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January 22, 2007

Intern power | Companies and students alike reap the benefits of well-run internship programs

Internships are conceptually perfect. An aspiring, ambitious and moldable intern works for free ˆ— or nearly free ˆ— in exchange for experience. A company hiring an intern saves money while reaping the benefits of eager productivity, especially if that intern has a bit of talent and a good dose of youthful energy. A flawless and profitable partnership in theory, the internship seems as if it should have been a commonplace business practice forever.

So it comes as something as a surprise to hear educators, students and hiring managers alike say the internship is having a burst of popularity these days, with increasing numbers of companies taking advantage of young people lining up to add multiple internships to their resumes.

"I think the difference is that not only are companies doing it more, but it enhances their bottom line," says Cathy Marquez, an assistant director at the University of Maine career center in Orono. "We are seeing it more, and a little more informally with smaller companies. Also, [college and university] faculty are, as a general rule, pushing internships more than I remember in the past."

Today's interns don't follow the old cliché of a hapless drudge forced to file papers and fetch coffee ˆ— or, more likely these days, format Excel spreadsheets and brew organic tea. Instead, internships are like temporary professional excursions into companies asking for a high level of return from students they train and mentor. And all the while, those companies dangle in front of the students the chance at full-time employment.

For Sara Sharkey, her internship was plenty worthwhile. The 2004 Middlebury College graduate left a job in Boston in 2005 to start an internship with the VIA Group, a marketing firm in Portland. "In two months, I saw the inner workings of the company," she says. "I saw what it was, not just the face they put to the public, so I could make a decision about my personal career with a lot of confidence." At the end of her internship, Sharkey took a full-time job in the company's human resources department.

There is a confluence of factors behind the internship revival, which in Maine is more anecdotal than statistically documented. First, as firms experiment with and then experience success with their interns, they're more likely to invest in their internship programs. Also, as the number of college graduates grows, students are getting the message that they must sharpen their skills and gain workplace knowledge to better compete for desirable jobs.

In the past, "you just needed that college degree" to get a job, says Kevin Hamilton of the Student Conservation Association, a volunteer-based organization that places high school and college-age interns with organizations like the National Park Service, Nature Conservancy, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Now a college degree by itself [only] puts you on a level with many other people," and internships can be a key point of differentiation. SCA annually employs around 2,500 interns for its conservation programs, a huge increase from the original 53 volunteers sent into two national parks in 1957.

Hamilton says that over the last few years, SCA has stepped up its requirements for interns. Whereas eagerness and a solid commitment to a summertime job were once the only necessities for an applicant, SCA recruiters, as well as the organization's agency partners, are demanding higher levels of expertise from their undergraduate and graduate students. "Botany, hydrology, GPS mapping skills, laboratory research," Hamilton says, listing some of the preferred areas of expertise. "Everything is more sophisticated, including education in high schools and colleges. We're all seeing an elevation of expectations."

From intern to employee
The VIA Group recently restructured its internship program to better use the skills of students. The company offered internships to 16 people in 2006, a number the company says is considerably higher than in recent years. "With the growth that VIA has experienced over the last several years, it made good business sense for us [to] expand our talent pool," says Paula Fox, VIA's chief human resources officer. Having college students on staff, Fox adds, "is also a critical benefit to our clients who are trying to reach the college market."

The company restructured its internship program to better familiarize its interns with the organization's structure and to give them a sense of how the entire agency works. When interns first arrive, they are assigned to one of the company's departments, such as creative, strategy or human resources. But the intern's experience isn't limited to that one department; instead, the program builds into its schedule time for the intern to meet with each of the other department heads. At the same time, each intern is assigned a mentor who is in daily contact with the student and can help with any questions or problems.

