Newsletter

Summer Internship After First-Year

November 2023

“How do I get a summer job?” is the second most common question that first-year Commerce students have about careers (the #1 question is “How do I write a professional resume?” – we help with that too!).

First-year students find jobs by reaching out and talking to people at the places they want to work. Many students submit online job applications through government job posting sites and job websites like Indeed.ca, TalentEgg.ca, and LinkedIn. However, in order to stand out from the 100+ student applicants for a summer job, we recommend students evaluate their job search based on the number of conversations they have rather than the number of online job applications they submit.

Many Commerce students believe they should get or are expected to get an ‘office job’ their summer after the first year. Our recommendation is, at the end of your summer, you want to come back to campus with stories to tell. You want to have developed some transferable skills like leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, and relationship building. It’s about having meaningful stories to showcase the transferable skills that can be applied to next summer’s job and next summer’s job search. When recruiters are interviewing students for upper-year summer internships, they want to hear about how students have made an impact and what specific skills they developed.

Sometimes students will develop these stories and gain these skills at a typical ‘office job’ at a bank, government office, or local business. But these stories and skills can also be gained by working at summer camp, being a lifeguard, working at a golf course, or starting your own business.

At the Career Advancement Centre, we work with first-year students to help them identify what type of summer job they’d like to have and help give them the confidence and the skills to reach out and start conversations.  

The Career Advancement Centre (CAC) is located in Goodes Hall, Room 244. Students can access the CAC Portal via the Commerce Portal; from there, they can access online resources and book an appointment to see a professional career coach. 

Don’t hesitate to encourage your student to reach out to the CAC for support and guidance today.

Connect with over 14,000 alumni and students who are already part of the Smith School of Business online network, by joining the award-winning SmithConnect platform. Find a mentor, connect for coffee chats, check out the Business Directory and stay up to date on upcoming events! It takes less than a minute to join!