The Effectiveness of Internships and Self-Confidence on Work Competence and Career Readiness via Achievement Motivation

Abstract

The development of the world of work in the Society 5.0 era requires higher education graduates to have adequate work competence and career readiness, while the Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 39% of core skills will change and a Cengage Group (2025) survey found that 48% of graduates feel unprepared to enter the workforce. A similar phenomenon was found among internship students of the Management Study Program, Faculty of Economics, Universitas MH Thamrin, who perceive their competence and self-confidence as not yet optimal despite completing an internship. This study aims to analyze the effect of internship program effectiveness and self-confidence on work competence and career readiness, with achievement motivation as an intervening variable. A quantitative approach with a saturated sampling technique was used on 66 internship students; data were collected through a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that internship effectiveness and self-confidence have a positive and significant effect on work competence, career readiness, and achievement motivation, and that achievement motivation significantly affects work competence but not career readiness. Achievement motivation is proven to mediate the effect of both independent variables on work competence, but not on career readiness. This study recommends strengthening internship mentoring and including other career-readiness variables in future research.