Finding Summer Employment Is A Difficult Task

Still search of a summer job?

While deadlines for international travel grants or chic internships at Wall Street investment banking firms may have passed, it's not yet time to resign yourself to another summer of bookkeeping at Uncle Steve's dental practice.

And if you plan on heading to the Office of Career Services (OCS) in the days ahead, you won't be alone. According to an informal Crimson poll of 50 undergraduates, a full 60 percent don't yet know how they'll spend the summer of '97.

You Are Not Alone

"Please don't ask me this," cries Kristin M. Commito '98, when asked about her summer plans. "Do you realize how stressed this is making me?"

Although Commito was able to find work at OCS for last summer--when she wrote environmental proposals for IBM in Vermont--Commito is still having trouble planning this summer.

"The best way is to get on the ball early, but it's sort of hard in December to decide what you're doing," she says.

David A. Hopkins '99 is hoping his home city of Rochester, N.Y., will have the money to fund a summer position like the one he had two years ago at the city's assessment office.

For now, Hopkins is trying not to think about it.

"I haven't really got my act together yet," Hopkins says. "I figure I'll find something."

Similarly resigned is Julie M. Lau '00, who is seeking a position in biochemical research.

"I've just kind of accepted that the major deadlines were February 1st, and I'm not going to make that," says Lau. "The next deadline is March 1st, and I am hoping I'll make that."

Laura Winthrop '00, who was still updating her resume Thursday night, says she has tried OCS on several occasions but has yet to apply for any jobs.

"It's definitely a stress," says Winthrop, who hopes to work at an advertising firm in Boston.

"I was talking with my mom last night, and she was like, 'Is everything okay?'" relates Merry Jean Chan '97-'98. Chan, who started looking for a job in early September, says she also has been experiencing stress while waiting to hear from investment banks and consulting firms.

"The whole process is very competitive," says Chan, an East Asian Studies and anthropology concentrator. "You see [other applicants] with their resumes, in their spanking suits--they can all talk the talk and walk the walk."

Sarah J. Siska '98 also began her search for a job in September, securing a coveted place in an organic chemistry research lab. But Siska says other professors may still have positions available, and she advises setting up an appointment with an instructor to discuss summer options.

Claudia Y. Sanchez '97, like other seniors interviewed, says she is too busy focusing on finding a permanent job to stress about a summer-only position--but she has advice for younger students.

Sanchez, a government concentrator, recommends other students try a summer at or near Harvard "at least once or twice."

"It was nice to be around school in a different environment," she says.

Where to Look

Tucked away on the shelves of the OCS Reading Room are several directories, a logical place to start the search for a summer position.

Check out the 608-page National Directory of Internships, geared toward college students and organized conveniently by type of internship. The Directory lists jobs with rolling and late deadlines.

Or check out Jobs in Paradise, a book that lists positions at resorts and other vacation areas.

Peterson's Summer Jobs for Students, which mainly lists camps, motels and theme parks, contains several unique possibilities. For those who want a preview of the listings or are too lazy to go down to OCS and read the book, here are a few:

Two hundred counselors will earn up to $1,800 per season at a camp run for 2,900 inner-city students by the Fresh Air Fund in Fishkill, N.Y., 65 miles north of New York City. The application deadline for the camp, which can be reached at (800) 367-0003, is June 1.

Interested in theater? Eighty percent of the 85 employees hired by Cape Cod's College Light Opera Co. are college students. The residential summer-stock musical theater pays between $500 and $2,500 for the season for a variety of positions and can be reached at (216) 774-8485. Deadline is March 15.

Have you ever felt compelled to leave the crowded, industrial Northeast Corridor and head for a place where the buffalo roam? Try the Best Western Bucks T-4 Lodge in Big Sky, Mont., at (406) 995-4111, where 20 percent of summer employees are college students. You can earn a whopping $6 an hour by staffing the front desk. Yet the cost of living is cheap; you can get room and board for $45 a week, and have time for plenty of pleasure reading.

More Advice

Although she didn't stay at a Best Western, Joanna H. Case '99, a New Yorker, headed west last summer, working as a waitress at a "touristy diner" in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and recommends the trip to others.

"It was nice to go to a different area and get a different perspective," Case says. "At Harvard, I get very caught up in the career-oriented mindset."

The Student Employment Office (SEO) is also worth a visit--or, if you'd rather not hike to Byerly Hall, you can receive instant updates by e-mail as new summer jobs come in by registering at the SEO's webpage, http://www.byerly.fas.harvard.edu/seo/joblist/subscribe.html.

It's also not too late for a summer inside the Capital Beltway, says Geoffrey C. Rapp '98, chair of the Student Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics (IOP).

"A lot of senators and congressmen have internship programs that don't have deadlines until March," Rapp says.

"The White House, which hosts about 20 Harvard students each year, has a deadline in March," he adds.

Moreover, Rapp says, applications for the IOP's Washington internship program--which last year featured positions at C-SPAN and at the Commerce Department and which awards students grants of $2,500--are not due until near Spring Break.

Rapp, who two years ago didn't send off application materials for his internship with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) until the last week of February, recommends that students call their congressional representatives to inquire about the application procedure.

"The District of Columbia is a fabulous place to live," he says. "Even if the job itself is not that glamorous, the community that you become a part of is really vibrant and stimulating."

The deadline is also inching up for Let's Go travel guides, a Harvard summer stand-by. You'll see the world (or at least a small portion of it) with only backpack and pen if you're selected to be a researcher-writer. Applications are available at Harvard Student Agencies, 67 Mount Auburn St., and are due February 24

Have you ever felt compelled to leave the crowded, industrial Northeast Corridor and head for a place where the buffalo roam? Try the Best Western Bucks T-4 Lodge in Big Sky, Mont., at (406) 995-4111, where 20 percent of summer employees are college students. You can earn a whopping $6 an hour by staffing the front desk. Yet the cost of living is cheap; you can get room and board for $45 a week, and have time for plenty of pleasure reading.

More Advice

Although she didn't stay at a Best Western, Joanna H. Case '99, a New Yorker, headed west last summer, working as a waitress at a "touristy diner" in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and recommends the trip to others.

"It was nice to go to a different area and get a different perspective," Case says. "At Harvard, I get very caught up in the career-oriented mindset."

The Student Employment Office (SEO) is also worth a visit--or, if you'd rather not hike to Byerly Hall, you can receive instant updates by e-mail as new summer jobs come in by registering at the SEO's webpage, http://www.byerly.fas.harvard.edu/seo/joblist/subscribe.html.

It's also not too late for a summer inside the Capital Beltway, says Geoffrey C. Rapp '98, chair of the Student Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics (IOP).

"A lot of senators and congressmen have internship programs that don't have deadlines until March," Rapp says.

"The White House, which hosts about 20 Harvard students each year, has a deadline in March," he adds.

Moreover, Rapp says, applications for the IOP's Washington internship program--which last year featured positions at C-SPAN and at the Commerce Department and which awards students grants of $2,500--are not due until near Spring Break.

Rapp, who two years ago didn't send off application materials for his internship with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) until the last week of February, recommends that students call their congressional representatives to inquire about the application procedure.

"The District of Columbia is a fabulous place to live," he says. "Even if the job itself is not that glamorous, the community that you become a part of is really vibrant and stimulating."

The deadline is also inching up for Let's Go travel guides, a Harvard summer stand-by. You'll see the world (or at least a small portion of it) with only backpack and pen if you're selected to be a researcher-writer. Applications are available at Harvard Student Agencies, 67 Mount Auburn St., and are due February 24