Internships may boost women’s marketing careers
Research conducted by Beyond Academy has found that over 16% of University of Leeds marketing alumni undertook internships at some point in their career, and that it appears to place a rocket booster under their career after graduation, especially for women.
Drawing on LinkedIn data, Beyond Academy sampled 61,000 of the University of Leeds alumni currently working in marketing to discover just how quickly an internship speeds up the average career. Comparing the 10,000 who had undertaken an internship to the remainder who had not, the analysis revealed:
To reach management:
AVERAGE: 5.9 years without internship, 3.8 with an internship
MEN: 5 years without an internship, 3.3 with an internship
WOMEN: 6.7 years without internship, 4.2 with an internship
To reach director/CEO level:
AVERAGE: 10.1 years without internship, 7.4 with an internship
MEN: 8.6 years without an internship, 8 with an internship
WOMEN: 11.6 years without internship, 6.5 with an internship
Women’s careers are being boosted at a faster rate than men’s
The most interesting thing about the figures is their relationship with women’s careers.
The gender pay gap is well-documented, and while it exists for many reasons, the truth is that women are still often discriminated against in the workplace. In fact, having children and staying with the same employer closely is ‘associated with a lower risk of downward occupational mobility and also with lower chances of progression’ (Source: Understanding Society).
Women graduates who have taken an internship can almost halve the time it takes to reach director/CEO level, even outpacing men, by doing an internship. Men can reach CEO level 8% faster by undertaking an internship, but for women, the figure rises to a staggering 78%.
In short, women have the chance to make up for lost time and fight downwards career progression by taking on an internship, reaching both managerial and director levels at a rate faster than women who haven’t.
Taking an internship leads to career success
We assume that internships can speed up someone’s career, but it’s stark to see the figures laid out in black and white. Internships have a material impact on the rate at which we progress our careers.
And while internships clearly give a boost to everyone, our figures suggest that interning can particularly help women overcome the natural biases against them in the workplace. That makes them a smart long-term investment for women in marketing.
Commenting on the results of the study, Dr. Helen Hughes, Associate Professor at the University of Leeds Business School and Academic Lead for Internships said:
"There is no doubt that internships offer tremendous value to students. Every year, returning students report a wide range of benefits to completing an internship – they come back with increased confidence and focus, and undoubtedly develop skills and competencies that are hard to refine or simulate in a purely academic setting.
However, the value of an internship is not universally experienced and depends on a range of factors, such as the employment sector, the length of the internship, the amount of organisational support and opportunity the student receives during the internship as well as the support they receive from their higher education institute, both in the run-up to the internship and afterwards in their final year of study.
While the benefits of undertaking an internship are clear, research is still needed to better understand these factors and the differential effects they have on students’ employability and career progression. If we can better understand these nuances, we can do more to target the support we offer to students so that internships boost employability and career development equally, across the board”
Adapted from a blog post, press release and infographics originally published by Beyond Academy. For more information, read the full report here.