Internship and Careers Interest Group 2010 Abstracts
Practical and Ethical Aspects of Advertising Internships: The Good, the Bad and the Awkward • alice kendrick, Southern Methodist University; Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University • In a nationwide survey of 1,045 advertising students, slightly more than half (53.4%; n=530) reported that they had held an internship outside of their academic studies. Females and seniors were more likely than other students to report having completed an internship, and internship students were more likely to have higher self-reported GPAs. Graduating seniors who had held an internship were significantly more likely to have received a job offer by the month of June, though their salary expectations and actual salary offers did not differ significantly from students who did not have internships. About 11 percent of internship students agreed that the company with which they interned engaged in some type of perceived unethical behavior, and 6.4% offered examples. Open-ended comments revealed that student concerns were likely to focus on what were perceived to be questionable business practices, personal misbehavior by company staff and intern exploitation. Implications for advertising educators and internship employers are discussed.
Internship Supervisors’ Evaluation of Communications Majors’ Internship Performance • Vicki Todd, Quinnipiac University; Grace Levine, AEJMC — Law and Policy Division • On-site internship supervisors evaluated communications majors regarding their internship work performance. Supervisors placed more emphasis on students’ personality traits than on job skills students performed during their internships. Supervisors evaluated public relations students more positively regarding the personal characteristics of time management; willingness to take on new tasks; and the ability to think critically, creatively, and independently. PR majors also ranked more positively based on the job skills of preparation of tasks/assignments and research skills.
Entering the Game at Half-time: Engaging Transfer Students in Internships and Co-Curricular Activities in Mass Communication Programs • Lauren Vicker, St. John Fisher College
With enrollment soaring at community colleges across the country, the number of transfer students is also increasing at many four-year mass communication programs. This study begins a look at this often-neglected population in terms of their engagement in activities that will help to build their professional resumes and portfolios. The research examines transfer students’ motivation to participate in internships and co-curricular activities through a survey of students and interviews with several transfer students. Results indicate that transfer students are participating in internships and co-curricular activities in numbers significantly lower than native students who come to college as freshmen. Transfer students’ main concern is fitting these activities in along with required courses and work time. Mass communication faculty need to pay more attention to ways of engaging transfer students in the full life of their academic programs.
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