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Intern In Michigan aims for 25,000 interns in 5 years

Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Between 50-60 percent of interns land a job with the company they interned at in Michigan. Those are hard numbers to ignore in a state with a pronounced brain drain and tough economy.

It's part of the reason why the Detroit Regional Chamber is launching its Intern In Michigan program. The $2.4 million initiative (funded by the feds and the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan) is targeting universities, students, and local businesses to either take on more interns or start an internship program.

"Our goal is to get to the point where 20,000 to 25,000 students have some sort of internship," says Greg Handel, senior director of workforce development for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. "That's five years down the road."

Intern in Michigan is creating a central website to help facilitate this pairing of hungry college students with savvy employers. The website will act as sort of a social networking site where students and businesses can create profiles to both post and apply for internships. The goal is to have 1,000 internships posted within the first year and 25,000 within five years.

The Detroit Regional Chamber and local officials aren�t only positing this as a way to keep more of Michigan's young best and brightest here, but as a means of improving efficiency at companies. Many interns work for low wages or gratis, providing a cost-effective way for business to do more with less.

Source: Greg Handel, senior director of workforce development for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Jon Zemke