Every year, millions of college students graduate without ever having experienced the workplace firsthand. Employers demand experience, but when only 30% of college students complete an internship on an annual basis, what do those left on the outside looking in do?
That’s where Internship on Demand comes in. Launched in 2023, Internship on Demand is on a mission to bridge the gap between education and career. Workplace experience for first- and second-year college students in the form of Pre-internships, completed AHEAD of the traditional internship, provide students access to job readiness training and deep company exploration to drive better career success. With a network of over 100,000 college students from over 50 universities on its platform, Internship on Demand is scaling Pre-Internships as a meaningful on-ramp into opportunity.
“Internship on Demand was founded to make the internship process work for students everywhere. These Pre-Internships also help employers find the right hires that truly fit their organization,” shares Keegan Moldenhauer, Co-Founder and CEO. “Pre-Internships ensure careers start on the right foot for job-seekers and employers because we know how great the downstream impacts are.
”Ryan McKernan, Co-Founder and CTO, adds: “Pre-internships provide students with a risk-free, low-barrier opportunity to learn more about a real career and a real company. Students no longer have to wait three years and spend thousands of dollars to know if they like the path they’re on. For the millions of job titles labeled ‘engineer,’ ‘marketer,’ or ‘analyst,’ each role is completely unique to that industry and that company. Pre-Internships remove ambiguity from the application process altogether.”
For Students
Under the traditional career search process, the broad majority of college students face the impossible task of truly understanding their fit within an organization, team, or community without the firsthand experience that comes with an internship.
All Pre-Internships feature two distinct learning categories; foundational professional development, and company-specific skilling. Professional development curriculum instructs students on the foundational skills they need to be successful regardless of the role. For the second component, company-specific skilling, candidates build company-and role-specific skills and awareness through company-built learning modules and live networking sessions. This combined curriculum ensures candidates are more career ready and unique qualified, prepared, and networked into a select organization.
For Employers
“Pre-internships make companies more competitive,” says Ryan. “Building any early-career program from scratch is a heavy lift—most companies struggle to launch first- and second-year programs without a dedicated team and years of planning. With our software, teams can launch a high-impact program in weeks—no massive HR team required.
”Built to work for small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike, Pre-Internships function as the first step in their new talent pipeline. From speeding up sourcing and onboarding time with no more guesswork from just a resume, to increasing brand recognition and the number of high quality candidates, Pre-Internships through the Internship on Demand platform scale any hiring team. All this means companies can make smarter hiring decisions at a fraction of the cost of traditional recruitment methods.
For Career Centers
Internship on Demand fills a missing link in how career centers support a student’s career journey. As employers recruiting on campus typically focus on rising-seniors for internship roles, Pre-Internships give career centers an impactful, career-oriented solution for younger students to build real skills and connections. Career centers can also track a student’s experience, post-program outcomes, and engagement metrics for use in individual career coaching or broad strategic decision making.
The Impact
“With Pre-Internships, students gain real career exposure when they need it most while also learning today’s most in-demand skills,” asserts Keegan. College students who complete a Pre-Internship are TWICE as likely to land an internship compared to the national average and over 60% of pre-interns identify as a woman or a person of color, a massive win for students typically underrepresented in the internship landscape. Internship on Demand is shaping the future of hiring, starting in Milwaukee, growing across Wisconsin—and reaching far beyond.
