Finding The Long-Term Benefits Of Internships, For Both Students And Employers

In recent years, there has been increased emphasis on the value of internships for college students. They can be productive learning experiences and give unparalleled glimpses into how the real world works. Universities have many programs with many opportunities, but students don’t always take advantage of them, or they don’t think it worth the extra work or often unpaid time.

“Internships have become key in today’s economy,” said Melissa Benca, director of career services at Marymount Manhattan College. “Graduating students with paid or unpaid internships on their résumé have a much better chance at landing a full-time position upon graduation.”

Despite oftentimes being unpaid on the outset, internships frequently turn into lucrative opportunities for students. The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Internship and Co-Op Survey found that 72.7 percent of interns in the 2015–16 school year were offered full-time positions from their employer.

Armed with this information, it should be clear that there is certainly value to be had in participating in an internship program as an employer. There are services out there to help you find a crew of interns perfectly aligned for your company. The Corporate Outreach Business Career Services team is a specialized division of the University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business. Its mission is to build ongoing relationships with top employers in order to connect them with talented Eccles School students who are the perfect fit for their employment needs.

Recently, the Corporate Outreach team partnered with Simplus, a Gold Salesforce Consulting Partner. Simplus will host special on-campus recruiting events and work closely with university career advisors. This new internship program will provide students with on-site career development opportunities and prepare students nearing graduation. With the help of Simplus, the Corporate Outreach Team hopes to give students the opportunity to develop their skills in a fast-growing technology company and have more opportunities after school ends.

“I’m excited about this partnership,” said Kyle Hanagarne, vice president of professional services at Simplus. “The University of Utah has an impressively capable student body and a unique hiring pool; there are students on this campus from all over the country and even the world, representing a diverse background of culture and experience. The capabilities of those students fit perfectly into our vision for the expansion and future of Simplus.”

BYU’s Marriott School of Business is another institution dedicated to providing internship opportunities for students with experiential learning projects. It has a very similar message, one that “encourages all students to add value to their academic education with an internship related to their major, whether for academic credit or not.” With partners such as Intel, Dow Chemical, Dell Computers, Honeywell, and Johnson & Johnson just to name a few, there are a vast number of opportunities.

So, while some internships might not pay out up front in cash, the experience will pay off in the long run. As education author and entrepreneur Zak Slayback writes, “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it were not for my unpaid internships — I got a lot more value from the work experience, the connections, the social capital, and the skills picked up than I got from the fancy research fellowship I had in college one summer or the paid internship I had after graduating from high school.”