Recruiting and selecting graduate employees via internships

ABSTRACT

Internships and their use by organisations as a means to recruit and select graduate talent has undergone rapid expansion over the last three decades, to the point where today many interns and host organisations regard internships as the preferred pathway into entry-level professional positions. However, research on internships from a recruitment and selection perspective to date has largely been neglected. Therefore the current paper advocates the utilisation of internships as a recruitment and selection tool, and points to issues to be addressed in future research, aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of internships as a means to attract and screen graduate talent.