Internships, although commonly associated with coffee runs and mundane tasks, have become an increasingly vital part of Spokanes economy, as employers seek to secure future workers, and college students try to gain an edge in the job market before they graduate.


While many degree programs at Spokane-area schools dont require students to complete an internship before they graduate, school officials rigorously promote internships as a way to apply classroom knowledge in the working world, learn more about their prospective fields, market themselves to potential employers, and build professional contacts. Employers, meanwhile, are searching college campuses to find lower-cost workers who can fill holes in their current work force and possibly become full-time employees in the future.


Theres a value for students to have hands-on experience, boost their resume, start networking, and gain confidence from seeing how their skills and academic learning fit into the marketplace, says Sandy Nowak, assistant director of career services and internships at Whitworth University. It gives employers qualified workers and a chance to observe students and see if they fit into the workplace.


In recognition of the growing value of internships to Spokanes economy, Greater Spokane Incorporated plans to launch an initiative to promote them and support interns, says Rich Hadley, its president and CEO. That initiative, called the Intern Academy, is expected to debut later this year, he says.


Internships are about establishing relationships that could result in a college student staying here and being part of our economy, Hadley says. The business benefits by having input from a college-aged person who brings a new way to look at issues, and students get an understanding of the competitiveness of business and how management looks and feels.


Rex Fuller, dean of Eastern Washington Universitys College of Business and Public Administration, which is based at the Riverpoint Higher Education Park here, says that internships quickly become a topic of conversation when he talks with Spokane-area business leaders. He says one of his goals is to increase the visibility of EWUs internship programs, by speaking to businesses and service clubs and encouraging EWUs faculty and staff to do the same.


My sense is theres a growing interest in internships nationally and here as well, Fuller says. Firms are seeing it as a great opportunity to get temporary help, and more importantly to bring in potential recruits.


Debbie Bezemer, human resources manager at Seattle-based Moss Adams LLPs office here, says the accounting firm relies on its interns particularly heavily during tax season. The firm has two paid internship programs hereone during the busy season and another during the summer, Bezemer says. During the busy season, interns focus on either audits or taxes, but during the summer they can focus on either or both, she says.


Students get the majority of their heavy-hitting experience during the busy season, and at those times theyre filling a need for work to be done, she says. Summer internships are for students who have more freedom in their schedule, and we make that as good an experience as we can, given the lighter workload.


Moss Adams typically has up to 15 interns here during the tax season and up to eight interns during the summer, she says. The firm doesnt require applicants for permanent jobs to have completed an internship before theyre hired, but often makes full-time offers to students once theyve completed their internships there.


For instance, Moss Adams offered Lauren Kleinschmidt, who graduated from Whitworth last spring, a full-time position after she completed her first internship with the firm in 2006. Kleinschmidt says she has deferred accepting the offer for a year so she can spend some time traveling and get more experience before taking her certified public accountant exam. She currently is completing her third internship with Moss Adams and plans to start working there full-time next fall.


From the accounting firms perspective, internships are a critical part of the workforce, but also help employers get a sense for how public accounting fits each student and learn areas in which students might excel, Bezemer says. Recruiters from Moss Adams frequently visit Spokane-area schools to promote the firm and find students who might make a good fit, she says.


Internships help us get the work done that needs to be done, meet students earlier on, invest in the community, and afford students opportunities to identify future employment options, Bezemer says. Its a balance between getting work done and building relationships with students and professors to build our practice.


Avista Corp. spokesman Hugh Imhof says the Spokane-based company usually employs about five interns a year, most of whom work in engineering. The company also has interns from the Intercollegiate College of Nursing here, who work in the utilitys safety and health department, he says.


Imhof says most of Avistas interns end up being offered full-time jobs at the utility, or at a company with which Avista networks. Internships are becoming increasingly important to the company as it anticipates a high turnover rate in its work force in the future because its employees are approaching retirement.


First of all, we do it to help with the educational process in the Spokane area, Imhof says. But, its also a way to attract future employees, or at least train them, and its a great way for students to break into the job market.


Health services


Some college programs, such as the health-services administration program within EWUs College of Business and Public Administration, require students to complete an internship, says program director Mary Ann Keogh Hoss. Students and their site supervisors develop an internship plan based on the competencies theyre required to demonstrate to earn their degree. Upon completion of their 10-week internship, they must put together a portfolio about their experience and present it to other students and site supervisors, Keogh Hoss says.


Students in the program work at places such as insurance offices, low-income health clinics, physician practices, hospitals, long-term care centers, and hospice-care providers, she says. About 30 percent of the students end up getting a job with the organization with which they interned, and many use their internship supervisors as job references, she says.


We consider the internship the culminating experience for our students, Keogh Hoss says. Health care is a competency-driven industry, so we want students to put into practice what theyve learned and get a taste of what it means to be in the work force.


The number of students from Whitworth who do internships each semester has nearly doubled, to 50, over the past five years, the universitys Nowak says. Much of that increase is due to the school promoting internships more heavily, more students becoming interested in internships, and more companies seeking student interns, she says.


Students often make ideal part-time workers for companies because they can plug away at one project without getting interrupted with other responsibilities, she says.


They also know how to do research; are accustomed to being assigned projects that must be completed quickly; are familiar with new ideas and concepts related to their field; and are used to working as team members, she says. They also provide faculty members with the opportunity to channel their expertise back into the community, and bring back industry trends theyve learned at their job sites to discuss in the classroom, she says.


Internships also help students get to know the Spokane community, Hadley says. College students, who often arent from Spokane, sometimes dont consider living here after they graduate because they arent familiar with the area.


Oftentimes, students are much more likely to not only get interested in a job in our region and get an offer as a result of an internship, but also begin to look at the region differently, and see it from the standpoint of someone who may be living here, Hadley says.


As a part of Greater Spokane Incorporateds Intern Academy, interns from schools in the region will meet on a regular basis to share their experiences and participate in workshops designed to help them prepare for entering the work force, he says.


Topics will include creating resumes, dining etiquette, and how to prepare for interviews. The economic-development group also will include promotional information about the benefits of living and working in Spokane, he says.


The Intern Academy concept formed more than a year ago, during discussions between the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council when those two groups were merging to create Greater Spokane Incorporated, Hadley says. The group is modeling the academy after similar programs in other mid-size cities, as well as with the input of its members and its own six interns, he says.


Students who intern with the groups member companies, as well as its own interns, will be allowed to participate in the Intern Academy, due to launch next fall, he says.


Contact Emily Proffitt at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyp@spokanejournal.com.