How's everyone's internship hunt going?

Paradosso,

Are you already done with your MBA? What is it that you think I wouldn't like about MC? It seems really interesting/exciting. Lots of change, great pay, benefits, get to see the world. Sounds fun.

Almost similar process, fortunately, no loan needed for me, but do need some initial capital investment to launch the business in China due to start-up regulations. Haven't started looking for internships yet, but a couple of positions have just turned up which sound interesting if I can't find that initial capital... still looking and talking with a few investor leads.

INteresting, just checked our job board and about 15 internship positions posted in the past 3 days!! Lot's of late recruiting action.

Well we are about a month from the end of school. I would say about 75-80% of people here have their summers figured out or an offer on the table...my friends range from getting their top choice dream job to settling on something that will look good on a resume but isnt really something they are all that interested in. I think a few people I know accepted things pretty early since it was looking pretty rough at the start. Companies were dragging their feet with offers, instead of a few weeks turnaround some companies were well over a month or would just interview people to death. One friend stands out in my mind for doing interviews with a tech company everyday for weeks on end basically before they finally gave him an offer...it was like every person he will ever meet had to interview and vote on him.

Banking of course was rough, I have friends who did land at their top choice and some who had multiple offers. Career switchers had a tougher time but I know people who were succesful doing it. I think a lot of folks bailed before they even started recruiting so the people who stuck it out did pretty well over all. Consulting was down in most places, 2 of the big 3 were very strong (on the high side of historical numbers) but most of the other companies hired fewer interns. Considering that many 2nd years going into MC fulltime are having start dates pushed back its not surprising. I would not be surprised to see consulting recruiting to be just as bad if not worse next year...it seems there is a longer lag in consulting. There are also companies in a variety of industries that hired very few interns nationally so that impacted hiring here.

Not all was bad...Health Care recruiting was very strong. Offers were the same if not better at many companies. I think HC was what saved the day for lots of people. They accepted career changers since more positions came through than people with experience. Marketing overall was pretty strong, not surprising since its probably where Kellogg's brand is the strongest. Companies that cut back on hiring drastically overall still seemed to turn out strong at Kellogg...some definitely pushed hard since they could attract more students than in great years. Energy was strong but its still a small area...overall I think this will be one of the stronger years with energy recruiting, some of the companies actually were expanding their recruiting here into new positions within the companies and some of companies outside the traditional energy firms hired interns for energy projects. A few of the Tech companies hired a lot but these are the ones that were usually very popular here like Apple, Microsoft, Dell.

Kellogg's entrepreneurship program was very popular this year, this is where the school pays half your salary (I think its 1k a week) to work for start ups...start-ups have to apply and are choosen by the school to be a part of the program. There are more startups to choose from than positions available. Student applications were like 3x the number of spots available...one of my good friends is doing this and I think he said there are 6 people doing it this summer. Great place to get some awesome entrepreneurship experience, with some structure and overview from the school.

Some other interesting insights...Kellogg actually managed to attract new companies to recruit here and some of these took multiple people. I know someone going to a new company and they took 4 people their first time showing up. I dont think the new companies were enough to replace the ones that pulled out. The career services people really went after tons of companies to try to bring students more opportunities and I think it paid off for some people. I have friends going to companies that have never hired here before but have very strong MBA internship programs and that hired from other schools historically. However, I dont know if these companies expanded their internship programs or shifted hiring around.

Another thing I noticed is that it seemed like a lot of the JD/MBA kids accepted law offers for the summer since they got those very early in the fall (like september) so some definitely went that route since it was a sure thing at that point rather than turning it down and running the risk of not getting something else. Non-profits and start-ups I think will end up doing well this year, people are much more willing to work for the experience rather than the salary this year than in the past.

Yes there still is a sizeable number of students looking but the people I know still on the hunt actually are still making progress. They are still interviewing, talking to new companies, and waiting to hear back after recent interviews. I guess ending the year late has its advantages at times like these since it gives you a few more weeks of hunting before you start compared to other schools. The career services people still are working hard for students, I was talking with some influential alums last week during a networking event and the school is actively seeking summer opportunities with these alums. Going as far as to tell them, pay what you can but if you cant pay them but have meaningful work put it out there since there will be interest from some students. Yes not getting paid is tough but if it comes down to spending your summer on a couch or doing somethign that would look great on your resume and give you a great experience.

ripper. kudos.

I wonder how the picture will look a year from now at Kellogg. When do you start looking for internships ?

Start looking/networking in mid October. Resume Drops end of December...interviews start January.

I agree with this at most schools. The earlier, the better.

at semester schools, resume drop in January (during winter break) and first interviews (banks and consulting) in late Jan and tech companies in Feb.

Thanks so much for this.

I hear so much in the news about IB jobs etc. and it is nice to hear an inside perspective.