Samenvatting

The research ‘’Talent recruitment and internships according to students’’ has been conducted in assignment of the municipality of The Hague and in co-assignment of the International Community Platform (ICP) between June and November 2013. The research is part of the action program ‘’Geslaagd in het Vak’’ (‘’Succes in the field’’) 2012. The goal of the action program is to align the labour market and educational institutions.
The overall aim of this research is to identify the experience of students in higher education during their first formal encounters with the labour market, namely during an internship. A gap analysis is made on how the students have experienced their internship, which obstacles they encountered and what the ideal situation should look like. The main question of this research is: ‘’What are the required improvements regarding internship programs from a student’s perspective?’’
Desk research has been used to identify the outline and purpose of this research. The desk research consisted of policy documents, previous performed studies, reports, research papers, books and academic websites. Field research existed of an online questionnaire amongst (former) interns from higher education and (in-depth) interviews with educational institutions and international employers.
This research shows the experience of interns from the start (orientation) of their internship until the final phase (retention). The findings of the questionnaire show that a better network would have helped the interns in their orientation to the labour market and their search for an internship. Furthermore, the interns stated that intensified contact between their educational institution and their internship company would have improved the quality of their internship. Lastly, the interns would have liked to have stayed more in touch with their internship company or organisation, in order to expand their network and for the possibility of a future job.
Based on the results of the research, the following recommendations are made. Companies and organisations that are located in The Hague region should present themselves to the students during the early phases of study. This can help the students with their orientation to the labour market and enhances their awareness of the available companies and organisations. Another recommendation is to organise personal meetings at the beginning and at the end of the internship between the mentor from school, organisational supervisor and intern. These meetings will help to improve the quality of the internship and enhance the bond between the educational institutions and the organisation or company. The final recommendation is to organise annual alumni events at the educational institutions. At these events, the alumni can share their labour market experiences with students.