Companies match students with internships

“We go about it the same way we would if we were back at a corporation or an advertising agency marketing a product,” said Rodems, of tweaking resumes and playing up students’ strengths.

Fast Track works with students to identify companies that suit the students’ goals but either don’t have formal internship programs or don’t advertise them, so competition will be less.

The company also writes and prints 100 to 300 copies of resumes and cover letters, addresses envelopes and even buys stamps before giving them to the student to sign, stuff and mail. Rodems said students typically receive five offers.

The price: $799 if a student wants an unpaid internship and $999 if they want a paid one, because those are often more difficult to get, he said. Both come with a two-offer guarantee.

Laura Kestner, director of Career Services at Marquette University in Milwaukee, said no one should pay to find an internship. Looking for an internship helps students develop skills, she said.

“We’re advocates of teaching students lifelong job search skills, so there’s no reason you should pay someone,” she said.

But she is working with a firm that helps employers recruit interns, Chicago-based Brill Street and Co.

Employers tell Brill Street their needs for jobs ranging from a few weeks to 18 months, and the company finds and pays the students. Brill Street then bills the hiring company and collects a fee off that, said Nancy Lerner, who founded the company with her husband last year and was at a recent career fair at Marquette.

On a recent weeknight in Milwaukee, Marquette junior Heather Riehle took a break from studying and went to a career fair to look for a summer internship. She’s had an internship with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. during breaks from school, but Riehle, a 20-year-old international business major from Wausau, Wis., wants to get as much experience as possible.

But she doesn’t mind looking on her own.

“I think the whole point of looking is to find something that works for you,” Riehle said.

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