Study Finds Interns Not Getting Hired.

Newly minted college graduates are caught in a bind. More than ever, first-time job seekers need to have an internship or two on their resumes to be competitive applicants. But internships are rarely a shortcut to full-time employment; a survey released last month showed half of employers haven’t hired any interns in six months.
The findings help explain why half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, says Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, a Generation Y research and consulting firm in Boston, which commissioned the study.
No Guarantees
"Employers have high expectations of interns, yet they don’t hire interns and they don’t hire into full-time jobs,’’ Schawbel says. “ A lot of people think if they get an internship it will magically turn into a job, but those expectations are gone.’’
Experience Inc., a career services provider for colleges, conducted the study by examining the hiring practices and employment needs of 225 companies in its data pool of 100,000 U.S. companies.
The survey found that employers believe students need to pay their dues as interns; a majority of survey respondents said job-seeking students should perform more than one internship and 87 percent of respondents said an internship should last at least three months. But spending a semester as an underpaid underling is no guarantee to employment. Of the companies surveyed, only 16 percent said they hired at least half of their interns. More than a quarter of companies surveyed hired none of their interns as full-time workers.
“Students should strive to have as many internships as possible before graduation and not rely on a single employer for a job offer,’’ says Schawbel, who says he landed seven internships in college.
Not All Doom and Gloom
But there is good news for the 1.7 million college students who are earning diplomas this spring. Nearly 90 percent of employers surveyed say they are going to hire more recent graduates this year.
The study found that a third of companies are recruiting engineering and computer information systems majors and nearly a third have sought liberal arts majors. Just 18 percent are recruiting finance and accounting majors combined.
What Employers Really Want
Taking junior year abroad shouldn't make or break a resume; fewer than half of employers said that a graduate’s global perspective was vital. Just a little more than a quarter of employers said they prized a graduate having years of experience.
Nearly all employers view communication skills as being important or very important when hiring entry-level workers, the study found. Employers also cited positive attitudes and teamwork skills as nearly as important.
Companies prize soft skills—such as clear writing and sharing information—over hard skills and view the soft skills as ones that are hardest to find in new recruits, Schawbel says.
Check the Attitude
But having the right skills won’t suffice if a student flubs an interview. More than 40 percent of employers in the study reported being turned off by how unprepared students were in interviews and a quarter found the interviewees showed a bad attitude.
Schawbel says that while most employers aren’t on the Web hunting for students, students must look there, and everywhere else.
"You got to use everything at your disposal: networking, career services, joining philanthropy groups, using the social networks, getting active on LinkedIn groups,’’ he says. “ My whole mantra is, you can’t rely on anything.’’
Has your business taken on interns? How many have you hired for permanent positions?