With the summer 2025 internship season approaching, students are racing against time to secure jobs, facing mounting pressure and frustration.
The U.S. job market is currently relatively stable, with an unemployment rate of 4.1%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, hiring rates are still down as of February 2025, prompting anxiety for those searching for internships and jobs starting this summer.
Bianka Sicard, a junior political science student, is feeling the impact of the current economic climate. She explained that increased competition in her field has resulted in poor internship compensation.
“As an aspiring attorney, I do know that my field is highly saturated and it can feel like you’re in competition with thousands and thousands of students,” Sicard said. “I feel like unpaid internships should be banned. To me, it shows that companies know how saturated a field can be and decide to take advantage of that with unpaid labor.”
In addition to concerns about compensation, students also face challenges in receiving responses from employers after applying.
“I have applied almost 100 times and have yet to hear back positively,” Sicard said.
Jayda Nelms, a senior public relations student, shared a similar experience and mentioned that some qualifications are excessively restrictive, even for internships.
“A lot of places want years and years of experience, but how do I get the experience if I can’t get more than two internships?” Nelms said.
Students aren’t the only ones noticing these trends. Raven Fennell, a career specialist at the FAMU Career & Professional Development Center, offers tailored career guidance to support students’ job search efforts. Fennell and her colleagues work diligently to equip students with essential resources and strategies for success.
During this hiring cycle, Fennell heard feedback from students about employers’ lack of benefits and responsiveness. She also noted students’ concerns about requirements such as GPA that may deter them from certain opportunities.
“They care, but they don’t care as much, and I think a lot of students are afraid to apply for different internships because of this,” Fennell said. “It’s really about selling yourself and your brand and who makes who to these employers because you could be a stem major applying for a journalism internship and still get it.”
In light of these challenges, students and career specialists continue searching for solutions that bridge the gap between available opportunities and the evolving needs of the workforce. Fennell recommends that students take advantage of the resources at the career center, which can help ease the pressure of perfecting their applications.
“It goes two ways. We have to reach out to you all, and you all have to reach out to us,” Fennell said. “Just being able to find a way that we can reach students more to tell them how we can help them, I think that’ll offset some of their frustration.”
Open communication among students, employers and career centers is essential as they work through these challenges and adjust to the ever-changing job market.