The Real Reason Most Tech Internships Fail—And What The Best Ones Do Right

Young coworkers walking down corporate hallway By Kimberly Wilson ·Updated July 22, 2025 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Summer internship season may be winding down, but it’s never too late to learn what top companies are doing to keep the creme de la creme talent that they worked so hard to recruit (and how you can apply it to your own company if you’re on the hunt to secure the next generation of talent).

Thankfully, Rewriting the Code—the largest network of women in tech with over 35,000 members—just dropped research that has companies rethinking how they approach internships… just in time for National Internship Day on July 31,

They surveyed more than 600 women who wrapped up summer internships in 2024, and what they found should honestly worry every HR department. Turns out (to no one’s surprise but the companies themselves), that most companies are getting it wrong when it comes to internships. The good news? There’s a clear playbook for fixing it.

The research breaks it down into three factors that make or break whether an intern will stick around. Here’s everything you need to know.

Companies are leaving money on the table.

This should come as no surprise, but when interns don’t have access to basic resources like clear project timelines, system tutorials, or networking opportunities, only 45% want to come back. But give them just one of these resources, and suddenly you see a significant jump in return offer acceptance.

Companies that get it right and provide all the structured support see 92% of their interns ready to return. That’s not just good for the intern, but also makes a world of a difference for talent acquisition budgets (because at the end of the day, what makes dollars, also makes sense!).

“My internship was a valuable experience where setting clear expectations with my manager from the start proved essential. Regularly clarifying next steps and ensuring all questions were answered helped keep me on track,” one intern shared in the survey.

The math here is simple. You’re already spending thousands recruiting and onboarding interns. Why not spend a little more to actually keep them?

The mentorship problem nobody talks about.

The mentorship findings might be the most eye-opening part of this whole report. Three-quarters of interns with supportive mentors walk away more confident about pursuing tech careers. Compare that to only half of those with unsupportive mentors, and you start to see the real impact.

And it’s not just about having a mentor, but how often you actually connect. Interns who had regular weekly check-ins were 21 percentage points more likely to accept return offers. Because what’s the point of even having a mentor if you never get face time with them, or actually spend time learning and growing?

And we see it all the time. Most mentors, specifically if they’re a part of an organized mentorship program, are phoning it in. That’s not to say they don’t care, but most of the time they’re overcommitted (speaking as someone who has personally experienced this). “Whenever I had a question, [my mentor] would tell me to Google it or use ChatGPT,” one frustrated intern reported. That’s not mentorship, but a missed opportunity to really make an impact on the next generation of talent. The survey found that while 67% of interns felt supported by their mentors, that leaves a third feeling hung out to dry.

Feedback is the missing piece.

Think your company’s doing enough? The third and final piece of the findings says otherwise. Interns receiving regular feedback from mentors, managers, team members, and coworkers had a 94% return offer acceptance rate. Nearly everyone wanted to stay.

Even more, 83% of those getting comprehensive feedback felt more certain about their tech careers. The ripple effect is shaping the entire industry pipeline.

“I honestly love how my manager encourages us to share our ideas even if we challenge his own since he prefers receiving honest feedback to propel the business forward instead of yes-men,” noted one satisfied intern.

When internships actually work.

This research comes with receipts. Madeline Gupta landed her first-ever internship at Zillow through RTC connections and parlayed that into a software engineer role at Google starting this fall. Paula Sefia discovered Liberty Mutual through RTC and is now completing her second summer with them. Sheryal Sharma used RTC’s interview prep resources to land a TradeWeb internship after applying to over 300 positions.

Proof that when internship programs actually work, they can change the whole trajectory of someone’s career.

The blueprint that’s already working.

Companies implementing even one element of RTC’s three-pillar approach saw 37% higher return offer acceptance rates. That’s because the formula is straightforward. If you have structured resources, consistent weekly mentorship, and feedback from multiple sources, everyone wins!

Some forward-thinking companies are already adapting their programs based on early access to this research. The competitive advantage is clear that even in a tight talent market, the organizations that nail the internship experience will have first dibs on the best emerging talent.

Why this matters now.

Companies that act on these insights while their competitors are still running outdated programs will build stronger talent pipelines. With 72% of surveyed interns overall willing to accept return offers, there’s massive room for improvement. 

So here’s the question for companies: are you building the kind of internship experience that interns want to run from—or the kind they’re excited to come back to?

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