Thought Leadership
July 30, 2026
In an era defined by rapid technological shifts and changing workplace norms, early-career talent is no longer just a pipeline for future hiring – it’s a live testing ground for an organization’s adaptability. Yet too many companies still treat internships as a seasonal period of busywork designed to keep students occupied until they return to school.
That mindset is a missed opportunity. A successful internship program goes beyond hiring students for the summer. It’s about creating a meaningful experience that delivers value for both interns and the business.
As a talent acquisition leader, I've learned that the strongest internship programs don't begin with recruiting—they begin with workforce planning. Before you ever post a position, you need to understand where your business is headed, what work needs to be accomplished, and how early-career talent can meaningfully contribute. When done well, internships become more than a summer program. They evolve into a long-term talent strategy.
Over the past several years, Kaplan North America's internship program has undergone a significant evolution, delivering measurable business results while injecting innovative talent into our teams. Here are five lessons we've learned along the way.
Before launching your internship program, you need to define what you want it to achieve.
At Kaplan, we began by reviewing previous internship programs, speaking with hiring managers across the business, and researching what other successful organizations were doing. Those efforts helped us answer three important questions before recruitment even began.
How does the program fit into our long-term talent strategy? Determine what capabilities the business needs in the next 3-5 years, and whether the internship program can be used to develop those skills to meet the needs of the business
How can we partner effectively with managers? Ensure that the work interns engage in professional development opportunities and that every project has a measurable business outcome.
What is our strategy for institutionalizing feedback? To ensure the program evolves, ask how you will build feedback loops to enhance the program year over year and optimize outcomes.
For example, when managers indicated a need for faster course corrections, we moved midterm evaluations earlier in the program. Similarly, when we identified engagement gaps for remote interns, we implemented structured peer-to-peer networking sessions, a change that significantly improved our cohort cohesion."
The more work you do upfront, the stronger your program will be. Building an internship program without first understanding your business needs is like hiring before you've defined the job.
Whether an internship program is fully remote, hybrid, or in-office, engagement doesn't just occur naturally. It has to be designed and built into the program experience. To foster meaningful connections, we created opportunities for interns to:
Build relationships with executive leaders.
Participate in career development sessions.
Join structured networking events.
Collaborate informally in peer-to-peer discussions.
And to further help interns thrive, we established a support pyramid designed to guide them throughout their summer experience. This collaborative framework connects each intern with a hiring manager, success coach, and program manager, who provide dedicated guidance to ensure interns develop their skills, expand their knowledge, and increase their confidence throughout the program.
We also learned that the manager's experience is just as important as the intern's experience. Human Resources (HR) may facilitate the program, but managers shape the day-to-day experience. Investing in leaders and equipping them to coach early-career talent has been one of the biggest contributors to the program's success.
Internship programs are most successful when they're viewed as an important business initiative, not simply an HR or Talent Acquisition program.
At Kaplan, we're fortunate to have strong executive support. Our CEO, Greg Marino, began his own career with Kaplan as an intern, so he understands firsthand the impact these opportunities can have. Each year, he meets with our intern cohort to share his career journey and reinforce that internships can be the start of a meaningful career, not just a summer job.
While executive support is crucial for encouraging organization-wide participation, you must also embed mentors and advocates across different business units to ensure the program is embraced company-wide. When leaders actively prioritize the initiative, it creates a powerful trickle-down effect: managers become more engaged, mentors become more invested, and interns ultimately recognize that their work matters.
One of our guiding principles has been that internships should benefit both the student and the organization.
We ask managers to identify meaningful projects before interns begin, ensuring the work contributes to business objectives while providing opportunities for professional growth. Throughout the summer, interns develop new skills, collaborate across teams, and complete a capstone project to present to leaders. As one intern cited, the “End of Summer” project was a “highly meaningful assignment that forced them to collaborate cross-functionally and sharply improved their executive presentation skills.”
Our strategy of prioritizing project alignment has paid off. In 2025, 100% of our interns reported receiving meaningful work, and 100% confirmed they would recommend our program to a peer. This high level of satisfaction confirms that when interns are assigned work that truly matters to the business, they are more engaged and invested in the outcome.
From a recruiting perspective, internships are one of the few opportunities where you can evaluate talent over 10 weeks instead of a handful of interviews. Interns gain meaningful experience, while organizations gain a much deeper understanding of an individual's skills, work style, and long-term potential.
