‘Not necessarily a bad thing’
Connecticut employers’ summer interns going virtual amid pandemic
For many, scoring the right college internship is the first crucial step on the career ladder, but opportunities are dwindling fast as many offices deemed non-essential remain closed to quell the spread of the coronavirus, according to polls of schools and corporate recruiters conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
The 350,000 Connecticut workers — and counting — who never counted on being thrown out of work might not give much thought to the internship prospects for young people.
But for the college student, seeing an internship shrink or shrivel away means losing what only weeks before represented an exciting springboard to a sought-after career.
A separate NACE study from two years ago determined that graduates with internship experiences on their resumes were half as much more likely to land jobs in the fields of their choice compared to those without.
Virtual, ‘micro’ internships
It appears increasingly likely more will be going without this summer, as Gov. Ned Lamont weighs when to lift restrictions on business operations and how to do it.
LinkedIn reported that internship postings are down 60 percent across its websites since the start of March, with Indeed’s Hiring Lab economic research arm likewise tracking a dip in the final days of last month. What’s more, Indeed researchers tracked fewer “clicks” for each internship ad, a possible signal of declining interest by job seekers themselves in taking on anything this summer amid the uncertainty.
As of Friday, Indeed and LinkedIn combined for less than 1,000 internship openings — some of those crossover listings — against an undergraduate enrollment of roughly 200,000 students in Connecticut colleges and universities.
An Indeed spokesperson indicated the company is scrapping its own 2020 internship program at corporate offices in Stamford.
“We feel we would not be able to offer the optimal experience, proper support and mentorship for interns,” said Kirsten Gehring. “Our (internship) program has always been a valuable part of our company culture, and we hope to resume the program next year.”
Indeed is not alone — in midMarch, days after Connecticut implemented a public health emergency, nine in 10 NACE poll respondents indicated that their summer internship programs would go forward with no changes. Within the space of three weeks, only about a third of employers were holding to those original plans, with about the same number choosing to tighten the internship window by delaying the start dates.
Close to 30 percent of the rest plan to conduct internships virtually, through teleconferencing platforms, collaboration software, mobile messaging or email.
In any given year, between 900 and 1,500 Southern Connecticut State University students have summer internships or independent research projects.
“Many employers are taking time to examine if they have the capacity to provide remote and virtual internships,” said Kelvin Rutledge, director of career and professional development at Southern Connecticut. “There is a trend among certain sectors of information technology, computer science, business, and some STEM-related companies amending their internships from eight-to-12week experiences over the summer, to now four-to-seven-week experiences beginning in July.”
Many students and employers are in a wait-and-see mode, agreed Kathleen Lindenmayer, director of Western Connecticut State University’s career success center.
“(COVID-19) has jump-started, or necessitated, greater interest among both employers and universities including WCSU in alternatives to the traditional on-ground summer internship,” Lindenmayer said. “(The) biggest change for students is more uncertainty than usual (and) the fact that students are forced — not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing — to consider more virtual and remote opportunities.”
She added there is increased interest in newer twists on the internship model, such as “micro internships” organized by a Chicago firm called Parker Dewey that pay interns to complete short-term projects that otherwise would be farmed out to freelancers and other independent contractors. The University of Bridgeport is exploring the use of virtual micro-internships as well, according to Taylor Van Antwerp, director of career development.