Home  News Latest Internship, the way to employment
|
Internship, the way to employment |
|
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Garth A. Rose
|
|
Monday, 19 May 2008 |
Students across America are attending their graduation ceremonies with a sense of accomplishment and celebration, but when caps are tossed and the celebration ends, those who refused internship enter the job market with dread.
Last week, graduation ceremonies were held for students leaving from the University of Miami (UM), Florida International University (FIU) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) – institutions with large populations of African American and Caribbean students.
At the FIU graduation, the reaction among the graduates was mixed as they contemplated their future. Chandra Singh, 23, originally from Guyana, graduating with a Bachelors degree in information technology, was happily looking forward to starting her job at a Miami based import/export Company. “I worked there for a year as an intern and they offered me a supervisor position last month. I am very delighted, because quite a few of my colleagues have not been as fortunate in getting jobs,” Chandra told the National Weekly. One of those colleagues was Chandra’s cousin, Allee, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
“I had the opportunity to intern with a large media company in Miami, but, instead, I chose to concentrate on my studies. Now, I am having a problem finding a job. I may just go on to graduate school if I can’t find a job,” she said.
With the exception of graduates in the medical field as in the cases of nurses, who are usually courted even before graduation, many other graduates may find it daunting when they cannot get either the job they want or the salary they think they deserve.
At face value it would appear that the economic climate in Florida would provide a major hurdle to graduates finding employment; however, this is really not the case according to Danna Lee, Associate Director of Career Development, at FAU’s Broward campus. “The situation,” Lee said, “is that those students who participated in job internship programs are finding it easier to find employment in their field of study, than those who did not participate.”
Most colleges encourage students to participate in internship programs with a variety of companies. Under these programs students are provided jobs (intern or apprenticeship positions) in their areas of study for periods of up to a year. The internship program, as Lee stated, offers students the opportunity to evaluate the practical working environment of their chosen career, and, importantly, offer them the opportunity to get a foot in the door of a company, which could employ them when they graduate.
A representative at Miami-Dade County employment offices told the National Weekly that although the county offers internship programs to college students, some are reluctant, as they prefer paid jobs to working as interns, receiving course credits instead of salaries.
Lee, as did Imani Fredericks-Lowman, director of career and placement services at FIU, said that several companies have been targeting the colleges for new employees. “It’s not as if we have not been holding career fairs,” Lee said. “Employers attend these fairs in the spring and the fall, and students are getting jobs. Students are also encouraged to attend job fairs, held by the state.”
Bradley Jamison, who graduated from UM with an MBA, says he has attended several job fairs, and although he has found an accounting job in Boca Raton, he is nonetheless disappointed. “The salary is much lower than what I expected for a MBA graduate. As a result, I have filed resumes with several executive search agencies to find a better paying job in states like California, New York and Colorado. I am even trying to see if I could find a better paying job outside of the US, possibly with an IT company in India.”
Jamison said the job in Boca will start him at $49,000 annually, but he thinks that with his degree, he should be attracting at least $70,000. ”I need a higher salary, not just for a good lifestyle, but to be able to pay my student loan which is thousands of dollars.”
In Miami, a senior recruiter at Robert Half, a national employment agency told, National Weekly, on conditions of anonymity that the economic climate is not affecting the demand for jobs for college graduates. The problem with a large percentage of graduates, he said, is that although they have earned degrees they have very little or no job experience, so most only qualify for entry level positions and these positions may not pay the salaries they are looking for. “People who are fresh out of college must realize that they have to gain job experience; prove themselves before the big bucks begin to flow,” the recruiter said.
Like Lee, the Robert Half recruiter, also suggests that more students should take advantage of career internship programs, especially in their senior year of college. “This is a very good way for potential graduates to gain practical job experience, which they need if they are looking for the kind of jobs and salaries they expect on graduation,” he said.
|
|
|
|
