In boardrooms and break rooms alike, one topic keeps resurfacing: the future of the workforce. Employers are struggling to find candidates with the right mix of skills, adaptability, and readiness to thrive in fast-changing environments. Yet one of the most powerful solutions remains largely untapped—early work experiences for high school students.

Creating space for youth internships and jobs may seem like a short-term lift, but for employers, it’s a long-term strategy. These aren’t just developmental opportunities for young people—they’re investments in your future talent pipeline. And the return can be significant.

Here’s why you, as an employer, should seriously consider creating or expanding high school internship programs.

1. You Build a More Hirable, Future-Ready Workforce

It’s easy to think of internships as a way to give back. But the real opportunity lies in shaping the talent you’ll eventually need. High school students who get early exposure to the workplace gain real-world skills before they enter postsecondary education or the job market full-time. That makes them more work-ready, more confident, and more competitive when they return to apply for jobs in your company—or your industry.

A 16-year-old who interned at your logistics firm or nonprofit may return from college with greater technical fluency, communication skills, and a clear understanding of your operations. Instead of starting from scratch, you’ve already trained a future employee who knows your culture and mission.

Compare this to hiring a recent graduate with no prior work experience. Who’s more prepared? Who ramps up faster? Who sticks around longer? The answer is often the young person you gave a shot to early.

2. You Help Develop the Soft Skills Everyone’s Talking About

Ask any hiring manager what today’s workforce is missing, and you’ll hear the same refrain: soft skills. Reliability. Teamwork. Initiative. Communication. These aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re essential to productivity and workplace cohesion.

Yet schools can only teach these skills to a point. Real growth happens in real environments—where expectations are clear, stakes are real, and feedback is immediate.

That’s where you come in.

By hosting high school interns or youth employees, you provide the environment where soft skills are not only learned, but lived. You teach what it means to show up on time, speak professionally, receive feedback, and manage responsibilities. And you build habits in young people that will pay off across industries and careers.

You’re not just filling a role for the summer—you’re shaping someone’s professional identity. That’s a long-term win for every future employer, including you.

3. You Unlock Untapped Talent and Expand Opportunity

Talent is everywhere. But opportunity isn’t.

Many high school students—especially those from underrepresented or low-income backgrounds—never get the chance to explore careers in fields like tech, finance, healthcare, or engineering. They don’t see people who look like them in those roles. They don’t know what paths are available. And they don’t get the early exposure that can spark a lifetime of ambition.

By opening your doors to youth interns, you disrupt that pattern.

You give students a seat at the table—often for the first time. You show them that they belong. And in doing so, you tap into talent that might otherwise be overlooked or lost to another industry.

From a business standpoint, this matters. The companies that invest in diverse, homegrown pipelines now will have a stronger, more adaptable workforce tomorrow.

What You Can Do Today

Creating a youth internship program doesn’t require a huge investment. Start small. Create a SchooLinks account to connect to your local districts or engage with your local workforce boards on ways to get plugged in. Here are a few ways to get started: 

1. Offer shadow days, invite students as interns to shadow and support work of employees. Allow them to delegate smaller tasks and 

2. Create seasonal positions Is someone in your office going on leave or do you have a particularly busy season? Bring in an intern to offset additional burden and administrative tasks. 

3. Project-based internships When faced with a larger scale project and your teams are stretched, bring in a temporary intern to shadow and learn how to keep things moving. 

You can post all of these opportunities in SchooLinks where both students and districts can find and learn more about you! Interested in further support, join a webinar to learn more about how you can bring impact to your local community and your organization by connecting on SchooLinks.