When creating an internship program, where do you "store" the interns after 5 PM and before 9 AM? This may seem to be an odd question to most but to companies recruiting from outside the region it is one that they need to address on a very regular basis.

Survey after survey tells us that one of the easiest ways to attract talent is through valuable and enjoyable internship opportunities. If a student interns in your region it is very likely that they will look to that region after graduating. Professional networks are formed, friends are made, and general knowledge is gained on the positives and negatives of their temporary home region. But what is a company to do when the student has never been to the region before and does not have an easy housing solution for the three or so months that their internship will last? Extended stay hotels, random apartment complexes, and some local college dormitories have been used in the past but I think that we could do better.

Imagine a scenario where a currently empty building (located by public transportation of course) is configured to house local interns and is available for rent by the month. Just think about the impression our region would make when an intern arrives to find a fully furnished flat and is surrounded by other like-minded individuals for the next several months. Coordinating activities (sports, group outings, etc.) would be a breeze and local businesses would see added value knowing that their intern is getting a crash course in the region and networking with other young talent after work.

How can we pay for this? Several revenue streams jump out at me; student rental fees, employer fees, general advertising/sponsorships, and leasing space to businesses aimed at college-age individuals (Mac, Test Prep, etc.). Also, the headache that an internship manager goes through to find housing may convince them to "reserve" a room in advance and pay a premium for this privilege.

Thoughts or comments? Anyone interested in moving this idea forward?

Enjoy,
Bob

Today I attended the Collaboration Technology and Engaging the Campus conference sponsored by Case Western Reserve University and a slew of other great organizations. The entire conference was available in Second Life and streamed live on the net: cool!

Throughout the entire conference I found myself chatting with old and new friends on in what ways web 2.0 could be incorporated into whatever it is that we are all currently up to. This ranged from the CIO of an institution of higher education to program managers for an association of businesses. The common realization across all of these groups is that there are plenty of ways that web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into our current efforts. From creating a group within LinkedIn to "connect" our colleagues, to creating a Facebook group to share information with a particular group of individuals, or to re-creating our physical presence in Second Life so others that may not be within our region can participate in the dialogue of our projects.

Web 2.0 tools are extremely valuable when recruiting young talent and are necessary if you are going to stay on the minds of individuals who view the Internet as an extension of themselves. If you're already utilizing these tools in your efforts I'd love to hear about your successes and challenges. If you're not currently using these tools I am curious as to why you have not yet incorporated them into your "toolbox". I'd love to hear your input.

Enjoy,
Bob

Team,

One of the comments that I hear from students (not all, but enough to warrant a post) is that they need to be in a larger market if they want to "accomplish" something. Oh to be young and stupid.

Locating yourself in a larger market only creates additional competition for whatever it is that you want to excel in. Competition is good but I would argue that we have a tremendous amount of talent in this region to push you to become better...and we're attracting better talent each year. Don't believe me? Click HERE to see this year's class of Crain's Cleveland Business 20 in their 20's. I am fortunate to know several of these folks and am extremely lucky to call a few friends. These are people that are making it happen! A few examples:

• Ryan Anderson recently formed a retained search firm, AndersonBiro. A New York State transplant making it happen in Cleveland.
• Conor Coakley is an Asst. VP in real estate and worked as Deputy Chief of Staff to Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell. Not to shabby.
• Miguelle Edmondson is a CPA for Ernst & Young. I'm in Bridge Builders with Miguelle this year and guarantee that this is a guy that could do well in any town. He has chosen to be here and is loving every moment. Make sure to help him out with his goal of helping Junior Achievement.
• Megan Kim of COSE is hosting small business owners almost every day of the week. As a member of COSE I can attest that Megan's doing a great job in making the events fun and easy to attend.

See, you can be under 30 in Cleveland and doing positive things for both you and the region! Drop a comment if you'd like to share your story.

Bob

After months of work, and input from every sector of the HR space, Cleveland+ has launched their talent attraction website (www.clevelandplusliving.com) for use by local recruiters to attract top talent to Cleveland+. Very soon the "Playing Here" section will be going live and will be powered by the Identi-fyi tool that is being built. Recruits and other interested individuals will be able to search all that our great region has to offer regarding entertainment, dining, recreation, and organizational.

Stay tuned!

Last Thursday (4/3/08), The Plain Dealer reported that Governor Strickland will encourage Ohio College Students to participate in internships at Ohio-based companies and will pay for it by "transferring" funds from tobacco and turnpike funds. I will let others debate if the Governor and Legislature should drain these accounts, but both sides have already taken interesting steps to ensure their victory. You'll learn, as in Vegas, the House always wins.

MY comments are geared towards the internships themselves and on who should actually be competing for the $50 million up for grabs. I'll be compiling the comments to this post and forwarding to Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut if you'd like to chime in.

Creating internships to create internships will not solve the problems of the region.
Yes, every study that I have read shows that a student is more likely to end up in a city (post-grad) if they have had an internship historically in that City. The reasons for this are obvious (networks being built, knowledge on the region being gained, etc.) but our greatest opportunity for success is the internship itself. One of the best examples of this that I have encountered is through Entrepreneurs EDGE and their CEO's for NEO program. This program matches college students with Northeast Ohio businesses that have opportunities (read: substantive projects) worth spending some time and money on. The business invests some capital (cash, their time, etc.) and EDGE focuses on the "pairing" of students with projects. EDGE also recruited NEO Professors and retired business executives to lend some expertise to the overall project. Very cool stuff!

I was fortunate enough to attend the presentation of one of these projects and was blown away by the work conducted. At the end of the presentation the Chairman of the company involved informed the crowd that his executive team was working on implementing the suggestions and was expecting a significant impact on their bottom line due to the work: we're talking serious dollars here.

The moral of this story is that these types of internships will generate significant interest in the collegiate community as most college students are looking for quality experiences to learn from and build their resume.

Maybe the goal should be to make NEO the leader in "Substantive Internships." A quality over quantity thing.

Who should be competing for the cash?
My apologies in advance but this is a Cleveland focused blog and I will only be focusing on Cleveland based organizations for the rest of this post.

My recommendation would be to distribute the money to existing groups geared towards the promotion, management, assistance, and facilitation of internship programs. Make it a competition of sorts but keep it limited to groups that already specialize in this space. Two local examples include (i)Cleveland and Clevelandintern.net. Both groups have relationships in the business community (HR Executives typically), years of experience, established infrastructures (to a certain point), and an actual interest in creating and facilitating internships. This last point is crucial as it is rarely a good idea to invest capital in organizations that do not have experience in accomplishing the goals that you are trying to reach. See next paragraph.

Additionally, my recommendation is to NOT rely on institutions of higher education to accomplish the goal of increased internship opportunities. I'm making a generality here but higher ed. historically has not had good relationships with the corporate community, which is vital to the success of any internship program. Would you agree?

Thoughts? Groups/efforts that you would like to highlight? Let me know...

Bob