Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
Paid interns from the Class of 2019 began looking for full-time jobs an average of seven months prior to graduation, while unpaid and never interns began looking for their jobs slightly less than five months before graduating, according to results of NACE’s 2019 Student Survey.
In addition, 81.7 percent of paid interns had started looking for a job and 75 percent of paid interns had applied for a full-time job by the time the survey was conducted. By comparison, 69.0 percent of unpaid interns and 62.9 percent of never interns had started looking for a job, and 51 percent of unpaid interns and 45.5 percent of never interns had applied for a full-time job by then. (See figures 1 and 2.)
As expected, paid interns had higher salary expectations than unpaid and never interns. NACE asked them about their salary expectation by ranges, so the mean is not appropriate to use here. According to their median responses, paid interns expect to make between $50,000 and $55,000, or $10,000 more than both unpaid and never interns. (See Figure 3.)
Data from the 2019 Student Survey were collected from February 13, 2019, through May 1, 2019. A total of 22,371 students responded from 472 NACE-member colleges and universities. The focus of the survey report, however, is on the experiences of the 3,952 graduating seniors who participated. In addition, this report includes in-depth analysis of the impact of students’ internships on aspects of their transition from college to work. The 2019 Student Survey will be available later this fall.
Figure 1: Started the job search
| Internship Status |
Number of Months |
Started Job Search |
| Number of Respondents |
Mean |
Number of Respondents |
Percent |
| Never intern |
752 |
4.9 |
623 |
62.9% |
| Unpaid intern |
821 |
4.8 |
686 |
69.0% |
| Paid intern |
977 |
7.0 |
908 |
81.7% |
| All graduating seniors |
2,694 |
5.6 |
3,289 |
71.2% |
Source: 2019 Student Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Figure 2: Applied for a full-time job
| Internship Status |
Number of Respondents |
Percent |
| Never intern |
990 |
45.5% |
| Unpaid intern |
996 |
51.1% |
| Paid intern |
1,112 |
75.4% |
| All graduating seniors |
3,292 |
57.7% |
Source: 2019 Student Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Figure 3: Starting salary expectations
| Internship Status |
Number of Respondents |
Median Salary Expectation |
| Never intern |
908 |
$40,000 to $45,000 |
| Unpaid intern |
957 |
$40,000 to $45,000 |
| Paid intern |
1,078 |
$50,000 to $55,000 |
| All graduating seniors |
2,980 |
$40,000 to $45,000 |
Source: 2019 Student Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers