Part-time Job and Internship Survey
2008-2009

• Introduction

• Methodology and Findings

• Conclusion

The Wasserman Center for Career Development at New York University is dedicated to providing students with a strong connection to career opportunities outside of the university. The Wasserman Center serves as a bridge between the academic world and career opportunities with employers in both the profit and non-profit sectors.  We support students in the process of determining who they are and who they want to be, both professionally and personally.  We achieve this goal by providing the resources necessary to research, explore, and ultimately secure meaningful career opportunities.   

Internships and part-time jobs continue to be an integral part of a student’s learning experience at NYU.  The typical NYU graduate holds an average of three or more part-time jobs and/or internships during their tenure here.
Prospective college students and their parents commonly inquire about the types of internships and part-time job opportunities available to NYU students during the admissions process.  Choosing a college has become a process no longer based solely on academics.  Many factors, including a school’s success rate at providing numerous career options that prepare and propel a student into the job market, are becoming integral parts of the school selection process.  Once enrolled at NYU, students are aggressively seeking internship and part-time job opportunities and are pursuing them early in their academic career. It is not unusual for first year students to seek out these opportunities, although they are advised to carefully balance these along with their first year academic, extracurricular, and social commitments. Since the downturn in the economy over the last eighteen months, the rate at which students are seeking part-time jobs has steadily increased in what can only be described as a very competitive market both on and off campus.

Several factors, including finances, influence a student’s decision to seek internships and part-time work during their undergraduate experience. However, the most compelling is the interest that students have in gaining knowledge and experience in a specific career field and establishing connections that can impact their professional lives. As in last year’s survey, 70% of the respondents in this year’s survey indicated that their internship or part-time job during the academic year was related to their eventual career goal. The Wasserman Center for Career Development works hard to develop jobs and internships in order to ensure that students have a multitude of opportunities to choose from no matter the economic climate.  We are pleased to report that even during these challenging economic times, NYU students had great success in securing part-time and internship positions. These opportunities help enable NYU students to obtain quality positions that enhance their already strong academic experiences, as well as make them some of the most qualified and marketable candidates in the nation upon graduation.

The following summary is based on the responses of NYU juniors collected during the late spring and summer of 2009.  The junior class was selected to survey because they are deeper into their academic majors and more career-focused. The survey was distributed via e-mail to juniors from NYU’s eight undergraduate colleges with information supplied by the Office of the University Registrar.  Students who did not return the initial instrument were sent a second request.  If we did not receive a response after these two queries, phone calls were made to the students during several weekday evenings.  First and last names and Net ID’s were used to eliminate any duplicates, and the overall response rate from this effort was 40%.

The survey results indicate that in addition to their coursework, NYU students continue to hold both part-time jobs and internships at high rates throughout the academic year as well as in the summer.  During the 2008-09 academic year the number of NYU juniors indicating that they held either a part-time job or internship was 87%. Although down by 2% from last year’s survey, this percentage still highlights two trends:  1. NYU students are very interested in opportunities that provide experience and lead to future full-time employment, 2. Students at NYU continue to seek part-time work to help with escalating expenses, which seem to be more pronounced this year due to continuing economic challenges.

The data confirms that respondents from almost every NYU undergraduate school held internships and part-time jobs at similarly high rates.  In this year’s results the rates at which respondents for NYU schools held part-time jobs and internships were: The Silver School of Social Work (98%) and The Gallatin School of Individualized Studies (97%).  The Tisch School of the Arts reported the next highest rate (91%).  This was followed by The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Stern School of Business and students from the College of Arts and Science all at 90%. The College of Nursing reported a lower rate (80%).   Students in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies traditionally produce significantly lower rates of part-time employment because of its large enrollment of non-traditional students who often work full-time. This year the rate was 49%.

These survey results continue to strongly support the concept that students pursing a degree in liberal arts, education, business, and the arts were equally successful locating part-time work and/or internships.

The number of students who indicated that they planned on working during their senior year (86%) decreased slightly this year.  One reason for the drop may be that students assume that the continuing economic recession will make it more difficult to secure a part-time job or internship and so they choose to pursue other activities. Though finances are one component of a student’s motivation to work during their senior year, most students indicated that securing career related part-time employment would give them additional experience in their field of interest, as well as additional employer contacts.  In fact, we know from our previous full-time surveys that the number of students who secure their full-time jobs directly from their internships continues to increase, making these opportunities even more important to students.

