Internships have become a ubiquitous component of the college-career transition, yet empirical evidence of the internship market is limited. This study uses data from 1.3 million internship postings collected between 2007-2016 in the United States to (1) identify trends in internship education, experience, and skill requirements over the Great Recession and recovery periods; (2) evaluate how these trends correspond to those observed in the traditional labor market; and (3) assess robustness across labor market sectors. Results indicate that internship education and skill requirements increased substantially throughout the recession and recovery periods, indicative of a longer-term structural shift in employer expectations about internship hiring. Additionally, growth in internship education and skill requirements largely outpaced growth in non-internship education and skill requirements over the same period, suggesting potential substitution of non-interns with interns. Post-recession employers still consider internships to be entry-level positions—yet now expect interns to have skills in hand.