News
Earn, Learn & Intern
MSU students flock to find internship opportunities, and local companies hope to keep them in
Michigan for good.
With qualifications in hand, and hopes of getting their foot in the door, MSU students made their rounds with local companies ready to recruit.
“I’m a senior now so it’s time for me to pretty much start looking for what I want to do after this,” said MSU student Nathan Shevick.
“I’m actually just looking for a job, not necessarily an internship but a paid job,” said MSU student James Pina.
Studies show that nearly 64 percent of students who intern locally, stay there after graduation, and that’s why organizers are counting on this year’s Earn, Learn & Intern fair to keep students in town a little longer.
“Everyone’s saying they want to leave, they want to go to Chicago, New York, L.A., we want to show them why they want to stay here, there is available jobs here; intern here, try it out to see what kind of career they want to have, if they land a full-time position that would be great,” said Paul Jaques, Internship Developer at Michigan State University.
Companies like Ciesa Design in Old Town, say their looking for students with graphic design and computer science skills that they can groom into future full-time employees.
“If we have an intern in house, it’s an investment for us, we look at every internship as a possibility for a future employee on our full-time staff,” said Chris Vanwyck, Creative Director of Ciesa Design. “From a skill set point of view, we look for everything from design and art oriented students to computer science.”
And students say they’ll stay in the state, so long as the opportunities are there.
“If there’s a job in Michigan I’d definitely stay, I wouldn’t say that I’m looking to leave the state,” Shevick said.
And local companies are hoping other students will follow suit.