In 2020-2021, SCM was the 89th most popular major nationwide with 10,986 degrees awarded. https://lnkd.in/gBA7id7M. There are already > 20,000 SCM 2023 internships posted: https://lnkd.in/gRKmr7QE & https://lnkd.in/gt98WuvK & > 20,000 business related internships. The state of Michigan has over 3,000 SCM internships still open. https://lnkd.in/grDAW8iX.
Top 100 Internships (not a fan of rankings, but here you go):
https://lnkd.in/g8N_p43w
Perhaps delay graduation for work experience & stay specialized…
Most good paying jobs are highly specialized (e.g., purchasing, operations, & logistics). Your degrees are highly specialized but you also have to get good practical work experience related to what you are majoring in. Quite simply, students without work experience in their major do not get good jobs in their major. That means you have to make getting an internship 1 of your top priorities while in school. You have to do this even if it means delaying graduation (in my opinion). The delay will pay for itself in terms of starting $ & future advancement opportunities (because of what you learned during the internship & what you brought into your full-time job because of the internship).
Pasted below is some feedback from a manager that thinks students are less inclined to delay graduation for great work experience. I think his points are somewhat exaggerated, but I just wanted to reiterate the importance of getting work experience related to what you are majoring in. Please take this in the right spirit. I just want the very very best for you. I am currently working with a handful of graduates that are unemployed. What do they have in common? Low GPAs & no work experience. Please know that I am not judging.
Note, employers want students that are “job ready day one & problem solvers”. How do you get there? Work experience + a SCM education. https://lnkd.in/gSYvvCSU
Try to find internships that go beyond learning & translates into you getting things done (i.e., deliverables & results).
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Students (email from a manager):
As a bit of feedback, we always seem to have trouble convincing students that taking a semester off school & working for an org is “okay”. They tend to want to stay in school straight through & graduate in 4 yrs. In my opinion, times have changed, & a student absolutely needs to have some co-op work experience on their resume in order to land a good job in the area of SCM. A summer internship (around 3 months) is just not enough anymore.
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Students who choose to specialize in their education (SCM) are having better experiences than those who stay generalist. Research from my colleagues: https://lnkd.in/ex89namH
Students in specialized majors reported more professional opportunities. The only advantages perceived in taking the generalist path were more flexibility & ease.
They also found that college educators have more influence on a student’s choice of major than any other person.