SCRANTON, PA – January 19, 2009 – Teach today’s managers how to prepare tomorrow’s graduates. That’s the premise of the “Internship Seeding Initiative,” an innovative national pilot program debuting today in Northeastern Pennsylvania thanks to a $375,000 federally-funded WIRED grant awarded to The Internship Institute (TII).  WIRED stands for Workforce Investment Regional Economic Development, a U.S. Department of Labor stimulus grant to apply best practices to some of today’s most pressing issues.

The remedy here is a program that’s designed to be replicated nationwide to – in effect – standardize and certify internship quality. The program will provide essential work experience, among many things, and a highly effective workforce to remedy the economic development gap.
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Under the WIRED grant, The Internship Seeding Initiative national pilot program will demonstrate that training managers to supervise and mentor students – coupled with best practice program development and ongoing student and employer helpdesk support – truly make internships matter.

Piloted in the 10-county footprint of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Internship Seeding Initiative WIRED grant provides for paid internships for 50 students at 50 financial services and information technology companies in a ten-county region. Assisting The Internship Institute as a fiscal agent is the Northeastern Pennsylvania Technology Institute (NPTI).

The implementation will give employers every advantage to have a high performing internship program.  Programming begins with a synchronized multimedia training orientation for supervisors, mentors, HR professionals and organization heads. The session features viewing the best practices Blueprint DVD while reviewing the companion Internship Supervisor Guidebook and Mentoring Tutorial. The 50 employer host sites also receive free access to the Z University online Internship Knowledge Center. The Knowledge Center features the highly acclaimed Internship eToolkit, a complete step-by-step system of internship best practices, time-saving templates, productivity assets, a student “essential skills training” module, hundreds of intern assignment ideas spanning 20+ professions, and intern project guides to help students do practical hands-on work.  More to come.

Matthew Zinman, founder of The Internship Institute and its Z University affiliate, proudly states, “We are most grateful for the opportunity to show what we can do. It’s been a lot of hard work and determination to get here. Now, thanks to Wall Street West and WIRED, we’re in a position to make the meaningful difference we set out to achieve.”

Internships play a critical role in shaping the workforce of the future. Their importance in the improvement of the talent pipeline in order to meet industry demands cannot be overstated. By improving on both the philosophy and administration behind internships, a system of collaboration is created that gives companies a leg-up in attracting the best talent in their industry. Additionally, much like many aspects of business, learning to be an excellent internship coordinator is a niche skill that, once perfected, can give a company an edge over its competitors.

A common thread that leads to a successful internship is one-on-one experience. In developing this curriculum, we at TII have learned that most managers can maximize their efficiency by simply re-purposing their time to manage and mentor. With this in mind, we have created a high impact, multimedia training program – customized specifically for supervisors – that takes aim at productivity as the key driver for a mutually beneficial internship experience.

“The Internship Institute joins more than 45 other organizations in Northeastern Pennsylvania who have received more than $10 million to create programs that focus on developing the skills for the next cycle of employment opportunities,” said Matt Connell, Chairman, Wall Street West Executive Committee. “Each funded program plays a role in the collective body of work that Wall Street West is creating, which will lead to the long-term success of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s workforce.”

Other components of TII’s Internship Seeding Initiative include:

• The Internship Institute will promote education awareness campaigns and present its trademark Supervisor Orientation events throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania for all three academic terms in 2009. TII will make the best use of funding by utilizing large public venues and invite more employers and supervisors to participate.
• The Internship Supervisor Orientation is a unique multimedia experience for all managers and mentors to learn and fine-tune their intern and program management skills.  The proprietary training technique and content takes aim at intern productivity yield, student learning outcomes, and assuring an all-around mutually rewarding experience. These 90-minute interactive sessions feature TII’s Supervisor and Mentoring Guidebook, which participants follow while viewing a synchronized best practices video. The purpose of this advanced training technique is to accommodate variable learning styles and reinforce the content that managers must put into practice.

About The Internship Institute

A Pennsylvania-based non-profit (est. 2005), The Internship Institute champions career experience as essential for college students to become workforce-ready. It is the non-profit affiliate of Z University, which together make internships a powerful remedy to close the gap between classroom learning and workplace ability. We lead with vision, innovation and action to create opportunity to benefit employers, students, educators and non-profits.

Our unique resources and training methodology effectively remove the barriers for employers to develop quality internship programs, for supervisors to gain the most value, for mentors to share a rewarding experience, and for students to do meaningful work that helps them earn gainful employment.

All told, The Internship Institute devotes its innovative vision, unwavering passion and steadfast determination to prepare the emerging workforce and assure that skilled labor keeps America globally competitive.

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