And What Any Job Seeker Can Learn From This
Students and new graduates waiting for a job… (Flickr photo via University of Saskatchewan)
It would be frustrating if you spent your time doing an internship at a company only to find out that they’ll never hire you.
And that’s exactly the situation these days.
Only half of companies hire their interns even though half of them expect you to have done at least two internships before graduating from university or college.
A recent May 14, 2012 study of 225 United States employers by Millenial Branding discovered the following facts about the student employment gap (mind you there are lessons here for any job seeker):
- 50% of companies didn’t hire any interns
- ~40% of employers expect student graduates to have at least 1-2 internships under their belt
- ~40% of employers want you to do an internship lasting 3-4 months or longer
- ~35% hire over 30% of their interns
- ~30% hire none of their interns (free labour)
- 69% rank relevant courses highly during hiring followed by 65% for boss or professor referrals, 52% of intern experience and 50% for leadership with campus groups
- 48% hire from job boards followed by 44% internal referrals, 42% company web site, 35% online job boards, 27% career fairs, 16% social networks
- 65% of employers did not use online background checks during the hiring process
- Communication skills, positive attitude, adaptability and team work rank among the top skills employers are looking for. Ironically communication skills, positive attitude, adaptability and team work are among the hardest to find employers claim.
- 100% of employers feel colleges are preparing students for the working world (questionable)
(theirs or anyone else)
What do these numbers means?
Some Businesses Don’t Hire Interns Ever
50% of companies didn’t hire their interns
This statistic isn’t particularly comforting for new students or even professionals forced to do an internship to get a foot in a company.
You’re Expected to Do Free Labour
~40% of employers expect student graduates to have at least 1-2 internships under their belt
This tells you the trend of doing unpaid training to get the necessary skills and experiences is a serious trend especially for students with less than useful academic backgrounds.
You’re Expected to Do Free Labour Longer
~40% of employers want you to do an internship lasting 3-4 months or longer
Seriously?
It’s totally understandable that companies believe it’ll take this long for an intern to be fully up to speed however it’s tough in a rough economy like this to work this long for nearly zero pay.
Referrals and Courses Are Powerful
69% rank relevant courses highly during hiring followed by 65% for boss or professor referrals, 52% of intern experience and 50% for leadership with campus groups
You could do a course in an academic setting.
Will you actually be able to make use of the knowledge in the job?
Hard to say unless it’s biochemical analysis.
Frankly it’s kind of surprising based on my experience with clients – hiring managers are more interested in what you’ve done and what kind of successes you’ve had.
Course work may or may not have given you the opportunity to get those successes.
Referrals from bosses and professors makes sense.
And in the case of new grads you should definitely make use of those referrals as testimonials.
Get the proof and put whipping cream on the pudding.
Job Boards and Inside Referrals Make Up a Lot of Hiring
48% hire from job boards followed by 44% internal referrals, 42% company web site, 35% online job boards, 27% career fairs, 16% social networks
It’s no surprise with the social networks though it’s still a growing thing.
Apparently referrals lead in recruiting and hiring according one report – it’s supposed to be at least 75% of new hiring, which kind of goes against what was found here.
Of course there are likely a number of reasons why the results are different (including the way people do their surveys and how honest the company was in giving responses).
Only a Third of Employers Do Online Background Checks
65% of employers did not use online background checks during the hiring process
Well it’s not that surprising.
With hundreds of applicants and very little time to do a thorough job on each one it’s not likely that every company wants to waste money on doing it.
After all time is money.
Of those who did do the checks, 40-42% used LinkedIn and Facebook.
It pays to keep your LinkedIn and Facebook profile up to date and clean as a whistle.
Drunken photos are tolerable though sexually explicit might damn you.
The Top Four Skills Employers Want are Also Hard to Get
Communication skills, positive attitude, adaptability and team work rank among the top skills employers are looking for. Ironically communication skills, positive attitude, adaptability and team work are among the hardest to find employers claim.
Of course being goal oriented and having strategic thinking or analytical skills would also set you well above the pack.
What I’ve learned so far indicates that a lot of mid level managers are missing the strategic thinking mind set that top level executives want them to have.
Something to keep in mind if you’re hoping to shine.
Of course it’s vital for all job seekers to think strategically by keeping up with what’s going on in world news and economics.
Whether you’re a student, someone doing an internship or a job seeker of any age, these skills are going to matter.
Schools Are Certainly Not Preparing People for the Working World
100% of employers feel colleges are preparing students for the working world
It’s obvious that employers are just saying that to appear politically correct.
The reality from several client experiences, many
networking events, etc. is that colleges and universities are not doing a very good job preparing the majority of students for the real world.
networking events, etc. is that colleges and universities are not doing a very good job preparing the majority of students for the real world.
What you can conclude from all of this is that employers aren’t seeing eye to eye with students and job seeking interns.
After all half of the surveyed businesses didn’t even hire interns even though employers expect you to have internships under your belt.
Perhaps they expect you to come from another company with their secrets after doing your internship.
Seems pretty unlikely.
Of course it’s an employers market with so many unemployed people.
The lesson from this is to get as much practical experience in the field, industry or career you want – whether it’s volunteering for free to doing unpaid/low paid internships.
The new bar is to already have experience doing the job before you get a job.
Not ideal and certainly we’ve all learned that life is not very fair.
(Infographic Photos via Millenial Branding)
Fair winds,
About Sunny Lam
