Tables for visiting companies will line the cement walls of the Bryan Center today, and anxious seniors will don pinstripe suits and blue dress shirts to put their best faces forward as part of the annual Career Fair.
The number of companies recruiting students on campus has rebounded to 83 after several years of decreasing attendance, and many companies are seeking Duke students for the increased number of positions they have to fill, said Sheila Curran, executive director of the Career Center.
“It’s definitely easier to get a job this year,” she said.
But many of the companies will be searching for previous work experience in everything from investment banking to education to computer programming.
Major investment firms are increasingly hiring students from their internship programs rather than from recruiting sessions like the Career Fair. Last year, for example, Goldman Sachs & Co. filled many of its entry-level positions with graduates who had already interned over the summer. Several recruiters from the company declined to comment in accordance with company policy.
Senior Eliza Howard, who had a banking internship at Goldman Sachs last summer, has already accepted a full-time position there. She sees the emphasis on internships as a positive move.
“It definitely gets the students that are the most interested and most motivated,” she said.
The phenomenon of direct hiring has been growing in all fields over the last five years, and the importance of experience is making internships a crucial part of job placement, Curran said.
In response, the Career Center has been working to develop stronger internship placement programs, and it is drawing upon the University’s decentralized character to do it.
This year, second-semester freshmen will have the chance to intern within a division of Duke in order to gain job skills and explore career options in human resources, advising, journalism and more. “Just about any place that exists in a small city exists at Duke also,” Curran said. “I see it as an opportunity to explore things they’ve never thought of before.”
Focusing on the job search early in students’ college careers could cut into academic exploration, but professors in both science and humanities departments were unfazed, and even encouraged, by the emphasis on internships.
Sarah Deutsch, chair of the Department of History, said she encouraged career experimentation through internships.
“Liberal arts education does prepare you well for just about anything,” she said. “You have to make the case, but the ability to find things out is certainly a prized skill.”
She also noted that the number of students pursuing independent research projects in history has risen recently despite more students seeking out internships.
In the natural sciences, where even industry jobs often involve independent research, the need for internships may help stimulate undergraduate research.
“In general, we feel like getting real-world experience in the sciences is a great opportunity for students,” said Philip Benfey, chair of the Department of Biology.
For seniors, however, coveted employment may prematurely dampen their enthusiasm for academics.
“Since I got my job offer,” Howard said, “I definitely have not been working as hard in school.”
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