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This paper analyzes how employers use discourse to ideologize the value of college internships--a historically emergent form of contingent, temporary, educational labor which has rapidly become a major feature of both higher education and labor relations in the United States (Frenette, 2015). The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with employers (n=38) in firms and organizations across a range of sectors who supervise and coordinate the work of college student interns from two public universities and two technical colleges located in different economic regions within the same U.S. Midwestern state. Using the anthropological theory of value (Graeber, 2001), we develop an analysis of how employers use discourse to ideologize and coordinate internship labor. Employers use three discourses of value to ideologize 1) the individual intern as the primary beneficiary of the internship ("entrepreneurial discourse of value"); 2) the organization or firm as the primary beneficiary of the internship ("corporate efficiency discourse of value"); and 3) the community, industry, or society in general as the primary beneficiary of the internship ("community service discourse of value"). The article develops the concept of a "discourse token of value"--discursive forms that (like cash) mediate value--as a central concept of the analysis of emergent forms of education and labor.

Latino degree attainment and skill development are important to the nation's need for a competitive workforce and strong civic leadership. To help Latino students enter and be competitive in the workforce, trendsetting institutions are adapting their efforts to support students' strengths and meet their needs. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) enroll the majority of Latino students (over 65 percent) and thus can play an integral part in Latino students' academic success and workforce preparation. With collaboration with four HSIs, there is recognition that institutions have a role in both supporting their changing student bodies and connecting to workforce, and they are taking concrete steps to address. Five common strategies of the institutions' efforts were consistent and are detailed in this brief: (1) Workforce preparation is a goal across campus, not just the role of the career services offices; (2) The institutions have adapted to changes in workforce demands and changes in their student bodies; (3) Institutions are emphasizing experiential learning opportunities in and outside the classroom to expand access to hands-on learning; (4) Institutions are revamping their workforce efforts based on data and using data to continually evolve; and (5) The institutions work with local employers to meet the needs of the region and make the transition from school to work easier for their students. This brief was ready for release in March 2020. Given the impact of COVID-19 on these communities, institutions, and workforce, the authors reached back out to the four institutions to share additional efforts and updated this brief for release.

This year approximately 3,300 employers attempted the survey with 2.560 providing enough information to be included in our analyses. Seventy-three percent (1859 respondents) are recruiters seeking full-time talent or hiring managers overseeing talent acquisition within their organizations. Other contributors include internship and co-op managers (11%), recruiters seeking experienced talent (10%), and those filling short-term assignments of six months or less (7%). The results presented here focus on the information provided in this and subsequent briefs by full-time recruiters, hiring managers, and internship and co-op managers. The respondents represent the rich diversity of companies and organizations seeking new college talent. Seventy-seven percent represented organizations with fewer than 500 employers: 28% fewer than 49 employees, 12% 50 to 99 employees and 25% 100 to 499 employees. Large organizations comprised 23% of the response: 19% 500 to 3,999 employees, 9% 4,000 to 24,999, and 6% over 25,000 employees. The number of large organizations is down slightly from levels reported the last two years. Every major industrial sector (based on major NAIC codes) provided information for this survey. Sectors providing the highest number of respondents included: construction, educational services, finance and insurance services, healthcare and social assistance, manufacturing, and business, professional, and scientific services. An employer from every state and several territories appeared among the respondents. The respondents were geographically distributed across the country. States providing the highest number of respondents included: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin. Eighty-three percent of respondents reported that they hired at least one new college graduate during the 2017-18 academic year. Even better news is found among the seventeen percent of employers who were not actively hiring last year as 86 % are entering the college market this year. In examining these expectations in more detail, we find only two percent of those who hired last year do not intend to hire any new personnel this year. The employer outlook continues to brighten. The vast majority (93%, up 4 percentage points) described the overall new college labor market as good to excellent. Their average annual rating of 3.75 is a .35 improvement over last year. This is the best outlook since the recession's bottom in 2009. Employers in this survey express the highest level of optimism in the labor market since the late 1990s. [For "Recruiting Trends, 2017-2018. 47th Edition. Brief 1: Hiring Outlook for the Class of 2017-18, Including Hiring Plans by Organization Size," see ED586477. For "Recruiting Trends, 2018-2019. 48th Edition. Part II: Recruiting Challenges, Tough Positions, Improving Recruiting and Major Hiring Outlook," see ED593320.]

The Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) generated this report from employers currently seeking college talent through their interactions with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers from around the country invited their employers to participate in this study. Approximately 4,350 employers provided information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. CERI uses information provided by those recruiting talent for full-time positions, internships, and co-ops to provide these research briefs. A few years ago, a group of college-relations managers approached CERI for help in obtaining benchmarks to assess their college recruiting programs. Several measures were agreed upon and were tested during the subsequent "Recruiting Trends" surveys. Based on the survey results, the benchmarks were revised and feedback was requested from a wider pool of respondents, including recruiting managers. For recruiting full-time positions between July 2015 and June 2016, respondents reported the following averages for key benchmarks: (1) Thirty-nine percent of professional hires were the direct result of college recruiting; (2) Thirty-three percent of new college hires were former interns or co-ops; (3) Sixty-five percent of full-time offers were accepted; (4) Seventy-one percent of internship and co-op offers were accepted; (5) Forty-four percent of interns and co-ops with bachelor's degrees were converted to full-time employment; (6) Fifty-one percent of starting salary offers were comparable to other organizations within an industry sector; and (7) Five percent of full-time offers accepted were later reneged.

The 47th annual "Recruiting Trends" reports are based on a survey convenience sample of employers currently seeking college talent through their interactions with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers from around the country invited their employers to participate in this study. Employers provide information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. The Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) also includes information from 3,370 respondents recruiting talent for full-time positions, internships, and co-ops. The data in this brief present two aspects of the new college labor market. By classifying each organization by its primary North American Industrial Classification (NAIC) code, organizations are aggregated in similar industrial sectors. NAIC codes also allow comparison to employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS). CERI analyzes the geographic data based on the scope of recruiting: international, throughout the U.S., and specific regions within the U.S. Recruiters from different economic sectors experience different challenges that affect the success of their recruiting efforts. In the service sectors, which include educational services, finance and insurance services, healthcare and social assistance, information services, and professional, business, and scientific services, the biggest challenge is finding candidates with solid soft skills. Employers, regardless of sector, appear to encounter candidates who pursue positions in their organization but come to realize upon closer examination they are not interested in that type of position.

The 47th annual "Recruiting Trends" reports are based on a survey convenience sample of employers currently seeking college talent through their interactions with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers from around the country invited their employers to participate in this study. Employers provide information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. Approximately 3,370 employers provided information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. Eighty-two percent of respondents reported that they hired at least one new college graduate during the 2016-17 academic year. While this figure dropped five percentage points the previous year, the good news is that eighteen percent of employers who were not actively hiring last year are entering the college market this year. In examining these expectations in more detail, researchers find only about three percent of those who hired last year do not intend to hire any new personnel this year. For those entering the labor market after an absence, eighty-six percent expect to hire new college talent.

The Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) generated this report from employers currently seeking college talent through their interactions with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers from around the country invited their employers to participate in this study. Approximately 4,350 employers provided information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. CERI uses information provided by those recruiting talent for full-time positions, internships, and co-ops to provide these research briefs. CERI has been experimenting with different ways of presenting hiring information by academic major. The traditional list of hot or most requested majors is dominated by business, engineering and computer science due to heavy on-campus presence of companies seeking these majors. To gain some understanding of the composition of an organization's candidate pool, CERI asked respondents to select the percent of hires expected from different academic disciplines such as business, arts and humanities, engineering, and physical and biological sciences. Respondents could indicate that they expected to hire 100 percent from one group or spread their hires proportionally across multiple groups. This question was followed by CERI asking how willing respondents were to consider candidates regardless of their academic discipline and offered several categories from which to choose, as shown in the tables. For example, if an employer was looking for candidates with specific majors such as aerospace, child or family development, linguistics, or parks and recreation, CERI gave them a checklist from which they could choose as many specific academic majors as they wished. This exercise revealed the majority of employers come to campus seeking business, computer science, and engineering graduates; this fact is well known. Researchers were surprised however to find how diverse these employers can be as they expand recruiting to include a variety of other majors.

This brief focuses on internships and co-ops because this form of experiential learning is most common on college campuses. The Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) asked respondents a series of questions about internships and co-ops, including the number of hires, academic majors, and hourly wages. Eighty-eight percent of respondents offered college students some form of experiential or pre-professional experience, including apprenticeships, clinical rotations, internships, practicums, professional practice, and other forms of work-integrated learning. More in-depth findings are presented in the brief.

Discusses the impact of work experience and career interests in the college student internship placement process. Explores how this two-part framework can benefit employers and university career service staff. Defines the following as the types of student interns: explorers, idealists, career changers, and professionals. (MKA)