When your Diplomats return home for Spring Break, they may bring along some anxieties about finding and acquiring an internship for the upcoming summer. This is, after all, the time of year when your extraordinary, high-achieving student begins to plan for how they will make the most of the rare free time coming their way.

The Center for Career and Professional Development offers support and extensive resources to help your student in their search for an internship experience that will help them explore a professional aspiration, hone their skills and gain valuable work experience, including some of the following options:

Foundation Fridays Workshop Series

A standing workshop series that occurs every Friday of the academic year from 2 to 4 p.m. to educate students on the foundational elements of finding and applying for opportunities. These small-group workshops review best practices for job searching, resumes, cover letters, interviewing, personal branding, networking and utilizing LinkedIn.

One-to-One Meetings with a Professional Career Adviser

Every student may meet individually with an expert career adviser as many times as they wish.  Advisers are available by appointment and via drop-in hours in Harwood Commons, as well as within all of the College Houses. (Yes, our Career Advisers make house calls!) 

Handshake

All F&M students have access to the online platform Handshake, where thousands of job, internship and fellowship opportunities are posted every week. Students can create advanced filters to search for opportunities specifically aligned with their interests and priorities and upload their application materials to apply to internships directly through this platform.

The True Blue Network

Our True Blue Network is a platform only accessible to F&M students, alumni and members of the F&Mily. Students can create a profile on True Blue and have the opportunity to connect with our vast network of alumni all over the world. The True Blue Network job board has a plethora of opportunities – all with a direct F&M connection! (Parents, is your organization hiring? Let us know by posting on the True Blue Network!)

Career Center Events

F&M’s Career Center hosts, on average, more than 250 events each year. All our events are posted online on Ampersand, so they are searchable by the keyword “career” and students can register for them. We also highlight these events in our monthly bulletin (sent via email to each student on the first of every month), as well as through the Career Center’s student-run Instagram account (@fandmcareercenter). Every month, we host global experts, prominent alumni, local and national recruiters, admissions officers from professional school and graduate programs and a bevy of professional development workshops tailored to meet the wide variety of student interests and needs. We have no shortage of options and opportunities, and plenty of seats available. 

Go Dips!

A few days ago, as I passed students while strolling through Hartman Green in the unseasonably warm weather, I heard two of them playfully arguing about the meaning of an English idiom, another telling a friend about an experiment conducted on infants using an AI program that generates gibberish that helps to explain a new finding about the neuroscience involved in language acquisition, and then a smattering of a conversation that involved the phrase, “the history of Japanese underground street style.”

The everyday dialogue among our brilliant Diplomats is a good reminder that while our students sometimes say or think or feel they are in a panic for a summer internship, we know they’re up for the challenge. F&M students are fascinated and fascinating. They are curious and capable. Their eagerness to contribute is matched by their level of preparation to do so. Let’s all do our part to remind them they have great support, resources and options. They are not desperate for opportunities; the world is desperate for Diplomats.

Upcoming Seminars and Workshops for Your Students

Your student can register for any of these programs on Ampersand.

Intern with Aaron's Acres this Summer: Information Session

Tuesday, March 18 | 3 - 4 p.m.

If they are interested, encourage your student to join us to learn about a special internship opportunity this summer with Aaron’s Acres, a local summer camp that supports children and young adults with disabilities. Our unique partnership with Aaron’s Acres provides compensation to any F&M student who works as a counselor at the summer camp as well as the cost of credit for anyone who does this work as an EFC (Experience-for-Credit). Your student can learn whether this life-changing opportunity is right for them! 

Medical School Information Session

University of New England: College of Osteopathic Medicine

Tuesday, March 25 | 3 - 4 p.m.

As Maine’s only medical school and the only osteopathic medical school in New England, UNE COM has been educating physicians who support the health of people and communities in Maine and beyond for over 40 years. Nationally recognized for leadership in primary care, rural medicine, osteopathic medicine and geriatric healthcare, UNE COM is ranked among the country’s top medical schools.

Lessons from a Career on the Bench with Judge Jeffrey Geller ’94

Tuesday, March 25 | 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Co-Sponsored by the John Marshall Pre-Law Society

Judge Jeffrey Geller ’94 is an associate judge on the Baltimore City Circuit Court, a distinction he has held since 2012. He has worked in a variety of judicial roles, including work in alternative dispute resolution, business and technology case management, and complex litigation. Judge Geller will be on campus to share his experience transitioning from F&M student, to law student at American University’s Washington College of Law, to associate and eventually partner at various law firms, and finally to a seat on the Bench in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

ALUMNI LEAD: Peter Schaffer ’84

Monday, March 24 | 3 - 4 p.m.

Co-Sponsored by Chi Phi

Alumni Lead is a program where some of F&M's most prominent alumni return to campus to speak with current students about their amazing career trajectories — and share the wisdom they've gathered along the way.

Peter Schaffer has been a certified NFL agent for 24 years. He has negotiated over one billion dollars in contracts and has had the honor of representing such Hall of Fame greats as Barry Sanders and William Roaf. In addition to players, Schaffer counts numerous NFL coaches and general managers, and national sports media, as his clients. He has been named one of the “Top 5 Agents in the NFL” by Street and Smith’s Business Journal.

ALUMNI LEAD: Holly Bamford ’93

Wednesday, March 26 | 3 to 4 p.m.

Alumni Lead is a program where some of F&M's most prominent alumni return to campus to speak with current students about their amazing career trajectories, and share the wisdom they've gathered along the way.

Currently serving as the chief conservation officer for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the nation's largest private conservation grant-maker, Dr. Bamford oversees the allocation of over $500 million annually toward on-the-ground conservation efforts across the country. She is responsible for advancing the Foundation’s outcome-based approaches to conservation investments, which span various ecosystems including oceans, coasts, forests, grasslands and freshwater environments. Encourage your student to attend to hear more about her journey from majoring in business administration and environmental studies at F&M to a groundbreaking career of saving and protecting the planet.

Creating a Stellar Law School Personal Statement

Monday, March 31 | 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Is your student applying to law school? Encourage them to attend this session to learn how to write a compelling personal statement. Topics to be covered include how the personal statement fits into the overall application, how to identify strong themes, how to structure essays and common mistakes to avoid.