With the current economic downturn many companies are looking to cut costs by laying off full-time employees and hiring entry-level interns who can do the same job for free.
However, this has made internships more difficult to obtain for students looking to break into the work force specific to their major.
Marketing major, Sarah Kubai, 24, said that finding a job or an internship in her field is harder now that a lot of banks are being closed down.’ She also said with the few banks that remain open it is much more competitive because a lot of people are applying for those few available spots.
Despite the economic crisis the country is going through, some people remain optimistic, saying that it is a great time to find an internship.
‘Right now it’s a good time to be looking for internships because so many companies are laying off employees and looking for entry level interns to do the same job,’ said Ann Morey, director of the CSUN career center. ‘There are lot more opportunities out there now for students to find.’
Some CSUN students don’t feel the same way. They believe finding an internship is extremely hard to do.
‘I’ve used the career center, looked at listings posted by the accounting department but haven’t found anything that I qualify for,’ said Raynard Kabling, accounting major.
Kabling added that a lot of internship positions are being taken up by people who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis and who have a lot more experience, thus making it difficult to get their foot in the door.
Other students like Mike Console, an English graduate student has actually lost a job due to the economic crisis and believes that finding an internship would be hard due to competition with other candidates.
‘Everything, not just internships but jobs as well are definitely more competitive these days due to the current economic situation,’ said Console.
Other students who have not felt the effect of the economic crisis in relation to finding internships believe that networking is the key in finding a good position.
‘I’ve been working at a law firm which I got through a connection I had,’ said Jonathan Delvera, junior, history major.
Chris Lee, a CGI animations major seems to agree with his fellow schoolmate after finding two internships through friends and family members.’
However, both Delvera and Lee both did acknowledge that finding an internship without networks would be much harder and more competitive.
‘Everything is becoming much more cutthroat now,’ said Lee. ‘Especially the industry I’m in, you’ll see people lie and steal to earn their way into an internship or to the top of a job.’
Lee was previously a film major but switched to CGI animation after interning at a production company where he described the experience as ‘weird.’
‘Looking at the hours and what you had to do wasn’t something I wanted to go into,’ Lee added.
Recently the Wall Street Journal put out an article about parents ‘buying their kids a foot in the door’ with a specific company, making it easier for certain students to find jobs.
‘It should not matter how you get the internship as long as you do it well,’ said Morey. ‘One thing we teach students in the career center is how to build and start networks, and that seems to be another form of a network.’
Morey added that companies should watch out for the laws on equal rights opportunities which could potentially hurt a company if processed the wrong way.
Advisors at the career center encourage students to their networking skills to in order to find internships.
‘The peer advisors are happy to help with resources and point students in the right direction,’ said Morey.
