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Interns ‘an Ideal Match’: Mid-Mich. Businesses Team with MSU to Give Students Options
Demmer Corp. executives have had a group of young advisers by their sides the past few years as they retooled their business.
The help for the Lansing manufacturer came in the form of interns from Michigan State University's supply chain management program.
“It was really powerful for the students and really powerful for us,” President William Demmer said. “It's just been an ideal match.”
Area economic development officials hope more companies follow that lead. Adding more internship opportunities would give students at area colleges more reasons to stay in Lansing after they graduate, advocates say.
That’s why Michigan State University and the regional Lansing Economic Area Partnership Inc. are prepping for their first local job and internship fair, dubbed Earn, Learn & Intern.
“We’re pushing local companies to show the students what’s available to them,” said Paul Jacques, MSU’s internship developer.
“A lot of (students) are coming to us saying, ‘I’ve got to go.’ We're saying, ‘No, you don’t. Look at all these businesses.’”
The Aug. 27 event aims to draw thousands of students to the Student Services Building on campus. It’s free for companies.
MSU already has worked with several area firms to create internship programs, Jacques said.
As the Lansing region's population ages, companies are going to face a shortage of talent, said Matt Dugener, president and chief executive officer of LEAP.
Creating an intern program is an easy way to connect to a pool of talented workers when jobs open, he said.
“When you have a great resource right in your own community and backyard, you don’t have to go outside and spend recruitment dollars all over the United States because you’ve got folks coming through the door,” Dugener said.
Hiring students as interns also helps bring them deeper into the community, exposing them to new neighborhoods and cultural attractions they might have missed on campus, he said.
Lansing’s Linking Lansing & U program has helped place more than 20 students in summer internships this year, said Caitlin Malloy, the program’s director. The fledgling effort also had 160 students signed up for a networking program to link them to entertainment and career options.
“It’s one thing to work in the area, but to reach out and show them other facets only doubles their interest in staying,” Malloy said.