Internships - empowering students to achieve employment success

Internships come in various formats, duration and structures – paid, unpaid, two weeks, four weeks, 12 weeks, summer, winter - the list goes on. So why is an internship important? And how can we set up our students for success?

According to the latest AAGE Employer Survey, the conversion of 'interns who accepted graduate positions at their company' was 71%! (AAGE Employer Survey 2022), which suggests that internships are a critical pathway to the overall graduate employment journey.

At Readygrad, we believe the number of tertiary students who secure an internship is around 5-10% of the market. Unfortunately, most students don't secure an internship for many reasons. The alternative options to direct job applications made by students is the university-assisted internship/work integrated learning (WIL) placement model or via a specialist third-party internship provider – the process can be costly and resource intensive, especially at scale.

Common challenges are that students aren't always aware of how and where to find an internship or how to leverage their skills and experiences to secure an opportunity.

So how do we put the power in the hands of the student to secure their own internship experience and make the solution more scalable to positively impact more students across the country?

From an employer's point of view, the most common reason to offer internships (or summer vacation programs) is to create a future talent pipeline for their organisation. Among other reasons, the value of such a program is to trial talent without the longer-term commitment of a permanent job offer. This is also true for the student/intern. They have an opportunity to test out whether the employer is right for them also. This two-way interaction, on a short-term basis, is where the value is for both parties.

The benefit for the student/intern is they can take away valuable skills, experiences and professional networks from their placement, differentiate themselves from others and unlock the path to future employment.

Empowering students to find, access, secure and leverage an internship opportunity can be challenging for students and universities alike. So what does it take?

Well, firstly, it is about equipping students with the understanding and knowledge of where to find work experience opportunities – and what is essential to employers in the hiring process - then, planning the best approach maximises the chances of success, of getting noticed and being able to shine during the experience. Finally, building the skills to make the most of an internship position will help students secure a future graduate or permanent entry-level position.

For less than the cost of placing 20 students in an internship placement, universities can empower thousands to find a placement of their own. The Internship Accelerator Program developed by Readygrad offers this opportunity.

If you are interested in exploring the Internship Accelerator Program and seeing a live demo, talk to us.

NEW Internships Accelerator Training Program

We believe so strongly in the need to empower students that we have decided to distil our many years of experience sourcing and managing placements into a new blended training program. To find out more about this program and how we can tailor it for your students, click here. We are offering an introductory discount of 20% until 31 July 2022.