My Job and Internship Timeline

person with crossed arms in front of calendar

Why can’t I find any job or internship postings for my career field? If you have ever asked yourself this question, chances are, you aren’t too familiar with the timeline of your industry. But don’t worry, by the end of this blog post, you will be familiar with the nitty gritty details of your field.

Business/ Consulting/ Banking/ Finance

  • Any job or internship that is related to business, consulting, banking, or finance typically have their recruiting season early in the fall semester. Generally, a good way to find an internship or job is through Cornell’s fall career fair where recruiters from different companies will be looking to fill positions in their company. Interviews for job and internship positions usually occur within two weeks after the fair. If you don’t end up landing the perfect job or internship at the career fair, don’t worry. There will be plenty of listings for jobs and internships that will be posted after the career fair on different websites such as Cornell Handshake or LinkedIn. It is important, however, for you to take initiative to search for internships and jobs during the Fall semester as most positions for these industries will be filled by the time Spring semester comes along.

Health/ Fashion/ and Design

  • Internships and jobs for fields in health such as graphic designing, lab research, or formal summer internship programs usually have their applications for their positions opening early in the Spring semester. Many programs such as SURP (Summer Undergraduate Research Programs) have deadlines for their applications late in January or early February. Generally, at the spring career fair, there will be recruiters from large pharmaceutical companies that will be looking for people to fill positions in their research and development department. In terms of working for a lab in a university, these job postings will be scattered throughout the spring semester as labs will be posting openings based on their own timelines. From past students’ experiences, some have received offers for internship and jobs as late as May, so don’t worry if you don’t know what you are doing for the summer during the middle of Spring semester.

In general, to be competitive for job and internship positions in any industry, a good resume and cover letter is needed. It is never too early to start your resume and cover letter, so drop by the CEC anytime between Monday-Thursday from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm or Friday from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm to ask a Career Assistant for help!