chat
expand_more

Chat with our Pricing Wizard

clear

Career Advice for Job Seekers

How college career service offices are helping students finding internships despite the COVID-19 pandemic

Steven Rothberg AvatarSteven Rothberg
November 10, 2020


We’ve been sharing a fair amount of information recently about how college students can find internships despite this COVID-19 pandemic. I thought that it would be interesting to look at how one college career service office is helping its students as I thought it would be instructive to those who aren’t aware of the tremendous work done not just by the staff at this school, but at many (most?) schools.

Nicole Bailey, director of the Career Center at La Salle University in Philadelphia, was kind enough to share with me three recommendations for how students at her school can find an internship despite the pandemic:

  • Access the career services center at your college or university. Our staff at La Salle’s Career Center maintain strong relationships with companies, firms, and businesses, many of which have pivoted to a virtual format and are still hiring and recruiting. Knowing a student’s professional desires and aspirations will help us make the connection between the student and the business that is seeking a talented, motivated candidate. If I sat across from a student, physically or on a Zoom session, and the opportunity they described is one that recently crossed my desk, it’s more likely to lead to a successful placement opportunity.
  • Build and refine your online presence. From professional associations to alumni associations, seemingly every organization has gone virtual for the time being. It’s important for students to remain focused on the level of their virtual engagement. They should continue building a network and staying active on influential social media channels like LinkedIn, or within their respective professional associations, student organizations, and alumni networks. We counsel students on posting the most-relevant skills and up-too-date information on these publicly accessible sites, to ensure they are always putting their best foot forward.
  • Practice makes perfect. Our Career Center staff always stress the significance of interview readiness. I learned recently on a Quinncia webinar that roughly 80 to 90 percent of first-round interviews are being conducted using video interviewing platforms. Now more than ever, college students need to work on—and perfect—their virtual interviewing skills. It takes practice. Very soon, our university will roll out an artificial-intelligence interviewing platform that will record students’ sessions and rate their performance on use of facial expressions and filler words, and answers to industry-specific questions. If students do not have access to a platform like this, they can rely on their career coaches, academic advisors, faculty members, and friends to conduct multiple practice interviews. After all, practice makes perfect.

New Job Postings

Advanced Search

Related Articles

No Related Posts.
View More Articles