In our organization we hire student interns over the summer. About 50% are then hired as entry-level, part-time employees, with an opportunity to move to full-time once they complete their studies. The program works well, although the students often want to work full-time as employees, while the organization considers it a priority that they complete their education.
Shannon,
Externships are extremely beneficial. In instances where externships are not avaiable, do you recommending shadowing another employee or a volunteer position? why or why not?
Sheri Leach
The learning opportunities mentioned in the course that our institution utilizes/implements is the Externship approach. Overall, I feel that the hands on experience along with the possibility of employment at the conclusion of the experience is very beneficial to our students and institution.
Viola,
you bring up a great point. Externship is definitely (field) experience. We as Career Service professionals need to make sure we are educating our employers to that fact. We also have to explain to our students how to present themselves as having experience when they are speaking with a potential employer. All too often our students lack the confidence on a interview or they don't even go to the interview. We and our instructors need to help the students understand how valuable the extern experience is, and even if they don't get hired on their extern site, how they can use the experience to get another position.
Sheri Leach
All of our students at least have the externship so no, I have not had to send someone out with no field experience. That said, it is still a challenge to find employment when all the student has is 170 hours in the field. I often recommend that students volunteer or "intern" if they are having a hard time getting into their field. Other than school and externship, most of our students come with little to no work experience.
Viola,
There are many factors that contribute to the success of a class or a single student. Experiential learning opportunities are factors that can increase the likelihood of success. Building relationships with the students and the sites/employers is key. Being able to work with the employers to provide an appropriate learning environment that has the potential of becoming an employment opportunity for the student is invaluable. DO you have any experience with students who did not have relevant work experience, yet were successful on their externship and in their job search?
Sheri Leach
To some degree we achieved 50% due to certain factors that existed within that cohort. First,there were a large number of business students who had work experience or were already working. Their employers worked with us and the program so that their employee could move up within the company. The students who took externships at other companies were all hired at their sites partially due to their work experience. The Business Admin group as a whole was above average in their focus and drive to be employed so the students took more responsibility.
We also had more success with our students finding their own opportunities as you mention, they are more invested and do a better a job. We really try to encourage our students to find their own externship that interests them, but often times our students are very intimidated by the job search.
Finally, we offer a Professional Resource Development class in which we teach job search techniques. We also talk about the externships and the progress students are making towards attaining a site. Between the instructors and Career Services, we really drill in the importance of the externship opportunity and encourage them to be proactive in their search.
As they say, it takes a village...
Viola,
a 50% extern-to-hire rate is very respectable, I don't know many institutions that have achieved that level. When students are invested (such as helping find their own site) they assign more personal value and meaning to the experience. The result is that they will usually perform better since they picked the site and usually it is one where they hope that they will be offered employment.
How can Career Services ensure that new sites will be used so that the students have a better chance of being hired? Especially when Career Services is not responsible for the placement of externs/interns? what are some practices you can share?
Sheri Leach
Our main experiential learning opportunity is the Externship at local businesses. I feel this is a very successful program as long as the CS dept keeps the sites fresh and varied. We try to have the students take part in the search for an extern site but most students ask for our help. Our last term we had a 50% extern to hire rate which is great. Even those students who already had jobs were either promoted or given additional responsibilities to meet the extern requirement.
To a much lessor extent we have students volunteer 2 hours for the Professional Resource Development class as part of the curriculum.
Work/study has proven to be very limited and most of the jobs are on campus.
Marsha,
You bring up an interesting point. Different institutions define internships and externships differently. In some programs, they are a requirement of the curriculum, some are paid positions and some are voluntary. All provide useful experience to the student. Externships that provide a "working interview" is great experience for the student, it increases their self- confidence and may lead to a paid position after graduation. To further this discussion, can you be more specific as to the differences between the internship and externship at your organization?
Sheri Leach
we currenly have a "intership" program which is great hands on skills for working with different clients, however, I believe if the students were given the opportunity to do "externsips" that would increase thier confidence and would have a better chance of getting employed in that facility. This would ease some of the barriers that they may have and build self-esteem
