3 On Your Side: High School Internships On The Rise
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When you think of interns, odds are college students come to mind. But today, more and more high school kids are getting internships. 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan takes a look at this growing trend.
Lane Sutton is a familiar face at his high school and between schoolwork, and extracurricular activities he's a popular face around the office too. That's because he recently learned the ropes in the real world as a marketing intern. Sutton says, "I was able to see all of the components of a company working together."
Lots of students like Sutton are getting an early start in the workplace. According to a recent survey nearly 50-percent of all high school aged respondents are doing internships, and they're not just serving up coffee or shuffling papers. Dan Schawbel of Millennial Branding says, "Companies are looking to tap this, this new generation in order to fuel what they do with technology in the work place. Seventy-four percent of those companies surveyed said that they're recruiting social media marketing interns."
Sutton put his social media skills to work, tracking the company's online engagement and interaction. Lori Curtis, the internship coordinator at Sutton's high school says, "These students come back to school and they're more focused, they're more excited about what they're learning. Suddenly, the real world is real to them."
Experts say high school internships should be more about students developing organizational skills and strategic thinking that they can't learn in a classroom and less about finding a career track. In fact unlike a college internship, high school internships shouldn't be focused on building a resume.
