A Call for Change: Making information on opportunities available on Web site

By Marissa Alavarces

Being a junior in college, I felt that it was the time to go out and find an internship for the summer. I never thought that figuring out how to go about contacting places would be as hard as it turned out to be. Who knew that finding out what companies are offering internships, when, what the requirements are and so on could be so hard?

As a journalism major, I looked at the list Dr. Turner had of places that he can get in contact with for internships. None of the companies were what I was looking for. After realizing I would have to figure it out on my own, I decided to explore the Internet to see what I could find.

What I found made me ask some questions. I stumbled upon a Web site that had a list of internships just for journalism with contact information, a description of the internship, where it is located and what I would need to do to apply. I found all that on a link to New York University’s journalism department Web site. All I did was type in “journalism internships” in Yahoo! and it came up.

This Web site made me start to think: Why am I getting internship information from another university’s Web site? Why doesn’t Rider have a Web site like this for our departments?

I don’t think I should have to go elsewhere for information about internships. If other schools’ Web sites inform their students about upcoming internships for their majors, why can’t Rider?

I feel that it would make students less stressed out about getting an internship if it weren’t such a hassle to find one. More students would probably go out for internships if they knew where they could easily locate the information without going crazy looking for it.

When it comes to internships, wouldn’t it be more logical for a professor from each department to keep in contact with companies and have the school update the information about new internship opportunities, at what companies, what the deadline is to apply, who to contact and what the internship entails?

I know that we can go to Career Services to find out information about internships, but there aren’t people who find specific internships for each major there. When you go to the Career Services link on the Rider Web site for internships, they give you a list of Web sites that you can go to with more information about possible internships. Web sites such as MonsterTrak.com and internships.com are just a few of the ones listed on the University’s Web site.

The Web sites that Rider makes available for us I could find all on my own by searching for internships in any search engine. Not to mention that Rider only gives us a list of Web sites we can go to so we can get information on internships that are out there in the field of our interests, but some of the Web sites are inactive.

Every college student at one time or another seeks out an internship. Internships are a huge part of learning about the field that you want to one day work in. It is an opportunity to learn through experience the lessons that you can’t always get from a lecture in a classroom. Shouldn’t we be able to find an internship without stressing out?