Volunteer Internships and Internships for B-Schools - Article Example

Volunteer Internships and Internships for B-Schools INTRODUCTION This paper is in response to the articles on Volunteer internships and internships for b-schools. This paper is intended to give an overview or summary of both the articles and then present the main issues in both the articles. Further, the paper compares the contents of both the articles with that of the relevant chapters in the Greenhaus textbook and lists where the articles differ from that of the textbook as well as the commonalities between the same. The focus of the paper would be on the value of internships and the benefits that accrue from the same for students who volunteer for the internships. It is a fact that internships are a source of great experience for the students and they provide valuable real world training to the students before they graduate. Armed with the confidence of having had exposure to the corporate world before they actually take up a job empowers the students to make better career choices and take informed decisions as to which job to join and what sector to concentrate on. ABSTRACT OF PAPER ON VOLUNTEER INTERNSHIPS This article, “Volunteer Internships Benefit Local Governments and Students” by Robin Popik is about how local governments can attract interns both as a way of recruiting potential candidates to the positions in the local government as well as a means of giving the students the experience of working for a government. The article starts off by describing who an intern is and what are the roles and responsibilities that a typical intern should have when given an internship in a local government office. The article focuses on why it is a great idea for local governments to advertise for positions of internships to prospective students and then introduce them tot the concept of a government job. The point here is that many students think of government jobs as not attractive enough when compared to those in the private sector. This perception is mainly because the government is seen as bureaucratic in nature and not serving the purpose of a fast paced job that brings challenges and offers attractive remuneration for the students. As the article states, “Government organizations that need temporary staff for special projects are a great place to use internships. Challenge the intern to bring out the value of the project” (Popik, 2009). Hence, the author’s point is that the concept of government service must be made attractive to the students and they should be made aware of the potential benefits that a government job can bring in its wake. The article then goes on to describe the methods in which internships in the government sector and local government offices in particular can be structured by the local government officials. To quote from the article, “Local governments can champion this concept by using interns to teach about the governmental process and politics in a way most textbooks miss. The partnership between the educational institution and a government organization can also foster other community or training opportunities” (Popik, 2009). The partnership that the author is talking about is one of mutual co-operation and beneficial to both sides. The emphasis is on the way in which the interns can be successfully co-opted into the ranks of government officials when they graduate. The key point here is that the local government officials have a role to play in molding the attitudes of the students towards government service. The article devotes considerable space to advising the government officials on how to advertise for the interns and bring them on board. It takes the readers through a point by point detail about how to go about getting the interns on board and then also talks about how to structure their internships with the government agencies. The focus here is as much on the “why” as on the “how” i.e. why the interns should be recruited as well as how to run the internships. As a matter of listing the points, the article goes as far as to suggest the grading structure that the interns can get once they complete the course as well as the ways in which they can be evaluated. To turn to the analysis of how the article agrees with the text and how they differ from the text, the main point where the article tends to overlap with that of the text is when it talks about how internships are useful both for the organisations that are hiring them as well as for the students themselves. To quote from the chapter, “Companies stand to benefit from anticipatory socialization activities. Cooperative education, internships, and apprenticeships provide a ready supply of candidates to consider for full-time employment. These students have already been exposed to the company's culture, have familiarity with the firm's facilities and equipment, and have been trained in specific functional areas. Anticipatory socialization programs also benefit the neophyte” (Greenhaus, 2007). The point on which the article differs from the text is the way in which the article emphasizes the importance of the local government in recruiting the interns whereas the text mainly focuses on the corporate world hiring of interns. The other point of divergence is the use of statistics to support points made by the authors of the text and the article. In conclusion, the article is an important and timely reminder for the local governments to take the concept of internships seriously and bring the students around to the ways of the government as well as the interns themselves gaining experience working with the government. ABSTRACT OF PAPER ON INTERNSHIPS FOR B-SCHOOLS The article, “Internships: B-Schools Get Creative”, by Alison Damast is how the scope of the internships has changed with the onset of the global economic slowdown. The article focuses on those aspects of the internships that are non-paid but still provide the students with an opportunity to get some real world experience in an economy where full time positions are under threat and where the businesses often do not have the budgets for taking on interns. Further, the article talks about how the universities and the deans of placement in charge of the school’s internship placement program are getting creative in their efforts to find some space and place for the students for their summer placements. As the title of the article states, the need of the hour for the universities is to get creative and innovative in their efforts to find jobs for students during their summer break. The article quotes some of the students and their efforts to get placed with non-traditional sectors and organisations that are not usually the favorites of students. To quote from the article, "I have some friends who are panicked. One of my classmates came crying to me last week," says Ritu Jain, a first-year student at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Jain is president of Opportunity Consulting, a student-run consulting group that is trying to find summer internship opportunities for students with nonprofits in the Charlottesville area. For Jain and her friends, she says, "It is all this built-up emotion” (Damast, 2009). Hence, the focus of the article is on how students need to be flexible in their choice of companies and organisations where they can intern and get some experience before they can get placed full time after they graduate. As the above quote from the article makes it clear, there is a need for the students to adapt to the situation arising out of the recession and hence both sides need to work together to make the most out of the current business climate. On the other hand, the career management officers have to re-align their placement strategies as well. As the article says, “For some career-services officers, the internship crisis has presented an opportunity for them to change the way they run their offices. One example of this is the large whiteboard that stands in the career-services office of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Every afternoon Jeff Fischer, the school's career-services director, marks up the board, noting the number of calls his staff has made that week and the number of new internship and job opportunities they've created for students. His team has made almost 200 calls to new businesses they haven't worked with before, creating about 52 corporate internships for students. About half of the opportunities were unadvertised internships his staff found, while the other half were created by his team” (Damast, 2009). If we look at the way in which the article concurs with the text, we find that both the article and the textbook talk about the need for co-operation among the students and the organisations. As the text book states, “Effective career management can enable individuals at each stage of development to make informed career decisions that are consistent with their talents, aspirations, and values. Moreover, organizations Can improve their effectiveness by supporting career management activities” (Greenhaus, 2007). The text book does not mention instances of non-traditional sectors hiring students in times of downturns. This may be due to the fact that the current economic downturn was not anticipated by the author of the textbook. Hence, this is the point where the article and the text differ. The other point of divergence is the emphasis of the article on students and how they are coping with the changed scenario in an emotional wringing whereas the text is bland on this topic. In conclusion, the article is pertinent for all the students who are about to get placed as interns or are eyeing an internship. It is also worth reading by the students who are about to graduate as it helps them get a perspective on the alternatives that they have for their placements. Reference List Damast, Alison. (2009, April). Internships: B-Schools get creative. Business Week. Retrieved Nov 22, 2009 from: http://www.businessweek.com.library3.webster.edu/bschools/content/apr2009/bs20090423_204826.htm Greenhaus, J; Callanan, G; Godshalk, V. (2000). Career Management. Mason, Ohio: South- Western. Popik, Robin. (2009, January/February). Volunteer Internships benefit Local Governments and Students. Public Management. Read More