Attracting and retaining college interns: Views from three MIT students
March 18, 2024
As labor shortages continue, many employers are seeking creative ways to build and expand workforce pipelines. While internships have reliably supplied new talent for many employers, what attracts younger employees may be changing.
In a post-pandemic era, how can companies recruit top interns and keep them when the internship ends? Student perspectives may offer answers.
Recently, three MIT students shared their views on employers and internships during a panel organized by the GOF at the 2023 MIT Research and Development Conference. While the panelists were a select group of top global talent, their views shed light on what motivates younger interns in general.
Three students participated in the discussion—Maya Makarovsky (junior), Victory Yinka-Banjo (junior), and Pedro Russell (MBA Candidate). The panel was moderated by Susan Sandler Brennan, Assistant Dean, Career Development Office, MIT Sloan. Here’s a recap of key points from that discussion.
Employers need to communicate company culture effectively. Good word-of-mouth, social media, and campus visits may help.
When deciding on an internship, many prospective interns may be looking to see whether company culture—especially around social issues, DEI, and learning and development—aligns with their own values.
“My advice would be to look at firms like an iceberg,” said Makarovsky, who studies computer science, economics, data science, and business analytics. “What people see and what people hear about from an outside perspective … is just the tip.”
For Makarovsky, hiring companies need to find ways to communicate the submerged, or tacit, company culture more effectively.
“I really appreciate when firms come to our campuses, run information sessions,” and show “different ways that they try to cultivate a certain culture,” said Makarovsky.
Similarly, Yinka-Banjo, who studies computer science and molecular biology, said that, when considering employers, she researches company culture by speaking to previous MIT students who have interned at a company. She also monitors social media.
“I’m going to check whether or not you’re on Instagram or what presence you have on social media,” Yinka-Banjo said. “What are the kind of things you’re advocating for? When it’s Indigenous Peoples Month, are you talking about those kinds of things? And those might be overlooked, but that is a way of showing commitment to DEI.”
Addressing employers Russell later added: “Get on TikTok.”
Learning and career development matter to interns. Companies that fail to offer growth may struggle to keep interns and new hires.
How important is it that a potential employer be committed to learning and development?
“Oh, absolutely very important,” said Yinka-Banjo.
“I view career development in a firm’s ability,” said Makarovsky. “Evidence that they are prioritizing that is very, very important.”
The panel discussion suggested that not only do interns value learning and development, but they may also be some of the most discerning—and career-savvy—employees in a company. Interns want to know that a company can teach them new skills and enable role expansion. If a company can’t, interns and new hires may simply leave.
“I think people are really thinking about career development, thinking about exit opportunities when they’re” being recruited, said Makarovsky. A firm that can advance careers “is something that we’re all really looking for given the new culture that we have now.”
Interns seek companies that provide strong social support.
Offering his view on how companies can promote a learning culture, Russell observed that interns often have “limited social capital or limited understanding of careers and opportunities,” a situation which hurts both employer and employee.
For Russell and the other student panelists, employers need to bring interns into the company’s social world and offer mentoring. Even informal mentorships and peer support seem to be effective.
“That is where an organization can … provide that social capital and provide that occupational awareness to help people broaden their own understanding of what’s possible for them,” said Russel.
Describing her work experience with a medium-sized fintech company, Makarovsky said she liked that the company gave her “formal and informal mentors.” The informal mentor, whom Makarovsky described as “someone like a buddy,” seemed to be particularly impactful.
“Just having that buddy kind of hold my hand a bit through the beginning stage of easing into the internship was very, very helpful,” Makarovsky said.
Such informal mentorship seems also to have been part of what Makarovsky called “a culture of accessibility and approachability,” where interns feel comfortable seeking answers from other employees and managers.
Similarly, Yinka-Banjo mentioned that a company where she interned paired interns together as part of “peer mentor circles.” Interns were also given formal mentors.
“But I think skill development boils down to mentors, to those kinds of circles, to those kinds of safe spaces” for new hires and interns, who need “people that they can always fall back on if they feel lost within a company,” said Yinka-Banjo.
To attract interns, reach out to them early, when they’re freshman and sophomores.
“Catch them young,” advised Yinka-Banjo. “A lot of the companies that I’m interested in now were ones that reached out during freshman year or sophomore year.”
By November 2023, Yinka-Banjo, a junior, was already considering multiple job offers for summer 2024, signaling how competitive recruiting top talent among undergraduates can be. Companies that made themselves known early have an edge.
“Those companies” that reached out to Yinka-Banjo early “were there at the time that I needed to learn about them,” she explained. “I stuck with them, and I maintained contact. And that has been a continuous relationship that I’m able to cultivate and will be cultivating going forward as well.”
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While interns may be looking for a good culture and growth opportunity, keeping interns beyond the internship may boil down to treating employees well.
“For your new hires, really do treat them well,” said Yinka-Banjo, “because, if not, they’re going to leave after a year or two. I have many friends who have gotten into companies who decided to go full time because they had awesome internship experiences. But as soon as they were hired, they were forgotten.”
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