When McCormick junior Sai Krishna went to the Chicago Universities Bioengineering Industry Conference Career Fair, he said he found about five companies there. But only one was looking for summer interns.
Disappointed that there weren’t more internship opportunities, Krishna said he decided to apply for several campus research positions instead.
“I know that an internship is different from a job, but the state of hiring scared me and made me more interested in research,” Krishna said.
NU has seen a 25 to 30 percent decrease in the number of summer internship recruiters this year. Particularly hard hit have been consulting, finance, information technology and engineering, said Thy Nguyen, an internship coordinator for University Career Services.
On-campus recruiting also has decreased at Stanford and Princeton universities, according to career services staff at both schools.
Beverly Hamilton-Chandler, director of Office of Career Services at Princeton, said the economic slowdown after Sept. 11 has caused companies to scale back. Although students in the past had felt confident about finding summer employment, this year’s students are more doubtful, she said.
“Given that the economy isn’t as good, the opportunities are different,” Hamilton-Chandler said. “Students have to put a bit more effort into looking at places that aren’t coming to campus.”
Kristin Conner, an internship adviser at Stanford’s Career Development Center, said fewer paid interns are being hired. But students seeking positions in the communications, entertainment and public service industries probably will not be as badly affected by the slow economy.
Despite the decline in on-campus recruiting, officials at all three universities say they remain optimistic that students will find internships.
“Not to say that there aren’t some good opportunities, but it may take more time and it may be more difficult to secure those opportunities,” Nguyen said.
For at least the past three years, NU has participated in the Premier Internship Consortium, which includes Harvard University, Stanford, the University of Southern California, Rice University and Columbia University. The consortium gives students access to a database with internship listings from all participating schools.
Hamilton-Chandler said Princeton is part of Internship Exchange, a consortium of 17 universities.
Medill freshman Talea Miller applied for several paid internships at the beginning of the quarter. She received e-mails confirming that the organizations have received her resume, but so far she has been offered only one unpaid internship.
Miller said she didn’t think finding an internship would be so difficult.
“I haven’t been looking for an internship that is beyond my ability,” Miller said.
Speech freshman Erica Rosenthal said she has applied for internships with “Days of Our Lives” and the weekend edition of “Today.”
“It would be a great opportunity if I get it,” Rosenthal said.
