Participants at the 5th Annual Lehigh Valley Internship Summit learned how to craft an ideal internship program that can become a pipeline for talented, eager, and satisfied future employees.
Internships provide employers a great return on their investment, said keynote speaker Shawn VanDerziel, Executive Director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which surveys employers about their programs.
“Of all their sourcing and recruitment strategies, interns are the best route for them to go. It builds their pipeline,” he said during the summit on July 27 at DeSales University. 
Employers surveyed by NACE said they had extended employment offers to 72% of their interns, and 80% of those offers were accepted. Those interns turn out to be good hires. Seventy-six percent of former interns stay with the company or organization for more than a year compared to other hires, of whom only 52% stay.
“Those students stick around,” VanDerziel said. “This gives you an indication why, particularly large companies, are really thinking about these internship programs and the differences they can make.”
About 100 people, including many Lehigh Valley employers, attended the summit, which was hosted by Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC) in partnership with the region’s colleges and universities. The event was sponsored by Penn Strategies and DeSales University.
Attendees heard from interns and former interns about what they considered to be important, along with success stories from employers. Tips were offered for how to make sure internships include work that is meaningful for both.
During roundtable discussions, attendees participated in informal conversations on topics such as working alongside Gen Z; mentoring; internship conversion and hiring; creating an effective internship description; inclusivity in the workplace; and connecting with career and technical schools.
“The most critical element of economic development today is talent. And that really is focused on young talent, 40 years-old and younger. And that really begins with a partnership with schools and connecting students to opportunities. Internships are at the core because if we can connect students while they're here with companies, it solves a challenge for everybody,” said Don Cunningham, President and CEO of LVEDC.
VanDerziel said employers are relying less on grade point averages when they screen intern candidates and instead are focusing on skills.
“Employers are now understanding that GPA might not be the best predictor of if someone's going to fit within my organization. They're also seeing that GPA also could be restricting them from reaching into talent pools and finding talent pools,” he said.
“This is something I think is a good thing for all of us. There are some majors in some industries where it makes a whole lot of sense to still screen by GPA, because of the knowledge base that person needs for that particular job. I would just urge you that if you're doing that, to make sure that you are aligning that with specific jobs,” he said.
VanDerziel encouraged employers to consider the process they use to interview interns, as a large portion of candidates are not fully comfortable with virtual recruiting. He said employers can address inequities in the internship recruitment process by paying interns, as unpaid internships disproportionately impact students of color and women.
“What I urge all of you to do is really take an analysis of how you're paying, why you're paying, who you're paying, to make sure that it's equitable in your companies,” VanDerziel said.
His other recommendations included offering a hybrid work environment with opportunities to work remotely at times, and providing mental health support.
Creating meaningful work is critical for an internship program to be successful. Several Lehigh Valley employers explained how they do that. Freshpet looks to interns to fill gaps and accomplish projects that the company otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to do, said Jeff Donham, Freshpet’s Continuous Improvement Manager.
“It's a priority to bring in an intern and do something new and original,” he said. “I would say most of our projects at Freshpet are fresh, new projects. And that's the priority. The intern is going to learn from this and Freshpet’s going to learn from this.”
Having a mentor is important for interns, said Madelyn Amadio, a junior at Lafayette College. She is working this summer as a Research Scholar at Lehigh Valley Health Network, doing research with a street medicine team that serves the homeless.
“My mentor did a great job of really introducing me to not only the patients in the field, but also to everyone that she worked with. So, I had a great opportunity for meeting new people. I think that's really vital for my future because I'm pursuing a career in medicine. And I will be in more like the intern position for a long time as a resident, and I'll be learning from other physicians,” Amadio said. “No matter where you're working in the future, no matter what education you have, you never are going to be fully prepared for your job. And I think that's why mentorship is so important.”
Editor’s Note: Next week’s newsletter will feature another article that delves into more detail about the importance of mentorships during internships, and how to create meaningful work for interns that is mutually beneficial for them and their employer.