length of internship Forum

[%%%]

I'm trying to figure out how much of my 1L summer should be spent working. I want to leave plenty of time to travel, so how short an internship is too short? How long did (is) everyone working, and did this ever come up in a future job interview?

[Danteshek]

I'm trying to figure out how much of my 1L summer should be spent working. I want to leave plenty of time to travel, so how short an internship is too short? How long did (is) everyone working, and did this ever come up in a future job interview?

mine is 10 weeks, but im going to apply for another two (paid). assuming you are there to learn, and not just for a resume build, the longer the better.

[270910]

4-6 weeks is the minimum I've ever heard of, and tends to explicitly come up in the context of split/partial summers. I think 8 is nearing the fewest that could reasonably considered summer employment... but I know some who are working 12+. It varies a lot, you'll have to talk to the individual employer.

[A'nold]

If you do like 4 weeks, do you have to say so or can you just talk about your summer internship at an interview? Curious.

[OperaSoprano]

I need to get back to outlining (!) but will say that I am splitting my summer and will be working five weeks and taking classes abroad six weeks. I am already interning at my summer organization on a part time basis, however, and I first started volunteering there in October. I think the idea is that you want to give yourself time to learn, and you don't want to look like you didn't take the summer seriously. Before setting up this split, I talked to a 3L who had done the same thing, then gotten himself a biglaw job. He said interviewers were interested in his academic adventures and the shorter work period wasn't an issue.

[A'nold]

What if I get a really good tan laying next to the pool this summer? Huh, huh, huh?

[270910]

If you do like 4 weeks, do you have to say so or can you just talk about your summer internship at an interview? Curious.

I think you can probably fly under the radar with 4 weeks. It's border line deceptive, but you'd do it like this:

Summer 2010 ____(firm/gov/PI/corp name here)__________
Intern
*Did impressive sounding legal item one
*Did impressive sounding legal item two

There would be like a 99% chance the exact length of employment wouldn't come up. But if it did, you'd be prepared to tell the whole truth - "I worked for 1.5 weeks at 2 hours per week because I needed to support my cocaine and hookers habit by spending the rest of my summer in vegas" or whatever and hope it doesn't sink you.

[A'nold]

If you do like 4 weeks, do you have to say so or can you just talk about your summer internship at an interview? Curious.

I think you can probably fly under the radar with 4 weeks. It's border line deceptive, but you'd do it like this:

Summer 2010 ____(firm/gov/PI/corp name here)__________
Intern
*Did impressive sounding legal item one
*Did impressive sounding legal item two

There would be like a 99% chance the exact length of employment wouldn't come up. But if it did, you'd be prepared to tell the whole truth - "I worked for 1.5 weeks at 2 hours per week because I needed to support my cocaine and hookers habit by spending the rest of my summer in vegas" or whatever and hope it doesn't sink you.[/quote]

Exactly.

[Posner]

....

[rando]

I would not try to "fly under the radar" if you only do 4 weeks. As a lawyer, it is important to be honest, or at least appear honest. It would be strange to leave out your employment dates on your resume (as this is typical resume information), and misleading your interviewer could sink the deal (or at least harm your reputation). If the interviewer is unclear about your employment dates, they will probably ask. Interviewers are not stupid. They will see what you are trying to do.

You want to do less weeks so you can travel. That's fine, but you need to be an adult and deal with any consequences that might come from it, rather than hiding behind resume falsities.

I would recommend working at least 8 weeks, unless you are splitting with something else that is legally substantive.

Finally, your summer employer will surely think that you are a slacker for only wanting to work 4 weeks. You should be building connections this summer to build your reputation and build contacts. Building a reputation as a slacker is not a good way to start your career. I realize it's not what you want to hear, but it needs to be said.

Agreed. I also was in a position where I was receiving resumes at my old job and any line of work that didn't have dates (by month) was far less credible. It would certainly raise eyebrows (unless it was for multiple years of course).

[A'nold]

I would not try to "fly under the radar" if you only do 4 weeks. As a lawyer, it is important to be honest, or at least appear honest. It would be strange to leave out your employment dates on your resume (as this is typical resume information), and misleading your interviewer could sink the deal (or at least harm your reputation). If the interviewer is unclear about your employment dates, they will probably ask. Interviewers are not stupid. They will see what you are trying to do.

You want to do less weeks so you can travel. That's fine, but you need to be an adult and deal with any consequences that might come from it, rather than hiding behind resume falsities.

I would recommend working at least 8 weeks, unless you are splitting with something else that is legally substantive.

Finally, your summer employer will surely think that you are a slacker for only wanting to work 4 weeks. You should be building connections this summer to build your reputation and build contacts. Building a reputation as a slacker is not a good way to start your career. I realize it's not what you want to hear, but it needs to be said.

I'm sorry but resume dates that go down to a matter of weeks is NOT TCR.

How about: Interned with so and so this past summer, here is what I did.....how is that deceptive? I don't think there is any hard and fast kind of assumption as to how long you worked.

