PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of engineering student interns, as well as the perceptions of internship supervisors.Design/methodology/approachThe study was designed to investigate internships as a complex social phenomenon in the field, through the use of an inductive qualitative design grounded in a naturalistic paradigm guided by theories of learning and socialisation. The researchers used semistructured interviews of 24 engineering student interns and 10 internship supervisors at various organisations.FindingsStudents reported varying levels of learning about how a company works and how to work with others in a professional environment as the results of their internships. The researchers found that students did not look for connections between the classroom and the workplace, making it difficult to apply skills from one setting to the other. Supervisors received very little training, if any, prior to supervising interns. They were unsure how much work students could handle during an internship and perceived that making sure students had a positive experience was part of their role. In addition, internship goals for companies and educational institutions did not necessarily align.Practical implicationsBoth students and supervisors would benefit from more formal preparation or training prior to the start of an internship. Educational institutions and companies would also benefit by collaborating to better understand each other's goals and coordinating student experiences to foster learning and positive outcomes.Originality/valueThis paper emphasises the importance of helping students understand the nature of work and the importance of developing relationships in the workplace.

The Problem. Recently there has been a growing interest to increase the number of people entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. One of the major problems with this "supply-side" model is that it sees STEM workforce development narrowly as one of inputs (recruitment) and ignores the practice of STEM work, which affects the retention of professionals in STEM careers. The Solution. Informed by recent research and theory on career development, we studied the work experiences of newly hired engineers in one organization. A key finding is that a major part of their experiences involved organizational work and social dynamics outside of what many considered to be "real" engineering work. We propose that these experiences provide important insights for the education and retention of STEM workers. The Stakeholders. Faculty in higher education that prepare STEM workers, managers in organizations that hire new STEM workers, and aspiring STEM workers.

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This descriptive study used an interview protocol developed by the Center for Creative Leadership with 50 college student leaders to determine what key developmental events young college leaders experience and the leadership lessons learned from these events.Students discussed 180 events and 734 lessons learned from them. Most events defined by students were challenging assignments, although events dealing with other people, coursework, and formal leadership programs were also mentioned. Top lessons included communication, self-identity, leadership identity, and developing leadership task and management skills. While many lessons could be learned in a variety of different ways, a number of challenging assignments stood out as important for learning certain lessons.