Internship Day opens doors for SC State students seeking experience

So, she considers getting practical experience before graduation essential to finding the right career path. That’s why she was among the first students to arrive at the SC State Career Center’s Internship Day Fair.

“My goal for Internship Day is to look into different companies to see what the consist of and learn what different opportunities they have for college students,” Richardson said. “An internship is important to my future because at this time, I’m a junior. I have maybe a year-and-a-half left in school, so an internship will help me see things I like or maybe I don’t like. In the future, I will know because I can say I did that in college.”

While she has thoughts of going into health care management, Richardson is keeping her mind open about other paths a business management degree could take her. So she was stopping by the tables of several businesses and agencies at the fair.

“If not health care, it will be companies with great communicators and organizers. That’s what I am looking for in an internship,” she said.

The fair represented the second-annual Internship Day sponsored by the SC State Career Center. Director Joseph Thomas said even in the age of videoconferencing and other advanced technologies used by employers and recruiters, having so many employers visiting the campus could still make a difference for students.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to talk with a representative from a company in person, you’re halfway there,” Thomas said. “When you can get someone in person, it takes on a different tone, and you are able to express yourself in a different way.”

Along with practical experience, an internship often gives a student a path right into a full-time position. One employer at Thursday’s fair with that in mind was Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP (RK&K), an engineering and construction management company involved in the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s Interstate 26 widening project just south of Columbia.

“We do project management construction engineering inspection, which includes everything from materials testing to ensuring the contractor is installing things per the client’s specifications – verifying the materials they are using, the quantity of materials they are using, the payments for the work that’s performed, anything the SCDOT is looking for us to do,” said Jeff Howard, RK&K’s construction engineering inspection manager.

Howard said the company planned to hire an engineering intern from SC State to work with the I-26 project, so the fair was an opportunity to find candidates.

“Hopefully, it’s one who is in the construction path in civil engineering, and we would have them come through the program for a one-year or two-year internship and then hire them when they come out,” Howard said. “That will give them a solid base for construction management for the future.”

SC State graduate student Paul Omulokoli, who will graduate in May with a master of science in transportation and highway engineering, dropped off his resume at RK&K’s table and had a length conversation with the company’s representatives.

“With what I’ve learned here at South Carolina State, I have gained a lot of knowledge toward the advanced technologies that can be used in transportation and a higher understanding of the concepts and principles that are applied in transportation engineering,” said Omulokoli, who completed his undergraduate studies in his native Kenya. “So I am looking forward to going into the field to get more practice and also to gain more certifications as a professional engineer.”

Thursday’s event featured internship, co-op and part-time job opportunities for current students, as well as recent SC State graduates, from 16 agencies and employers. Along with RK&K, they included:

• AgFirst Farm Credit Bank
• AgSouth Farm Credit
• Boeing
• City of Orangeburg
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
• Dominion Energy
• Duke Energy
• Enterprise
• Guild Mortgage
• Savannah River Nuclear Solutions
• South Carolina Law Enforcement Division
• West Fraser Lumber Company
• Westinghouse
• SC State 1890 Research & Extension