2008 Woodie Awards
Internships prep students for the real world
by Sarah Lewis
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: News
Making Dean's List, taking a tough course load, participating in extracurriculars and getting good grades are not enough anymore. To be competitive in the job market upon graduation, students must also have an internship on their resume.
Dave Berilla, the associate director of Bank of America Career Services, said regardless of whether students hold a paid or unpaid internship, the experience is crucial.
"It is an absolute necessity in this day in age to have experience in your field before you graduate," Berilla said. "Employers value experience more so than GPA."
Students should utilize the tools offered at Career Services including eRecruiting.com and other search engines, he said.
"The No. 1 thing for all students, freshmen through graduate students, is to be part of the eRecruiting system," Berilla said. "Second of all, students should look at the direction they might want to go in life and start talking with people in that profession to get more information concerning that area of interest."
He said in recent years, more students have relevant job experience when they graduate.
"A vast majority of students, especially after junior year have some type of experiential job depending on where they want to go," Berilla said. "There's been a big increase in the past five to eight years in students seeing the necessity in having experience in their field before they graduate."
Some companies and corporations will hold experience in the field in higher esteem than they hold GPA, he said. Employers look at academic records plus work and internship experiences.
"I had someone with a 2.4 cumulative GPA a few years ago," Berilla said. "He was a chemical engineer and had three summers of job experience. He was heavily in demand with companies after graduation."
Engineering is a field with a large number of students involved in internships - as high as 70 percent - especially among juniors entering their senior year, he said.
Dave Berilla, the associate director of Bank of America Career Services, said regardless of whether students hold a paid or unpaid internship, the experience is crucial.
"It is an absolute necessity in this day in age to have experience in your field before you graduate," Berilla said. "Employers value experience more so than GPA."
Students should utilize the tools offered at Career Services including eRecruiting.com and other search engines, he said.
"The No. 1 thing for all students, freshmen through graduate students, is to be part of the eRecruiting system," Berilla said. "Second of all, students should look at the direction they might want to go in life and start talking with people in that profession to get more information concerning that area of interest."
He said in recent years, more students have relevant job experience when they graduate.
"A vast majority of students, especially after junior year have some type of experiential job depending on where they want to go," Berilla said. "There's been a big increase in the past five to eight years in students seeing the necessity in having experience in their field before they graduate."
Some companies and corporations will hold experience in the field in higher esteem than they hold GPA, he said. Employers look at academic records plus work and internship experiences.
"I had someone with a 2.4 cumulative GPA a few years ago," Berilla said. "He was a chemical engineer and had three summers of job experience. He was heavily in demand with companies after graduation."
Engineering is a field with a large number of students involved in internships - as high as 70 percent - especially among juniors entering their senior year, he said.
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