Did you know that completing internships related to your desired field, on average, increases job offers by 16%? Employees with internship experience also experience an average of 9-12% higher salary than students who did not complete an internship. 70% of employers offer their interns a full-time job based on their work, creating opportunities for both the employer and intern that align with their long-term goals.
As someone who currently has an internship with On Your Mark Transportation, LLC., I have experienced firsthand the exponential benefits relevant training can make on your personal career, goals, and ambitions. I chose this internship because I was hoping to gain more marketing and sales skills to support my aspirations of entering a sales career. Still, the experience I have received has exceeded my expectations of what this role could offer me.
Within three months, I have gained extensive lead research and acquisition experience, numerous networking opportunities, learned how to cold call and set meetings, helped support a growing business, and increased my business knowledge, gaining confidence for my future career. It’s been a great experience so far, and I can tell from Mark’s feedback that implementing this new internship into his business model will help them grow in new ways and continue innovating.
A few significant positives this internship is providing to his company are a new lead generation and contact strategy, a structured learning environment providing optimal business goal optimization, additional blog / social media content creators, and utilizing local university talent from some of the brightest minds within Middle Tennessee to implement a younger and fresh new perspective for the business. Many other employers see similar benefits from their internship programs but are missing an essential factor of how to acquire more interns.
For 59.4% of students, not knowing how to find an internship was the main reason for not taking one. Employers are beginning to combat this statistic by contacting students via direct school emails, applications like Handshake, a University recommendation, getting referrals from existing interns, and adopting creative recruitment strategies to optimize their talent pool.
To summarize, you may want to consider implementing a company internship program to gain an extra set of valuable hands, bring a new and fresh perspective to your strategy, gain a more substantial online presence, provide mentorship opportunities, and train interns in a way to optimize their talents in hopes they could be a potential solid hire for a full-time position. I enjoy my internship because of the opportunities I’m receiving, the knowledge I gain through trial and error, and the confidence I have gained in my future career opportunities.
