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Class of 2011: More Than Half of Internships Were Paid

Spotlight for Career Services Professionals, July 20, 2011Spotlight for Recruiting and Employment Professionals, July 20, 2011 

More than half of the internships undertaken by the college Class of 2011 were paid, according to results of NACE’s 2011 Student Survey.
Among the 20,000 graduating seniors taking part in the survey, 52.5 percent reported having taken part in an internship at some point in their college career, and more than half of those (52 percent) were paid. 

62 percent—were interested in working full time for their internship employer, regardless of whether they were actually paid as interns.
Interestingly, the type of work they did as interns had a bigger effect than pay on their interest in working for their intern employer: The more time they spent on professional-level work, the more likely they were to want to work for the employer full time following graduation.

Pay, however, does appear to correlate to the student’s ability to get a job offer. More than 61 percent of students who did a paid internship in the for-profit sector had a job offer at the time of graduation. In comparison, approximately 38 percent of students performing an unpaid internship in the for-profit sector had a job offer, and just one-third of students who did not have any type of internship experience had a job offer.
Possibly accounting for the difference: the type of work the paid intern does compared to the unpaid intern. Among respondents to the survey, paid interns spent more time on professional tasks while unpaid interns were more likely to perform clerical work. As a result, the paid intern may offer employers more of the type of experience they’re seeking in their new hires.
See more on paid/unpaid internships: Video: Unpaid Internships 
NACE’s 2011 Student Survey was conducted mid-February through April 30, 2011. More than 50,000 students nationwide, including nearly 20,000 graduating seniors, took part in this year’s survey. Information in this story is based on data gathered from graduating senior respondents.