At Microsoft, that rate is closer to two-thirds, according to Colleen Wheeler McCreary, a technical recruiter at the company. Although she doesn't have exact figures about the number of intern applicants, McCreary said the stack of resumes on her desk was twice as high this year as it was last year. And the experience is impressive. "A number of the intern applicants I interviewed had been chief executives or CTOs," McCreary said. "They had great titles at very small companies or very well known companies." About 750 interns are selected to participate in Microsoft's highly popular program. They're often assigned a product feature to handle during their stint, and this summer interns are working on projects ranging from extra games on smart phones to new features for Office 12 and the Longhorn operating system. McCreary said the interns benefit the company, too. "The interns bring new life and a fresh perspective," she said. Peter Vogt, president of Minneapolis-based Career Planning Resources, said smart companies work hard to keep their internship programs, even in a down economy. "It is going to bounce back at some point," he said. "The employers who maintain their internship programs are the ones who are going to land the best graduates." Meanwhile, on the Sun campus, even freshly minted MBAs are clinging to their internships, hoping to parlay them into full-time jobs. Pamela Kong, a 29-year-old who just received her master's from Santa Clara University in June, has had her internship at Sun extended twice over the past year. It ends this month, but she's eager to stay on at the company. "I keep telling my manager, 'help me find a job because I want to stay with Sun.'" Kong, who was laid off from an engineering position at another company two years ago, said she likes both her job and the company -- especially because she's surrounded by so many smart people. "I don't think I've run into one person I would call an idiot," Kong chuckled, gazing around the Sun campus during a recent barbecue for interns. Plus, the work is challenging, partly because of the economic doldrums. "There's more work for an intern to do," Kong said. "We're getting pretty meaty projects." Santhanam, the former Solectron engineer, agreed. He said he participates in meetings and gives feedback about product strategy and pricing. He thinks his manager listens to him because of his experience in the engineering field. Occasionally, though, he does have to do some grunt work such as printing-out slides for meetings. But the company makes up for it by treating interns like employees, giving them badges that are identical to other workers and letting them rub elbows with top executives. Last week, he said, jeans-clad chief executive Scott McNealy was milling about on the Sun campus during lunch. "It's like meeting Barry Bonds," he said.
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