The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many changes for student life: From shifting to a quarter of online classes to reimagining an entirely different 2020-2021 academic year, campus life has been uprooted.
In addition to academic disruptions, however, another significant challenge students are grappling with is an unstable job market, both for summer internships and full-time jobs. Companies across the country have retracted offers and cancelled internship programs.
The Humanities and Sciences Careers Task Force, created to help better prepare students for life after Stanford, has recently concentrated its efforts on helping Stanford students find summer internships and full-time jobs. Comprising Stanford alumni, parent volunteers, University administration, student representatives and employees from Bridging Education, Ambition & Meaningful Work (BEAM) and the Stanford Alumni Association (SAA), the task force has focused primarily on harnessing the aid of Stanford’s vast alumni network.
As a result of this effort, we have already been offered over 300 summer internships for Stanford students, and almost 150 have been posted. New internships, jobs and project opportunities are being posted to Handshake daily, and hundreds more alumni have offered to provide mentoring and career advice. We appreciate the challenges of the summer job hunt even in good times, and we are extremely humbled by the widespread show of compassion and support from the Stanford community during this extremely challenging period.
We are writing this letter to highlight for students the many job opportunities listed below. We have summarized the following internship and mentorship options to assist you:
- Look for jobs and internships: Alumni Sourced Opportunities — View job, internship and one-time project opportunities posted by alumni on Handshake, as well as available job and internship postings on alumni company websites.
- Connect with alumni and career mentors: Stanford Alumni Mentoring — Connect with, and learn from, alumni from a broad array of majors and careers.
- Build on your professional skills: BEAM Summer Boot Camp — Sign up for a 6-week program that will help you build professional skills, learn about industries and roles and connect with employers and alumni in a supportive environment. The boot camp is open to all current Stanford students and recent graduates and is free of charge.
These postings are unique in that they have been sourced and created by alumni and parents who are personally invested in helping Stanford students succeed. We encourage students to check the internship and mentorship opportunities frequently, as these lists are growing daily.
We know that the current economic climate has made finding summer and full-time jobs incredibly difficult, but we hope you can find opportunities from the many resources the H&S Task Force has helped create with the assistance of BEAM and SAA. We encourage you to explore the opportunities available to you, reach out to this network and connect with the wider Stanford community.
— Cami Katz & Elizabeth Lindqwister, on behalf of the Humanities and Sciences Careers Task Force
Contact Cami Katz at camikatz ‘at’ stanford.edu and Elizabeth Lindqwister at liz ‘at’ stanforddaily.com.
Elizabeth Lindqwister is The Daily’s deputy editor.
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