Open market internships: What do intermediaries offer?

Participation in open market internships by higher education students and graduates has significantly expanded. This has created growing opportunities for intermediaries or ‘brokers’ to organise and charge fees for placing individuals in organisations, either in their home country or abroad. Despite being voluntary, open market internships may be endorsed by universities motivated to confer on their students a labour market advantage. Despite being the subject of significant public concern, no published research has systematically addressed how internship intermediaries operate. This study examined the websites of 25 intermediaries to examine the functions of these businesses and the nature of the internships they offer. The findings show that the majority of firms offered placements in a variety of disciplines, partnered with prestigious universities and organisations, and promised a plethora of employability capacities as a result of participation. None directly promised participants success in acquiring a job post-internship but they did frequently suggest that internships had proven career benefits. The high program fees charged to participants may constitute a significant barrier to participation for those from less advantaged backgrounds. The results contribute to emerging scholarship addressing the patterns of participation in (open market) internships and other forms of work experience.