Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
This year’s hiring outlook for interns and co-ops is expected to continue the trend of positive movement seen over the past three years, according to NACE’s 2019 Internship & Co-op Survey Report.
NACE employers anticipate hiring 2.6 percent more interns and 1.7 percent more co-ops this year than they did last year. (See Figure 1.)
Since 2015’s flat hiring projections and those in 2016 that were negative, hiring projections have landed on the positive side. The projections in 2017 represented a rebound from the two previous years and, while expected hiring last year pointed to only slight gains, this year’s increases are trending upward.
Data for the 2019 Internship & Co-op Survey Report were collected from December 3, 2018, to February 22, 2019, from NACE employer members; there were 262 respondents representing 28.2 percent of all eligible respondents. The report will be available later this spring.
Figure 1: Hiring projections for interns and co-ops: 2015-19
| Year |
Interns |
Co-ops |
| 2019 |
2.6% |
1.7% |
| 2018 |
1.7% |
0.6% |
| 2017 |
3.4% |
6.3% |
| 2016 |
-4.8% |
-9.9% |
| 2015 |
0.0% |
0.0% |
Source: 2019 Internship & Co-op Survey Report, National Association of Colleges and Employers