This post was written by Jess Myers, 2024 summer workforce development intern.
As young adults take their first steps into the workforce, they quickly encounter a paradox. To get a job, you need experience. But to get experience, you need a job! While the classroom can teach essential skills and theories, real-world experience is crucial for developing professional competence. Internships bridge this gap by offering students a way to explore potential career paths, develop early professional skills, and contribute to real work projects.
Internships are also highly beneficial for employers. They offer a flexible and affordable way to bring on entry-level workers while building a long-term talent pipeline. However, for internships to be effective for both parties, they must be intentionally designed with two key components–access and quality–in mind. In this blog post, I’ll explore both concepts, then use my own experience at TIP Strategies to illustrate what a high-quality, accessible internship can look like.
Access: Overcoming Barriers
According to a 2024 report by the Strada Education Foundation (Strada), more than 70 percent of first-year US college students planned to do an internship. Yet less than half of them had done so by their senior year, and fewer than 25 percent were compensated for their work.[1] These statistics show that while internships are highly sought after, significant barriers can prevent students from accessing them, including those outlined below. Inside Higher Ed and Strada have explored best practices for maximizing internship success through improving access.[2]
- Compensation. Many students must balance opportunities for real-world skill-building with the need to afford living expenses. Often, this means passing over an internship related to their degree in order to find a job that pays the bills. Other times, schools may require industry-related work experience as part of the student’s degree. In those cases, students may opt to take an unpaid internship to get their credit. The most accessible internships are, therefore, paid positions that recognize both the financial and academic needs of students.
- Commitments. Juggling classes, part-time jobs, and other responsibilities can make it challenging for students to take on an internship. Employers should support access by designing internships with flexible schedules that align with students’ academic calendars, ensuring that students don’t have to choose between earning a paycheck, attending class, and gaining industry experience.
- Supply. Given high demand, internship access is also a supply issue. Not all businesses have the resources or time to recruit and adequately train an intern. The return on investment is also a hard sell because interns still need to learn the industry’s ropes. However, interns can be very helpful for getting basic, rote tasks done so that employers can focus on things that need a specialized hand. Further, it is critical that industry passes on knowledge and skills to adequately prepare the next generation of talent, including through internships.
- Information. Finally, access is an information issue. Busy students might miss an email about internship opportunities or application deadlines from their career services department. Schools must be proactive to notify students about resources and due dates through all available mediums.
Quality: Ensuring Value
Additionally, internships bring the most value for students and employers when they are built to be high-quality experiences. According to Inside Higher Ed and Strada’s research, a quality internship possesses the following characteristics.[3]
- Planning. Employers must indicate clear responsibilities to interns before and throughout their internship, which warrants planning. They should also undergo internship supervisor training, so they can provide a strong learning experience following best practices.
- Real work. The internship should include genuine work tasks that help further projects toward completion or enhance the employer’s workflow. There should be a combination of autonomous and supervised work to match the real business environment.
- Feedback. Employers must create a consistent schedule for check-ins and give feedback about interns’ work output. Interns must also be challenged and assessed to illuminate growth.
- Reflection. Near the end, interns and supervisors must take time to reflect on the skills gained. Not only can this help instill pride in the student’s professional development, it also solidifies the language they can use to market themselves to future employers.
- Mentorship. Quality internships also offer students the opportunity to receive guidance and career planning advice from experienced professionals. They can even expand professional networks and jumpstart careers through a continuation job offer.
Theory into Practice: My TIP Internship Experience
As a public affairs graduate student interested in workforce policy, I knew I wanted to pair my education with experience in the field. At the same time, the 300-hour internship requirement for my degree program was daunting. When I heard about TIP’s summer internship through a professor, I saw an opportunity to meet this requirement and gain the real-world experience I was seeking.
One reason I was confident I could achieve this objective is that my program prioritizes accessibility. Beyond sending out internship opportunities every week, the student services team supports us to lift burdens. For example, we can request funding to supplement an unpaid internship. Internships can also be used in place of an elective, reducing pressure to meet graduation requirements. In addition, TIP fostered an accessible internship experience by allowing me to work remotely and create my own schedule around school commitments. My assigned mentor and I collaborated to effectively manage my workload as I supported her toward project goals. Finally, the internship being paid ensured that I could prioritize my experience and make the most of it.
My internship at TIP also checked all the quality boxes. Early on, I discussed the typical job duties of a consultant and the status of current projects with my assigned mentor, giving me a glimpse into the summer’s work. We scheduled daily check-ins; I set a goal to see all aspects of a workforce plan and brainstormed my long-term projects. Throughout the summer, I observed the consulting team as they engaged stakeholders and wrote data narratives. I assisted with meeting prep and other aspects of the consultants’ projects, even trying my hand at contributing to deliverables. Finally, I presented my summer project–a resource slide deck about work-based learning–to the TIP team and received their feedback. We closed out the experience with a final reflection.
Internships are a crucial component of work-based learning experiences and, through intentional planning and collaboration, can be incredibly rewarding for students and employers alike. My experience as a TIP intern was truly invaluable. It exposed me to the real world of workforce development, such as the industry’s major initiatives, systems, and vocabulary–in other words, the walk and the talk. More than that, I honed my professional skills by practicing concise communication, idea generation, and problem solving. This accessible and high-quality internship cemented my interest in workforce policy and gave me a springboard into other opportunities through new professional connections.
[1] Strada Education Foundation, “Building Better Internships: Understanding and Improving the Internship Experience,” May 30, 2024.
[2] [3] The findings in these sections were informed by “From College to Career: Increasing Access to Quality Internships,” a webinar hosted by Inside Higher Ed on July 10, 2024, as well as “How Higher Ed Leaders Can ‘Build Better Internships,’” by Colleen Flaherty, June 10, 2024. Both follow Strada’s “Building Better Internships” report.
