All Pitt students are guaranteed an internship, but only if they complete the internship preparation program first, according to Alyson Kavalukas. 

Kavalukas, internship coordinator at Pitt’s Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance, said the internship team is responsible for Pitt’s internship guarantee, which guarantees undergraduate students internships in return for attending group workshops and meeting independently with career and internship advisers. 

The CDPA is currently hosting Internship Week to educate undergraduate students on how to obtain an internship. The Internship Team of the CDPA coordinates Internship Week programs once each semester, Kavalukas said, which includes various panels, info sessions and mock interviews with recruiters who demonstrate interest in being on campus to connect with students. 

This year’s Internship Week involves three panels that help students from specific disciplines better understand their experiential learning options, which can include the on-the-job training received in an internship, as well as 11 internship info sessions with various job recruiters and all-day internship walk-in hours with career and internship advisers on Wednesday. Later in the week, the CDPA will host scheduled and walk-in mock interviews with recruiters and career consultants, and two internship prep programs on resumés, cover letters, interviews and research. 

Internship Week began Monday with several events, including a talk on engineering internships and an internship presentation by Booz Allen Hamilton, a national management consulting firm with an office in Pittsburgh. 

Fifteen students attended the engineering internship panel in the O’Hara Student Center Ballroom where Maureen Barcic, director of Cooperative Education at Pitt, gave a talk titled, “Creating Successful Graduates and Partnerships Through Industry and Cooperative Engineering Internships.”

In her talk, Barcic outlined how engineering co-ops — a program in which students take several semesters off to work full-time in the engineering area of their choice — work, and how students can become involved in Pitt’s engineering co-op program. 

Though the program started small, Barcic said, 296 students worked a summer job as part of the program last summer. All of Pitt’s campuses are involved in the program, and Barcic regularly travels to the Bradford and Johnstown campuses to meet with students, she said. 

“[Co-op] benefits the students,” she said during her talk. “It’s been a great program for everyone involved.”

Barcic said even if a student decides to not go into the field he or she co-oped in, the program can still benefit that individual. During her talk, Barcic told the story of a civil engineering student who completed his two co-op rotations, but still had several years of school left. He came to Barcic’s office, she said, and said he wanted to leave the program because he had decided he wanted to be a doctor. 

“I said to him, ‘I’d still say the program was a success for you because you figured out what you don’t want to do,’” Barcic said. 

Barcic said one of the greatest benefits of the co-op program is the confidence it gives the students who complete it. 

“When you go out and interview, you’re not going to be nervous. You’ll be able to say, ‘This is what I want to do, this is what I don’t want to do,’” Barcic said.

Participating in the co-op program and getting internships is important, Barcic said, because students need experience to get jobs. 

“You’ve got to have experience, or you’re going to have trouble getting a job. It’s imperative. Our co-ops have no problem getting jobs,” Barcic said. 

Kavalukas was one of the organizers for the Internship Week.

All programs are open to Pitt undergraduate students free of charge, according to Kavalukas. Recruiters volunteer and are not paid to participate. As many as 700 students have participated in previous Internship Weeks, but Kavalukas could not give an estimate for how many she expects to attend this year. 

Kavalukas said the office works with students through workshops and individual appointments to provide them with resources for success. 

“We provide comprehensive support for resumés, cover letters, searching, applying, research, interviews, networking and social media,” Kavalukas said. “In addition to providing programs and working with students, we also build relationships with recruiters to consistently increase internship postings in our online career management software, FutureLinks.”

James Fabrizio, internship associate and career consultant for math and engineering majors, gave a presentation specifically on internships after Barcic spoke. He explained that unlike co-ops, internships are not academic, but are still beneficial because students gain experience and do hands-on work. 

Kavalukas said the importance of internship week stems from the necessity to raise awareness of experiential learning for all Pitt undergrads. 

“In addition to marketing our unique Internship Guarantee, we want students to become more aware of all of the services and resources that [CDPA] can provide throughout their internship processes,” Kavalukas said.

Kavalukas said it’s important for students to be well-prepared for their interactions with employers at the upcoming Spring Career Fair on Feb. 18 and 19. 

Student Kelsey Knox, a senior industrial engineering major, attended the Booz Allen Hamilton internship information session. 

She said she wants to “get into industrial technical consulting,” meaning she wants to work for engineering companies and help make them more efficient.

Last summer, Knox said, she did similar work during her internship with Pepsi and added that she benefited from the experience. Knox said she wants to apply for an internship with Booz Allen Hamilton because it will utilize her skills as an industrial engineer.

“It’s important to apply education to real life,” she said.