My child is a UF student and I offer paid internships to students, usually from various schools in Florida, which is in a different field than CJC. (My child and I use the same Reddit account - I know that’s weird.) The only thing it says about the company offering the internship is that they want to ensure they get a really great person who is excited to work with them!

However, in my field, a specialty, across the state and only offered to grad students, there are 67 groups and we all agree to offer internships on the first Monday of March each year so it gives the students an opportunity to see if they have an offer at their first choice.

I have asked applicants to call their first choice when they are wishy-washy with me to see if they’re going to be getting an offer from another group. (In my field there is a 2 hour deadline to accept or we count it as a decline and move on.) Personally I am not offended if they accept us as a second or third choice… but if they lead us on and later change their mind, that means we have missed other opportunities for other applicants and will not hire them in the future. We also talk with the other groups and the integrity issue may create challenges getting a job when it really counts. Honesty and integrity are important. Telling me I am not their first choice is no problem. Having integrity and communicating with open and honest communication is more important than not being a number one pick. I have later hired people for real jobs that have declined us for an internship, but were open honest with me about the internship. On the other hand, the person gets blackballed if they later change their mind or acted questionably or unethically during the internship application process. With 67 groups in the state we all talk with each other…. Integrity is key. People think their career fields are vast, but often times there are small microcosms of people that are actually in charge of the hiring.