Changing Up the Internship Game

The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) at the University of Minnesota is teaming up with the GREATER MSP Partnership on an audacious goal: to make the Twin Cities a national hotspot for college internships and early talent development. 

In April 2023, GREATER MSP launched an internship hub on its website to encourage employers to create more, and higher impact, internship opportunities in the Twin Cities region. The hub includes a free Internship Toolkit for Employers developed by CLA that includes best practices for starting or expanding a quality undergraduate internship program.

Across the state of Minnesota, over 200,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate institutions, which far exceeds the number of internship opportunities.

“There are not enough internships regionally for college students in Minnesota to have one internship each during their college education, let alone multiple,” said Judy Anderson, Director of Career Readiness in CLA. “Our Internship Toolkit provides all the pieces that an employer, large or small, would need to start offering one internship or a whole program.”

The benefits of college internships are well-documented. Students who complete a paid internship make an average of $3096 or more one year after graduation than those who do not. And, according to the National Association of College and Employers (NACE), “internships provided the best return on investment as a recruiting strategy [for employers], compared to career fairs, on-campus visits, on-campus panels, or other activities.”

Despite the advantages of internships for both college students and employers, two-thirds of students nationally do not participate in college internships. Barriers can include high competition for paid opportunities, steep requirements to qualify for positions, financial and family obligations, or a lack of information about how to identify and access opportunities. Unpaid internships, which are common even in for-profit companies, are often only an option for students who have the financial resources to volunteer their time.

Lack of paid internship opportunities also negatively impacts employers because it contributes to the labor shortage. In the Twin Cities metro, 50,000 job openings require less than one year of professional experience; despite this, there often remains a gap between students’ experience and employer expectations for entry-level candidates. Providing paid internships that give more undergraduates hands-on experience is “a vital strategy for employers to develop and recruit top talent,” says Anderson.

Dayana Lopez-Martinez, a CLA alumna and Talent Resources Generalist at the Minnesota Children’s Museum (MCM), describes how she utilizes an internship program to recruit a more diverse workforce.

“We are trying to make our intern pools reflective of the communities we want to see at the museum,” Lopez-Martinez said. She has made great strides in hiring interns from diverse backgrounds through strategies like intentional recruitment in colleges like CLA, where approximately 40 percent are students of color or Indigenous students.

“We also strongly believe that student interns should get paid, especially if they are producing work or projects for us,” said Lopez-Martinez. “All work is valuable.” 

In June, NACE released a position statement advocating that all internships should be paid: “Providing more paid internships for underrepresented populations will lead to greater access, opportunity, and success for participating students; help fill critical roles throughout the employment landscape; and lead to needed diversification of the workforce.”

Lopez-Martinez explained how MCM is addressing potential student barriers to internship participation by providing public transportation passes and parking passes in downtown St. Paul, as well as being flexible about the times students work and offering hybrid options.

“We limit our internship to 10-12 hours per week so our interns can prioritize being a student first or engage in other commitments like a job or volunteer role,” she explained. 

The Internship Toolkit for Employers contains strategies for building diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Twin Cities job market, drawing on CLA’s expertise as the largest and most diverse undergraduate college at the University of Minnesota. 

Cassidy Titcomb, Interim Director of CLA Career Services, explains why the College of Liberal Arts is so invested in assisting not only students, but also their future employers.

"The mission of the University is to serve the state of Minnesota which continues to have a very tight labor market,” said Titcomb. “The ongoing collaboration between GREATER MSP, employers, and higher education will help our region grow its own talent and launch our students into successful post graduate opportunities. It’s a win-win.”