Listen to Monique talk about the summer internship process from an employer perspective.

Transcript:

Stephanie: Hi there, you're listening to Gear Up Season 2 where we bring you the Duke Career Centers own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie and today were talking to Monique, who serves as a liaison with employers for the Career Center.

Monique: Hi I'm Monique Turrentine and I focus on building relationships with new employers that recruit at Duke. I am on the Employer Relations team in the Career Center.

Stephanie: So from your perspective of working on the employer relations team, what do the employees that you work with usually recommend for students when they should start applying to summer internships? Generally speaking.

Monique: Good question. I would say that when I talk with employers, they mention that students can apply from beginning of summer all the way up until March or April. And that's coming from employers that I work with across various spectrums, you know, around the world. They have anything from positions in finance to positions in science. But I would say to narrow that down, most industries are looking for students to apply for their internships during the latter half of summer. So anytime between that late August all the way up until the latter half of October or early part of November is when a majority of employers are looking. And the smaller companies, though, they're the ones that leave their opportunities open or wait until I would say the February timeframe to start posting their internships. So I think students can, if they're looking for the opportunity, go on out to that website and go and see if it's available and go ahead and apply.

Stephanie: That's a great transition. to my next question, which is what kind of resources, where are employers posting these opportunities? Where should students be looking to find and connect with employers?

Monique: Initially, the students should look on the employer's website. Their website would give the most updated information, the most detailed information about what the internship will consist of, as well as the deadline's and the materials that the students need to use to actually apply. The next place, of course, will be the CareerConnections, the site that we have through the Duke Career Center, and there are other resources around campus from the Duke I&E newsletter to, DEMAN resources to the Alumni Job Board. And when students work with their own departments and faculty members, I'm sure they have a listserves as well. But the first place would be to check that company's website. Of course, if you don't see it in CareerConnections and then check CareerConnections.

Stephanie: Yeah, definitely. So this is, you know. I'm sure differs so much industry to industry. But are there any specific skills or qualities that you feel that employers voice to you they're looking for in students when starting the interview process?

Monique: Of course. Employers are always looking for students to be well-rounded. And of course, that's when you all have Duke students are very well known for being so diverse that having a diverse skill set, so, they're looking for the students to have to be well-rounded in their ability to think on the spot, and their ability to use their critical thinking skills to work collaboratively, collaboratively, and to work as a team member to utilize the creativity and innovative skill sets as well to be problem solvers. Oh, my gosh. I probably say that the most because employers, regardless of the position that you're gonna be in. Employers are gonna want you to be able to address the issue that's going on within the task that you're doing. Be able to solve that problem, be able to offer recommendations and other ideas and to be able to communicate that. So you have to be able to communicate well, rather, whether in written communication or verbal communication, t