What is an internship?
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire recognizes internships as an important part of a student's curriculum. Ideally, internships will provide students with opportunities to:
- Acquire pracitcal work experience relating to the student's major or career choice
- Learn more about a specific industry/field
- Identify interests, skills and talents
- Determine whether their interests match their skills
- Develop professionalism and experience
- Learn and improve specific skills such as communication, problemsolving, teamwork and leadership
- Increase their marketability and value to employers
Internship programs are beneficial to employers and students. Students have the opportunity to determine if they've chosen the correct career path, and if they fit in with the company culture. Employers have a chance to see how the student performs and what they could bring to their organization.
Why should students participate in internships?
Participating in an internship is becoming increasingly critical for graduates to be competitive for the best positions. The good news is internships aren't hard to find and they offer many benefits.
- Availability
- 1,810 internships, available for students to apply for, were posted on Blugold CareerLink in 2007-2008
- Employers ranked career fairs as most effective, on-campus recruiting as second most effective, and referrals from prior or current interns as the third most effective means of hiring interns.
- Full-time Hires
- 77.3% of employer respondents said they use their internship programs promarily as a tool for recruiting entry-level talent.
- Employers extended full-time employment offers to an average of 67.7% of their 2007-08 interns.
- Salaries and Benefits
- On average, paid interns recieved $17.13 per hour, a 4.9% increase from the previous year
- The most common benefits offered to interns include planned social activities, paid holidays, internship time counted toward overall years of service and relocation assistance. This year, the number of employers offering these benefits increased.
All statistics were taken from the National Association of College and Employers (NACE) 2009 Experiential Education Survey and the Career Services 2007-2008 Annual Report.