Live BlogWhile finding a college job or internship is never easy, a new report by the Wasserman Center for Career Development has a bit of hope for young workers. The report found that 92 percent of NYU juniors who sought part-time jobs or internship positions were able to secure them last academic year. The numbers show a three-point increase from the previous year.
The report was based on a survey of 2,459 NYU juniors late last semester and included unpaid volunteer positions that were career-focused. During the last academic year, 46 percent of students held more than one job, internship or volunteer position.
“We do this report every year … target[ing] juniors because we think they provide a good snapshot of students in middle of their academic careers,” Wasserman Center
executive director Trudy Steinfeld said.
Steinfeld said the numbers were in the 70-percent range five years ago.
“More and more students are looking for jobs and we’re more and more equipped to help them find them,” he added.
“At Wasserman, we have a robust employer-relations team that makes sure we stay on top of all the latest business trends,” Steinfeld said. “[Our students] rank in the top tier of schools that businesses are looking to hire from.”
The report found that 43 percent of students who secured a part-time job and 47 percent of students who secured an internship had done so either with directly through NYU or by using resources from the Wasserman Career Center.
“For me, Wasserman has been a great place to at least search for jobs,” said Stern junior Emil Chen.
However, Chen was unsure of the implications of the high statistics.
“Even if you look and apply for a job on Wasserman, there’s obviously no guarantee that you’ll actually get the position,” Chen said. “I didn’t hear back from about 95 percent of the positions I applied to.”
Chen also said he had secured most of his past jobs through other means.
GLS freshman Alexa Smithwrick said she has already secured an unpaid internship with an online marketing group through Wasserman.
“Finding it was the most amazing thing to happen to me yet,” Smithwrick said. “One of the main reasons I came to NYU was because I wanted to get a job in the city, and even though this is unpaid, I know it will help.”
Steinhardt professor Floyd Hammack agreed.
“New York City is such a fantastic place that not to take some advantage of what it offers is to neglect an important part of an NYU education,” he said.
Arveen Dhillon, a junior at the University of California, Irvine, said she has heard back from about 75 percent of the jobs she has applied to through her school.
“Anyone who is serious about landing a job [or] internship at UC Irvine has definitely at least visited this resource,” Dhillon said.
An aspiring medical student, Dhillon said she was able to secure an internship at a hospital near UC Irvine.
“For someone who is considering applying to medical school, it’s definitely important to have experience outside of just your school work,” Dhillon said.
A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Nov. 27 print edition. Andrew Karpan is a staff writer. Email him at [email protected].
