As Wall Street struggles with the financial crisis, internship prospects for finance majors appear gloomy. Yet for students who want to enter other fields, the recession is a blessing in disguise. break As major American corporations and banks lay off thousands of workers and reduce their portfolios, the demand for Wall Street interns is evaporating. While some companies consider students to be low-cost alternatives to salaried workers, most view internship programs as unnecessary expenses in a time of major revenue losses. Though the financial sector seems to have survived the recession so far, there are fewer internship opportunities available this year. "No region of the country or sector or industry has been spared job losses outside of small increases in education, health care services, and government," Albert Spuler, executive director of Columbia's Center for Career Education said. "The decrease [in internship postings] is often made evident in particularly hard-hit industries." In order to address this shortage, CCE has "broadened our employer outreach, invested in new ways to connect employers with students and pursued new partnerships with students groups, other schools, and student development organizations," according to Spuler. Interns pursuing openings in areas besides finance may actually benefit from the crisis. "Employers need interns more than ever in this economy," said Joe Starrs, director of the Institute for Political Journalism at the Washington, D.C.-based Fund for American Studies. Starrs' organization is one of the city's largest providers of internships. "This is to the students' benefit. The effects of the downturn are definitely two-sided." Starrs said there has been a slight increase in the number of internship applications to his firm this year. Local recruiters are experiencing a similar uptick in demand for internships. Jonathan Hedvat, president of Creative Jobs Central, said that his company's Web site received 10,000 hits this past Tuesday, the most traffic on any single day since the firm's creation in 2004. He described the current environment as a bull market for internship seekers. "As there are fewer jobs to go around, there are more internships available," said Hedvat, whose company specializes in finding job opportunities for students looking to enter fashion, entertainment, music, and architecture. As jobs become more scarce, the importance of internships seems to have grown, as applicants feel a greater need to polish their resumes. "I see students who feel that one internship is not enough," Starrs said. Even if some fields present new opportunities for students, the current situation is a big change for Columbia and peer institutions, which have long-sent hundreds of students to intern and work on Wall Street each year. The heyday of Wall Street as a magnet for the Ivy League's best and brightest may be over. "When all the dust settles, banks will have a responsibility to make their field cool and sexy again," said John Benson, founder and CEO of eFinancialCareers, a firm that helps companies reach prospective interns. "Students are definitely considering other options right now. But maybe that will be to the benefit of the overall economy." news@columbiaspectator.com