Students are struggling to secure internships: How can they be successful?

Reegan Davis
Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:43:01 +0000
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A student views a booth at the 2019 Career and Internship Fair. Credit: Courtesy of the Ohio State Office of Student Life

Nicholas Mamais did not start to apply for internships the typical way, through online tools, company websites, or word of mouth. Instead, he cold-called people early into his time at Ohio State.?

Mamais, a fourth-year in computer science and engineering, started networking with people who connected to his peers and family, in addition to people in his industry who could connect him to potential employers. This strategy secured Mamais his first internship at Osprey Digital Control Systems, according to his LinkedIn, which he had for nearly a year and a half.

Fast forward to now, Mamais secured his third internship, set to take place this summer.

As summer approaches, students and staff give their advice for those seeking internships for the remainder of the year.?

With the number of undergraduates increasing, more students are competing for similar jobs and roles. Audrey Bledsoe, the director of undergraduate career services and education, said the Fisher College of Business continues to grow, with almost 9,000 undergraduate students.

“We have 3,500 students in finance, and they’re often competing for some of the top banks,” Bledsoe said. “Those highly sought after roles at J.P. Morgan Chase and Huntington Bank or PNC, we see a lot of students vying for those same exact roles. So if that’s the goal, if your goal is to work at one of those big companies, it can feel a little bit competitive because of how many people are going for those.”

Bledsoe also added that artificial intelligence has made applying for internships and jobs much easier than it was a decade ago, where going online and clicking “apply” only takes seconds. However, with this, companies are also dealing with a much higher volume of applicants than they have normally received.

“A company might have 1,000 applications for 30 spots, right?” Bledsoe said. “They really have to narrow it down quite a bit more. I don’t know that I would say that it’s more competitive. I would say it’s just different.”

Johnny Jiang, a second-year in industrial and systems engineering, has one internship lined up for this summer and one for this fall.?

Jiang said there are various times to secure an internship throughout the year, each of them have their own pros and cons.?

“I think summer is a very standard for engineering, just because people are not taking classes,” Jiang said. “But at the same time, that makes summer a very competitive time. So, I think applying for the spring and fall term is definitely a lot easier, just because there are a lot less people applying to those positions.”

Jiang also said how important it is to get an internship as a student, whether it is required or not for a major.

“Even though it is not technically required to graduate, people know in this job market, especially if you want to find a decent post-grad job, you almost always have to have at least one internship,” Jiang said. “I think more and more people are getting two, even three, by the time they graduate. So I think if you’re not doing that, you’re falling behind, right? So even though it’s not ‘required,’ it’s pretty much what you need to do.”

Ohio State provides multiple resources for students to utilize, including nearly two dozen career fairs every year, mock interviews, resume templates and career centers for each college. Students can find any career-based events happening on campus on the Handshake events page, a job-posting and professional opportunity site for students and alumni.

“The students who [utilize their college’s career center] are much more likely to get internships and much more likely to find jobs after graduation pretty easily because they’ve taken full advantage of the free resources that are here,” Bledsoe said. “I would say make sure you take full advantage of all of the staff and the people that are here to help you.”

Mamais said that at the beginning of his internship journey he did not have the same expectations when looking for an internship as he does now. He said he wanted to make enough money to pay for rent and gain influential experience. .

“In the beginning I was extremely open, but now it really has to do with setting up my future,” Mamais said. “It really comes down to what’s going to allow me to thrive in a knowledge and experience base, whether that is going to pay me really well or not. I’ll take the knowledge and experience at the prime age of 22 over a lot of money.”