Need Help? Hire an Intern!
Thursday May 13, 2021 | Filed under:
The news is all over the story about a startling predicament in our red-hot economy: Businesses are begging for new hires, including many in the promo industry.
If you’re a supplier or distributor in our industry desperate for a few extra hands this summer, there is a winning alternative to consider – the ASI Summer Internship Program, free to ASI members. Click here for more information or to register an intern. Intern start dates range from mid-May to mid-June and you have until June 7 to sign up.
Already, nearly 100 interns from 59 promo companies are signed up for ASI’s program, which we started in 2016 to attract more young professionals to the industry and get them excited about the power of promotional products. Since then, over 1,100 interns have participated at 650 member companies, with 93% of managers telling ASI they’d recommend the program to others.
I know one of the biggest concerns distributors and suppliers have about hiring summer interns is the time and effort it takes to train newcomers about our industry. I get that. To help, ASI made training a key component of the program, devising a series of training webinars that offer interns a broad overview of products and their ROI, biggest markets, industry players and more. It’s like taking Promo 101.
ASI is such a big believer in interns, we’ve already hired nine (9!) to work in a variety of departments at our company, remotely, this summer. We find they bring skills and talents we don’t always have, energy and enthusiasm of an eager teen and 20-something and spark creativity in whatever department they join.
One of the interns, who will work in our editorial department, came to us through the Dow Jones internship program – a program close to my heart.
My own Dow Jones internship took me from a tiny town in Indiana to New York City (it was also my very first plane ride). I ended up spending 16 years at Dow Jones in a variety of senior management, editorial, marketing, technology and product development roles. I can easily say my internship altered the trajectory of my entire life.
Now it’s your turn to change someone else’s life for the better.
Visit internprogramasi.com to get more information or to register an intern. ASI also provides tools on the intern website to help members find interns. Companies that already have a summer intern lined up can still sign them up for the ASI Summer Internship Program today.
If you have questions or need more info, please email me at tim.andrews@asicentral.com or contact Christine Shaw, ASI senior marketing manager of corporate marketing, at cshaw@asicentral.com. Christine earns raves every year working directly with all the industry interns and keeping them in touch with each other online so they really feel a part of our industry.
A closing stat: There are more job openings in the U.S. this spring than before the pandemic hit in March 2020, and fewer people in the labor force, according to the WSJ.
Don’t get caught short just when the economy is picking up steam.
