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Interning your way into a job By
Jamie Glover Most
students start college with the hope of getting a great job after graduation,
but with the current Even
before the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the job outlook for students was
not as strong as it had been in years past. Corporate layoffs and a
volatile stock market were on the minds of everyone. “[The
current job market] may be a little rockier now than it was before,”
said Barry Cooper, Cargill’s general manager of animal nutrition.
“However, there will be good jobs for good people.” Companies’
general hiring plans have not dropped substantially. In fact, 55 percent
of employers have not changed hiring plans, 36.7 percent are hiring
fewer people and 8.3 percent plan to hire more employees, according
to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. However,
last year 55 percent of companies offered a signing bonus and that number
has decreased to about 36 percent this year, according to the association.
Deere
and Co. has slowed its hiring but is starting to pick back up again,
said Claya Knupp, recruiting coordinator for Deere and Co. On
the other hand, Cargill is planning to continue to hire as many as they
usually do, said Cooper. While
colleges have noticed a slight drop in recruiting efforts, the one thing
that remains the same is qualified candidates are still in high demand.
One way candidates can make themselves more marketable is to have experience
in their career area. “We
have noticed that there are more candidates available for hire,”
said Cooper. “A couple of years ago students could sit back and
wait for an offer they were completely pleased with. Now the companies
are more able to sit back and wait for good candidates.” The
career areas that seem to be in highest demand include engineering,
computer-related fields and business disciplines, according to the National
Association of Colleges and Employers. Within
agriculture, managers and financial specialists and marketing, merchandising
and sales representatives as well as communication and education specialists
make the top of the list, according to the USDA. Some
of the top skills employers look for in potential employees include
communication skills, honesty, interpersonal skills, problem-solving
abilities and teamwork abilities, according to the National Association
of Colleges and Employers. With
employers potentially looking to hire fewer candidates, relevant work
experience could be the deciding factor between otherwise equally qualified
candidates, according to the association. Because
experience is so important to employers, many companies choose to hire
from their internship programs. “We
[Deere and Co.] hire a lot of interns after they have completed an internship
with us,” said Knupp. Some
employers said there are equally rewarding benefits for both parties
in an internship program. “A
90-day internship allows the student to learn about our company and
our goals and allows us to learn about the student’s work habits,”
said Cooper. “Then we can both evaluate the experience to see if
it is a fit.” Shannon
Angle, an agricultural economics senior from Burlington, Okla., received
a job as a result of her internship. During
the summer of 2001, Angle interned with Williams Communications in Tulsa,
Okla., and was hired into the professional development program for Williams
Energy upon completing the internship. “I
went into the internship knowing I was interested in working there and
just worked hard,” said Angle. “Besides getting the job, the
greatest benefit was finally getting to use the things I had learned
in class. It helped bring everything together to make better sense.”
A couple
of places to look for internship opportunities are Oklahoma State University
Career Services and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources Career Services. They hold a number of career and internship
fairs on campus that provide students opportunities to network with
companies that may offer internships and full-time employment. Another
good place to look is on the Internet. Some companies advertise their
internships and put applications on their company Web sites. Also,
friends and past connections often open the doors to internships. Some
students have found internships by calling a contact at a company and
simply asking if they are interested in having an intern. “Many
companies are no longer pursuing you. You may have to go after them,”
said Angle. Because
many companies have standards about the number of persons they hire
from internship programs, internships often are a way to secure a good
job. Cargill’s long-term goal is to have 80 percent of their full-time
employees hired from their internship program, said Cooper. While
experience is an important component of securing a competitive position
in the job market, persistence is a valuable tool as well. “Be willing to pay your dues. Stay positive, keep your head up and build your network,” said Cooper. “Get your foot in the door and leverage your way into bigger and better things." |
Hiring
in agricultural-related fields is promising as well. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture expects there to be 57,785 job openings and 57,175 qualified
graduates available this year.