Internships Provide Benefits For Students And Employers
Temps on the cheap?
That’s the impression many people might have of internships, in which college students do often-unpaid stints to gain experience and skills they hope will pay off when they enter the job market looking for full-time work.
But interns aren’t just making coffee runs and arranging the file cabinet. And not all of them are unpaid.
College administrators say they strive to place interns at companies where both sides will benefit equally. The intern will receive mentoring and training. And the companies get to accomplish side projects and other work while becoming become familiar with a person they may end up hiring in a few years.
Michael Stowe, a partner at Westborough accounting firm Stowe & Degon LLC, said the accounting interns he oversees each summer work in the firm’s audit department, where they visit clients alongside full-time auditors to learn the ropes.
“What we try to do is get them exposure to different industries and different-sized clients,” Stowe said.
The several interns who work there each summer are “pretty well paid,” he said.
And the firm extended job offers to two recent interns.
Employer-College Relations
It’s only February, but the career services departments at area colleges are in full swing, looking to pair students with companies near and far for the summer. They’re also overseeing spring semester internships that have began within the last few weeks.
Most have a stable of employers who take on interns and have done so for years. Sometimes, alumni who end up owning or working at an area company will take on interns from their alma mater.
Interns work in a wide range of industries — medical, nonprofits, accounting, entertainment and media, public relations and marketing, fashion, and insurance, to name a few.
Such apprenticeships are nothing new. But administrators who oversee the programs say they have taken on new importance for their students.
And colleges are encouraging students to do more than one, said Bethany Rossi, director of career services at Assumption College. “I think that it’s always been important, but I will share that we have even more of a focus on it now,” Rossi said.
Last spring, Assumption senior Erin Sullivan interned for celebrity chef Rachael Ray in New York City, where she was responsible for tasks ranging from food shopping to handling the boom microphone. On some days when it snowed and there weren’t enough attendees to fill Ray’s audience, Sullivan would take a seat in the audience to help make the stands look full.
Sullivan is also editor of Assumption’s student newspaper, Le Provocateur, so she wants to combine her writing skills with her newfound production skills.
“I’ve been kind of antsy,” Sullivan said. “I’m ready to get a job, but I just don’t know what it is.”
But she said learning how many behind-the-scenes jobs there are in television has given her hope.
Alexandra Bellerose, a fellow Assumption senior, interned at the Greater Worcester Chamber of Commerce last year.
A communications major, her internship focused on promoting events through social media and the chamber’s website. She said she knew an internship would be vital to finding work when she graduates.
“It’s a tough world to get into the job force,” Bellerose said. “I’m the oldest in my family, so I’m the one who will be setting the example.”
More Mandatory Than Optional
All area colleges tell their students about the importance of internships and experience, including the College of the Holy Cross, said Pamela Ahearn, who is associate director of career planning and oversees the summer internship program.
“You hear more and more that internships are no longer just a nice thing for students to have on their resume,” Ahearn said.
Because Holy Cross doesn’t give academic credit for most of its summer internships, most of the interns get paid, which keeps the school and the employers on the right side of federal labor regulations.
Last summer, 44 percent of Holy Cross interns were paid by their employers, Ahearn said, and most of the rest received stipends or grants through a combination of funding from alumni groups, endowments, businesses and other programs.
Colleges know the job market is competitive. Unemployment, even in Massachusetts’ relatively robust economy, remains high (6.8 percent in December), which raises the value of prior experience.
And for companies, some of which remain timid about hiring, internships are a good way to test future candidates, tackle long-ignored side projects and bring in fresh ideas.
Eye On Fresh Talent
Keeping a stream of potential hires moving through the firm is the biggest benefit Stowe & Degon gets from the arrangements, Stowe said.
The interns complete work and projects while at the firm, but what’s more important to the partners is trying to sniff out who might make a good employee after graduation.
“Their productivity and how much they help us is really not why we do it,” Stowe said. “It’s a tryout.”
Y.O.U. Inc., a Worcester-based nonprofit that provides services to children and families, treats internships similarly, said Beth Flanzbaum, assistant director of family services.
But she said the 60 graduate student interns the nonprofit takes on each year also do invaluable work that would be hard to complete otherwise.
“I think our personnel number is close to 600, so 60 interns is a significant chunk of our workforce,” Flanzbaum said. “Interns have a lot of energy and they also have a lot of really good questions they ask us. They help us in many ways to focus our thinking.”
She said employees sometimes go back to school for graduate degrees, then intern in more substantive roles at the nonprofit before being promoted to higher positions.
“It in some ways helps our employee retention, because it allows for professional growth among our staff,” she said.
-----------------------------------
Internships By The Numbers From Area Colleges
Here are a few statistics on internships involving students from these Worcester-area colleges and universities during the 2010-2011 academic year: Anna Maria College, Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Mass. College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Nichols College, Quinsigamond Community College, UMass Medical School, Worcester State University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
- There were approximately 17,500 placements of undergraduate and graduate students in some type of experiential learning during the 2010-11 academic year. (Some students were placed more than once.
- These students spent more than 1 million hours in the community.
- More than 1,480 organizations hosted students for a semester or full year; these included 730 nonprofits, 600 for-profits and some 150 municipal offices or public schools.
- Some 900 placements provided approximately 120,000 hours at 38 public schools in Worcester.
Source: Colleges of Worcester Consortium
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments