“Interns at the best summer internship programs become highly sought after employees, and they provide the companies with a valuable source of profitable growth. The study surprisingly discovered that internship programs at these champions are a powerful source of high value-add job creation.”

Selection Criteria - The 2011 best summer internships were selected based on having extraordinarily high value-add training programs, strong brand building successes, extensive benchmarking and best practice processes, and outstanding key performance indicator (KPI) management. Selection criteria were also in part based on how these programs excelled in teaching their interns what can be described as the “eight Ps”: persistence, problem-solving, positive-attitude, perseverance, productivity, people skills & networking, planning, and prioritization.

Selection Metrics - The study utilized ten KPIs during the selection process. As an example, the best internships provide 40 hours of high value-add formal intern training, compared to the woeful lack of formal training offered by the average internship program. Eighty-four percent of new hires at the best companies were previously interns, compared to 20% at the average for-profit intern programs, and 10% at the average nonprofit internships. From 2003 to 2008, the number of interns per program increased 40% at the best global for-profit internships, compared to 10% at the average for-profit intern programs, and 8.4% at the average nonprofit internships.

New Standard of Excellence for Study - The selection process used by J-InterSect sets a new standard of excellence for studies of its kind by using primary research including – importantly – in person interviews and statistical analysis to verify rigorously the validity of the questionnaire responses. Total interview hours exceed 200 hours. Over 75 highly regarded internship programs were initially evaluated, and approximately 25 internship programs managers were interviewed. The J-InterSect spokesperson commented:

“The study sets a new standard of excellence in its quality of research and analysis of summer internship programs and is vastly superior to the current best-in-class.”

This 15 month study included over ten J-InterSect professionals, and contributions from over 100 sector professionals within J-InterSect’s Global Network. The work included: extensive field research and interviews with leading sector professionals, a confidential 34 question survey, and critical analysis of historical data and extant sector research. Research included analysis of over 500 documents from a wide-range of sources, spanning the past ten years.

The J-InterSect study differs greatly from and is vastly superior to the current best-in-class in ranking summer internship programs. Each of the three most recognized rankings -- The Vault, Businessweek, and Intern Alert -- relies on superficial surveys of a broad number of internship programs. They are devoid of critical research and analysis. And, they make no pretense of the absence of value-added input from the sector’s most highly regarded leaders.

For detailed highlights on the J-InterSect study, see: www.jintersect.com/jobcreation
For additional information contact: Mark Ogan at mogan@jintersect.com. +1.202.449.9600. J-InterSect, 1629 K Street, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20006.

J-InterSect (JIS) is a global performance improvement company at the nexus of the commercial and social sectors. JIS is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices worldwide. JIS products and services create high value-add, high return on resources, and high impact (the "3-Highs").