Did you know if a student accepts a full-time offer at Boeing after their summer internship the company will pay for next year’s tuition? Or that if NetApp hires a student after their summer internship they will send them monthly care packages throughout their senior year? The hiring market is competitive and employers are willing to go to great lengths to hire and retain top-notch talent.

The highly competitive atmosphere of today’s hiring pool is essentially a war for talent. Companies have to hire early and fast to get the 32.6% of students that start looking for work over three months before graduation.  Already 37.7% of large companies start recruiting interns over a year in advance. Talented interns (especially engineers) are in high demand. Every company needs bright, hardworking employees to help execute their business goals, and hiring recent grads early on is a critical part of building a pipeline of top talent.

Additionally in 2012, 69% of interns at companies with 100+ employees were offered full-time jobs.

Hiring interns as full-time employees isn’t just a great recruiting hack, it also impacts your company’s bottom line. According to College Mogul employers stand to save between $10,000 and $50,000 in tangible and intangible costs by hiring an intern as a full-time employee. And, one of the biggest cost-savers of converting interns in to full-time hires is the all-important stat of retention rate. Retention rates for interns-turned-full-time-employees are high—62.4% after five years compared to 48.1% for hires that came with no internship experience whatsoever.

So what’s the TL:DR version?

1. Hire smarter. If you have a talented intern in your company and a full-time role available, don’t wait until the summer ends to make them a formal offer.
2. Sweeten the deal. Offer students a signing bonus in exchange for an early commitment to your company. If you can’t compete with the compensation packages offered by large companies, offer other benefits like stock options and equity, access to your network and introductions to mentors or other industry professionals.
3. Don’t get discouraged. Awesome interns know other awesome interns. If your intern isn’t ready to commit or accepts an offer somewhere else, offer them a bonus for a peer-to-peer referral.

Whether you plan to woo potential full-time hires with schwag, fancy dinners or a simple call from your CEO, the time to begin hiring is now.

Ashley Mosley is the Community Engagement Manager at InternMatch, an online platform connecting the best intern candidates and employers. Connect with Ashley and InternMatch on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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