What evidence is there that internships secure employment?

Government and universities alike are pushing to make graduates more employable and internships are often presented as the solution to this. There is a lot of research that shows the virtues of participating in internships but not a lot on whether it actually leads to securing employment. The concept of internships itself is a slippery one. The term internship covers a wide range of experiences from programs to introduce the long-term unemployed to working, to white collar internships for recent university graduates. Internships designed to get jobs for the unemployed are the focus in Australia’s current election campaign. A key example is the Coalition proposed Youth Jobs PaTH (Prepare, Trial, Hire) program for youth on income support. Like earlier iterations of work-for-the-dole programs this type of internship forces engagement with work, and has been criticised for being too narrow. Australian research shows that these types of programs restrict young people from searching for jobs as they try to meet the program requirements. The value of an internship will most likely vary across disciplines or across educational institutions. So while the rhetoric presents internships as overwhelmingly beneficial as a pathway to employment, we’re yet to see conclusive research evidence of this.