"More students are seeking internships than employers can fulfill," said John Carvana, director of the career services office for the University of the Pacific. "Employers have become a bit more selective in terms of their criteria."

Interestingly, it appears that the increase in demand by students for internships has increased the supply by employers of internship opportunities, which in turn has increased the number of students who are searching for internships. "Employers who haven't offered internships realize their competitors are getting a leg up, so they need to offer them as well," said Carvana.

In other words, if your organization has historically been able to recruit a high enough quantity and quality of recent college graduates to fill the needs of your hiring managers, then beware that your college hiring program may need to adjust its hiring practices. Why? Because the employer across the street hired those graduates a year or two ago as interns and extended offers for permanent employment upon graduation to those students upon their successful completion of their internship program. So the students that used to be available to you upon graduation are now been hired a year or even more prior to graduation by your competitors.

If the success of your organization is dependent upon the quality of your labor force (I can't think of any organizations that don't fit that description), then it is imperative that your college hiring program adjust with the reality of the times. Not only are employers hiring an increasingly large number of college graduates in an effort to bring in the next generation of leaders that will replace the retiring Baby Boomers, but those employers are increasingly turning to their internship programs as an inexpensive, temp-to-perm, solution for identifying the best employees amongst those college students and those organizations are extending permanent employment offers to those students months and often a year or even more prior to graduation. If your organization sits on the sidelines and watches this developing practice, then your organization will be doomed as the quality of your labor force will gradually wither and fade away.

Adjust. Adjust now.

Source: Campus Career Counselor