Meta Among Companies Making Summer Interns Nervous About Job Offers

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Internships at Meta Platforms Inc., the Facebook and Instagram owner, are coveted for their selectivity, high compensation, lavish perks -- and most of all, the potential job offer waiting at the end of the summer. This year, that's more elusive.

Meta told interns via email in early July that it would delay deciding whether to hire them, giving the company extra time to assess staffing needs, according to a spokesperson. It's so far the most prestigious program to change or cancel plans to offer interns full-time jobs, but it's not the last. Twitter Inc. also said it would be delaying hires, as did a number of startups.

As hiring slows and the risk of recession looms larger, companies are freezing recruitment, cutting jobs and tightening budgets. Nearly one-third of organizations polled last month by consultant Gartner Inc. said they're slowing hiring, up from 15% in May. Limiting intern hires, like quietly taking down job postings, provides one way to avoid layoffs for full-time employees.

But internships are key for providing a future talent pipeline -- and for increasing the gender and diversity makeup of companies. Meta has said it will be a challenge to maintain its diverse workforce as recruitment slows.

The class of 2021 graduated into a robust labor market, as stocks soared. Just a year later, a weakening economy is forcing companies to reassess their growth.

At the end of May, Jenna Radwan, a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco, received an email from her would-be-employer Hirect, a hiring app. The message informed her that they could not longer offer her a position, just two weeks before her start date. “The rug was pulled out from under me,” she says.

Anthony Zhao received his fall