By: Jessica Bedore
View from the Bottom: From the desk of a Weidert Group Intern
My email inbox has recently been filled with inquires from fellow PR students who are wondering how I got my internship at the Weidert Group and what they can do to land an internship of their own. At UW Oshkosh, there are internship opportunities available for journalism and business majors, but there are still a lot of driven, motivated and ambitious students who haven’t discovered their perfect fit. These students are always looking for opportunities to gain much needed experience and they could be a huge benefit to your company. If you are an organization that doesn’t currently have an internship program, I encourage you to consider the advantages of creating one. Here are some of the reasons why you should think about adding us to your team:
We can increase your productivity. We sit in class everyday and learn the valuable skills needed to succeed in the real world and we are dying to get out there and use them. Unlike you, we haven’t yet experienced what it is like to have a “real” job, and any opportunity that we get we will most likely jump on. We will come into the job fresh, enthused and highly motivated to complete tasks in a timely matter.
We can help you establish new relationships. Whether you want them to or not, universities and other companies have a perception of that they think your organization is all about. Whatever that perception is can be very important when hiring college graduates, since that view of your organization is all that they have to base their opinions on. However, if you have an internship program, we will have to report back to our university about your company. If our time with you is successful then you will automatically have a good reputation on campus, thus, making more new grads want to apply for your openings.
We can support you during your busiest times. Unlike full time employees, we can start whenever you need us to, and we can be done when you want us to be done. If you know that the spring months are going to be a very busy time for your company, but you don’t have the time or the resources to recruit a new employee, consider hiring an intern. The experience will be a huge help to our resume and we won’t be mad if you don’t need us after three months.
We can make your employees become better leaders. Leadership is recognized as one of the most crucial qualities for employees to possess. Good leaders are more productive, produce higher quality work and will usually advance to higher positions within an organization. Although we probably won’t be developing a lot of leadership skills in an internship position, the employees that you designate as our supervisors will. Having an intern is a great way for employees who aren’t in management positions to gain these much-needed skills.
We can bring new ideas and skill sets. Through our education, we are learning the most cutting-edge techniques in the industry. For example, as a public relations student, many of my classes are focused solely on the use of social media in the business world. If your company is not as tech-savvy as some of your competitors, interns will be able to help you in this area. The same applies to other innovations in different industries. We will be coming to your company with the most up-to-date knowledge that is needed for success.
We can help you cut recruitment costs. A lot of time and resources are spent looking for, and hiring, a new employee. However, if you have an internship program, you will have a pool of past interns who would jump at the chance of being employed full-time by you post-graduation. There would be no need to spend time conducting multiple interviews either, because you would already know how we are as a worker. Plus, we know the past, present and future of the company so training and other orientation costs could also be waived.
Adding an internship program is a big decision, but as a motivated, enthusiastic and driven intern who was lucky enough to secure a great internship, I encourage you to think about hiring some of my colleagues! If you want more information about setting up an internship program, contact Weidert Group’s internship coordinator, Abby Gutowski at (920)-731-2771 ext. 224 or agutowski@weidert.com.
