68% believe internships more valuable than college

Many college students seek internships to get their foot in the door. But do intern applicants have an easier time navigating the job market than their peers?

Nulab, a growing software company that provides online collaboration tools for teams of all sizes, recently shared some interesting information from its survey of 600+ former interns and 350+ people who have not completed an internship to compare experiences. Some findings:

• 63% of people work in a career field relevant to their internship experience 
• 40% of people have been hired by a company they previously interned with; 26% were hired immediately upon graduating, while 13% were hired at a later point 
• Nearly 68% of people that completed an internship believe it was more valuable to their career than school
• The most hired majors after interning include: business (51%), science, math, and technology (49%), health and medicine (40.5%), and public and social services (40%)

In addition, Nulab’s study found that people who completed internships secured jobs faster than those who did not. Those surveyed reported that it took an average of 3.6 months between graduation and starting their first, full-time job if they had completed at least one internship. It took 3.8 months for those who did not have an internship prior to graduating.