Internship placement programs, such as University of Dreams, are causing students to stray away from using their university career centers to find internships or jobs.
“This place should be mobbed every day with students looking for an internship, job or asking questions about selecting or figuring out what to do with their major,” Carol Schroeder, director of the Career Center, said.
The University of Dreams is an eight-week summer internship program that was established in 2000 and assists students in finding internships in one of its seven national or international programs — with a price. It is an all-inclusive program that places students in internships of their choice, and it includes room and board and other benefits, such as transportation to and from work and weekend excursions. The program has an average cost of $7,500.
Schroeder said the Career Center offers tools and skills for students that University of Dreams does not, which can be helpful now and in the future.
“[Career Center has] day-to-day contact with employers,” Schroeder said. “We know what employers are looking for and where people are.”
The Career Center offers students opportunities, such as resume building, learning how to succeed in an interview and access to jobs and internships through ePack — an online network that connects students with outside internships and jobs.
However, Eric Lochtefeld, CEO of University of Dreams, said his group is involved with the actual placement of internships, as opposed to university career centers.
“The University of Dreams goes as far as making introductions and seeing the placement all the way through,” Lochtefeld said. “It might be very difficult for [career centers] to facilitate that beyond the usual coaching. Students that come to our program have specific needs that perhaps aren’t being met, can’t be met or just aren’t utilizing the career center.”
The Career Center offers everyday walk-in appointments, phone and e-mail to students so that it can guide students through the process, and they are able to ask questions, according to Schroeder. She said internship placement programs, such as University of Dreams, do not enable the students the opportunity to go through real job searches.
“[Students] are losing a very, very important opportunity to go through a real job search,” she said.
Students can walk away from the Career Center with more knowledge and experience of how to approach an employer and also gain a great sense of confidence that is going to help them later on, according to Schroeder.
She said the most valuable skill a student can learn that can further a job or internship search is the student’s ability to talk about him or herself in a positive, but non-egotistical way, while developing good communication techniques, both verbally and nonverbally.
According to Schroeder, the University of Dreams internship process does not allow students to gain this experience and knowledge — they are not able to develop the skills they need throughout the experience of a job search.
“[Internship placement programs] are faking away students’ ability to make mistakes and learn from them, or get it right and gain that confidence,” Schroeder said. “It’s like riding a bicycle or playing a violin — practice makes perfect.”
Lochtefeld said his program can assist students in getting through the process that can sometimes frustrate students.
“We get you through the hard part that so many students get so frustrated by to get to that point,” Lochtefeld said. “We focus on your experience and the nice thing is, once you get to that program in the first few weeks, we’re there to coach you on how to make your internship even better.”
According to Lochtefeld, no students from NCSU have applied to the program, but seven students from UNC-Chapel Hill are participating in this summer’s program. He said after this summer, the program will have placed a total of about 2,200 students in internships since it was established.
Lochtefeld said his program is a complementary option to career centers, and he thinks students should first try to take advantage of their university career centers.
“The hardest part is getting the career center to understand we are simply a complementary option to them,” he said. “Our advice is to first go to the career center to see what they do with you. We have a lot of career centers work with us and very successfully.”