Wharton eases summer job hunt

Although it is only January, many students already have to think about arranging summer internships. But the Wharton School and Career Planning and Placement Services have begun working together to help ease the process. The new program solicits support from active alumni in the hopes of diversifying the internship opportunities available to undergraduates. It aims to attract both companies that are already actively recruiting and those which have not yet considered undergraduates for summer positions. "Through this effort, we might be able to reach those who never thought about tapping into this," said Associate Director for Career Planning and Placement Beverly Hamilton. But Wharton's Director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Joseph Sun said he could not predict the success of the project, as it is still in its preliminary stages. "We have sent over 1,000 letters to corporations to get them to consider our students for summer," he noted. Sun added that he hopes to solicit help from the Undergraduate Executive Board, individual companies and University alumni. Sun and Hamilton emphasized that they don't want students to expect "thousands and thousands of opportunities." And they said they could not guarantee the quality of the positions either. "We can't say that some of these jobs won't be grunt work," Hamilton said. She said that approximately 60 firms currently come to campus each year to interview and recruit undergraduates for summer positions. In addition, CPPS lists over 3,000 corporate and non-profit internship opportunities on the World Wide Web at http://www.upenn.edu/CPPS. Wharton clubs -- which are not limited to students in the business program -- also serve as resources for summer recruiting. "The most active clubs are the Management Club, Delta Sigma Pi and Wharton Women," said Wharton Women President Kanika Dewan, a Wharton junior. "One of Wharton Women's major goals is helping women undergraduates in the recruiting process," she said. "We foster interaction with companies through presentations, trips and annual events." She added that Wharton Women held a dinner with professional women last semester, including officials from major corporations such as A.T. Kearney, Andersen Consulting, McKinsey & Co and DLJ. Dewan said relationships established between Wharton clubs and recruiting companies may facilitate applying for summer internships. "These companies have been actively recruiting on campus and are very keen in interacting with students and allowing students the opportunity to learn more about them and hopefully build a long-term relationship with them," she added.