MIT Student/Alumni Externship Program moves to CAPD
New program, renamed MIT Micro-Internships, to provide opportunities during school breaks and during the semester
The MIT Student/Alumni Externship Program, previously managed by the MIT Alumni Association (MITAA), has transitioned to the Career Advising and Professional Development (CAPD) office. The program has been renamed MIT Micro-Internships, according to the MITAA’s website.
The website writes that the Micro-Internships program will continue to provide students short-term opportunities to work with alumni, primarily during IAP.
Brian Geer, executive director of strategic communications and marketing for the MITAA, wrote in an email to The Tech that the move to CAPD intends to consolidate the different options for students’ career paths, “including other short-term opportunities, resources such as Handshake, and robust relationships with employers.”
Geer also wrote that the new program will allow MIT “to re-envision what an externship program can be in relation to current student needs and recruiting trends.” Additionally, the new program will address the Office of the Vice Chancellor’s Career Exploration Committee recommendations.
CAPD plans to increase the program’s role in career exploration “beyond serving as a feeder for full-time job offer conversions” ahead of traditional fall semester recruiting, Geer wrote, adding that “employers seek to recruit talent early on for full-time positions.”
Geer also wrote that moving the program to CAPD will allow MIT to offer students opportunities like externships during “school breaks and even during the semester where possible.”
Alumni who have previously hosted students for the Externship Program will receive additional details early June about being involved in the new program, the MITAA website writes. Geer wrote that CAPD will offer externship opportunities to students through Handshake, which “already allows for identifying alumni among employers more easily.”
Matthew DuPlessie ’99, whose company has hosted externs during IAP “for over a decade,” wrote in an email to The Tech that he does not expect the transition to “have much effect on the program.”
Geer wrote that CAPD is currently “exploring” what the application process for students will look like. CAPD will contact students and alumni employers to gather feedback about “what worked best” from the previous externship program and investigate how the new program can provide additional short-term opportunities beyond IAP, Geer wrote.