The Advantages of the MBA Summer Internship

<p>A well-timed <strong>summer MBA internship</strong> may be your express ticket to the <strong>career</strong> of your dreams if you choose carefully.&nbsp;</p><p>According to a recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (<a href="https://www.gmac.com/" target="_blank">GMAC</a>), choosing the right MBA internship can make all the difference to your future career. The MBA Career Guide looks at how to make the right move.GMAC's survey of nearly 700 companies around the world found that 62% of them took on <strong>MBA</strong> students as interns over the summer months. And of this group, almost three-quarters considered their interns, first before looking at external candidates for full-time roles. The typical company reported that half of its new MBA hires would come from the internship pool.</p><p>Consequently, it looks as if sacrificing the beach for the workplace over the summer is a useful investment for any ambitious MBA student. This year, with demand for MBAs reaching new heights, the choice of MBA internship is broader than at any time since the late 1990s. Major employers as diverse as Deutsche Bank, Gap, Mattel and Toyota are all competing for the best students and options are no longer limited to the very large organisations that provided opportunities in the past.</p>

<p>According to Mike Holmes, from the online career development platform, TopMBA Careers, one of the positive results of the downturn in MBA recruitment, that lasted up until 2003, has been a whole new set of employers entering the field. "When major banks and consultancies either stopped or slimmed down their internship programmes it meant that both schools and students had to think more laterally to find relevant projects," he says. "That meant targeting less obvious organisations, such as NGOs, charities and the like. And once these employers have seen the value of getting a business school Gaining the advantage - the role of the summer internship According to a recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), choosing the right internship can make all the difference to your future career."</p><p>Mike's view is backed up by figures from the Tuck School at Dartmouth, which reports that the number of students working in not-for-profits has nearly trebled over the past two years. Tuck students have worked as consultants to several US National Parks, such as Grand Teton, and Yosemite, while another helped the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, Canada implement a venture philanthropy program that targets gifts of stock in support of abused and neglected children.</p>