Hiring managers know a portfolio helps identify the best high school intern candidates

April 4, 2022

High school internships are beneficial for both organizations and the students they hire. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 30% of high school students are employed for at least part of the school year.

By employing students, companies get exposure to talent early in their career journey and help support the wellbeing of the local community.

Robin Richards, CEO of Internships.com

Searching for candidates, reviewing applications, and conducting interviews is time consuming. So before your organization hires student interns, it’s worth knowing what it is they are trying to get out of an internship. Millennial Branding conducted a study of almost 5,000 student intern candidates and found high schoolers are looking for:

  • New skills (92%)
  • Work experience (81%)
  • Mentorship/networking (72%)

Employers who offer high school internships [also] build brand awareness early, fill up their talent pipelines and [are] able to remain competitive in their marketplace.

Dan Schawbel, author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success

Your organization can shorten the long line of job seekers to a manageable group of best-fit candidates. 

This is especially beneficial when you’re looking to hire high school students who don’t have multiple employers or job skills to list on a piece of paper. 

Seaside Sustainability has an ongoing internship program for STEM students. They offer programs that encourage members of the community to build and nurture a relationship with seascapes. 

Internships are more competitive than ever. We need to replace the resume with something that helps us understand the person behind the paperwork. We’re encouraging interns to create a spikeview profile. It makes their job easy – illustrate who they are and what excites them. And it makes our job easy – identify the best candidates for our organization.

Eric Magers, Executive Director of Seaside Sustainability

Instead of sifting through resumes, ask your high school intern candidates to share their spikeview portfolio with you. The student’s full narrative is presented in their own voice, infused with their own personality. The visual storytelling demonstrates the soft skills and personality that you can’t get in other documents. Everything you need to know, including recommendations, in a single click. 

An organized learning journey makes your job easier, saving your organization time and money. Watch these potential interns talk about using spikeview to find opportunities.