Rethinking Internships: A Call to Action for Career Development Professionals

-By Lori A. Jazvac and Ksenia Lazoukova – 

Summer internships represent the gold standard for students and new graduates, offering hands-on training, networking opportunities, and a frequent gateway to full-time employment. However, economic pressures, shrinking budgets, remote work trends, and shifting employer priorities have fueled a sharp decline in traditional and paid internships. Students—particularly those from marginalized or low-income backgrounds—now face significant obstacles in accessing meaningful professional experiences.

Canada’s labour market is tightening. Statistics Canada reports that in April 2025, youth (aged 15–24) lost 28,000 jobs, driving their unemployment rate to 11.3%—nearly double the national rate of 6.9%—with 14.1% of youth out of work. Summer job postings have plunged by 22% versus the previous year—the steepest drop in over two decades—with roles like camp counsellors falling by 32%. This “employment traffic jam” means experienced temporary workers crowd out inexperienced youth.

Faced with these dynamics, career development professionals (CDPs) must reevaluate how they guide students and new graduates toward meaningful career preparation and employability.

Redefining “Experience”: Embrace Diversity

One of the most impactful shifts CDPs can foster is broadening the definition of experience. While internships still hold value, they are no longer the only pathway to career growth. CDPs can help students identify diverse experience-building opportunities through:

• Paid part-time or summer jobs in any sector
• Volunteering with non-profits or community organizations
• Leadership roles on campus—clubs, student government, peer mentorship
• Research assistant positions
• Personal or community-based projects
• Content creation: blogs, podcasts, YouTube, social media
• Online learning and certifications

As career practitioners, it’s crucial to guide students in articulating transferable skills—such as communication, leadership, teamwork, project management, and problem-solving—and weaving them into their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and interview narratives.

Entrepreneurial Mindset: Create Internships

With fewer traditional internships available, students are carving out their own prospects and rethinking internships. CDPs can support this entrepreneurial shift by encouraging activities like:

• Freelance work: Graphic design, writing, coding, tutoring—through platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or via local outreach
• Micro‑ventures: Starting small e-commerce initiatives, coaching services, or creative side projects that show business acumen
• Project-based services: Partnering with small businesses, startups, or nonprofits to complete short-term assignments
• Passion projects: Blogging, podcasting, or showcasing a YouTube/social presence to build communication and marketing skills

These endeavours reveal adaptability, confidence, resilience, and real-world problem-solving—qualities employers value in today’s shifting labour market.

CDPs as Career Agility Coaches

CDPs are essential facilitators in this new landscape. Here’s how we can empower clients:

1. Expanding Awareness: Promote diverse experience pathways and debunk the myth that internships are the sole route to success.
2. Network Building: Teach strategies for informational interviews, outreach, and relationship‑building that can drive mentorship and hidden opportunities.
3. Career Experiments: Design low-risk, short-term “tests” in different work styles, industries, or roles.
4. Self-Marketing: Translate non-traditional experiences into strong brand marketing portfolio tools—customized resumes, LinkedIn, interviews, biographies, networking resumes, and website portfolios.
5. Financial Literacy: Educate clients on balancing income needs and budget management while building their early careers.

Supportive Canadian Resources

Canadian CDPs have diverse tools to support alternative pathways for students or new graduates:

• Riipen and Parker Dewey: Facilitate micro-internships—project-based work that mirrors internship experience
  • Riipen – an experiential learning platform connecting students, educators, and employers through real-world industry projects:
  • Parker Dewey – a micro‑internship platform allowing employers to evaluate early‑career talent via short-term, real project engagement:
• Leading Campus entrepreneurship centres/incubators: Provide mentorship, resources, and funding. Examples:

• DMZ, Toronto Metropolitan University – one of the top university-based business incubators – has helped over 700 startups raise more than $1.7 billion in funding.
• Velocity, a program of the University of Waterloo, the largest free startup incubator globally, offers prototyping labs and business mentorship.
• Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), University of Toronto, a global accelerator supporting science-based ventures with mentorship and capital.
• MaRS Discovery District, Toronto, North America’s largest urban innovation hub, provides tailored resources for startups across various sectors.
• McGill’s Dobson Centre, ranked among the top five university business incubators globally, offers entrepreneurial support.

