ILR students share their state labor department work experience
By Courtney Potts '06
For most college students, intersession provides a much-needed break from the rigors of academic life. But for five students in Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) who are planning careers in human resource management or labor policy, this year's winter break offered valuable work experience in the form of an internship at one of several New York State Department of Labor (DOL) offices or One Stop Job Centers across the state. On Feb. 1, this year's interns -- Julia Donahue '07, Laura Skladzinski '07, Kathryn Pollack '07, Deniz Ibrahim '07 and John Nolan '06 -- met with ILR faculty members and employees from the DOL to share their internship experiences.
Deniz Ibrahim, ILR '07, speaks during a Feb. 1 presentation on campus about his internship with the New York State Department of Labor. He was one of five ILR students interested in careers in labor policy and human resources who spent their winter break working with the unemployed in state labor offices and job centers and learning about issues that affect them. The internships were administered by ILR's Office of Career Services. Frank DiMeo/University Photography
The internship, which is part of the Winter Intersession Program (WISP) administered by ILR's Office of Career Services, is currently in its second year. It is co-sponsored by Harold Oaklander '52, founder of the Alliance for the Prevention of Unemployment (APU), and Roger W. Gerby, chief of research and evaluation for the New York DOL. The main goals of the program are to give students real-world work experience and to expose them to a variety of issues related to unemployment.
Oaklander, who also is a professor emeritus of management at Pace University, said he has been "deeply interested" in these issues for more than 30 years. During that time, he has been repeatedly disappointed with the lack of new solutions that have been proposed by government officials and "so-called experts," he said.
"It came to me," he explained, "that if one couldn't depend on those in power to creatively approach the prevention of unemployment, ... then I should consider sensitizing the best of our university students to the issue." He hopes that if students are presented with the problem early on in their careers, their open minds and interest in social activism will inspire them to address it in new and innovative ways.
And it seems as though Oaklander's plan is working. The impact that working one-on-one with the unemployed had created was unmistakable at last week's presentation.
"The experiences I had with the DOL ... made the issue of unemployment real to me," said Pollack, who worked at an office in White Plains. "Assisting people who were recently unemployed and seeing the many resources that were available to them were things I probably never would have experienced [without this internship]."
Each intern spent two or three weeks assisting with the day-to-day tasks of a DOL office near their hometowns. Some of the interns' responsibilities included helping job applicants write resumés, sitting in on various training sessions and, in at least one case, organizing a job fair. Some interns also completed small research projects. For example, Donahue's presentation, titled "Reducing Poverty in America: The Impact of Unionism in Low-Skill Occupations," looked at the role played by unions in improving salary and benefits for hotel housekeeping staff -- making such jobs more attractive than those in the non-unionized childcare industry. In exchange for their time, interns received a small stipend and an invaluable experience.
Skladzinski, who was assigned to a One Stop Job Center in the Albany area, felt that her internship had given her a great deal of insight into employment issues. "It's hard to make judgments about how the unemployment system should work until you've actually experienced firsthand what happens to those who are on unemployment," she said. "The internship definitely helped me to be more informed."
In the future, Oaklander and Gerby hope to expand the program, opening it up to more students -- both in other colleges at Cornell and at other universities nationwide -- and finding positions for more students each year. For Gerby, it's a great way to expose potential employees to an often-overlooked career opportunity in the public sector. "Recruiting in state government is difficult at best," he explained, but exposing students to the inner workings of the DOL seems to have an effect. Roughly half his current employees were once student interns.
Students who are interested in applying to the program next year will be happy to know that it comes highly recommended. "I would definitely recommend this internship to other students, especially ILR students," said Pollack. "It was very rewarding to see an actual real-life application of all the theory."
Courtney Potts is a Cornell News Service writer intern.
February 10, 2005
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/2.10.05/ILR_interns.html
