By: Bijal Parikh, Program Specialist for Four Year Partnerships, CollegeTracks
Reading Time: 5 min.
This blog is a follow up to a previous post on preparing employers and students for workplace learning experiences.
Here’s what we know:
Internships, externships, and apprenticeships are critical to equipping students with experience to achieve career success. These opportunities offer firsthand work experience, facilitate the development of relevant skills, and connect students to
a network of professionals.
Having at least one career-centered internship or research opportunity is often a gateway to entry into certain careers.
A higher ed degree alone is not enough for career stability and financial security: Our research indicates that without relevant career experiences, students who lack cultural capital or family members in professional career fields are at a disadvantage
entering the marketplace, either because they do not have the contacts, professional experience, or confidence/"sense of belongingness" to fully participate in career advancement and security.
Here’s what else we know:
Many of these opportunities are part-time, unpaid, or both, making them inaccessible for students like ours who depend on summer income to fund their needs during the school year. Therefore, students who are first-generation, POC, or from low-income backgrounds
may be at a disadvantage in terms of career and postgraduate success.
At CollegeTracks:
85% of our Success Program participants are first-generation (as defined by having no parent who has earned a 4YR degree from a US college or university).
86% identify as Black/African-American, Latinx or Hispanic, or multi-racial.
84% were FARMS-eligible in high school.
Nearly two-thirds of CollegeTracks Success Scholars fall into all three categories.
Compounding this situation, studies show that the specific set of factors our students experience can create barriers to entry to these critical workplace opportunities, including:
a sense of not belonging,
insufficient access to career skills development,
lack of social/cultural capital or a professional network,
inflexible scheduling of work hours that are paid, and
lack of role models and mentors who can assist with navigating college and career pathways.
To overcome these barriers, the CollegeTracks Success Program piloted an initiative in which our staff tapped personal networks to help students access internships. Our goals were to get our students’ resumes to the top of the applicant pile and provide
our qualified scholars with marketable career experiences. We also wanted to give the employer a positive experience with our students so that they would return to us for subsequent internship searches.
Here’s what we learned after our first year of piloting this partnership with three local companies:
Employers are searching for a younger and more diverse pool of candidates. Many companies are looking to diversify their staff. They are interested in recruiting and training students in college with the hope that, if successful, they
will sign on for full-time employment upon graduation. But they don’t always know where to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates.
Employers with existing professional or personal relationships with organizations like CollegeTracks are more likely to have successful experiences with our students. Because the employers are familiar with our
organization and our students, they are better prepared for the specific needs of these student interns and can accommodate the social and cultural gaps they may have in their professional experience. For example:
One employer with which CollegeTracks partners gives our students a two-week head start to submit their resumes for open positions, are committed to interviewing each qualified applicant, and provide valuable and actionable feedback for each one.
Another employer is aware that our students may not be able to get to the office as frequently as supervisors may have expected. However, this company understands that CollegeTracks students frequently have income flow issues and they offer a transportation allowance
to all interns as a way to mitigate this potential obstacle.
The bonus of working with employers like this is both employers AND students have a rich and rewarding internship experience.
Employers are more likely to hire an intern with a built-in support system. The employers who have worked with CollegeTracks Success Program scholars view their coaches/advisers as assets. They see that our students come with one-on-one
coaching in skill-building and a growth mindset focus. They also understand the resiliency and strengths our students bring to their internship. According to a company that engages our students as interns, students from organizations like ours have
an advantage in the marketplace.
Based on our experiences, we offer the following recommendation for how employers can make internships more accessible and valuable for students like ours:
Fair Compensation: Internship compensation should be fair and livable to make up for the jobs students would otherwise need to support themselves and their families. Compensation should include travel expenses and parking.
Impactful Work: Internships should offer students the opportunity to contribute to real and meaningful projects and participate with cross-functional teams. They should connect the students’ roles and tasks to priorities within the
company, and foster an understanding of the company's overall strategic direction.
Mentoring: Internships should include a structured mentorship component, especially if the mentors are POC, and expose students to any development and growth opportunities available within the industry. Incorporating consistent supervisor
check-ins should also provide guidance and opportunities for student reflection.
Networking Opportunities: Where possible, internship programs should offer networking opportunities within the company, including introductions to different departments and teams, lunches or socials with other interns, and sessions
for students on how to create and sustain their professional relationships.
Success Metrics: Interns should know what success looks like from the get-go, including having measurable goals and a clear set of metrics.
These experiences are teaching both us and the companies with which we partner valuable lessons about developing and maintaining internship pipelines for students who are first-generation, from low-income backgrounds, and/or from minoritized groups. The
key to these relationships has been open and two-way communication. I am proud to say the companies that have hired our students, return to us when new positions become available. By sharing this learning, we hope that more organizations will see
the benefits of partnering with college success programs like ours and tap into our pool of focused, dynamic, eager, and inquisitive students who are ready to launch their careers.
This blog is part of NCAN’s Career Advising for College Students series, funded by the Scheidel Foundation. The primary author of this blog is Bijal Parikh with additional research provided by Jalen Moore, Student, Brown University.
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