March 9, 1995
You have just awakened, sweating and shaking, from a gruesome nightmare. In it, you find yourself stuck behind a bar serving strawberry margaritas to Midwest farmers wearing flowered Hawaiian shirts in a tourist trap on Fisherman's Wharf, your hard-earned college degree rolled up and stuck in your back pocket, handy as a dish rag.
This could be reality for some 1995 graduates. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Bureau of Labor reports that one out of every four students who graduate between 1992 and 2005 will accept jobs after college that don't require a degree.
According to Sonya McCaster, an employment specialist in the SF State Career Center, two trends in the Bay area market lend to this alarming statistic.
"It has become increasingly more difficult to get a job in San Francisco because a lot of the bigger businesses have moved out of the area to cheaper markets," McCaster said. "Also, so many more people have college degrees today that a high school diploma has almost the same value as a college degree unless one has an internship."
In fact, according to Rolling Stone magazine, members of the SF State "Class of '95" will be among 1.38 million other college students to graduate in the United States this year.
This all sounds pretty hopeless to a future graduate, but there is a way to stand out in the crowd: do an internship.According to a survey by the Career Center called "Where Have They Gone?," 56 percent of SF State students who graduated in the spring of 1993 said their internship was the deciding factor in being hired for their current job.
"Employers will find you more attractive because you will have experience in your field and you have developed a relevant set of skills to be successful on the job," said Mariko Todd, a recruiting coordinator at the Career Center.
In order to introduce local businesses and internship opportunities to SF State students, the Career Center and the Cooperative Educational Department are co-sponsoring an Internship Fair on March 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jack Adams Hall in the Cesar Chavez Student Center.
According to Carolyn Tidwell, associate director of Career Services, the sponsors are hoping a minimum of 40 employers will be represented at the fair. Some of the businesses that will be attending and searching for intern candidates include the FBI, Wells Fargo Bank, United Parcel Service, the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, Macy's/Bullocks, the Department of Water Resources, John Hancock Financial Services, the USDA Food and Consumer Services and Office Depot.
Tidwell said that students need to know how to work an internship or career fair before they get there.
"Students just wander around and look at things," Tidwell said. "They don't realize that there are people who want to talk to them. I tell students to work the room like you're at a party and hit every table. Let the person talk to you and then pick their brain." Diane Corbaley, the employment manager at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, agrees that students coming to her table at the fair need not be shy.
"I will be looking for those students that seem highly motivated and eager to learn more," Corbaley said. "I am hoping to walk away from the fair with at least 10 strong candidates for an internship."
Corbaley also gave a few tips for success when attending internship and career fairs.
"Always bring plenty of polished resumes," Corbaley said. "And always dress professionally, even if you are on campus; never approach a possible future employer underdressed. I would not take you seriously."
According to Todd, students should jump on the internship bandwagon as early as sophomore or junior year.
"Even if you don't get a job right away, students get the opportunity to network with different people in the industry," Todd said. "Much of getting a job is utilizing the networks they've created, and internships help facilitate that."
In fact, a study by the College Placement Council reports that three out of every 10 new hires are former interns, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
"Networking and interning definitely gets a foot in the door," said Jim Cheng, director of Cooperative Education. "An employer would much rather hire a familiar face who has proven their worth and is pre-trained than a stranger off the street."
Todd said this fair will be of great value to students who can take part in it.
"There is no better education than on-the-job training," Todd said. "Internships are one more experience to add to your resume, and they can save you from accepting a survival job after college."