Michael Muschiano got a job at a Citizens Bank supermarket branch when he was a sophomore at Rhode Island College, just as a way to make money while he studied.
One day, a friend told him Citizens offered internships through colleges for academic credit. Muschiano looked into it, and soon he had a position in Citizens’ public affairs office, unpaid but eligible for academic credit toward his communications minor.
Senior Vice President Kathy O’Donnell and her team put him right to work – documenting media mentions of Citizens, gathering materials on potential sponsorships, helping to set up events and write talking points, and – just a few days ago – writing his first press release.
“It’s a lot of hands-on stuff that I didn’t expect at first,”
Muschiano said. “It feels like if I sit down with [staffer Stacy Hart] for 20 minutes, I learn what I learn in a whole semester at school, because you do real-life work. It’s more serious.”
And while he was already interested in public relations when he started, the experience has made him love the work that much more.
“It’s something different every day,” he said.
Internships are not a new thing – O’Donnell herself had two, at NBC 10 and Lite 105, that she said helped her get where she is today. But as more and more employers and policymakers recognize the value of hands-on learning, there’s a growing push to opportunities like the one Muschiano is enjoying at all types of workplaces across Rhode Island.
“I think it’s becoming more and more evident that it’s one of the best ways to expose young people to the real world of work,” said J.
Michael Koback, administrator of the Governor’s Workforce Board and director of the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island.
“We’ve known about it for years,” Koback added, “but it’s probably becoming more prevalent, and I think it’s a great thing. Actually, we need to increase them, make more available.”
One of the board’s primary goals has become to prepare youth for the work force through apprenticeships, mentoring and internships, Koback said, starting as young as 14 and continuing through early college.
Such experiences are particularly important for students who may be disengaged in school, because it helps them make the connection between what they’re learning and future employment, Koback said, plus it gives them valuable skills and contacts.
Employers also benefit, Koback said, because such programs allow them to get involved in building their future work force, “growing the talent pool.”
One employer that stands out for its work in that field – and that has become a model for others – is Lifespan, whose senior vice president for human resources, Brandon Melton, sits on the Workforce Board, Koback said.
Lifespan takes a few college interns, Melton said, but its emphasis has been on reaching out to 16- to 19-year-olds in the neighborhoods surrounding the hospitals in the system and offering them jobs for the summer – with pay starting at $8 per hour – that allow them to learn about all the career options available in health care.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is encourage these young people to pursue careers in the health professions, particularly in the area of nursing and allied professions,” Melton said. But the program, which employed 79 teens last summer, isn’t limited to those fields.
“They come in thinking there are only doctors and nurses who work in hospitals,” Melton said, “and then they realize there’s a radiation oncology department, and a cath lab, and all sorts of other things.”
At Johnson & Wales University, which bills itself as “America’s Career University” and sets itself apart for its focus on experiential learning, internships and practicums are required for many majors, especially in the Hospitality College.
But Sheri Ispir, director of career development, said most students seek out internships regardless of whether they’re required. The model she favors is to take an internship in the sophomore year and another in the senior year – ideally, one that leads to a job.
“At Johnson & Wales, we see experiential learning as the first step to full-time employment,” Ispir said. “It’s like an 11-week job interview.”
Most internships that Johnson & Wales students take are for credit, Ispir said, and they are carefully structured. Large hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton are particularly good with interns, she said, but all kinds of companies can provide good opportunities.
At the University of Rhode Island, some students find internships through their academic departments, several of which require them for graduation. Others go to the Office of Internships & Experiential Education, where coordinator Kimberly Washor said the number of students served has doubled in the last couple of years to about 400 per year, not counting those who come in for counseling but don’t take internships.
Washor’s office offers a seminar that advises them on how to work with their supervisors and get the most of their internships, and helps them draft a “learning contract” with a set of goals that they and their supervisor agree to pursue.
“Because we have this seminar, students aren’t fetching coffee or doing filing” as interns, she said. “There are major projects they’re working on, so it can be a fabulous experience for them. We have students who are able to manage staff – when would you ever consider that as a possibility? – or create an event plan and see it all the way through.”
Many students enjoy their internships so much that they come back for more, Washor said.
“I think you become addicted to experiential learning,” she said.
“Once you’ve taken that classroom-based knowledge and learned how to apply it to a position … you get this natural excitement from accomplishing your goals.”
Kathy Clarkin, director of career planning and internship services at Providence College, said internships are crucial to “make a student stand apart and position them to be a competitive candidate for a job or for graduate school.”
Students clearly agree, Clarkin said: In a survey of last year’s graduating seniors, 69 percent of respondents said they had taken at least one internship, and of those, 94 percent said it had helped them prepare for employment.
For employers, internships provide “an infusion of talented students who, typically, are very technically savvy and can also bring well-honed writing, research and other skills,” Clarkin said. “And they also get to test-drive talent, if you will.
Like URI, PC uses formal written documents to plan internships for credit. Because they’re so structured, Clarkin said, for-credit internships can be particularly beneficial – though in the summer, paying internships, for credit or not, are particularly valuable because most students need the money.
Employers seem to be increasingly interested in for-credit internships as well, Clarkin said, in part because unpaid internships can create legal issues if they’re not clearly set up to be educational, not just unpaid work.
To help employers create “top-notch” internship programs, the Human Resource Management Association of Rhode Island is sponsoring a workshop on March 2, with Clarkin as one of the speakers, outlining successful strategies.
The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is also doing its part to encourage employers to take interns. Last December, it published a guide, available at www.provchamber.com, that provides contacts for employers interested in creating internship programs.
Janet Raymond, senior vice president for economic development at the Chamber, said that along with the benefits for the students and individual employers, internships are important for Rhode Island’s economy as a whole, as a way to reduce the “brain drain.”
“There’s been research that has shown that if students are exposed to internship opportunities, there is a higher likelihood that they will remain either in the state, or with that particular company after graduation if the opportunity presents itself,” she said.
