Not All Internships Are Created Equal | 2021 Study

We all know the plentiful benefits of internships.

They help young people apply the classroom knowledge to the real world, get their first professional experience, and generally elevate their marketability.

But is that still the case? Do internships really help jumpstart your career, or are they just must-haves on your resume that don’t bring much value?

LiveCareer—a career site that provides resources for job seekers crafted by certified resume writers—decided to get to the bottom of it. They polled over 1,000 Americans about their internship experiences to check if internships are worth the sweat and if they generally improve our hireability chances.

Below are five key findings:

• Unpaid internships are a thing of the past. 77% of interns report they completed a paid internship vs. an unpaid one.
• Most young adults undertake one (38%) or two (47%) internships. Completing two or more internships positively impacts people’s income at a later career stage.
• As many as 93% of interns admit they had to perform menial tasks at some point during their internship.
• 68% of respondents said the company didn’t have a structured intern policy and made up tasks as the internship unfolded.
• That said, nearly 78% of interns feel they gained valuable professional experience that later improved their employability chances.

Does that sound interesting? Keep scrolling to learn more about the state of internships in 2021...