| CRBJ Charter Member: |
|
|
| CRBJ Home > April 2007 | |||||||
Real world lessonsBy Maggie Rossiter Peterman
Matt Starzewski, 29, an engineer at Extreme Engineering Solutions Inc., a computer manufacturer, called it a big challenge. Starzewski, a director of interns at the company, spent the summer and fall of 2004 mentoring UW computer engineering student Ben Geib, who developed a software package that now is in use with nearly 100 other military and communication systems across the country. "The Windows driver was vastly different from the operating systems we are used to," Starzewski said. "We met it head on and migrated our existing driver to Windows." Extreme Engineering Solutions has put Geib's efforts to good use. "We are getting even more orders for the XPort1011 product because of his work," said Starzewski, of Geib, who now works for the U.S. Patent Office. "That's happened with a good share of the co-op students I've worked with. They get the opportunity to do development work that's actually put to work in the industry." The 45-employee company hired 22 UW students during the summer of 2006, and as many as 27 students majoring in electrical and computer engineering are expected this summer, said Aaron Lindner, 30, engineering manager. "It's good for us," he said. "We get a lot of really good labor relatively cheap, but they get an opportunity to see how an engineering office runs and what it's like to work as an engineer." Businesses across the Capital Region are taking advantage of the large supply of students in the area and putting them to work - and that's paying huge dividends, both for the companies' bottom line and the students' educational experience. More than a paycheck Businesses get the energy and enthusiasm for real-life work experience from student interns in exchange for those experiences and an entry on their resume. Employers in southern Wiscon-sin gain an opportunity to study the talent they enlist from two-year and four-year institutions before making a decision to hire full time, said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. "Not every community has that resource," said Still, 53, also an instructor at UW-Madison. Many interns are willing to help move along special projects and offer fresh ideas even if they don't receive a paycheck, Still pointed out. "The students get experience in exchange for credit, networking opportunities and sometimes it leads to full-time employment." And networking does pay off, Still noted. He has connected employers with some of the students he has taught in his UW-Madison class, "Issues in Science and Technology Communication." "Through that class, I've made interns available to a number of technology companies," he said. Tackling big projects Many employers team interns and co-op students with mentors and develop training programs with specific exercises so student workers become familiar with company policies and equipment before they get their hands dirty. Engineers at Middleton's Extreme Engineering Solutions, who are sometimes outnumbered by interns and co-op students, have made a commitment to structure student work to provide real-life on-the-job opportunities, Starzewski said. At Extreme Engineering, interns and co-op employees do a variety of software tasks during the first week before they begin small projects, Starzewski said. As they become more efficient, mentors ramp up the challenges, Starzewski explained. "It's a matter of building up trust so that we have the confidence they can take on larger projects," he said. "We strive to work with a co-op student at their pace and give them work that is manageable before we carve out chunks of projects." The employer needs to make it a priority to get the most out of their intern help. "It's a company culture thing," Starzewski said. "Students are looking for meaningful work. They don't want to get pigeon-holed. They want to be challenged." Once the interns are comfortable with the basics, they can be given more challenging projects that can lead to big rewards for both parties. "Companies benefit because they have students completing projects they don't have the full-time staff to do," said John Archambault, 40, associate director at UW-Madison Engineering Career Services. "Sometimes they have some great ideas on the shelf because full-time employees don't have the time to get to them." Or, Archambault said, they can free up full-time employees from their day-to-day work so they can tackle new or long-term projects. The benefits go both ways. Companies offer students opportunities to gain invaluable real-life experience they can't get from textbooks. And some students can collect the experience of a lifetime, such as one UW student who in 2006 worked for Cummins Emission Solutions in Stoughton, a global designer and manufacturer of engine exhaust and air filtration systems. The student helped design a device that saved the company more than $1 million a year, Archambault said. "That's a pretty big financial advantage to have had him there contributing," Archambault said. "They paid him about $18,000 for eight months work and he helped to save them $1 million." Hiring interns is also a way for employers to keep the size of their workforce flexible. Extreme Engineering Solutions officials expand and contract their student staff to meet the workload and the budget, said Starzewski, noting the company also hires students attending Madison Area Technical College. "If there's an economic downturn we don't have to lay off people," he said. "We just hire fewer students." Talent pipeline Some companies treat internships as a three-month test drive. In addition to getting the intern's energy and enthusiasm at a reduced cost, companies also get an opportunity to view the talent of prospective employees, Archambault said. Employers like the opportunity to work with members of today's brightest talent pool before those students enter the job market, Archambault pointed out. Kohl's department store officials annually screen more than 4,000 applicants from more than 60 universities looking for 200 interns for 10-week summer jobs, said Todd McClement, 27, manager of college recruiting. Most interns work in store management or the buying office, McClement added. Leadership, analytical and organization skills, the ability to overcome adversity and a passion for the industry push a prospective intern to the head of the class, McClement said. "We have the potential to turn all 200 internships into full-time jobs," he said. "We hire about 60 to 70 percent." GE Healthcare enrolled 340 students across the country in its Early Talent Program in 2006, said Kim Martin, 32, manager of staffing solutions. Interns work 12-week summer stints, while co-op students earn paychecks for 16 weeks, Martin said. "It's a great advantage to us. It allows us to stay connected to the latest engineering, (computer) programming and academic trends," Martin said. "It's a great pipeline for talent." Surprising responsibility With two internships under his belt, Justin Vandehey has an offer for a third before he graduates in December. The 21-year-old senior majoring in marketing and international business first handled corporate marketing and sales projects for UW Badger Sports Properties. Then during the summer of 2006, he joined a group of 30 interns and 10 business students working on master's degrees at Best Buy near Minneapolis. He teamed up with four interns from other schools, including the University of Virginia, Minnesota, and Iowa State, to develop ideas to enhance the online marketing strategy for women and youth at the retailer. "We presented in front of the company's CEO, CFO, marketing directors and different managers," said Vandehey, who has secured a summer internship with The Horton Group, a Milwaukee risk management insurance company. Getting acquainted with suppliers and equipment manufacturers, learning testing methods and handling personality conflicts aren't skills taught in the classroom, students agreed. Carl Markestad, 22, a fifth-year senior majoring in mechanical engineering, spent six months as a co-op student at Promega, a Fitchburg developer and manufacturer of materials and equipment for biological research. During Markestad's first week on the job, Promega officials tested his skills with routine projects, such as researching purchasing orders and handling quality control testing and product inspections. "I was surprised they gave me that much responsibility right off the bat," he said. Then, mechanical engineers assigned him to redesign a machine part to speed up and improve a sealing process. "I was excited and nervous," he recalled. "I wasn't used to making a mistake that could cost thousands of dollars." After a trio of revisions, Markestad said, he achieved success in developing a faster process with more automation and less work for the operator. "The project went over the initial budget, but it would have been much more expensive if they had outsourced it to another company," he said. When Madison's Saris Cycling Group discovered a problem with water leaking into a hub used in cycling equipment, it became a summer intern's job to figure out a way to test the system and document the results. Aaron Duchon, 20, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, spent hours recording details of a component mounted on a rear wheel of a stationary bike by setting it within reach of a sprinkler system to simulate rain. Then he moved it to a freezer at the UW Dairy Department to imitate cold weather temperatures. "Floyd Landis (winner of the Tour de France) was riding equipment with our newest hub," said Duchon, who likes tinkering with his hands and is a member of the UW student engineering team building a four-wheeler for competition. "Sure enough, the hub passed the test. If Saris had wanted a third party to test it, it would have cost an outrageous amount of money." mjpeterman@sbcglobal.net madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
|
||||||
