Students See Career Plans Altered Amid Coronavirus

Juniors and seniors stay hopeful in dwindling job market

Naïma Fonrose, a graduating senior and communication major, planned on moving to New York City or Los Angeles after graduation to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. This dream was upended when the coronavirus arrived.

New York City and Los Angeles have become epicenters of the pandemic, film and television productions have been halted, and layoffs have been implemented, even at major entertainment companies like Disney. Fonrose is worried that she may be stuck at home in Maryland longer than she wants. 

Fonrose is not alone. Many other juniors and seniors are also seeing their summer job and internship plans altered or revoked by coronavirus. 

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) polled 226 employers as of April 10 on whether or not they’re revoking employment offers. In this poll, 64 percent of employers said they aren’t revoking any offers at this time, while another 22 percent are considering it and 14 percent have already revoked offers for interns and full-time recruits. 

In recent weeks, notable companies like Disney, Yelp, Adidas, Urban Outfitters, and Southwest Airlines have canceled their summer internship programs, according to Candor, which is updating hiring freezes and layoffs for over 6,000 companies each day. Other companies like Custom Ink have rescinded full-time offers from graduating students, with many other companies implementing hiring freezes and keeping full-time offers on hold.

Jocelyn Chi, a junior marketing and psychology student, was planning on interning in the Bay Area over the summer but is now worried she won’t be able to find an internship for the summer and doesn’t know which companies are still hiring.

“It was already a struggle even landing one last year,” said Chi. “So now with this COVID-19 situation it’s just going to make it even harder.”

Similarly, senior Kimmy Dong had her plans altered and was planning on studying for the LSAT, taking the test in July, then pursuing work at non-profit organizations and service opportunities for a year or two before going back to school. 

With standardized tests and searching for jobs being impacted by the pandemic, her plan has “definitely taken a bit of a detour.”

“I’ve had to put some things on hold for the time being,”  Dong said. 

If anything though, this experience has motivated her and helped her realize what she wants to do. 

“The pandemic has further exposed the needs that exist within our communities and the lack of resources that impact some more than others,” Dong said. “So, it’s no longer a question of ‘Do I want to work and serve to support these communities?’ and more of a ‘Which issue or area should I help to address?’—because there are so many things rising to the surface.”

While some students are still searching for work, others are seeing their internships shift to remote work.

Junior Krystal Lam received news from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that her internship has now been cut down to two weeks and moved entirely online, a 75 percent reduction from what was supposed to be an eight-week program. 

To mitigate the blow, PwC offered Krystal and other interns full-time positions for 2021. 

Daniel Bermudez, a junior and bioengineering major, is still waiting to hear back about whether or not his internship at a medical device company in Los Angeles is even moving forward.

“At the moment, I’m not really [stressed],” Bermudez said. “It’s out of my control, so whatever happens, happens.” 

In the NACE poll updated on April 10, 36.4 percent of employers surveyed said they are moving their interns to a virtual program. 

Others have adjusted their programs by reducing the length of the internship, moving some events during the internship online, or reducing the number of interns they’re on-boarding. 

Although, almost 30 percent of employers surveyed stated they are making no changes to their summer internship program at the moment. 

Rose Nakamoto, the director of the university Career Center, says that canceling internship programs is painful for organizations. 

“Over the last five to 10 years, employers that hire early talent—that are really focused and strategic on hiring college students—are investing deeply in internship programs,” Nakamoto said.

Employers know that college students will make up their future job force, and these cancellations and postponements are not done lightly.

On March 30, Nakamoto published an Open Letter to Graduating Students to offer advice to graduating seniors during this extraordinary time. 

“Instead of defining success by the extrinsic merits of securing the ‘right’ first job after college, one practical approach may be to cultivate a plan A, B and C,” Nakamoto wrote in the letter. 

This is something students have started doing.

Junior Gisela Romero was in the middle of applying and interviewing for internships in the entertainment industry when coronavirus became serious in the U.S. 

Now, Romero has moved on to an alternate plan and accepted an internship in the retail industry. 

“However, I’m worried that I won’t be able to get a job in the industry I want after graduation due to me not being able to do an entertainment internship this summer,” Romero said. 

Nakamoto highlighted many of the Career Center’s resources available during the coronavirus outbreak, including remote career coaching support, virtual employer events and Handshake—the main job search platform at Santa Clara. 

Outside of the Career Center, a culture of “neighbor helping neighbor” has developed and new resources have emerged to help college students find jobs and internships amidst the coronavirus.

Covintern.com, developed by a student at Indiana University, serves to provide a crowdsourced list of remote internships in a wide variety of fields, including non-profit work, graphic design, data science and marketing. 

Github and Candor both have running lists of companies that are rescinding offers, still hiring, or have implemented hiring freezes. 

It undoubtedly is a tough time for juniors and graduating seniors having summer plans altered or still searching for work. For Dong and Fonrose, one way they’re remaining positive through this time is by reminding themselves that they aren’t alone and looking at the bigger picture. 

“There are college seniors around the country going through the same thing and there are also millions of people whose health is at risk,” Fonrose said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes for everything to get back to normal again. Then I will move forward to start to build my future!”