Internships Still the Best Route to Full-Time Employment, Say University at Buffalo Career Advisors

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Internships are serious business this summer for students hoping to improve their chances in a sluggish national job market, according to career advisors from the University at Buffalo.

"When the job market goes soft, internships are even more important to the career aspirations of students," says Daniel Ryan, director of the UB Office of Career Planning and Placement.

"Students who were lucky enough or wise enough to land one this summer could significantly improve their chances of getting a full-time job in their field after graduation," he adds.

According to Ryan, interest in internships among UB students has increased this spring, with more than 1,000 students attending a recent summer-job fair on campus. But competition for the spots also has increased, he notes, as many companies continue to scale back hiring on all fronts.

Paul Allaire, assistant dean and director of the Career Resource Center in the UB School of Management, also notes a decline in companies hiring summer interns, but he says many companies, especially those in the financial/accounting and manufacturing industries, still are using summer internships as a low-cost way to groom potential employees.

Allaire cites a recent hiring-trends report from the Graduate Management Admissions Council that shows the tremendous hiring potential of internships for business students. According to the report, 65 percent of companies surveyed said they will make offers for full-time employment to "strong performing interns," and 24 percent anticipate that most of their full-time hires will come from their internship pool.

Many non-profit agencies, Allaire adds, are reaping the benefits of a sluggish job market by hiring paid and volunteer summer interns who otherwise may have opted for a corporate internship.

"While they may not earn as much, interns typically gain very valuable experience working on some very high-level projects for non-profits," he says.

The engineering sector also has cut back on summer internships, but internships and co-ops remain the primary way many engineering grads gain entry-level employment, says Dean Millar, assistant dean for corporate relations in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Each spring, Millar puts UB engineering students through a career "boot camp," where they brush up on communication skills and learn management techniques before moving on to summer internships.

"We tell students that evidence sells," Millar says. "Students who can point to internship accomplishments make themselves much more attractive to employers."

Among the dozens of companies that have hired UB interns this summer are Disney, UPS, State Farm Insurance, Lockheed Martin, Bank of America, Moog, Fed-Ex, United Way, IRS, M&T Bank, HSBC, Rich Products, Fisher-Price, National Fuel, Praxair, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Buffalo Bills.