Originally published November 19, 2010
Whether a freshman or fifth-year senior, the time to seek that resume-boosting internship is now.
U.S. News and World Report ranked Bradley as having one of the top 15 college internship and co-op program this August, and for good reason, said Springer Center for Excellence in Internships Director Sharon St. Germain.
“We have a very well-established program,” St. Germain said. “We expanded our program to include full-time, part-time and paid internships and co-ops. We are trying to encourage students to get career-related experience before they graduate.”
St. Germain said her main goal is to increase networking between students and employers.
“We try to get a lot of networking in with students and employers,” she said. “We start with our students as early as freshman year. We encourage and promote these experiences regardless of their major. The level of experience may vary, but they can start their freshman or sophomore year.”
Springer Center Associate Director Dawn Koeltzow said students should focus on finding career-related part-time jobs.
“Creating that career-related experience is so important,” she said. “Many students come in for part-time advisement about a paid position that is career-related.”
Internships are not just for upperclassmen, Koeltzow said.
“We always have a freshmen internship event held in the spring semester, it’s on Feb. 24 this year,” she said. “The program is wonderful because it starts to expose the freshmen to e-recruiting and they get to meet with their career adviser that night.”
Koeltzow said there will also be a new internship event for sophomores and juniors in March.
“It’s about the transition from campus to that first job or internship,” she said. “The employers think it’s important that students get help interviewing and marketing themselves.”
Sophomore nursing major Brittany Semedalas said she plans to seek out internship opportunities this year.
“The only time I have been to the Career Center was for my EHS class last year, and we learned about how you can use video to record yourself interviewing and how they check resumes,” she said. “But this year I plan on trying to do the Spring Internship Fair when it comes second semester.”
Junior management and administrative major Nick Foti said he has had multiple internships, one of them being discovered through a Bradley job fair.
“I got this internship at the job fair in October, and it lasted until August,” he said. “I had met my boss through Bradley, and I used the Career Center to review my resume.”
Foti, like many other students, said he was unaware he could register his internships through the Career Center.
“We really want to encourage students to register their internships with the Career Center, because then it becomes part of your transcript,” St. Germain said. “Some internships have the option of counting for credit. If there is anything I can really emphasize, registering the internship will really validate it.”
