Think back to a stressful time in your life. Do the hours you spent vying for post-grad jobs come to mind? For many of today’s undergrads, it likely will.
New research from Handshake—based on a survey of more than 6,000 college students and recent graduates, as well as job requisition and application data from its platform—found that internships have a significant impact on college students’ career plans. But many face challenges accessing internships.
Impressions matter. Nearly all (96%) respondents who completed an internship said it impacted their understanding of their career goals, and 80% said it influenced their industry and job preferences. Some 79% said their internship impacted their interest in working full-time at an organization, with 56% saying they would, or maybe would, accept a full-time offer.
The factors most likely to impact internship experience included mentorships, compensation, and culture. Nine in 10 respondents said the team culture and colleague interactions at their internship had at least some impact on whether they’d want to work at the company full-time.
“A lot of employers ideally would like to be able to have a good conversion rate [for hiring interns], and that's one of the things that you actually have a lot of control over,” Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, told HR Brew.
HR should focus on demonstrating their culture from the moment an internship offer is accepted. That can involve “day in the life” videos or connections with former interns who can share more about their experience at the company.
Once interns have been onboarded, HR can offer connections with company leaders, total rewards explainers, or professional development resources, résumé/cover letter reviews, or mentorship. Some 60% of respondents said the mentorship they did—or didn’t—receive during their internship significantly influenced their interest in working full-time at the company.
“Things like that can really help make the intern experience stronger,” Cruzvergara said.
Finance is a big barrier. It’s not enough to just be paid. While most internships are paid nowadays, with 74% of respondents receiving direct compensation during their program, the level of compensation influenced their perception of their employer. The majority (80%) of respondents who felt fairly compensated said they’d accept a job offer from their internship company, compared to 63% of those who did not feel fairly compensated.
For some students, internships are out of the question, largely because of financial barriers. Some 12% of current undergraduates have not, and do not expect to, participate in an internship by the time they graduate. Finances (14%) were cited as a primary reason, after time (33%) and opportunity (33%).
Quick-to-read HR news & insights
From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.
First-generation college students and those at schools with higher acceptance rates face higher barriers to internship access because of finances and, therefore, are less likely to have participated in a program than non-first-gen students or those at selective colleges. They were also more likely to have worked a separate job or taken courses in addition to their internship.
“Offering a paid opportunity is one way that employers can absolutely reduce that barrier and increase access to more great talent that they would want to hire,” Cruzvergara said. Offering stipends, transportation, housing support, or lunches can help too.
Heated competition. Getting a foot in the door is becoming increasingly difficult for college seniors. As of January, 41% of the class of 2025 had applied to at least one internship via Handshake, compared to 34% of the class of 2023. At the same time, the share of internships on the platform fell by more than 15% between September 2022 and September 2024.
In high-demand sectors, this disparity is even more pronounced: Tech internship postings fell by 30% between January 2023 and January 2025 on Handshake, while professional services postings fell by 42%. Both industries receive about twice as many applications than the average across all sectors.
“It’s a little bit of a spiral, right? Students hear that there’s more competition, so…they apply to more things, and then there’s more competition,” Cruzvergara said.
Sound familiar? For recruiters navigating increased candidate interest amid recent hiring slowdowns, it should.
HR teams can improve the process by focusing on candidate experience. Even notifying applicants about their status during the hiring process can make a difference.
“Students hate feeling like they just submitted a ton of applications into a big black hole, [and] never hear back,” Cruzvergara said. “There is technology out there that HR professionals can use to help them automate a response back to candidates. So at the very least, even if it's not completely personalized, they are letting a candidate know, ‘Where do I stand in this application?’ That part is not that hard. You can actually do that.”