Internship : Innovation + Job News

Yost Engineering Inc., a technology service, support and development company, knows a good intern can become a great employee. That's why the Portsmouth-based company has hired five of them, including three this year, from the Third Frontier Internship program.
 
"When they come into the work world they know what would get them a "B" on a (school) project isn't good enough for a client. If they're willing to do that that extra work, they turn into very good employees," said Yost Chief Operations Officer Francesca Hartop.

Among the company's products are sophisticated educational robotics kits, robotic and animatronics controllers and various software for healthcare providers. But it bucks the stodgy stereotype that often follows engineers, touting "a relaxed, friendly, team environment for employees. The dress code is casual, and staff members routinely bring semi-well-behaved dogs to the office. We also share our space with office cats and a large fish tank to provide feline entertainment."

Maybe that's one reason Yost, founded in 1999, has attracted so many top interns.

"We put them right to work in coding and product development," Hartop says.

Yost Engineering is just one of more than 700 high-tech Ohio companies who've found a partner in Third Frontier. Established in 2002, it links employers with talented college students in an effort to train and retain some of the state's most talented young workers.

More than 3,000 students have gone through the program. Third Frontier reimburses company's 50 percent of a student's wages over a 12-month internship period, or up to $3,000. It's geared toward the advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, bioscience, information technology, instruments, controls and electronics and power and propulsion sectors.

Source: Francesca Hartop, Yost Engineering
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

The nation's tough economy has wreaked havoc on both the number of college graduates hired right out of school and on college internships. But there's a bright spot to the picture, at least in Ohio: The Ohio Third Frontier Internship Program, which reimburses companies half the cost of the internships with the hope that students will remain in Ohio and take jobs with some of those companies.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, businesses and others plan to offer 21 percent fewer internships in 2009 than they did in 2008. Employers also told NACE that they plan to hire 7 percent fewer new grads in 2010 than they did this year.

Enter the Third Frontier Internship Program, which places students with companies involved in advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, bioscience, information technology, instruments-controls-electronics and power and propulsion. Interns must be majoring in physical, biological or agricultural sciences; engineering; computer sciences; or mathematics.

"There is a great need, even in the economy we're in," says Julia Hinten, program manager. Hinten says nearly 520 Ohio companies have participated in the program since it was begun in 2002; the program placed nearly 2,000 college students with Ohio firms last year.

Seapine Software, based in Mason, has found the program a way to add talent in an extremely competitive environment, says Chuck Clevenger, Seapine's corporate recruiter. The company has employed more than 25 students in a co-op/internship role, he says, and has hired seven to full-time positions.

"With the assistance of the Third Frontier, Seapine will be able to continue our intern hiring, even in the face of a soft economy," Clevenger says.

Sources: Julia Hinten, Third Frontier Internship Program; Chuck Clevenger, Seapine Software
Writer: Gene Monteith