[OperaSoprano]

+1 to A'nold. Do people usually even put months for a summer internship? My resume has always said XYZ, Summer 200X, even if I worked 12 weeks. If it's understood and expected that something is a short term job, it doesn't seem disingenuous to label it this way, unless the internship is so short (IE: 2 weeks) as to be of little practical value.

[rando]

+1 to A'nold. Do people usually even put months for a summer internship? My resume has always said XYZ, Summer 200X, even if I worked 12 weeks. If it's understood and expected that something is a short term job, it doesn't seem disingenuous to label it this way, unless the internship is so short (IE: 2 weeks) as to be of little practical value.

Many employers want months. Down to weeks is not necessary.

And it is for this exact reason that they want it. They want to know if you are hiding something and what you did. It is legitimate for an employer to want to know if you gained basically no value from your summer by working for a month or if your peers worked 3x as long.

[andreea7]

In this case if someone decided to pick up the phone and call the place where you interned -- for whatever reason, let's say they happen to know each other and why not -- and they find out you only did four weeks, then it will indeed look deceitful. Ethical behavior is important and if you start off with the wrong foot, you never know how it will affect you in the future. It is one thing to have indeed worked 12 weeks and for you resume to say "Summer 2010" and then if it comes up it is no issue, and it is another thing to say Summer 2010 but to have only worked one month. If you only do one month, you resume would have to say "June 2010" for example. Why would it say Summer 2010 when it was just one month? Think about it: it would amount to someone who didn't do as much work in that summer and didn't get as much experience trying to get the same treatment as someone who worked hard that summer gaining experience. You want to tan by the pool go ahead, but don't expect to get points for it.

[A'nold]

In this case if someone decided to pick up the phone and call the place where you interned -- for whatever reason, let's say they happen to know each other and why not -- and they find out you only did four weeks, then it will indeed look deceitful. Ethical behavior is important and if you start off with the wrong foot, you never know how it will affect you in the future. It is one thing to have indeed worked 12 weeks and for you resume to say "Summer 2010" and then if it comes up it is no issue, and it is another thing to say Summer 2010 but to have only worked one month. If you only do one month, you resume would have to say "June 2010" for example. Why would it say Summer 2010 when it was just one month? Think about it: it would amount to someone who didn't do as much work in that summer and didn't get as much experience trying to get the same treatment as someone who worked hard that summer gaining experience. You want to tan by the pool go ahead, but don't expect to get points for it.

Sorry, but it appears you don't have a lot of experience w/ this kind of stuff. You are acting like it is some kind of grasshopper/ant situation where it is being deceptive. Interning for one month, a month and a half, two months, etc. can be described like Opera said above w/out being deceptive at all. Sure, like she also pointed out, working two weeks might be stretching it a bit, but where would you draw the line, oh ethical one? Would 7 weeks be deceptive? How about 6? Show me the legal summer internship rule book where it says that 7 is too short and you must list the month but 8 is a "summer" and not deceitful. Also, you should be ashamed of yourself b/c you might do an 8 or 10 week internship and there are people that do 12. THOSE are the real "summer positions" and it would be downright immoral to put "summer of 2010" for that pathetic timeframe.

[BetterCallSaul]

There's nothing wrong with writing Summer 20** on your resume and leaving off the exact length--it looks cleaner anyway. (the month comment makes sense though--if you work the month of June, say "June 20**")

Just remember that you'll need references from your summer job and you will not be impressive after 4 weeks. Also, you might want to learn something.
I've heard of summer internships as short as 6 weeks, but most places only go that short if you're splitting your summer with another internship. I think 8 weeks is the shortest you could go without raising serious red flags.
The length of time between the end of my spring semester and the start of the fall semester this year is nearly 17 weeks--you can easily work the expected 10-12 weeks and still take a very nice vacation.

[rando]

In this case if someone decided to pick up the phone and call the place where you interned -- for whatever reason, let's say they happen to know each other and why not -- and they find out you only did four weeks, then it will indeed look deceitful. Ethical behavior is important and if you start off with the wrong foot, you never know how it will affect you in the future. It is one thing to have indeed worked 12 weeks and for you resume to say "Summer 2010" and then if it comes up it is no issue, and it is another thing to say Summer 2010 but to have only worked one month. If you only do one month, you resume would have to say "June 2010" for example. Why would it say Summer 2010 when it was just one month? Think about it: it would amount to someone who didn't do as much work in that summer and didn't get as much experience trying to get the same treatment as someone who worked hard that summer gaining experience. You want to tan by the pool go ahead, but don't expect to get points for it.

Sorry, but it appears you don't have a lot of experience w/ this kind of stuff. You are acting like it is some kind of grasshopper/ant situation where it is being deceptive. Interning for one month, a month and a half, two months, etc. can be described like Opera said above w/out being deceptive at all. Sure, like she also pointed out, working two weeks might be stretching it a bit, but where would you draw the line, oh ethical one? Would 7 weeks be deceptive? How about 6? Show me the legal summer internship rule book where it says that 7 is too short and you must list the month but 8 is a "summer" and not deceitful. Also, you should be ashamed of yourself b/c you might do an 8 or 10 week internship and there are people that do 12. THOSE are the real "summer positions" and it would be downright immoral to put "summer of 2010" for that pathetic timeframe.

