What is the outlook for businesses hiring interns in 2025?

Despite the uncertainty and fair amount of chaos surrounding jobs and education in America these days, there is some positive news on the higher education front when it comes to businesses hiring interns.  According to an April 10 report released from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) – more than 70% of organizations expect to maintain or even increase their intern hiring this year.

Research for NACE’s 2025 Internship & Co-op Report found that nearly half of employers expect to maintain their intern hiring at last year’s levels, while nearly a quarter expect to bring in more interns in 2024-25 than they did in 2023-24. (See Figure 1.)

Overall though, intern hiring is expected to fall by at least 3.1%.

“This overall intern hiring drop is driven mainly by the largest companies across industries reporting plans to trim their intern roles,” explains Shawn VanDerziel, NACE’s president and chief executive officer.

“According to respondents, their intern hiring plans are guided primarily by the needs of the organization and the state of the economy.”

When employers are hiring interns, they are not necessarily just bringing on board rising seniors as had traditionally been the case. Research for recent Internship & Co-op Reports revealed that the number of interns eligible to convert to full-time employees—those who finished their junior year in the spring and who will be entering their senior year in the fall—has been decreasing.

This suggests a shift in how internship programs are being constituted.

“Employers are including more students at the freshman and sophomore levels and perhaps with greater emphasis on having interns return year over year,” VanDerziel says.

“This is an important factor in the hiring process because employers report preferring students with previous internship experience with their organization or within their industry when asked how they choose between internship candidates.”

About the 2025 Internship & Co-op Report: NACE surveys its employer members yearly to gather benchmarks on internship and co-op programs. For the 2025 Internship & Co-op Report, NACE conducted the survey from October 16, 2024, to January 2, 2025. Overall, 247 organizations took part in the survey, including 208 NACE member organizations, representing 24.8% of eligible member organizations, and 39 non-member companies.

(Source and cover photo: NACE)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram