Utilizing Current Students to Introduce New Students to the Internship Process

By Kent Hester, Director of Student and Career Services

                Other than free pizza, what brings out freshmen, sophomores and juniors to a non-mandatory, after-hours event on a cold and rainy Tuesday night?  The annual Summer Job Forum at NC State’s College of Textiles that’s what!

                What is the Summer Job Forum you ask?  Well, it is a sister event to the Real World Forum (held each fall with young alumni as panelists) except this event targets new and underclass students.  The purpose of this event is to introduce all students, but especially underclassmen, to the internship process, the importance of summer work experience, and the advantages of work experience in the entry-level permanent job search.

                Although simple and inexpensive in concept and execution, the summer job forum accomplishes three goals: it provides valuable information about internships, exposes younger students to the career services office at an early stage, and helps an employer get visibility among your students.

                The first step was to identify good current students who represent each of the four major degree programs (Textile & Apparel Management, Textile Chemistry, Textile Engineering and Textile Technology).  This year’s panel included five students and two company representatives.  Each student had used the Textile Career Services Office to obtain good recent internship experiences.  For best results, most panelists had already received or accepted permanent job offers, or had made the decision to attend graduate school.  A panel of four to six has worked best for the College of Textiles.

                The event, which was held on February 7^th, provided enough valuable information that Philip Dail faculty advisor for all freshmen, offered extra credit for those who attended the forum from his classes.

                To add even more value to the program, the event is always planned on a date when an employer is interviewing on campus for interns.  Employer representatives are invited to sit on the panel in order to provide a company perspective to all questions.  Milliken & Company, the largest employer of NC State Textile students, was the employer representative for this year’s forum.  Company sponsors may be involved in a variety of ways…from sitting on the panel and providing a company perspective to paying for pizza and drinks for attendees.

                Josh Cox, president of TTSC, (the student organization sponsoring the event), moderated the event.  Panel members were James Reed, Geric Potts, Laura Gibson, Josie Watson, Erik Ballard, and company representatives from Milliken, Nicole Loyd and Dan Garrison.

                Students and employers on the panel introduced themselves and provided brief descriptions of their latest or best internship experiences, and then the floor was opened for questions.  Questions ranged from “How did you arrange housing for just three months?” to “Were you ever asked to do things that you didn’t know how to do?” to “What interviewing advise would you give to prospective interns?”  Company representatives were involved in almost every question as well.  The show practically ran itself with questions from the audience.  When the activity ended plenty of time for one on one and small group discussions were allowed.

                For the College of Textiles, this event has been held in January or February of each year, and has been very well attended and very successful.  Event’s like the forum can be the icebreaker for new students to begin exploring careers long before their senior year.

                Oh yeah…TTSC still provided the free pizza at the end of the event for all those who remained for the entire program.   Free food never hurts!