Find Your Intern!

Indy Chamber News Archives

As a chamber of commerce dedicated to growing the Indy Region, we are always seeking ideas that create opportunity for collaboration between talented individuals and the business community at large. Using experiential learning opportunities as a key strategy in retaining Indiana’s top talent, the Indiana INTERNnet program pairs talented individuals with businesses in search of talent.

In the summer of 2016, we utilized INTERNnet to hire an intern who would be working on our Global Indy Initiative. Within the first two weeks, over 18 students had applied. After many interviews, we selected a junior at Hanover College who grew up in Indianapolis: Iasia Cheers.

Being an active and engaged student, Cheers first heard about the Indiana INTERNnet program in high school. After being selected as the Global Indy intern, Cheers set several objectives to ensure her experience was a positive one.

“My first objective was to keep an open mind, second I wanted to learn as much as I could from the talented people surrounding me, my third objective was to build my network of connections, and lastly I wanted to leave the Chamber knowing I had a positive impact on the organization,” she explained.

Her positive experience helped her to make connections, broaden her network, and increase her skillset. Still a student at Hanover College, Cheers stated, “working with the Indy Chamber has been the highlight of my career so far.”

We are not the only organization in Indianapolis utilizing INTERNnet to hire young professionals. Milliner and Associates, an HR specialist firm and an Indy Chamber member, uses the internship network to hire some of their best employees, like Johnny Slivka. The summer before Slivka’s senior year at IUPUI, he was selected to intern at Milliner and Associates.

Slivka was exceptional at some of his initial tasks, so he was provided an opportunity to expand his responsibilities. By the end of his internship, Slivka was mastering the client onboarding processes, perfecting an applicant tracking system, leading his own client interviews, and mentoring students at Decatur Central High School. His internship experiences helped him adjust to a workplace environment, challenged him mentally, and provided him with the opportunity to build lasting relationships.

Because of his successful internship, Milliner and Associates hired Slivka as a full-time Recruiting Specialist upon his graduation. In this position, he is responsible for evaluating applicant eligibility roles and keeping applicants up to date on the hiring process. His goal is to become a recruiting manager so that he can spend more time building relationships with clients.

Milliner and Associates’ Vice President of Operations Nicole Bieker started the internship program in the summer of 2013. Their internshipprocess is available during spring, summer and fall semesters.

“At Milliner and Associates, our business thrives on talent and our internship program. It has become the pipeline to grow our team the right way. INTERNnet is a convenient way to find the right people and many of our interns have been EARN Indiana eligible, so as a small business that has been extremely beneficial for us.”

Recognizing that small businesses are interested in internship programs but might not be able to add one to the budget, Indiana INTERNnet also offers opportunities for organizations to hire interns through EARN Indiana. EARN Indiana provides funding for the employer in exchange for hiring qualified students. Of the 14 interns that Bieker has hired since 2013, seven of them were EARN eligible resulting in a total savings of at least $17,671 in reimbursements from the state.

Interested organizations can learn more about EARN Indiana here.

Indiana INTERNnet has helped many organizations such as Republic Airways, Sun King Brewery, Finish Line, Angie’s List, and Indianapolis Power & Light find the right intern. And in return, these organizations are providing these students with an opportunity to gain valuable, real world experience. If you are interested in using INTERNnet to find great talent and need help, please contact Chelsea DuKate of Red Envelope Consulting at [email protected]. 

DO YOUR PART.

Internship programs are a proven strategy to developing a pipeline of talent to hire as future employees. Check out the webinar, Internship Programs that Work: How to Provide a Red-Carpet Experience. It will feature Chelsea Dukate of Red Envelope Consulting. Dukate specializes in developing internship programs for companies both big and small. She will give insight on benefits, effective work, common pitfalls, integrating into the work culture, preparing for arrival and departure, as well as sharing other tools and templates. Be sure to listen in on March 21^st from 1 – 2PM. RSVP to reserve your spot and we’ll email you with webinar instructions.

Save the Date: Enticing Your Interns to Indy

Introduce Indy to your interns so they’ll want to stay! Mark your calendars for June 2^nd from 5 – 8PM when Indy Chamber businesses leaders can mix and mingle with the next class of talent on the Fountain Square Theatre building rooftop garden on. Enjoy this fun event and the festivities of First Friday with drinks, duck pin bowling, food, and open artist galleries all throughout Fountain Square. Come to celebrate Indiana INTERNnet and bring your interns!