At Procter & Gamble, which has a plant in Auburn, Human Resources Director Rick Malinowski says his company has in the past five years put more emphasis on its engineering internship program because of its value in the recruitment process. The interns ˆ— up to three are brought in each summer ˆ— are guided, mentored and encouraged to accomplish professional-level projects. In return, "they get exposure to our culture," Malinowski says, while practicing real-world applications of their engineering knowledge rather than class-based theoretical ones. Last summer, for example, an intern modified a piece of production equipment, a change that has been instituted throughout the entire plant. That project helped land the intern a job at the facility after he graduates this spring.

Malinowski likens an internship to a three-month-long interview with a job candidate. Because the company hires 70%-80% of its interns, it is helpful for a student and the company to do a trial run, he says. Many of the interns hired by the company are University of Maine students, Malinowski adds.

Increasing the expectations for interns is a trend at many other companies, too. "I have absolutely heard students who said they were running errands for the top brass and getting coffee," says James Westhoff, the assistant director of career services at Bowdoin College. "But for the most partˆ… I am seeing more project-based internships than ever before." Westhoff also gives advice to businesses on how to develop appropriate and challenging internships for students. (For more, see "Calling all interns" below.)

The most competitive internships are, as expected, in some of the most competitive fields, including advertising, publishing and the arts. But Kristin Talka, assistant director for career services at Colby College in Waterville, says she also is seeing students pursuing many non-traditional internships in areas like jewelry making, antique dealing, biomedical field research, social and community development, and organic farming. "They think outside of the box," Talka says. "They are more willing to expand the boundaries. It's especially true of the current generation. Each upcoming generation, they are more sophisticated, not just technology-wise."

Shuja Masood, a 2006 University of Maine graduate with a degree in business administration and marketing, is now working at Portland Research Group following his summer internship. He says he had to earn the trust of his colleagues at the small firm, first by starting with smaller tasks and working up to more thoughtful statistical projects.

Although Masood was lucky ˆ— his first post-college internship led to a job ˆ— he points out that internships allow students uncertain about their career paths to test different fields. "My internship reinforced what I wanted to do," Masood says. "Instead of a full-blown commitment, if you're not sure what you like, you try the internship."

Once an intern herself, Sharkey now helps recruit interns for VIA, a task she says gives her a lot of satisfaction. "I was just out of college, without a lot of experience," she says of her first encounter with VIA. "It meant a lot to me to be given a chance to prove myself here, and the more kids I can give that opportunity to, the better I feel."

Calling all interns

So you want to use some of the skills and wizardry of the much-touted 20-something generation but don't know where begin?

James Westhoff, the assistant director of career services at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, says the first place to go is The Internship as Partnership: A Handbook for Businesses, Nonprofits and Government Agencies. The guide, published by the National Society for Experiential Education, includes the basics of setting up and monitoring internship programs.

Employers also can tap career counselors at local colleges and universities for advice. "If you don't have a plan, structure, or someone to mentor that intern, it can be not as productive as an employer would hope," says Cathy Marquez, an assistant director at the University of Maine career center in Orono "It does require some advance planning."
Other points to consider:

1. The starting point
Kristin Talka at Colby College says company managers might begin by contacting their alma maters to post internships on colleges' online internship and job boards. At the same time, they also can post an internship online at the company's website. Talka suggests assigning this task specifically to one person in the company who is willing to keep in touch with local universities to advertise internship opportunities.

2. The details
Decide whether the internship is full- or part-time, and with or without pay. It's also helpful to have an idea about whether the internship might lead to employment with the company, or if it's meant to be more of an experiential opportunity for a student.

3. Who's the boss?
Assign a supervisor to mentor the intern. "The number one point is supervision. It is key," Westhoff says, adding that supervisors should meet regularly with interns, be available to answer questions or solve problems, and also keep an eye on the intern's projects.

4. The contract
Create what Westhoff calls a "learning contract" that outlines what interns are expected to accomplish during the internship and what they should gain from completing the internship.

5. A break from the ordinary
Assign the intern real work assignments as much as possible. "It is more quality versus quantity, with more real hands-on experiences than administrative duties," Talka said. "These are expected pieces of them, but we ask that it is not the only thing students do."
Rebecca Goldfine

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