he market for American Internships was rather sluggish in 2016 and the challenges for potential interns are increasing. The total number of internships posted was actually lower than in the last two years, presenting an 8.3% decrease compared to the openings in 2015 and 2% below those of 2014.
However, the concentration of postings in March has risen steadily over the past 5 years, showing that there is a narrow season for internship recruitment. This peak happens ahead of when many students are beginning to think about summer opportunities and if a prospective intern waits until the end of the semester to apply for an internship, they have waited too long. After March, demand diminishes until a second, rather smaller, opportunity occurs for term-time internships as the school year begins in September.
Employers are expecting interns to arrive on their first day already expert in critical skills in software and business, together with specialized knowledge of particular fields. Internships offer experience, not training. Analysis has shown that there is a more complicated relationship between broad business skills and industry specific skills, which sheds new light on what interns are required to know to succeed. There are a number of skill groups in postings for internships and there is a slight interaction between them, with some skills overlapping.
The main internships requiring industry specific skills are Marketing, Engineering and Sales. Social media and marketing research skills are required for a Marketing internship, whilst Sales will require business development and sales management skills.
General skills are required in 27% of internships, whilst 73% require industry related skills.
As a rule, internships are for undergraduates as 71% of the posts require a bachelor’s degree or less, whilst 29% look for graduate enrolment. However, there are exceptions such as in the fast-growing area of Data Analytics - and again, in Economics and Policy - where more than four in ten internships call for a graduate degree.
Analysis shows that geographically, Engineering is the most sought after specialized internship. There are noticeable areas where there is most demand for different internships; Marketing is required in California and New York, IT Development in Massachusetts and Science and the Environment in Alaska and Maine. Business has been excluded from this analysis as it is so widespread and applies to so many areas.
