Internship in the Chicago area? (Pittsburg: sales, job market, school)

[gareth88]

I’m looking for advice on seeking out a 6 month paid internship in Chicago. My college program is primarily in the IT area, with a slight business focus too. The internship would run from March 2010 – September 2010. I’m from Ireland; however there would be no issues with gaining a working visa.


Just wondering if anyone has any advice about where to look or have any tips about places that may be taking on IT interns. I’ve followed the usual routes of jobsites, such as simplyhired, indeed and craiglist. However, I haven’t had much luck in finding positions.


Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

[chet everett]

The Chicago IT job market has weak ties to local universities, and nearly no ties to global universities. If your school has any channels with US companies I would pursue that angle heavily. If that does not pan out I would suggest having your school's internship office contact a similar office of a school like Northwestern, IIT or UIC. Pretty much a long shot but those are your best bets...

[gareth88]

Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head regarding my university's ties with Chicago companies. Virtually non existant. We have several ties with companies in the Boston and New York areas. However, my girlfriend is actually from Chicago and it is a location I would much prefer to intern in.

I might look into what you suggested a little. I did a two month internship in Pittsburgh last summer and thought it might be a bit easier to find in Chicago, as it's a far bigger city, but I'm not having much luck finding anything. In terms of companies, any suggestions?

[chet everett]

Depending on what you want to do there are actually quite a lot of opportunities related to IT -- all the big technology firms from Google and Apple to IBM and Microsoft have at least sales offices in Chicago, though typically they would prefer to have interns at more of a HQ type location. With the CME and related firms being such a big presence in Chicago the major banks and trading firms might have some internship opportunities. Might be worth it to contact some of the financial information firms directly -- Morningstar is still a leader in that area and Chicago based. Another such HQ is Orbitz or even United Airlines, travel related firms might be a little more eager to get a global person over a local. Health care companies like HCSC might another avenue.

Good Luck!

[gareth88]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll take a look into some of those companies and see what I can find.

Thanks for your help.