At Work by Lindsey Novak

Q: Twenty years ago, my university's undergraduate engineering program had co-op internship relationships with many local engineering firms. Students who enrolled in the degree program worked full time for 12 months, spread over the last 2 1/2 years of the program. Their wages were based on how far along they were in their degrees, and they were good wages. They also had good shots at full-time jobs with those employers upon graduation.

The university's internship program gave students not only valuable experience and opportunities for obtaining high-paying jobs in the field but also about three-fourths of what new engineers made in a year, without delaying graduation. The wages the students received could be used to pay down their student loans and current bills.

Employers and industries that exploit student interns need to be reminded of their professional responsibility to treat people fairly. If a company exploits its interns, it is better off not having an internship program.

A: Employers, employees — both laid-off employees and employees now working on skeleton crews — and students likely would prefer the state of business as it was 20 years ago. With the distrust in the business environment, caused by Michael Milken (known as the junk-bond king), Arthur Andersen (whose criminal conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2002 — too late to help its past employees), Enron, Bernie Madoff, Satyam and far too many others to name, students now question whether they should put hope in any company. One can't blame them for looking at work experience as a short stop here and there along the road to making money.

So much needs to be corrected in the heart of mankind, which is the true cause of company fraud, that many schools and companies no longer receive the respect they once had. But this is not a time for despair. It's a time for learning. People need to pull themselves up from the shock of the recession and look inside themselves for change, to reassess their core values and goals and to move on without negativity and cynicism. People can't go back to the way it was 20 years ago, but they can move forward to make things better from the foundation on up.

 

Lost in the Sea of Applications: Networking Pays Off

Q: I have been in the same job at the same company for six years. I worked for the company a year before I got my current job, but I was in another department, which let me go. I now am applying for jobs and filling out online applications. Should I explain why I was let go from the earlier department I worked for? I have not been getting any responses to my online applications.

A: Networking is critical, in addition to applying online. Fill out online applications answering only what's required. Job openings easily can pull in 500 to 1,000 résumés instantly. Large companies sort the applications by keywords listed under people's qualifications, so your résumé must target each job's requirements to be considered. At small, less tech-savvy companies, many résumés never are read.

Please send your questions to: Lindsey Novak, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. E-mail her at LindseyNovak@yahoo.com, or visit her Web site at www.LindseyNovak.com. She answers all e-mails. To find out more about Lindsey Novak and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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