While the long weekend afforded many students extra time to relax, a number spent their days completing cover letters and resumes for the major summer internship recruiting deadline Monday. Over 50 employers advertised summer internship opportunities to Dartmouth students through Career Services' winter recruiting program.
Although final numbers regarding this year's applications are not yet available, Monica Wilson, assistant director of employer relations at Career Services, said that students showed more interest this term than in years past. Over 90 students attended Career Services' three information sessions to learn about the recruitment process.
While the process is often referred to as "corporate recruiting," Wilson pointed out the diverse employers that recruit through Career Services, including not-for-profit organizations and government agencies. However, more than half of the internships advertised in this round of recruitment are in the financial field.
"We've never called it corporate recruiting," Wilson said. "There is a large representation of companies and we have many financial services and consulting firms, but we also have a number of marketing, technology and law internships that don't seem to get as much publicity."
While many associate such recruiting with economics majors, students majoring in a number of fields are participating in this round of recruiting.
Psychology major Gordon Russell '08 applied for internships in investment banking and sales and trading.
"As long as you're hardworking and willing to learn, your background doesn't really matter as much as some people think," Russell said.
The coveted summer internships advertised in this round of recruiting are targeted towards current juniors. According to Wilson, over the last five years more and more employers have begun to use summer internships as a means to find entry-level employees.
"You hope to come out of your summer internship with a job offer wherever you work," Sean Nicholson '08 said. "Up to this point I haven't had any jobs that could lead to a career for me, so it's pretty exciting to know that I'm on the doorstep of what I might do for the first five to ten years out of college."
The application process in most cases involves uploading a resume and cover letter through the InterviewTRAK Online Recruiting System. This system allows students to research potential employers, track the status of their application and schedule an interview if selected.
"It's a pretty simple process," said Gordon Silvera '08, who applied for equity and investment research internships. "The resume drop is probably the easiest point of the process. The most stressful part will probably be the interviewing."
Applicants will begin to hear back from employers within ten days. If selected, first round interviews will either be held on campus or students will be invited to the employer's offices.
Despite the recent rush of applications for Monday's deadline, Wilson stressed that the recruitment program was only one way for students to get an internship.
"It represents a very small slice of the pie," Wilson said. "We have a lot of other resources to help students get internships."
