Internships provide great opportunities for real-world experiences, a great addition to a resume, and contacts for future employment. DID YOU KNOW that marketing-related internships are among the most popular by companies? This augurs well for a career in marketing. 🙂
First, consider this: Research by Burning Glass Technologies shows that:
“More than ever there is a narrow season for internship recruitment. That season peaks in March – ahead of when many students begin to think about summer opportunities. And employers expect interns to arrive already equipped with knowledge of critical skills in software and other areas that enable them to be productive on the first day. If you wait until the end of the semester to get an internship, you have waited too long. Recruiting for internships begins in January and peaks in March. Then demand begins to taper off sharply. There is a small second bump in September for term-time internships as the school year begins.” The concentration of postings in March has increased steadily over the past five years. In March 2016, there were 29,360 internships posted, an 11% increase over the 2011-2015 average, and a 2% increase over the 28,796 postings in March 2015.
“The total number of internships posted in 2016 was 216,333.”
Of the top 20 U.S. internship fields, FIVE of the most popular six are marketing-related. As reported by the New York Times, Burning Glass found the following internship popularity in its research [Marketing-related is denoted by color.]:
1. BUSINESS OPERATIONS (Internship postings from September 2015 to October 2016: 58,949) — Most in-demand skills: Project management, business administration, scheduling, customer service, economics
2. MARKETING (Internship postings from September 2015 to October 2016: 35,498) — Most in-demand skills: Social media, marketing, Adobe Photoshop, Facebook, market research
4. SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (Internship postings from September 2015 to October 2016: 28,227) — Most in-demand skills: Sales, business development, marketing, customer service, project management
5. MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS, PUBLIC RELATIONS (Internship postings from September 2015 to October 2016: 28,140) — Most in-demand skills: Social media, journalism, Adobe Photoshop, marketing, technical writing and editing
6. DATA ANALYTICS (Internship postings from September 2015 to October 2016: 26,438) — Most in-demand skills: Data analysis, data collection, market research, mathematics, project management
Click the image to read Burning Glass Technologies full report.