MEGHAN GUATTERY
Assistant News Editor
Internship: The word itself strikes enough fear into young college-aged minds to have students regretting ever even coming to college. And with the Job and Internship Expo yesterday, the jitters have begun to set in.
As students prepare to enter the real world, application after application tower on their desks, and they are required to write a seemingly endless number of cover letters explaining why they want, or rather need, these jobs.
Fortunately, there is a resource available to students on campus that helps ease some of the stress that can accompany the search for an internship — The Career Development Office (CDO).
“When a student comes in to meet with us, one of the first questions I’ll ask them is, ‘What’s your dream job? If you could go anywhere, do anything and you could be happy with it, what would you do?’” said CDO Internship Coordinator and Career Counselor Jennifer Wilkins. “We start there and then we think, ‘What experience do you need to get there?’”
In 2006, the CDO assumed responsibility for assisting students with the internship process, from the beginning search to the final evaluation form.
“When we took [the internship program] over, 197 students were doing internships for the academic year of 2005-2006,” said Director of the CDO Tracy Collingwood. “In the year of 2013-2014, we had 561 students doing internships. It has grown tremendously.”
Many departments require their students to hold an internship position prior to graduation. However, the way these internships are obtained varies from major to major.
“Some departments, like social work, place students [in their internships], [and] psychology does, as well,” said Collingwood. “We’re careful of that because we try to teach students lifelong skills, not just how to find one internship, but how to do this for their life and how to really tailor a resume towards each position they are applying for.”
However, not all majors and departments have this kind of system in place. Many require students to find an internship without the assistance of a placement program.
“It’s a little more typical of a real world situation,” said Collingwood. “When you’re going for a job or you’re applying for graduate school, it is not anyone giving it to you or placing you into it. It’s actually, in my mind, not as helpful in the long run of things. It’s easier now if you’re busy and you’re a student. In that way it’s very good. Those curriculums where it’s so competitive like that, I think it’s a helpful thing, but overall it is not a simulation of what really happens out there.”
Regardless of how a student obtains his or her internship, Collingwood and Wilkins emphasize the necessity and importance of these experiences.
“If a student today graduates with a bachelor’s degree alone, it’s not enough to be competitive in the world,” said Collingwood. “They really have to have multiple experiences. They aren’t going to be competitive enough without it.”
All students, even those not quite on the search for an internship yet, have tools available to them to prepare them for the world outside Fredonia. The CDO puts on multiple programs and events throughout the semester to further improve students’ professionalism, including the Interview Face-Off, career fairs and the Network “on the go” program.
Approximately 20 employers visit Fredonia, offering internships and assisting students who may have obtained Fall semester internships, for the Network “on the go” program.
“It’s about helping the students to connect and learn what it means to talk to an employer [and] having that conversation with employers,” said Wilkins. “We know that that can be nerve wracking for students when they first start out, which is kind of why I established the Network ‘on the go’ program. It’s a setting where employers are in McEwen and just practicing going up to someone, shaking a hand and saying, ‘Hi, my name is,’ and starting that conversation as early as possible.”
Meetings with members of the CDO may be scheduled in their office on the second floor of Gregory Hall, online at http://www.fredonia.edu/cdo/ or by calling the office at (716) 673-3327.