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This study investigates how universities can increase enrollment by advertising internships to prospective students during the college search process. The primary reason students earn a college degree is to secure a good-quality career with earning potential. Internships-the single most important credential for recent graduates-are the key selling point for postsecondary institutions in gaining the attention of prospective students. Using the qualitative research method of focus group interviewing, this study reveals that college seekers pay attention to higher education advertisements that speak with them not at them. Prospective students most often cite social media, streaming television, direct mail, the Internet, and classroom visits as the most important "touch points." These findings will guide admissions and recruitment officers as they strive to communicate and connect with-and convince-graduating high school students to move from the college search to the college choice phase.
College students who had watched the movie The Internship, featuring Vince Vaughn (Billy) and Own Wilson (Nick), searched their iPhones using the key word "internship" as the credits rolled. Eager to land an internship to promote their own future careers, student viewers of the movie heeded the actors' warning:
Nick: You got us a job at Google?
Billy: Well, not a job job. It's an interview for an internship that could lead to a job. Nick, this might be the last chance that we've got.
Vince Vaughn (Billy) was right when he said that an internship could lead to a job. In 2012, 69 percent of companies with 100-plus employees offered full-time employment to their interns (Smith 2012), and 39 percent of companies with fewer than 30 employees offered full-time employment to recent college interns (Internships.com, 2012).
Between 2013 and 2014, 1.8 million bachelor's degreeearning students graduated (National Center for Educational Statistics 2013); four out of every five sought to land a full-time career (National Association of Colleges and Employers 2012). Gone are the days when a bachelor's degree was the ticket to full-time employment. "Students are realizing right now that they're in college in order to become marketable to corporate America" (Zmuda 2011). However, according to a 2013 survey, 63 percent of recent undergraduates thought they needed more experience and training in order to secure a career in their desired field (Haynie 2013). In fact,...