Employer assessments of business interns

A 2012 international survey by McKinsey & Co. reported a schism among higher education providers, employers and youth in regard to their perception about graduates’ adequate preparation for employment. They suggested greater engagement among stakeholders as a way to bridge this gap. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that academic credit-based internship programs can aid in the engagement process through better utilization of employer evaluations of interns.

Supervisors (n=389) rated their business interns on 12 competencies and responded to three open-ended questions about their strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for professional improvement. Rating scale data were averaged by item and a content analysis methodology was used to analyze the questionnaire responses.

The average score for each of the 12 rated items was fairly high and reflected competencies associated with the school to work transition, communication skills, decision making and work ethic. Responses to the open-ended questions yielded eight themes that were noted as strengths for some interns but weaknesses for others. About 30 percent of supervisors made recommendations for professional improvement of the intern.

There is a dearth of studies reporting results of actual employer evaluations of interns. Not only does this study address this gap through data collection from 389 supervisors across a variety of business functions, but also clarifies these ratings for individual career development through identifying interns’ strengths, weaknesses and advice for professional improvement. By collecting outcome assessments on interns from supervisors, higher education providers can not only identify the strengths and weaknesses of their curricula, but also their soon-to-be graduates; and provide support and resources for performance improvement. Interns too become aware of competencies identified for successful labor market integration.