Internships have been a long-standing opportunity for students to gain work experience before graduation. Increasingly, savvy companies have come to realize that as a result of experiential educational experiences like internships, vocationally oriented student organizations, and university programming many students are ready to contribute in a meaningful way to the firm at graduation and in many cases even before graduation. Hiring a student intern is a “win” for both the student and the hiring company. The student is typically paid a wage like working part-time and the company can staff a position at a lower cost and without committing to a full-time employee. There is another deeper win-win within the internship as well. Hiring companies can evaluate potential full-time hires over an extended period and students can see if the work and company are a good fit for their long-term career goals.
The internship model has been in place for many years and operated in a state of status quo. Recently the market has begun to shift with aging workers, unfilled jobs, a booming economy, and a new generation of students with potentially different work-life goals. Add to these market disruptions the rapidly changing definition of work, new technologies, and types of jobs and the need becomes apparent for more information to aid companies in recruiting students for internships.
The following paper presents the findings of a focus group and subsequent survey with students from the insert university after review. The results of the research provide insights for companies on how students find internships, the percentage of students seeking internships, and what students are seeking in an internship.