Internships have been popular in the USA for decades, but they are only a recent addition to the graduate experience here in the UK. Most popularly associated with business degrees, other subjects are starting to see the benefits too.
The Work Experience
Whether you call them an internship or a work placement, they’ve featured as part of school work experience in a very loose sense of the word. However, university courses have recently introduced them to allow students to gain working experience. Upon graduation, students can take that experience to potential employers and demonstrate practical experience. In a jobs market where the employer craves work experience, this is potentially vital.
Built In Placements with Business Sponsorship
Another reason they are so popular amongst a growing number of UK universities is that businesses are sponsoring internship places. The benefit is that these organisations get to harness the abilities of brightest and the best before they have even graduated. The benefit to the student is that they get hands-on experience as part of their degree course without needing to spend all summer chasing a small number of roles.
They Improve Overall Employability
Did you know that around one third of students who win an internship place end up employed by the same company after graduation? In banking and finance, that is as high as 80%. Students are drawn to the potential benefits of not spending a prolonged period in the jobs market and ending up in a role not relevant to their qualifications. Employers are drawn to the possibility of new employees already knowing the business from the day they start.
The Graduate Market is Competitive
The crash of 2008 made the graduate market more competitive than ever before. Even though unemployment has dropped since then, the graduate job market remains highly competitive. Having work experience, especially relevant work experience gained during a degree course, can help students in the competitive world of graduate employment. Not every student takes a work placement or internship, but those who do see clear and obvious benefits to doing so.
Are There Any Drawbacks to Internships?
Although the benefits of internships are clear, there are several drawbacks.
Firstly, most internships don’t pay – if you hoped to work to offset the cost of your degree, then you will struggle financially if you enter into an internship. Some schemes have been criticised for using students as a free labour force with no intention of ever employing anybody in these roles. Some may even leave the student out of pocket due to transport cost.
Secondly, there are no guarantees. Although some sectors employ a high number of interns into paid roles, there is no guarantee of a job at the end of it. An internship is also the wrong time and place to learn that the job is not for you.