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Internship search and how to not be a dick
FirstComradeStalin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
To preface, I'm a second-year architecture undergrad at Georgia Tech.
I went to a career fair last Friday to find a summer internship to start around mid-May, and met a few firms and got a good impression from most of them. Fast forward to this past Tuesday, and a firm that I had really only spoken to in passing sends me an email and asks for some more material. I send them more stuff and they offer me a phone interview this coming Thursday. The problem is, they're mostly residential, very small, and in a tiny town in South Carolina (albeit 20 minutes outside Hilton Head).
Now, I'm not so picky that I'll turn down the only offer I've gotten so far, but I'm looking for a slightly larger firm that does more commercial architecture, and I don't want to feel like I'm settling before I get all the info from any other opportunities. I even just now applied to a firm's program that had an April 7th deadline, so that could take even longer to flesh out, possibly until mid-April.
Hypothetically speaking, let's say I get an offer to do an internship at this firm after this interview. What do I say if I want to politely suggest that I'm still looking at all the other options? One person (my mother, who's never had a legit job interview in her life) suggested that I just take the job if they offer it and then just make up an excuse to quit later if something else I like better comes up. Is that too rude? There's got to be something a little better to say. But I'm also worried that if I just say "Oh, I may need to wait until mid-April for a final decision", they'd be insulted and take the offer off the table, or try to force me into making a decision much sooner. And then, I wouldn't know whether or not I even had another job offer so where do I stand then? I mean, this is probably going to be an unpaid gig, anyway, how seriously are they going to take this? Does anyone have experience with internships and the whole application process?
I have no problem actually doing this internship (spending a summer living on a resort island doesn't sound bad to me), but I'd like to do something that takes me more towards what I want to do. Of course, there's always room to do something different next summer, so who knows.
I went to a career fair last Friday to find a summer internship to start around mid-May, and met a few firms and got a good impression from most of them. Fast forward to this past Tuesday, and a firm that I had really only spoken to in passing sends me an email and asks for some more material. I send them more stuff and they offer me a phone interview this coming Thursday. The problem is, they're mostly residential, very small, and in a tiny town in South Carolina (albeit 20 minutes outside Hilton Head).
Now, I'm not so picky that I'll turn down the only offer I've gotten so far, but I'm looking for a slightly larger firm that does more commercial architecture, and I don't want to feel like I'm settling before I get all the info from any other opportunities. I even just now applied to a firm's program that had an April 7th deadline, so that could take even longer to flesh out, possibly until mid-April.
Hypothetically speaking, let's say I get an offer to do an internship at this firm after this interview. What do I say if I want to politely suggest that I'm still looking at all the other options? One person (my mother, who's never had a legit job interview in her life) suggested that I just take the job if they offer it and then just make up an excuse to quit later if something else I like better comes up. Is that too rude? There's got to be something a little better to say. But I'm also worried that if I just say "Oh, I may need to wait until mid-April for a final decision", they'd be insulted and take the offer off the table, or try to force me into making a decision much sooner. And then, I wouldn't know whether or not I even had another job offer so where do I stand then? I mean, this is probably going to be an unpaid gig, anyway, how seriously are they going to take this? Does anyone have experience with internships and the whole application process?
I have no problem actually doing this internship (spending a summer living on a resort island doesn't sound bad to me), but I'd like to do something that takes me more towards what I want to do. Of course, there's always room to do something different next summer, so who knows.
FirstComradeStalin on
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So, basically, I think you should be upfront and honest in your interview (although, I'd probably wait till your 2nd interview, which most companies almost always give after a phone interview if you're a serious candidate)
I would be honest with the firm. If you really want to wait for something more along your interests - well, tell them that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being honest about a position not being exactly what you want, unless you are positively desperate for work and a paycheck.
They may (justifiably) say "well, thanks, but we'll continue looking for someone who wants this position".
But remember - even if they're a small firm, word gets around an industry.
It's dishonest to take a position and then renege early; plus if word gets around your field that you are unreliable your reputation may suffer a bit for it.
B.net: Kusanku
I agree that it's about what's best for the intern; but I still would say - be honest. It's 100x better to say a particular position isn't entirely attractive rather than to take a position only to drop it early because something better came along.
If you are properly established in a field - job hopping can be justified every 2 years or so if you are constantly moving up. For an internship, either accept it and put good effort into it or decline it. Being honest to an employer is entirely ok (e.g., I like your firm, but I worry that working for a small firm this early in my career will limit my options later on).
I'm actually in a slightly more awkward position, because it's a really great company that I would like to work for, and I don't know how to respectfully say "You guys are an awesome company, but you're also my first offer and I have almost a year until I'm going to be co-oping, so, uh, how do I know nothing better (namely, geographically closer) will come along?".
What I plan on doing is just being upfront in the interview. "Hey, so...I need some time to consider this, could you give me a deadline for a decision?" and for good or ill, I'll just have to stick to that deadline and make up my mind. I expect it'll be about a week or so.
On the other hand, I'm a bit worried about how long it's taking for other firms to contact me. How long does it tend to take for a company to contact a potential employee? It's been a little over a week and I've gotten the previous offer and a letter that said they were only interested in post-undergrad interns (but said they'd be very interested in evaluating me once I graduated). Do most firms stick to letters, or is it more about emails and phone calls? If it's letters, I can understand the time everything is taking, since my mailing adress is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, but I still am surprised I haven't gotten any other emails.