this works! We post internship opportunities on the Internship Blog and on Careerlink (the UMD Career Development Center's job and internet portal.)
You must learn some techniques and strategies to find an internship. I have a report that I wrote some time ago that may give you some ideas (http://www.businessinternships.blogspot.com/p/finding-internship.html).
I also have these suggestions:
1. Follow our internship blog: http://www.businessinternships.blogspot.com/ Be sure to check out the archives for past postings that might be of interest. Sign up for daily alerts so that when I post something, you will know immediately!
Apply directly with the contact person (not me) and be ready to send a resume and cover letter. Don't procrastinate ... summer internship positions fill quickly. Big employers like Fidelity (Boston and Smithfield, RI), State Street (Boston), the big 4 accounting firms, etc. want all applications for internships to be done via their job portals so you will need to go to those places (web sites) to apply. if you know someone inside those companies you should ping them too!
2. We have a new UMD internship director - Ms. Jane Staples (jstaples@umassd.edu) . I am still the internship director for CCB. I approve CCB internships for credit and am the business internship course professor. Ms. Jane Staples is working to have all internship postings up on Careerlink. I encourage all students to log into Careerlink and to learn how to use the system to search for and apply internships. If you have questions about internships and Careerlink, please get in touch with Ms. Staples. She is very knowledgeable and helpful. Her office is located in the campus center - ground floor - behind the Mass Pass Office.
3. David LePage is our business school liaison in the Career Development Center. He can help you learn how to search for opportunities, fine tune your resume, and cover letter. The Career Development Center is located in the campus center - ground floor - behind the Mass Pass Office.
4. Learn to use services like Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com to search for opportunities - especially if you are looking for internships out of the south coast area (Boston, New York, etc.). This is something the Career Development folks can help you with.
5. If you are interested in earning credit for an internship, the next opportunity is summer 2014. You should start looking for opportunities now. To earn credit in the summer, you need to also take the summer internship course (concurrent with the work experience). I have to approve the internship before you can gain entry into the course. The summer internship course is a summer course and carries a separate tuition and fees. I suggest you check with the enrollment center for exact costs (it is the cost of a normal summer 3 credit course.) Many students focus their search on paid internships to help with the cost of the summer internship course.
6. Review our internship web page for more information: http://www.umassd.edu/charlton/internship/
7. Utilize friends, relatives, and other contacts when searching for an excellent internship. You cannot work for a relative and earn internship credit but you can utilize all your contacts to uncover opportunities. Tell everyone you know about your search.
8. Attend job fairs and career oriented events. UMD has a job fair scheduled for March 12th from 11 am - 3 pm in the Tripp Athletic Center. You may get some leads there also. Contact UMD's Career Development Center for more details. Keep your eyes open for CCB sponsored career events. I know there are several planned for this semester and I have seen posters. At those events, mingle with the alumni and speakers. Network, network, network. Keep looking for opportunities to come up with leads. Gather business cards!
Good luck.
Professor Griffin
