Last month, iJOBS held a career panel titled ‘How to find and apply for an internship’. Here is a quick summary of the event. The panel consisted of students with a broad spectrum of experiences gained from participating in different kinds of internships. This light conversational session aimed at informing students and post-docs about the various kinds of internships available and how to apply for them. The panelists brought in their expert opinions having interned in different organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Institut Pasteur Korea, Eli Lilly, Tech transfer office at Rutgers, and Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers among others. International students often find it difficult to apply for internships as this could directly violate the F1 visa norms. To go around this glitch, since last year, iJOBS has arranged for a special three credit internship course that one can register to that will allow students to undertake such internships. Once you have landed with an internship please get in touch with Dr. Alder who is the course director for this special internship course aimed solely for international students. The first panelist talked about opportunities in the Office of Research and Commercialization at Rutgers. This office deals with filing patents, commercializing new technologies discovered in labs, starting a biotech company, etc. This experience can provide students with an insight into the potential marketable technologies and the biotech market trends in vogue. The next panelist spoke about her experience of working at the Predoctoral Leadership Development Institute here at Rutgers dedicated to train students to excel in academic leadership positions. This two-year fellowship aims to make students ‘become more effective members of the academic community, more capable leaders and collaborators within their disciplines and their future places of employment’ and hence ‘more marketable and well-prepared for influential careers’. The next internship experience shared was at the Office of Health Affairs (OHA) volunteer scholars program. This program aims ‘to enhance public awareness and promote the dissemination of homeland security-related health care issues by providing scholarly and developmental opportunities to a broad-based audience of capable scholars’. Another internship opportunity lies in the Eagleton Institute of Politics at the Cook campus at Rutgers. This experience can leverage students towards a career in science policy making. Shifting gear to industry, summer internship opportunities also exist in companies like Eli Lilly, Celgene etc. Mostly, these kinds of internships are paid and interns are expected to present their work at the end of their tenure. Although being referred for such positions enhances one’s chances of landing one of these jobs, websites of these companies also have information pertaining to direct job applications. Lastly, one can also intern with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where they can get familiarized with the various intricacies involved in the approval of drugs for public use. Many of these internship opportunities are sent out via email on a regular basis by the Molecular Biosciences graduate office. Although majority of these internships are not paid, students should grab any internship opportunity that comes their way as it helps make important contacts that can prove invaluable during the job hunt after graduation. Interning at various organizations also make students aware of the various disciplines where they can get employed. An extensive list of the various places to apply for an internship can be accessed here. The video podcast of the event can be found here.
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