When Career Pressure
Gets Immediate
Internship recruiting is underway, and the useful question is where your student's search is getting stuck.
What they may be feeling
October can make career pressure feel immediate. Career fairs, internship applications, networking, and interviews are happening alongside a demanding academic schedule, and students may start worrying that everyone else is further ahead.
What may be happening
Your student may be moving from exploration into testing. The internships, companies, and roles they pursue now can give them real information about what fits, what doesn't, and what they want to learn next.
The Career Check-In
Ask where their search is getting stuck. Are they struggling to find roles, getting applications out but no responses, avoiding networking, or unsure how to talk about their experience? Knowing where the friction is makes it easier to decide what needs attention.
Five Questions to Ask About the Internship Search
These work best as one relaxed conversation, and your student's answers will show you both where the search stands.
Do you want an internship this summer?
Start here, because some students would choose a paid job, a class, or research, and each of those calls for a different plan.
Where do you want to live this summer?
Coming home and going wherever the role is lead to different lists of employers and different costs, so this answer shapes the whole search.
Is there a specific job or title you want to explore?
An internship is a low-risk way to test a role, and one thing they're curious about is enough to aim the search.
Have you talked to your advisor or gone to a career fair?
Both are where students learn which employers recruit on their campus and when applications open.
Is your resume ready to send?
Postings open and close quickly, and a finished resume lets them apply the day they find a role that fits.
Any question they can't answer yet is a good place to start.
See Another Stage
Choose one part of the internship search that needs work and take one concrete action on it this week.
Register for a career fair or make a career-center appointment about internships.
What Recruiters Notice in an Entry-Level Resume
After years of reading entry-level resumes, we've noticed that the summer job a student barely mentions is often their strongest material. This four-page guide shows your student how a recruiter reads their experience and how to write it so the skills come through.
Download the free guide