How employers can embrace the time-tested benefits of work-based learning
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Work-based learning isn’t new.
The practice of pairing trainees with experienced craftsmen to ensure the transfer of knowledge has been around for centuries.
Yet even though the practice of learning on the job has existed for hundreds of years, its capacity to prepare learners for the workforce and expose businesses to emerging talent is generating modern excitement. State and federal policymakers, workforce development leaders, higher education professionals — all are seeking ways to engage more employers in offering work-based learning opportunities for students.
“Work-based learning is one of the most important predictors of a college student’s success after graduation,” Laura Love, Strada senior vice president of work-based learning, said last week in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation webinar. “Our research shows that participating in even one paid internship leads to improved outcomes — less underemployment, higher wages — and that’s a sticky outcome that stays with students over time, 10-plus years.”
Still, the demand for internships, apprenticeships, co-ops and similar opportunities is outpacing the supply. In 2023, more than eight million college students sought internships, but only 3.6 million, or 44 percent, found one. The webinar, “Expanding Work-Based Learning,” focused on how to help employers make more of these opportunities available.
Research shows even employers that want to offer internships face barriers. According to a 2024 Business-Higher Education Forum study, nearly half (48 percent) of employers cite operational challenges associated with running an internship program, such as limited staff to supervise interns, difficulty designing programs, challenges finding candidates, and obstacles complying with labor laws.
In the webinar, leaders discussed ways that employers can approach incorporating work-based learning opportunities into their workplaces:
- Understand the value that work-based learning delivers for businesses.
Internships and other types of work-based learning often are framed as big wins for students. But according to a recent Strada employer survey, nearly all (96 percent) of employers who offer a work-based learning program believe the investment is valuable, with 2 in 3 indicating that the investment is very valuable.
Access to an entry-level talent pipeline is the most commonly mentioned benefit to employers, but not the only one. Integrating students within a workplace also provides management opportunities for the existing employees and injects new ideas and innovation from a new generation of workers.
“When we think about the longevity and sustainability of something like an internship program or an apprenticeship program,” Love said, “delivering business value is going to make this go beyond a one-time investment or a one-time pilot and into something that’s just part of how they do business.”
- For help, seek out community organizations or institutions with a vested interest in connecting industry to education.
Strada’s recently released resource, “Scaling Work-Based Learning: A Framework for Effective Employer Intermediaries,” shares how these important partners in the education-workforce system can fill the gaps between industry and education and play a critical role in enabling millions more learners to experience the benefits of work-based learning.
Hundreds of entities across the country are positioned to act as intermediaries, providing specialized capacity to help employers launch, scale, and implement work-based learning programs. These intermediaries play a critical supporting role, especially for small and medium-sized companies.
Yet connecting with the right intermediary can be a challenge for employers. The organizations poised to help vary from community to community, from local chambers of commerce to community colleges, workforce boards, and even the career services departments of large four-year universities.
- Expand the vision for what a work-based learning opportunity can be.
Work-based learning is a broad category that can encompass any number of opportunities for students to learn on the job.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation offers its Employer Provided Innovation Challenges program, or EPIC, which allows students to tackle real-world business challenges offered up by employer partners. To scale the program, the chamber works with regionally based partners, including local chambers of commerce, that partner with their regional employers and education institutions to couple learners with business challenges.
“Learners are really eager to take part in these opportunities, but there simply aren’t enough high-quality employer challenges to meet the demand of all the students who are interested,” said Sarah Castro, executive director of programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Judith Spitz, founder and chief executive officer of Break Through Tech, noted on the webinar that her organization’s “Sprinternships,” or three-week microinternships, also provide the kind of access to on-the-job learning that students crave.
Break Through Tech is a national nonprofit intermediary that works to improve access to careers in technology. “Having a work-based learning experience on your resume is the single most important and powerful lever that we have to level the playing field,” she said.
The Framework for Effective Employer Intermediaries defines employer intermediaries not by organization type but rather by the functions they perform to help employers design, implement, and scale work-based learning programs.
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A recently released Strada report analyzed survey data from seniors enrolled at public four-year universities and colleges about a portion of the universe of work-based learning experiences.
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The components are industry leaders that have the skilled workers they need, education and training providers that understand employers’ needs, and strong collaboration between those employers and educators.
One of the most promising strategies for helping students connect their education to career opportunities is giving students the opportunity to participate in off-campus learning experiences that are aligned with their field of study. Unfortunately, these work-based learning experiences remain too scarce.
For learners, work-based learning improves access to a network, skills, and real-life work scenarios. For employers, it lowers the cost to hire and increases retention.
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Even though internships impart a strong labor market advantage that tends to persist after graduation, the nation’s supply of internships has not kept up with demand. A new report provides insights.
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Disparities in securing paid internships persist for women, people of color, first-generation college students, and students with low incomes — even when taking into account their fields of study.
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