You’ll often see a statistic quoted from Monster.com that 85% of companies use internships as a means to recruit for full-time employment (I couldn’t pin down the source). And more than 20% of college students seek internships. This is time of the year to start planning for hiring summer interns. Determine whether you need interns and how to find the right fit for your business. This blog is adapted from a prior one that also appeared on the SBE Council website.
Should you have summer interns?
There are many compelling reasons to have a summer intern or two work in your company. Benefits to the business include:
- Finding talent for future openings. Almost a third (31%) of all small businesses reported job openings. Engaging interns this summer may help with recruiting in the coming year. You can see if the intern is a fit for your business. The intern can also see whether he or she would have an interest in working for your after graduation.
- Substituting for vacationing employees. If your employees typically take time off in the summer for their vacations, student interns may be able to fill the labor gap. Of course, this depends on the nature of your business and the skills required for the positions held by your employees.
- Increasing transgenerational input. Interns who are students add depth to the age diversity in your company. Employees in different generations can learn from each other.
- Giving mentoring experience for your staff. Employees can hone their mentoring skills by working with summer interns.
There’s really no downside to having a summer intern. But doing it right can mean the difference between a good and bad experience…for the intern and your company.
Where can you find interns?
Finding an intern is similar to finding any employee, and these days everything is done online.
- Employee referrals. Perhaps there’s an employee referral of a student who would make a great summer intern, which according to the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, often leads to a better cultural fit, reducing hiring costs, and faster onboarding.
- Posting internship availability. You can post openings on your site or through social media venues (e.g., your Facebook page). You can check with local colleges and universities (they offer posting opportunities). You can use specific websites for this purpose, such as Indeed (check pricing), ZipRecruiter (free), or Uloop ($125 post to all schools within 50 miles).
Do you have to pay interns?
Courts use a “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether an intern is really an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If so, you must pay your intern at least the minimum wage. This is the higher of the federal or state minimum wage rate.
The DOL has boiled down court decisions involving the primary benefit test into 7 factors:
- The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
- The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
- The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
- The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
- The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
- The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
- The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.
No single factor is determinative. Taken as a whole, the intern’s work must complement, rather than displace, the work of a paid employee while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. These tests essentially require you to be a teacher rather than obtaining services from the intern, an arrangement that may or may not be suitable for your company.
Paid interns. Depending on the type of intern you’re engaging (and assuming you don’t meet the 7 tests for an unpaid intern), you may need to pay considerably more than the minimum wage rate. As a general rule, internships in engineering, programming, and certain other disciplines pay considerably more than minimum wage. According to Zip Recruiter, the average pay for 2026 summer internships is $16 to $23 per hour, with tech jobs paying $50 to $75 per hour.
Final thought
“Providing internship opportunities…changes the whole equation.” ~ Eduardo J. Padron, economist, educator, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
While it’s not yet Spring, it’s also not too early to start planning for a summer intern if this fits within your business plan. Determine your need and whether you have to pay the intern (and how much). Then get started on your search.
Additional information on the topic of internships can be found in this list of blogs.
