To think the interview process for an internship shouldn't take 6 months?

[Fannoise]

Ds has just had his 5th interview for an internship at a huge company. The process started back in January.

AIBU to think this is a ridiculous time frame? They take on 100+ interns a year but have a dedicated intern section.

I am quite old and this time frame seems ridiculous to me, not to mention the money its cost to get him to London and back 3 times (we live in the north so a good way away). Also he's had to keep taking time off from his temp job to go. He's done two written applications and two online interviews, plus 3 in person interviews.

He thinks the interviews have gone really well and he really wants the internship but they are now humming and ha-ing about a second round of interviews!

He's got a 2nd interview for another one as well - can see this one stretching into 2026!

This corporate system is not in my skill set. Is this normal? Or am I being a grumpy northerner about it?

What type of internship is it and what type of candidates are they looking to recruit, e.g. undergraduate, year out student, graduate, disadvantaged etc.? I don’t think the timeframe is as much of an issue as the number of interviews and the expectation he travels up and down to London at his own expense.

I don’t think you are being a grumpy Northerner. Personally, I find amount of information that some organisations redact these days unhelpful, e.g. which academic institution someone attended, sometimes works against candidates. Previously I could distinguish the candidate who lived in a deprived community, attended an underperforming school, worked in the local supermarket while studying for A Levels, then won a place at Oxford and achieved a 1st from the candidates who attended the highest performing school in the country, lived in a multimillion pound mansion and whose only work was in carefully curated opportunities in the family firm and / or expensive paid internships abroad, then achieved a lower class of degree. Actually, we recruited both, but candidate two, who had a lot of good qualities, didn’t last (their choice) and candidate one is doing well in their career.

A friend’s child has recently graduated and started work at a large City institution on an impressive starting salary with training in New York. The highly competitive internship at the end of the second year of university last year was the gateway.

Hi thanks. Yes I agree, its more the sheer number of interviews and the travelling. He's had to stay in a hostel overnight which added 120 onto the train tickets, so its cost him and us 500 quid so far (we are trying to help him with the train at least - should have got the coach but originally we thought it would be a one off train trip)! I asked him if there was any expenses available but he doesn't want to ask as he's feeling on the cusp of being offered something. Of course we are trying to be supportive as well as accepting that he might not get offered anything.

Internships at my firm are pretty much a fast track into a role in the grad scheme when done, as long as you work well. So they’re choosy and it’s arduous at first. But then worth it. (IB Finance)

These posts have made me realise I dont know much about it at all tbh! I've left it all up to him. I don't even know what exactly the role is 😕 . I should probably ask although I expect it will be something I've never heard of 😆

Sifting through the thousands of applicants to whittle it down to 100 positions is a huge job. Even with a dedicated team on it, that "team" is probably only a handful of people. Often the interviews involve an element of face-to-face with someone outside the 'interns' team (i.e. someone in the actual business) so the team will have to collate the responses for the hundreds of candidates from the various business personnel who saw them, to decide who goes through to the next round. There will be conversations on borderline candidates... it just will take ages to recruit for that number of new joiners all starting at the same time.

I don't think that any entry level position should need 5 interviews! They really should look at their recruitment process, but that is obviously out of your sons control. Really, all he can do is continue or withdraw. I hope it works out for him.

That does sound like a lot. When I was last involved in the process expenses would usually be paid. It shouldn’t be an issue to enquire about this.