by Meredith Pepin
The coronavirus pandemic has left very little unchanged, and internships are no exception. The results of a survey
released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
in May found that 22% of employers had revoked internship offers in
light of COVID-19. Many companies continue to evaluate the situation and
make ongoing changes and decisions about their internship programs.
For nearly a decade, I’ve worked with students on all things careers, first at Wheaton College and now at MIT. I’ve helped with everything from answering existential questions—like what do they want to do with their lives—to tackling the job and internship hunt. If you’ve found your dream internship unexpectedly canceled—or are on an internship search that’s severely lost its mojo—I can tell you from my conversations over the last several weeks that you’re in good company.
However, this doesn’t mean there’s no hope! There are still steps you can take to find new remote internships and other opportunities to build your resume during the global pandemic.
Your school’s career center is bound to be doing similar things. The staff members there should be keeping up-to-date with the changes happening during this time from both the student and the employer side, and they can share information and point you in the right direction. For example, many career centers have school-specific databases for internship postings, with information about who’s still hiring. (Even if your college’s career center doesn’t have a formal job posting system, a very popular one called Handshake is now available to all students with a .edu address. You can create a free account to check out more than 500 recent opportunities.) As another plus, you might be able to set up an appointment to meet virtually with an advisor on staff who can give you individualized advice for your situation.
Additionally, other offices and academic departments that offer experiential opportunities will be looking into alternative scenarios to support you. The summer research programs at your school may be figuring out how to move opportunities to a remote setup and your public service center may be rounding up nonprofit or volunteer opportunities. So be sure to check in with these offices too!
Candor, a startup that helps tech workers negotiate salaries, branched out and started a user-generated list of hiring updates in response to COVID-19’s economic impact. Using the Airtable format, you can sort by a “Hiring” status tag and pop keywords into the search (hint: try “internship”).
If you need another hiring pick-me-up from the masses, follow HIRING20 on Twitter for the latest on who's hiring interns and new grads. If Twitter isn’t your thing, you can also access the information on Github.
There are volunteer opportunities across industries and for a wide range of interests. Maybe you’d like to help with the copywriting on a documentary film or leverage your Spanish major while working for a human rights foundation. Or perhaps you want to give back to the community during this pandemic. Try searching on VolunteerMatch and Idealist, which have thousands of virtual and local volunteer opportunities listed.
See all 10 ways and the complete themuse article
For nearly a decade, I’ve worked with students on all things careers, first at Wheaton College and now at MIT. I’ve helped with everything from answering existential questions—like what do they want to do with their lives—to tackling the job and internship hunt. If you’ve found your dream internship unexpectedly canceled—or are on an internship search that’s severely lost its mojo—I can tell you from my conversations over the last several weeks that you’re in good company.
However, this doesn’t mean there’s no hope! There are still steps you can take to find new remote internships and other opportunities to build your resume during the global pandemic.
1. Take Advantage of Your School’s Resources
Chances are your college or university is thinking about how to help and has a variety of resources you can use. I am admittedly a bit biased, but your career center is a fantastic first stop. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, our office has gathered resources for our students still searching for summer opportunities, hosted a virtual career fair, and reached out to alumni to encourage new internship and job postings.Your school’s career center is bound to be doing similar things. The staff members there should be keeping up-to-date with the changes happening during this time from both the student and the employer side, and they can share information and point you in the right direction. For example, many career centers have school-specific databases for internship postings, with information about who’s still hiring. (Even if your college’s career center doesn’t have a formal job posting system, a very popular one called Handshake is now available to all students with a .edu address. You can create a free account to check out more than 500 recent opportunities.) As another plus, you might be able to set up an appointment to meet virtually with an advisor on staff who can give you individualized advice for your situation.
Additionally, other offices and academic departments that offer experiential opportunities will be looking into alternative scenarios to support you. The summer research programs at your school may be figuring out how to move opportunities to a remote setup and your public service center may be rounding up nonprofit or volunteer opportunities. So be sure to check in with these offices too!
3. Use Crowdsourced Data to Your Advantage
You can find some useful gems by turning to the hive mind for intel. While there are plenty of places reporting canceled internships and frozen hiring, the trick is to find sources that also have some hope (and leads) to share.Candor, a startup that helps tech workers negotiate salaries, branched out and started a user-generated list of hiring updates in response to COVID-19’s economic impact. Using the Airtable format, you can sort by a “Hiring” status tag and pop keywords into the search (hint: try “internship”).
If you need another hiring pick-me-up from the masses, follow HIRING20 on Twitter for the latest on who's hiring interns and new grads. If Twitter isn’t your thing, you can also access the information on Github.
7. Consider a Micro-Experience
Keeping an open mind on where your experience comes from can be liberating and useful. If you’re feeling adventurous, try your hand at shorter experiences that can help you explore different careers and build your resume. Below are a couple of resources you can use to find one or more bite-sized opportunities:- Inside Sherpa partners with companies to offer (unpaid) virtual work experience programs. It allows students to learn what a role and typical work would be like at those companies, including big names such as BCG, GE, and Citi. The platform is free, and programs usually take about five to six hours to complete. Some of the experiences include human rights law, software design, consulting, and data analytics.
- Parker Dewey offers short-term paid experiences. Once you set up a profile, you’ll be able to see what micro-internships are available, the details of the projects, and how much they pay. Opportunities range from user experience testing to API script writing to social media marketing and usually entail five to 40 hours of work.
8. Opt to Volunteer
Volunteering can be a great way to work for a company or organization, and there may be less competition than for internships. Admittedly, you have to be able to afford to not get paid, which understandably can be a limiting factor. (In some cases, your school may have supplemental funding or grants to help support you, so check with your career center or the public service office.)There are volunteer opportunities across industries and for a wide range of interests. Maybe you’d like to help with the copywriting on a documentary film or leverage your Spanish major while working for a human rights foundation. Or perhaps you want to give back to the community during this pandemic. Try searching on VolunteerMatch and Idealist, which have thousands of virtual and local volunteer opportunities listed.
See all 10 ways and the complete themuse article
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