Many UF freshmen have traded in wrinkled campus maps and wide eyes for crisp resumes and interview appointments in efforts to make it to the top of the heap come graduation day.
Students are seeking competitive internships earlier than ever before, even as soon as their first year on campus, said Heather White, senior assistant director for experiential education at UF's Career Resource Center.
White said some students even come to her for internship advice during Preview, finding time between learning Gators cheers and sitting for their Gator 1 mug shots.
She cited record participation in a program developed by the CRC and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce called BRIDGE, or Building Relationships through Internship Development with Gainesville Employers, as evidence of the trend.
BRIDGE helps students find internships at local businesses. More than 300 students are currently competing for 133 placement opportunities, she said.
Early exposure to professional environments gives students time to change career paths based on experience, she said. It can also solidify career choices and provide skills that enhance classroom instruction.
White said employers are just as eager to meet freshman applicants.
"It's important from the employer's perspective to get that pipeline going," she said. "It helps, hopefully, to develop students into full-time hires."
Secretarial work was not what Karin Dillie, a UF sophomore, had in mind the summer after her freshman year when she took an internship with the cultural affairs department in Clearwater. But she said she quickly realized it was an opportunity to make connections.
She said a high school mentor encouraged her to get an internship "every single summer" of college.
"If anything, it makes you realize what you don't want to do," she said, which in her case is anything related to city government, she added. On the flip side, after using art-history skills in the workplace, Dillie decided to minor in it. She found out about the internship because the office's director had participated in a program at Dillie's high school.
"It kind of stinks if you don't know anyone," she said. "Everyone that I know who has gotten an internship as a freshman has gotten it like that."
But some less specialized internship programs look more for personality qualities than connections or completed coursework.
"What we look for are college students who are ambitious and driven," said Kimberly Copley, internship coordinator for the Executive Office of the Governor.
Anyone enrolled in a post-secondary institution is eligible to apply for an internship at Florida's Capitol, Copley said, though preference is usually given to people with previous leadership experience.
She echoed the benefits of being exposed to a work environment at a young age, but she said the application process alone is just as important. Gathering letters of recommendation, writing a resume and interviewing are all important skills.
"I think it's a really smart thing to get comfortable with," Copley said.
