Internship bottleneck: How to Break the Work Experience Catch-22

Elliot and Dana Stephenson write in University Business on how the "internship bottleneck"—a shortage of traditional work experiences—is trapping students in a catch-22 where they cannot get a job without experience and cannot get experience without a job. They propose "micro-internships"—short-term, paid, professional projects—as a scalable solution to provide students with a portfolio of real-world skills. The article outlines how this model benefits both institutions and employers by improving student outcomes, increasing diversity in hiring, and offering a low-risk way for companies to vet potential talent.