I attended career fairs at Madison College and Herzing University yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Herzing University fair lasted about 90 minutes and I met good people to include a couple folks from Robert Half Technology – what’s up Bob and Steve?
Many of the student I spoke to were looking for an internship of some kind. Herzing students go year round with no break and often attend classes during the day. Madison College offers 2 year degrees, but you can come across students that can do day and/or night classes. This is important to know when addressing the “do you provide internships?” question. It is also important to know that Madison College requires an internship, or job in the field of study, in order complete the requirements for their associates degrees. This latter detail will certainly make you understand why an internship is such a big deal.
Do we offer internships? Yes. However, the program has typically centered around the 4 year college simply because we’ll take an student at then end of their junior year, intern during the summer, finish their senior year, and potentially make them an offer. Even before entering an internship they’ve already completed 2-3 years of college. Since the 4 year college student has their summers off, it can be more accommodating for all the employer and student.
Now, this may change. We realize that both schools provide some very good students with some very good experience. I even met a paralegal that is making a career change. Get her the knowledge of a job in information technology combined with her other skills and you have a pretty viable candidate.
I explained the details above to quite a few students and felt compelled to mention it here. So stay tuned students and keep checking with us. Keep in mind, getting a job in the industry will also fill that requirement. 🙂