As in last year’s findings, 43% of all NYU students indicated that they found their part-time job and/or internship directly through the Wasserman Center for Career Development, with most citing NYU CareerNet, Employer Presentations, or NYU Career Fairs as the source of their employment. The next largest group of respondents, 21%, reported that they found their position through a personal referral, and 10% cited their academic department or a faculty member as the source of their referral.  9% of respondents indicated that they found their position through a fellow NYU student and another 8% indicated that they secured their opportunity through another source such as web-based job boards or career sites. Students continue to have great success in securing internships and part-time jobs in a relatively short amount of time even during the recession.  For the fifth year in a row, over 85% of students who participated in the survey responded that they found their academic year part-time job or internship in less than two months.  Of that number 61% of respondents indicated they secured their job in less than one month.

The average salary for part-time jobs and internships during the academic year remained fairly constant but dropped slightly to $12.50 an hour.  However, many students reported that they earned well over this amount. The relative stability of salaries was influenced by the fact that many students opted to participate in non-paid internships and/or volunteer positions during the academic year, which impacts the median earning statistics and that the competitive market allowed employers to offer lower salaries without losing candidates.  Many students reported holding both a part-time job and an internship during the academic year.  This was especially true in fields that do not traditionally pay interns.  Of the students holding non-paid internships, 41% reported also needing to hold a part-time job to earn a salary so that they could gain experience in their chosen career path.  Overall, 23.5% of all respondents reported holding two part-time positions.

During the 2006-2007 academic year, The Wasserman Center for Career Development established its Unfunded Internship Project in order to support students wanting to intern in a non-profit and/or arts-based organization, but who also need to generate income.  This program has continued during the 2008-2009 academic year, and we were able to award stipends to 10 NYU students.  With additional support we expect to expand the program during the 2009-2010 academic year.

For the most part, the career fields in which most respondents were employed is consistent with last year’s findings with Arts, Education, and Financial Services topping the list.  However, Advertising, Communications and Healthcare all showed increases over last year’s numbers.  Interestingly, NYU Campus Employment fell off the top ten list.  This may be indicative of the budget cuts that resulted in several NYU departments reducing their headcount of student employees.  The top ten fields that NYU student respondents were working or interning in on a part- time basis during the academic year were:

These findings are indicative of a diverse, highly active, creative and community-based student body, but also of increasingly successful job development efforts at the Wasserman Center.  Findings indicate that these internships and part-time jobs transcended school lines with students from all undergraduate programs seeking these opportunities.

Overall, 70% of students considered their part-time job or internship related to their career goals. Again, this supports the findings that the majority of students who actively participate in the job market during their junior year are seeking and obtaining experiences that are relevant to their career goals.

A large number of the juniors responding to the survey indicated that they planned on working during the summer of 2009.  At the time  (June-July) the survey was administered, 83% of respondents had already secured summer employment.  44% reported securing their summer positions through The Wasserman Center for Career Development.  The average salary reported for the survey was of $14.40 an hour, significantly higher than the average salary earned by juniors during the academic year.

Undergraduate part-time jobs and internships continue to be a significant component of students’ learning experiences. It is clear from the survey that NYU college students still consider part-time work and internships to be vital parts of their academic experience. Students seek part-time work and internships as a way to connect their academic training with the external world, to “test out” a possible career direction, to earn money in order to stay in school, to develop skills, and to gain experience and professional contacts.  Employers often need professional workers who can “hit the ground running” and, therefore, seek out the brightest and most experienced new graduates. Internships prior to senior year are also becoming increasingly attractive to employers, who seek to convert these interns to full-time hires upon graduation. Part-time jobs and internships play increasingly important roles in determining students’ career direction and full-time employment options after obtaining their degree.  Students with these experiences demonstrate greater career focus, and thus have more full-time employment options after graduation, which is important both in times of economic uncertainty and in robust fiscal conditions. The experience gained through a part-time job or internship gives a student a decisive edge in securing a meaningful and challenging position upon completion of their academic work at NYU.

NYU students are ahead of their peers from other institutions in many important ways including their career development and job preparation.  This notion is supported by consistent employer commentary on NYU students’ level of sophistication and professionalism. Thus, students from NYU have an edge in finding and securing interesting, competitive and varied opportunities in a relatively short amount of time. They earn excellent wages, and they have a great deal of work and “real world” experience by the time they graduate.  Moreover, in addition to their academic, social, community service and student life activities here at NYU, the experience of having a part-time job or internship is an important component of their undergraduate life.