Unnecessary. And really fails to make a decent point. Ethics isn't about bright lines.

The fact that there is disagreement here should be enough to show you that erring on the side of caution is important. You never know who will be looking at your resume or making reference calls.

[OperaSoprano]

There's nothing wrong with writing Summer 20** on your resume and leaving off the exact length--it looks cleaner anyway. (the month comment makes sense though--if you work the month of June, say "June 20**")

Just remember that you'll need references from your summer job and you will not be impressive after 4 weeks. Also, you might want to learn something.
I've heard of summer internships as short as 6 weeks, but most places only go that short if you're splitting your summer with another internship. I think 8 weeks is the shortest you could go without raising serious red flags.
The length of time between the end of my spring semester and the start of the fall semester this year is nearly 17 weeks--you can easily work the expected 10-12 weeks and still take a very nice vacation.

The above bolded. Given the oversupply of applicants, an employer is not going to hire you for half the summer absent a compelling reason. Compelling reasons: another internship, summer classes, a job that pays the bills, family obligations. I counted, and we actually have just over 13 weeks between our last final and the start of EIW, which cuts the summer short for those who want to do OCI. Schedules will vary by school.

[BetterCallSaul]

There's nothing wrong with writing Summer 20** on your resume and leaving off the exact length--it looks cleaner anyway. (the month comment makes sense though--if you work the month of June, say "June 20**")

Just remember that you'll need references from your summer job and you will not be impressive after 4 weeks. Also, you might want to learn something.
I've heard of summer internships as short as 6 weeks, but most places only go that short if you're splitting your summer with another internship. I think 8 weeks is the shortest you could go without raising serious red flags.
The length of time between the end of my spring semester and the start of the fall semester this year is nearly 17 weeks--you can easily work the expected 10-12 weeks and still take a very nice vacation.

The above bolded. Given the oversupply of applicants, an employer is not going to hire you for half the summer absent a compelling reason. Compelling reasons: another internship, summer classes, a job that pays the bills, family obligations. I counted, and we actually have just over 13 weeks between our last final and the start of EIW, which cuts the summer short for those who want to do OCI. Schedules will vary by school.

Ah yeah, I forgot about all you rising 2Ls doing OCI...at my school they have just about 14 week summers, 13 weeks if they take the week after finals to do the writing competition. Not as cushy...

[A'nold]

Lol guys, I was kidding about the lounging by the pool thing. I will likely work an 8 week internship but am on a severe time-crunch b/c of my likely transfer w/ a family. I have an entire life to move, not just a duffle bag to an on campus dorm. If my internship will be unpaid, I will try to get it to be less than 8 weeks and I won't feel bad talking about it as a "summer internship" instead of "something I did from June 10th - July 18th."

[%%%]

I've been told by career services to just list "Summer 2010". Wouldn't it be more deceitful if you worked from mid June to mid July and wrote "June-July 2010" as if you worked two months? "Summer 2010" says nothing about the duration.

Basic concern here is if anyone was ever asked how long they worked over a previous summer. Anyone have the experience? My gut feeling is that once you get over some hump, 6 weeks and 8 weeks doesn't make all the difference, right?

The comment about the oversupply of applicants doesn't make sense to me when interns usually cause an employer to lose money rather than make it - it wastes their time to have to supervise a clueless person to do something that can do three times as fast themselves. And this is especially true to unsolicited internships.

[BetterCallSaul]

I've been told by career services to just list "Summer 2010". Wouldn't it be more deceitful if you worked from mid June to mid July and wrote "June-July 2010" as if you worked two months? "Summer 2010" says nothing about the duration.

Basic concern here is if anyone was ever asked how long they worked over a previous summer. Anyone have the experience? My gut feeling is that once you get over some hump, 6 weeks and 8 weeks doesn't make all the difference, right?

The comment about the oversupply of applicants doesn't make sense to me when interns usually cause an employer to lose money rather than make it - it wastes their time to have to supervise a clueless person to do something that can do three times as fast themselves. And this is especially true to unsolicited internships.

I really doubt that anyone will ask you about the length of your internship. I think your main concern should working long enough to sort of figure out what you're doing, stop making massive mistakes and become marginally useful so that you have decent references from the summer. I really think you need at least 8 weeks to accomplish that.

[chadwick218]

12 weeks paid (5/17 - 8/6)

[A'nold]

12 weeks paid (5/17 - 8/6)

Haha, yeah, 12 weeks "paid" is a lot different than 8-10 weeks unpaid, at least for wanting to work that long.

[chadwick218]

I know a lot of folks with 6 week internships. Interestingly, they start on 5/24 and end on 7/2. For resume purposes, they are just going to note May - July.