• Volunteer Canada: Offers curated volunteering placements with career relevance
• Local business associations and chambers: Ideal partners for project-based collaborations. Example: Canadian Chamber of Commerce
• Online platforms: Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and edX offer widely recognized free skills training. Udemy and LearnFormula offer cost-effective, micro courses to help professionals develop critical skills, including job search.

Connecting students to these resources can level the experiential playing field, regardless of financial background.

Supplementary Strategies: Resumes, Interviews, Networking & Side Hustles

Though traditional internships are dwindling, CDPs can continue to help with targeted strategies:

• Resume & Cover Letter Optimization: Tailor messaging to highlight unique strengths and achievements relevant to specific sectors.
• Interview Preparation: Host mock interviews, coach on behavioural techniques like CAR (Challenge‑Action‑Results), and develop complex problem-solving responses.
• Networking: Leverage alums, mentors, and industry connections to reveal hidden job markets, where approximately 80% of opportunities reside.
• Exclusive Leads: Tapping into employer partnerships, volunteer roles, and government-supported placements can develop marketable skills and yield paid opportunities.

Government-supported programs for paid roles include:

• Ontario Internship Program (OIP): Offers recent graduates a one-year paid developmental opportunity in the Ontario Public Service.
• Venture for Canada Internship Program: Provides students with entrepreneurial work experiences at Canadian startups.
• Government of Canada’s Post-Secondary Co-op/Internship Program: Facilitates co-op placements in various federal departments.

Entrepreneurial & Side‑Hustle Options

In today’s competitive internship market, remote side hustles offer students and new graduates a flexible way to gain experience and translate skills or passions into profit. As tech and AI tools evolve, these opportunities—especially passive income streams—are becoming more popular. Key options in 2025 include:

Digital & Remote

• Digital marketing/social media management – For instance, leading digital marketing platforms, such as Royale Business Academy, offer a complete launchpad for building and scaling a profitable business with innovative tools and strategies, training, resources, and a community with 50K+ members needed to succeed in today’s competitive market.
• Freelance writing/copywriting ($20–$50+ per article) – remotejobs.io, FlexJobs, freelancer.com, Remotive, LinkedIn, Indeed, Remote.co, ProBlogger, and others
• Virtual assistant tasks and transcription
• Online tutoring/mentoring ($20–$50+/hr) via platforms like Tutor.com, Preply, Wyzant, MentorCruise, and others.
• Graphic design/template creation using tools such as Canva or Playground.com
• Selling digital products (e-books, digital planners) via Etsy or Gumroad
• Affiliate marketing/blogging/content creation
• App/web development, dropshipping, print-on-demand via Amazon.ca

Local & In‑Person

• Reselling/flipping goods online
• Pet sitting, dog walking, and grooming
• Landscaping, house sitting, babysitting
• Photography/videography gigs

Starter Strategy

1. Select 1–2 side hustles aligned with skills and interests.
2. Set up online profiles (Fiverr, Upwork, Kijiji) or post local free ads.
3. Build a simple portfolio or landing page.
4. Pilot the side hustle, collect feedback, and refine your approach.

💡 Tips for success: test early, use tools like Canva/ChatGPT/Trello, set SMART goals, track time and income, and monitor tax obligations.

Looking Ahead: Lifelong Career Resilience

Even as internships decline, this shift is an opportunity to rethink internships. The world of work is evolving: traditional careers are fueling portfolio careers, gig work, remote roles, and continual upskilling. CDPs can help students use creativity and initiative to forge their paths through side projects, entrepreneurship, and micro‑experiences, laying the foundation for ongoing adaptability.

In a volatile economy, the ability to self-start, learn, rebrand, pivot, and add value across contexts is the ultimate “experience.”

By expanding our understanding of “experience,” championing self-created opportunities, and leveraging resources—including side hustles, volunteering, skill-building, and government supports—CDPs can guide students and new graduates toward rewarding, robust career trajectories. Essentially, the decline of traditional internships marks the beginning of professional development, empowering scholars to proactively build diverse, self-directed experiences that foster career adaptability, creativity, and long-term resilience.

Join the Conversation

CPC members, please attend the Academic SIG Panel session, The Experience of the International Student, on September 22, 2025, from 1:00–2:00 PM (EDT).