Real-World Internship Opportunities, From Adelphi to NYC

At Adelphi, real-world experience is a vital part of college for many students. With New York City so close by, there are almost limitless opportunities to find work experience through an internship—or perhaps more than one.

“Between Long Island and the five boroughs, our students have access to probably one of the richest mines of internships in the country,” said Jonathan Ivanoff, associate director for internships at Adelphi. “We have the advantage of being so close to the financial capital of the country, the performing arts capital of the country, the nonprofit capital of the country. There are so many sectors that are headquartered here.”

Ivanoff estimates that around 800 students earn an internship each semester, with slightly more in the fall. Of those, about 250 are business related—finance, marketing, accounting, management and related jobs. The rest range from social work and medical fields to education.

An appropriate internship can usually be found for any major, Ivanoff added. “If you’re an art history major, we can probably get you internships. If you’re a graphics design major, we can probably get you internships. There are all kinds of openings in all kinds of places,” he said.

Danielle Cutuli ’16, now an Adelphi M.B.A. candidate, landed an internship at Acxiom for three summers as an Adelphi undergraduate. The Manhattan-based data management firm hired her to run a marketing program for high school students, giving her more responsibility, and higher pay, each time she returned.

“It was quite an experience,” she said. “Luckily, I made the right connections and did some pretty good work there and was hired for two more summers.”

During her internship, she made presentations to company leaders, managed the program’s high school students and led projects. The work experience dovetailed with her Adelphi education. Cutuli, who plans to finish graduate school this spring, already has a job lined up at IBM.

“Getting that experience was super important to my career development,” she said. “I was kind of let loose and given all this responsibility, and had to make it my own.”

Camille Alleyne, a senior majoring in social work, recently had an internship through Adelphi’s Jaggar Community Fellows Program. This competitive program links qualified students interested in community service with services providers. Alleyne spent a summer providing counseling and mediation to at-risk youth for Community Counseling and Mediation, an organization based in Brooklyn.

“It definitely helped prepare me to engage with youth and their families,” she said. “It gave me an inside look at how to interact with them, how to deal with their frustration. A lot of times, they don’t have that trust of outsiders.”

Alleyne now has a second internship, one that is required for her major. She is working with the nonprofit Southern Brooklyn Family Services, offering counseling to families at risk of having their children placed in foster care. She said her work through Jaggar helped prepare her for her more recent position.

“I was grateful to get into it and have that experience,” she said. She has been accepted into Columbia University’s Master of Social Work program.

Ivanoff suggests students who want internships should create an up-to-date LinkedIn profile and visit the Center for Career and Professional Development to build their résumé and interviewing skills.

“Prepare, prepare, prepare,” he said. “Research your company and come in for practice interviews. There are a lot of things we think we can do to help.”