Why student internships are recruitment gold

Craig McLaughlin CA and Matthew Gorrie CA, both senior academics in accounting at the University of Strathclyde, outline their research into internships and how they can be beneficial for the employer.

Many people assume that recruitment begins during a student’s final year at university. By that point, however, students have already been exposed to many different firms, and through their accounting classes and internships they have begun to think about their future career. These influences can play a key role in deciding what path is chosen – so does more need to be done at university level?

Strathclyde Business School recently discussed internships, or the lack of, with students to understand the impact that such opportunities had on recruitment. Students were very vocal that they wanted to go to firms that cared about them as an individual and tried to connect with them throughout their degree. They also often felt firms with internship programmes were keen to develop the profession as well as the individual – this made the students more inclined to accept an offer of internship or work from those firms.

Students suggest it would be good if firms could be more involved in their development in their earlier years. Surprisingly, it was the experience, not the pay, that came through as being the most essential element – students often felt loyalty to firms where colleagues stayed in touch following an internship. “Team members emailed me [after the internship] and because they know you, because they like and care about you, it makes you want to accept an offer to go back,” said one.

Finding the right match and having a trial run, will undoubtedly help the recruitment process. The employer has got to know the student and the student has got to know the employer. In addition, the recruitment costs will be lower, as once the student has accepted the offer following the internship, they are usually excited to be joining, and may even become an “asset” – promoting the firm to others in their final year. Most importantly, when they join the company full-time, they have some existing knowledge and are likely to pick up the role more quickly – saving on training costs. They also have a better idea of the realities of the job and are more likely to stay, boosting staff retention figures.

Overall, engaging with people at this early point in their career offers immense potential rewards and can be viewed as a highly positive long-term recruitment strategy. A good early impression is rarely forgotten.