Experiential Learning Center

It is hard to get a job without experience, but how do students get experience without a job? Answer: internships. Participating in an internship is becoming increasingly critical for college graduates to be competitive when they enter the job market after graduation.

According to a recent national employer survey: *

• 76.6% of employers prefer to hire candidates with relevant work experience, and more than half preferred that experience comes from internships.
• 77.3% of employers said they use their internship programs as their primary tool for recruiting entry-level talent.
• Employers reported that, on average, more than one-third of their full-time entry-level college hires came from their internship program.
• In 2009, 23% of students who participated in an internship had a job at graduation, compared to only 14% of students without internship experience.

Internships provide students with opportunities to:

• Acquire practical work experience related to their major or career choice
• Learn more about a specific industry/field
• Identify interests, skills and talents
• Develop professionalism
• Increase communication, problem-solving, teamwork and leadership skills
• Increase their marketability at graduation
• Encourage your student to participate in at least one internship before they graduate. They should begin looking in their junior year or even earlier. We suggest that students visit our office the semester before they plan to intern to begin the process. For more information about the Internship and Cooperative Education program, please go to our web site

* SOURCE: National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2009 Experiential Education Employer Survey.