Officials in the Center for Career Development said Boston University students may often find themselves juggling unpaid internships and paid work.
“We know that BU students do . . . many different activities,” said Eleanor Cartelli, associate director for marketing and communication at the CCD, in a phone interview. “Doing an unpaid internship doesn’t mean you don’t have time for a summer job.”
The CCD recently began collecting data on BU students’ summer plans, starting with surveys for returning students in the fall semester. While the CCD is waiting on more survey data to compile employment breakdowns, results so far reflected a wide range of summer internships and jobs among BU students, Cartelli said.
While paid internships may be difficult to find, Cartelli said those opportunities exist and students should seek to attain them. A summer job, however, can serve as a “beneficial” experience in the long term as well.
“They’re not mutually exclusive and both have benefits,” she said. “A summer job is work experience too.”
Cartelli said skills learned in a work environment outside of an internship could help students gain real-world experience.
“Students working as wait staff, for example, are learning customer service skills, as well as how to keep up in a fast-paced work environment,” she said. “They also might be training new people.”
Nadine Mansour, a freshman in the College of Communication and Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, has to choose between a human resources internship at Texas Instruments and an internship at Vogue for this summer.
However, Mansour said an internship is not the only way she will be spending her time over the summer.
“I’m probably going to have to do summer classes as well as a job to tide me over,” she said.
Jay Schwartz, a COM and College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said he will be balancing two jobs, one as a sales associate and another as a head counselor at a day camp, alongside an online magazine internship in the summer.
“Last year, I had two jobs and no internship, and that was still 60 hours a week, which is intense,” he said.
Schwartz said he plans to make his schedule work by staying up late because an internship is important for his future.
“I feel like at this stage at the game, I’m 20, [and] I really shouldn’t be working jobs that wouldn’t lead to a job in the future for me,” Schwartz said. “It’s a balance of wanting money and wanting a future.”
COM sophomore Emily Baer said she will work in a restaurant to make extra money in the summer.
“I’m working as a waitress and bartender to make money because I’m working at an unpaid internship at a PR firm in New York City,” Baer said.
COM freshman Kelsey Young said she will focus on her summer job, working four days a week as a nanny.
“It will be my third year,” she said. “It was passed down to me by another college grad.”
However, Young said, “I would definitely do an internship in addition if I had the opportunity.”
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