Internships are work experience opportunities that allow students to explore their career field of choice. Internships may be paid or non-paid and applied toward academic credit.
Internships allow college students to apply theoretical concepts studied in class to the workplace. The experience and practical skills gained from on-the-job training cannot be found in a classroom situation.
Experience is the key word. Employers do not want new graduates to have experience in their career field, they EXPECT it! A study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) asked employers to rate the importance of experience when recruiting new hires. The results are listed below.
According to the NACE 2008 Job Outlook survey, 76.2% of employers prefer to hire candidates with relevant work experience. Of these, 46.3% prefer the experience to be from internship or co-op experience.
Experience of any kind is beneficial in the eyes of the employer, but internships rate very highly. Employers do not only feel internships are valuable, they believe their own organizations' internships to be an important part of recruiting.
According to the NACE 2008 Job Outlook, for the seventh straight year, employers rated their internship programs as one of the top two most effective recruiting methods they use for hiring new college graduates. The top ten recruiting methods are listed below.
Employers rate the effectiveness of recruiting methods (5-point scale where 5=extremely effective and 1=not effective
On-campus recruiting |
4.2 |
Organization's internship program |
4.2 |
Employee referrals |
4.0 |
Organization's co-op program |
4.0 |
Career/job fairs |
3.8 |
Faculty contacts |
3.7 |
Internet job postings (campus web site) |
3.6 |
Internet job postings(own company web site) |
3.6 |
Internet job postings (commercial career website) |
3.3 |
If you are planning to earn academic credits for your internship, you must also speak with the Internship Coordinator for your academic department. We suggest that you speak with your Internship Coordinator before scheduling an appointment with the CDC.
If you would like to discuss your internship search with a CDC staff member, please call the CDC at 507-389-6061 to schedule an appointment. Be sure to bring your resume with you! Prior to your appointment, check out mavjobs.com and the Internship Resources section to see what internships may be available in your field of interest.
