Undergraduate internships

[OneHandFlapping]

DS and his friend are both applying for internships at the end of second year uni. They're both thinking of management consultancy type careers, and applying to the likes of Accenture/Deloittes etc.

I know these places are competitive, but so far they are getting rejected out of hand, despite both having excellent A levels/being at good unis/having the sort of work experience you would expect in bars, restaurants and shops.

What on earth are these places looking for? Do they expect you to be running your own business aged 19?

Aah good point about the careers fair. I've just checked and there is one at the end of next month at his uni - a special management consultancy one at that. I bet he wouldn't even have thought of going.

I'll talk to him about getting the Careers Service to review his application too. TBH I'd thought that DH and I would do it as we have worked in related fields. But we have no experience of what they look for in interns.

Hi
DS2 has just graduated this summer and is shortly starting a graduate job with Deloitte.
But, he also applied for internships with quite a few companies to hopefully take place at the end of his second year. He got to assessment centres and even got to some final interviews but he was not successful in getting an internship even with none big 4 accountancy firms.
In the end he worked for G4S at Wimbledon for 2 weeks and at the Olympics doing bar work for 2 weeks last summer.
He started applying for graduate jobs at the end of last summer and I just asked him why he thought he was successful in getting a graduate job and he said he was more prepared and because he had been to assessment centres & interviews was just more confident in these situations.
DS2 has been working in catering / bar work since he was 17. He also had top grades at GCSE & A levels, but probably so do most people applying for these sort of companies.
I am still amazed that DS2 got a graduate job, yet was unable to secure an internship.
A son of friends of ours also was unable to secure an internship last summer, volunteered at the Olympics and has left university this summer with a graduate job at the Treasury.
Tell them not to be disheartened.
Are they actually getting through the on line testing, telephone interviews.
I know that Deloitte do an e tray test which I think is on line now and is quite difficult to get through.
Maybe it would be worth looking for tips in the careers section of the Student Room or talking to friends / acquaintances who have had some success.
Good luck to them.

Just to add that DS2 became involved as the Careers Secretary of his universities Economics Society in his 3rd year (others on the committee were in their second year).
He had a very good final partner interview at Deloitte and the guy jokily asked him if he had done the above to hopefully secure a job and DS2 admitted that this was exactly why he had done it. I suppose doing something extra like this does help you to stand out from the crowd.

That's hopeful Bearcat. I thought that if you didn't get an internship, you definitely wouldn't get a graduate job.

I'll ask him about the online testing part when he gets in - definitely no phone interviews yet.

Hi, I used to recruit for the internship programme at one of the firms you mention. At the time themarket was less competitive than it is now but we still said that the interns were in top ten percent of our normal graduate intake - I.e nine out of ten of our graduate recruits would not have made it on to our internship programme. It's much more competitive now so please don't lose heart.

Please do check that their applications are as good as they can be, including spelling, grammar etc and remember that the firms can be really choosy about who they interview as they get thousands, if not tens of thousands, of applications for tens of jobs and so will go for the applicants with the best exam results, other qualifications and experience.

Also, don't let them be discouraged from applying for a graduate job eventually.

I am and have been a graduate recruiter for a long time. Feel free to PM me with CV and any other questions

Thanks both to Nadalsballs and Sharpkat.

Sharpkat, I will take you up on that offer later, if that's all right?

Of course. Always here