Students looking for a leg up in the job hunt should look at internships, but only if the company pays.
That’s according to a survey from Looksharp on the state of college hiring in 2015.
“Internships increase a student’s odds of finding full-time employment upon graduation, but only if they are paid. Students with paid internship experience are 3 [times] more likely to receive a job offer than those with unpaid internship experience,” the report stated.
A student with an unpaid internship was as likely to get a job offer as a student without any internship experience.
That could be a reflection of what companies who offer internships value. If the company pays in more than “experience,” they see their interns as investments. The intern getting the coffee and updating Excel files is the next entry-level employee after graduation.
About 53 percent of students held paid internships, but 61 percent “are not upset” by unpaid internships. When students think the experience improves their chances at getting a job after they graduate, they’ll tolerate a summer of unpaid work.
The internship benefits students, regardless of pay, in adjusting their ideas of life after college. More than three-quarters of students “made minor or significant changes their major/career choices” after they did an internship. Their work experience helped them decide whether they wanted to pursue their goals or change them.
If students want internships, and highly paid ones, they should consider STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs. Almost 80 percent of engineering students who interned were paid, along with 78 percent of computer science students, 77 percent of accounting students, 73 percent of finance student, and 68 percent of mathematics and statistics students.
Internships have become crucial as high GPAs and a college degree don’t make a student stand out like it did 20 years ago. Only 46 percent of 2014 college graduates have a full-time professional job, and 18 percent are employed part-time. The more paid job experience a student can get, the better chance they have of getting a full-time job and paying off student loans or building their savings.
