Wednesday, February 7, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
INTERNET
Internet offers internship solutions
By Jacqueline Lenart Kansan correspondent
Many students use internet sites to browse for internships and jobs. Web sites like www.monster.com offer an easy way to find information about companies nationwide. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
It's been three weeks since classes resumed, and my parents have already started asking me what my plans are for the summer. If you're anything like me, summer seems a year away, not "just around the corner." Having a clean shirt to wear is a greater concern at the moment than getting an internship or a job.
But after hearing what my mom subtly referred to as "merely words of advice" the other night, I decided to
Jacqueline Lenart
check out a few internship sites online on a whim. As I browsed around the information super highway, I discovered that while the sites offered details about internships available in my hometown of Dallas, they each differed in accessibility and information available.
Some notable distinctions that were appropriate for rating the sites were navigability, required user login, number of internships listed for each industry and if the site had a user fee for basic information.
I began my search by using the popular site AskJeeves.com in an attempt for guidance. The site's No. 1 rated internship site was IntershipPrograms.com, so I checked it out as well as some others. To my surprise, they all shared a similar problem: a shortage of listings. Here are
my ratings for the following sites.
www.internshipprograms
com two stars
.com — two stars
Pros: The site was easy to navigate and there were multiple options of how to search the site for an internship, including by city and state, company name or most popular requested internships. The city and state search was nice because you could view all listings regardless of job type. A company research tool is offered, and profiles of people who have held internships can be viewed.
Cons: A user login required before any information was accessible. Yuck. Many popular job fields were unavailable in a number of areas or only a few were listed.
www.Internships.com -- three stars
Pros: The site was easy to navigate, and no pesky user login was required until making a purchase. The student guide provides general information on internships, how to search for, apply for and get an internship, what to expect in your internship and tips on how to make an internship experience most beneficial.
It gives details on internships for the state you are interested in a variety of choices, including accounting, advertising, public relations, banking, finance, engineering, manufacturing, technology, publishing, broadcasting and sports. The guide even contains a host of URL sites as well as e-mail addresses of helpful people to provide assistance through your hunting process
Cons: Purchase is necessary to obtain information, so there is a waiting period involved.
but there is a money-back guarantee if you are unsatisfied. The cost is low at $7.95.
www.internweb.com — two stars
Pros: This site also was easy to navigate and had no login requirement. An internship bookstore and an e-mail newsletter is sent out to inform students about the latest internships available. The entries could be searched by internship type, employer type or state.
Cons: Kansas and nearby states had little or no listings under all fields.
■ www.usinterns.com — three stars
Pros: The site had many navigation options to choose from, and no user login was required. It provided detailed, but not annoying, questions to narrow the search. Company profiles were available, and resume help was an option.
Cons: The biggest downfall was that some states had virtually no listings, and those that did had five or fewer internships. While all of the sites could have a wider selection of job types, the sites had unique opportunities for learning more about the internship and job world.
Another option available for searching for specific internships is the University of
Kansas web site at www.ukans.edu/~uces/internships.shtml
With so many readily available resources, students nationwide should be taking advantage of this opportunity to explore their career options.
Although spring break moves to the back burner while my thoughts focus on my first test of the semester this week, my future summer plans can't be put on hold if I am interested in an internship position. During the hoopla of this month, interested students should make an effort to pursue internships, online or otherwise. As for me, my priorities have shifted and I have begun to determine my summer plans. What do you know — sometimes my mom is right.
Web sites provide surfers the chance to find new careers
By Mike Ferguson
Kansas correspondent
As we all huddled around the television on Super Bowl Sunday, if you're like me, not only did you want the Giants to win but also watched for the famous Super Bowl commercials.
The trend lately has been the "dot.com" commercials, and there were a few that really caught my eye. Especially the Internet sites that make finding an occupation so easy.
Monster.com was the first of these sites I decided to check out. If a business is called "monster," they must be able to find me a great job. Since I'm hoping to get a job in the world of sports broadcasting, when searching for potential jobs I did a search of jobs anywhere in the continental United States that fit the arts, entertainment and media.
Although I agree that this is a very random search, I happened upon some rather nifty jobs for someone with my interests. From a listing of more than 1,000 potential careers, I discovered three that would suit me perfectly.
The first was a tape librarian for the cable channel Court TV. The amount of money potentially earned with this job was not included in the description. I don't know about you, but there can't be anything out there better than putting outtakes of the O.J. Simpson trial in a library of court television tapes.
I won't go into detail about the other two potential jobs I was interested in at Monster.com, but I will say they were described as telephone actor and Cirque du Soleil seamstress.
The main competition for Monster.com is Hot jobs.com and was my next target on the Web. To be quite honest, there really wasn't any certain category that piqued my career interest. I decided to click on the "arts/entertainment/publishing" section within the continental United States and specifically selected "editor." Interestingly enough, there were only 15 job possibilities.
My top three for this site were listed as radio commercial screener, assistant editor for customized tests and content editor. The best of the three was certainly the radio commercial screener. This lucky person works from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. and the job involves "the scanning of broadcast radio tapes recorded off the air and identifying those commercials which are new."
So the next time you decide to sit down and surf the Internet, check out these two sites. Who knows — your dream job could be at the click of mouse.
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