LinkedIn knows what you did last summer. It might know if that internship will lead to a job

Every fall, university career centers are packed with students seeking advice about how to score internships. But LinkedIn might give you much better advice, thanks to its huge pile of internship data.

Today LinkedIn published a blog post containing research on which industries have more internship opportunities and which of them are more likely to convert internships into full-time jobs.

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Sitting on top of a data trove, LinkedIn can’t help mining it and coming up with new features that, at least according to a recent VB Insight report, impresses the sales industry. Its data-driven Sales Navigator service helps sales people identify and follow key contacts for the sales process. LinkedIn also launched University Pages, to help high schoolers make more informed decisions about college applications. And now LinkedIn is back at it, this time with some information that college students could find useful.

The new research suggests that some industries have a lot of internship opportunities, such as public relations and communications, museums, international affairs, and sports. Some industries barely have internship opportunities, such as education management, fitness, and supply chain and logistics.

But intern retention rates vary from one industry to another. It’s 59 percent for accounting, 33 percent for oil and energy, and 19 percent for tourism.

Based on the research, LinkedIn offers some job-hunting advice.

If your dream industry is in the top half of the chart, find an internship, and it will help you one way or another. If your dream industry is in the bottom left part, as is the case for venture capital and private equity, it means your industry probably doesn’t rely on internships to source full-time employees. Sorry, but you’ll need to bone up on your networking skills. If your preferred industry is in the bottom right quadrant, internships are especially competitive — but once you get in the door, but you’re likely on the road to a solid job. So prepare for a fierce battle for that internship.

And even if you’re lost in life and unsure what to do with yourself, LinkedIn has you covered. If you are just interested in internships because every one of your friends is doing something for the summer, go for an industry in the top half of the chart. If you want to find a job right after college, pay more attention to the right half.

And you can take heart in this advice. It’s all based on “over 300 million LinkedIn member profiles,” Sohan Murthy, a research consultant at LinkedIn, wrote in the blog post.