The 8.2M vs 3.6M Gap: Why Students Can't Find Work Experience (And How to Fix It)

In today's rapidly evolving job market, we face a striking paradox: millions of students desperately need work experience, yet more than half can't access opportunities. The numbers tell a compelling story: fewer than 50% of college students complete internships, and 35% of "entry-level" jobs on LinkedIn require years of relevant work experience. How do we bridge this gap?

The Supply-Demand Mismatch

We don’t have a demand issue, we have a supply issue.? The Business for Higher Education Reform (BHER) recently published a study on Expanding Internships: Harnessing Employer Insights to Boost Opportunity and Enhance Learning .? The report says In 2023, 8.2 million learners wanted internships, but only 3.6 million had the opportunity. Of those opportunities, only 70% provided a quality experience for students.

We need to increase the supply of flexible, paid, work opportunities for students, whether those work opportunities fall into the category of apprenticeships, internships, or project based/gig work. The lack of accessible work opportunities hinders our ability to effectively build the talent pipeline of the future, especially in an era where a college degree is useful but no longer an endorsement for work readiness.

Efforts tend to focus primarily on the student perspective

In the work-based learning ecosystem, we tend to start with and focus on the student.

• Are students aware of available opportunities- ie: job boards?
• Do they have the right skills?
• Is their resume well-prepared?
• Can they answer interview questions effectively?

Certainly, more qualified students are better positioned to secure opportunities, but even the most skilled and knowledgeable students will struggle if there aren't enough opportunities to pursue.

Most job opportunities are posted on job boards, which create their own frustrating cycle:

1. Job boards require resumes
2. Resumes require work experience
3. Work experience requires job opportunities

This cycle often leaves students stuck at square one. How do you get work experience if no one will hire you because you don't have experience?

Employer Challenges Are Not Addressed

Apprenticeships, internships, and short-term gig work present challenges for employers, whether they are hiring students to get critical work done, evaluating future talent for full-time roles down the road, or both:

1. Difficulty in scoping work accurately, often resulting in poor outcomes
2. Challenges in creating step-by-step directions for tasks
3. Time-consuming process of finding and vetting talent
4. Extensive time required to manage students' day-to-day work
5. Complications in integrating students into HR systems for payment
6. Risk of having to restart the process if a student doesn't show up, drops out, or performs poorly

These time-consuming challenges often deter employers from creating more diverse work opportunities for students. It's simply too hard and time consuming- especially when you need to get your work done on a tight deadline.

The solution: The Power of Intermediaries

Ryan Craig , in his book "Apprentice Nation," emphasizes the importance of intermediaries in scaling apprenticeship programs. BHER also echoes the importance of intermediaries in engaging and helping employers reduce barriers to working with students. Not all intermediaries are the same. For example, a job board company could claim to be an intermediary. It's important to understand the capabilities of various intermediaries.

Companies like Work Simplr are filling this intermediary role for short-term/gig work, addressing the challenges faced by both students and employers.

For employers, support is provided at all levels:

1. Scoping Work: Collaborating with employers to define clear, manageable tasks for students.
2. Creating Detailed Directions: Breaking down work into manageable sprints with step-by-step instructions.
3. Finding & Vetting Talent: Work Simplr hires the students who have already been and matched to work.
4. Managing & Supervising: Overseeing day-to-day student work to ensure quality and timeliness.
5. Compensation & Administration: Handling payroll, compliance, and tax paperwork.
6. Scaling and replacing: The number of student workers flexes based on the scope of work so large projects are supported with larger teams of students to meet tight deadlines. If a student is not doing the work, another qualified student is assigned to the slot.

Work Simplr, for short-term gig work projects, is essential because they help companies identify suitable tasks for early-career workers, scope these tasks effectively, and ensure that students are adequately prepared for their roles. This type of help is valuable for all employers, but especially small to medium sized companies.

A one-to-many approach to project distribution

When people think about work or project distribution, it's typically a one to one relationship. One person to complete one project. Work Simplr thinks about work in a one-to many relationship. One project completed by many people.

For example, Work Simplr worked with an AI company to research 20,000 government jurisdictions. The data couldn't be easily or accurately scraped. Work Simplr hired 60 students to do the work which was completed in a month- 4 months earlier than if they had done it themselves.

In addition to the speedy delivery of accurate, thorough research, the AI company didn't have to find or vet the students, manage their daily work, or get everyone into their HR system for payment!

Work Simplr is redefining how work is productized and broken down in order to scale work more opportunities for more students.

Benefits for all stakeholders

Intermediaries are beneficial on the supply and demand side.

For Employers:

• Simplifies delegation, reducing time and effort.
• Achieves better outcomes through expert project scoping.
• Faster project completion by assigning multiple students to tasks, creating a one-to-many approach versus traditional one-to-one freelancing.

For Students:

• Eliminating the job board opens up opportunities for those without prior experience or resumes.
• Projects broken into 2-week sprints supports student success.
• Virtual work removes location barriers.
• Flexible scheduling to accommodate students’ routines.
• All work is paid, creating opportunities for diverse student populations.
• Breaking work from employers, creates more "slots" of work for more students

Moving Forward

To effectively build the talent pipeline of the future, we need to reimagine how we create and facilitate work opportunities for students. The traditional college degree alone isn't enough—we must provide practical, accessible pathways for students to gain real-world experience.

What are your thoughts on closing this massive opportunity gap? Has your organization found innovative ways to provide work experience for students? Let's continue this important conversation in the comments below.