You can't prepare interns for the future of work without preparing them to work with AI. As artificial intelligence becomes a core part of how work gets done across industries, giving interns hands-on experience with these tools is now an essential part of their professional development. At Kaplan, we're weaving AI into the internship experience in a few key ways.
First, Kaplan fosters an AI-first mindset by providing interns with an ecosystem of support that includes dedicated AI workshops, AI learning days, and access to an internal resource catalog to encourage ongoing professional development. The AI Center of Excellence Workshop was specifically called out by interns as a favorite professional development event, underscoring the high demand for modern, AI system use-cases and risk training. Because data from Deloitte’s 2025 Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey shows that nearly half of Gen Z workers already use AI regularly, our goal isn’t just to introduce the technology. Instead, we look to empower digital natives with practical AI frameworks, real-life applications, and clear guardrails for responsible corporate use.
An internship program shouldn't end when the summer does.
Our goal has always been to build a program that can meet evolving business needs while remaining true to our mission of expanding education opportunities. We started with a manageable pilot cohort, gathered feedback throughout the experience, and used those insights to strategically evolve the program with every iteration. That foundation has allowed us to continue expanding while maintaining a high-quality experience for both interns and managers—an achievement recognized with the 2024 Campus Forward Awards, a premier award by RippleMatch recognizing early career and university standout programs.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I've learned is that internships aren't just about developing students—they're also an opportunity for organizations to learn. As one manager highlighted, “The learnings that I receive as a result of being engaged within this program have become invaluable to me. I enjoy learning from our interns just as much as I enjoy imparting advice.” Our interns challenge assumptions, bring fresh perspectives, embrace emerging technology, and help us better understand what the next generation of talent values in an employer.
At their core, internships are far more than summer programs; they are one of the most powerful investments an organization can make in its future. By bridging the gap between academia and the workplace, we cultivate talent long before a full-time role ever opens. It’s a strategy that builds stronger pipelines, elevates our teams, and creates a lasting win for students, managers, and the business alike.
Q: Where should we begin when building an internship program?
A: Begin with research and long-term workforce planning rather than just recruiting. Before posting positions, analyze your business needs for the next 3–5 years and determine how early-career talent can fill those gaps. Evaluate manager capacity for coaching and determine your strategy for "institutionalizing feedback" so the program can evolve year over year.
Q: How do we secure and maintain executive buy-in?
A: Move the internship program out of the "HR-only" silo. Position it as a critical business initiative. Secure executive sponsorship by having leaders participate (e.g., meet-and-greets or career journey talks). When leaders prioritize the program, it trickles down, ensuring that managers are more engaged and mentors are more invested.
Q: How do we ensure interns are doing "meaningful work"?
A: Work with managers to identify projects that contribute to specific business objectives before the program begins. Capstone projects are an excellent tool for this; they force interns to collaborate cross-functionally and sharpen presentation skills. When work is tied to business objectives, results are high: in 2025, 100% of our interns reported receiving meaningful work.
Q: How can we foster a sense of community for remote or hybrid cohorts?
A: Engagement must be designed, not left to chance. Build a "Support Pyramid" for every intern consisting of a hiring manager, a success coach, and a program manager. Beyond formal work, facilitate intentional touchpoints like networking events, coffee chats, and career development sessions to build relationships.
Q: Should we integrate AI into our internship program, and if so, how?
A: Yes. AI literacy is now essential for professional development. Foster an "AI-first" mindset by providing dedicated workshops, AI learning days, and access to internal resource catalogs. Focus on practical frameworks, real-life applications, and setting clear guardrails for responsible usage. Data shows that workshops on modern AI system use-cases are among the most requested professional development events.
Q: How do we measure success and refine our program?
A: Build feedback loops directly into your program timeline. Use surveys to measure satisfaction metrics—such as whether interns would recommend the program or felt their ideas were valued. Use this data to iterate; for example, if managers request faster feedback cycles, move midterm evaluations earlier in the program, or implement new frameworks to resolve engagement gaps.
Q: What is the "hidden" benefit of these programs for the organization?
A: Internships are reciprocal. They double as leadership training for your current employees. Managers and Success Coaches consistently report that participating in the program grows their own coaching and development skills. In 2025, 100% of our Success Coaches saw personal leadership growth through the program.
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