Students gear up for internship search

With today's struggling job market, simply graduating from one of the nation's top business schools is not necessarily enough to secure a full-time job post graduation.

In addition to the heavy coursework, many students in the Smith School of Business are working to pack their resumes with clubs, organizations, volunteer work and the most crucial ingredient: internships.

            Thankfully for business majors, the Smith School provides many resources for finding that ideal internship, beginning with the online career services system, HireSmith.

            In general, HireSmith allows students to perform job searches that give potential internships and full-time jobs for after graduation. Employers are also invited to the website to recruit the talent they're looking for.

            Jessica Thomas, a senior finance and information systems double major, has used HireSmith to find both a past internship and a full-time job for next year.

            "The business school does a great job in helping students find internships and jobs," she said. "They have a very close relationship with a lot of company recruiters, which is great for us students."

            Beyond the Smith School, the University of Maryland offers several options for finding internships, as well. To name a few resources, there are the University Career Center, Careers4Terps, and the career fairs hosted by the university throughout each school year.

            Obviously, the process is not always this simple, and many students find a lot of stress throughout their internship search.

            "It's hard because most students generally want the same internships," junior finance major Emily Lubejko said. "We're not only competing among each other, but there's students applying from around the country too. It's definitely a huge additional stress in my life right now."

            However, according to advice from internships.com, there are ways to beat the stress. Use all of your resources (especially those offered right here at UMD), network as much as possible, and most importantly, start your search early.