My role in my internship with TransportationMATTERS varies from day to day, which is part of why I love it. It is unique too, in the fact that I get to work from home.

TransportationMATTERS is a statewide, grassroots coalition advocating for full funding of a multi-modal transportation network in Ohio. Though I didn’t know a lot about transportation needs before I started, I was eager to learn and to see how my skills and knowledge of public relations could be applied to the TransportationMATTERS mission.

As with any communications internship, I do a lot of writing. Whether it’s a press release, a letter asking for sponsorship, or a magazine article, there is always something to be written. Event planning is another large part of what I do. I’m currently sitting on a committee that is hosting the 2010 Candidates Forum which is an event in which the Gubernatorial and Senate candidates will come to share their platforms on various issues (including transportation). As part of that committee, I am designing marketing materials and organizing the sponsorship for the event.

It’s no secret that social media is becoming a necessity in the business world. I am exploring not only how to introduce TransportationMATTERS to the social media world, but researching how to use it effectively given our audience and goals. It will ultimately be my responsibility to show the Board of directors how important social media is and the positive affects it could have on our organization.

There is also a heavy research aspect to my internship. Policies, proposals, and transportation related studies are constantly being updated and changing. Since it is literally part of the TransportationMATTERS mission to keep its members updated on what is going on in the world of transportation, I stay on top of the news and other transportation web sites to stay informed.

As a Public Relations major, I have been hearing for three years how important networking is. Even though I do my work from home, I frequently get to attend events and meetings where I meet people from organizations from all over Ohio.

I know I have a great internship because not only am I sharpening my design, event planning, writing and networking skills, but I am learning something new- all about the transportation needs in Ohio and about how government funding for transportation works!

Erica Bailey is a senior at Otterbein University.  She is majoring in Public Relations.

The Columbus Internships intern spotlights put the focus on students, their experience in the Columbus Region, what they do and how they’re involved in internships with local businesses. To submit your student story for an internship spotlight contact Alyssa Christian

It starts with the need to have some paperwork filed. Then maybe you need to have a box of envelopes stuffed and sealed.  Tasks like these often cause business owners to start to think about getting an intern.

At Portfolio Creative, we have used interns for years. We’ve found that interns are eager to gain experience in their field of interest and can also get some of the most mundane work done. As a business owner, my hourly rate is higher than the cost of an intern, but cost savings has not been the only advantage.  We’ve discovered that interns have helped us identify staffing needs within our firm.

For example, as we adapted to using interns in our business, we decided to put a person in place with a specialty we needed. In our first year, we worked with an intern who was working on a degree in public relations.  After the filing was done, she worked on PR for our company with our guidance, which was a win-win situation for all of us.  After that intern had to move on, we realized we really liked having someone do that work. It led to our discovery that we needed someone in that role at least on a part-time basis. It was an easy decision to fill the role with an employee, something that might not have happened had we not had the internship first.

While we haven’t replaced every intern with an employee, we’ve benefited from all our interns by being better able to see where our needs were. The process has also helped us write a job descriptions by starting with what the intern’s responsibilities were and building on to them to create a true job description.

Bringing on interns can be a great tool for determining growth in your business without a lot of investment, and it helps a student gain real experience. You can find interns by contacting the school of your choice or by contacting a local Chamber of Commerce.  In our town the Columbus Chamber has a fantastic internship program.  You can tap into it at http://www.columbus.org/about-columbus/find-an-internship.php

©2010 Catherine Lang-Cline, Portfolio Creative, LLC.

Catherine Lang-Cline is co-founder and owner of Portfolio Creative, a workforce innovation firm that was named the 326th fastest growing company in the U.S. by Inc. magazine in 2009.  Portfolio Creative helps companies streamline and innovate their creative work to save time, energy and money.  www.portfolioiscreative.com.

Located downtown in the Lazarus building, the Columbus Chamber has become a learning lab for two Ohio State University students, Quanice Shumpert and Cody Price. Both seniors, Quanice comes from an economic background, whereas Cody is the Chamber’s first city and regional planning intern. Both are interning in the economic development department of the Chamber, specializing in economic analysis.

Quanice’s Experience

As a Columbus Chamber Intern, I am given an insight into a whole new business world that you only learn and read about in college. My internship experience is everything I thought that it would be, and more. This experience will help me gain a better understanding of the possibilities my major in economics offers me.

So far I have sat in on major staff meetings, discussing the changes at the Chamber and the role of Columbus 2020!

My internship coordinator, Dr. Bill LaFayette, has exciting new projects for me to dig into every day. From analyzing data for quarterly reports to preparing economic/demographic assessments for new business ventures to come into Columbus, every task has a real life purpose and meaning.  I truly feel like I’m learning valuable information for my career in economics and building bridges and networking connections to last a lifetime.

Cody’s Experience

Being the Chamber’s first city and regional panning intern first came as a shock to me, because economic development is a key part in planning a successful city. When first interviewing for the position, Dr. Bill LaFayette and I hit it off for we had a similar interest in real estate. Dr. LaFayette received his Ph.D. in Real Estate from The Ohio State University, and being interested in real estate myself, I knew this would be a great fit.

When I first started working for the Chamber, I was involved in numerous data analysis projects that would analyze employment and population statistics for the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area. From this, we would be able to project future trends and find out “the behind-the-scenes” answers to questions such as, “why has the employment rate decreased?” Knowing how to interpret data is a vital part to most careers nowadays because computers are used to compute the data but they are not able to actually analyze the data, which is where I assist Dr. LaFayette in this process.

We have now added more exciting adventures and are currently working on an investment opportunity for the downtown Columbus area. Learning the ropes on how a project is first started to its completion is a valuable learning experience which cannot be taught inside a classroom. I am very excited to have been given this opportunity and will value this experience when I further my career after graduation in spring 2011.

Quanice Shumpert is a senior majoring in economics at The Ohio State University. She is originally from Columbus, OH.

Cody Price is a senior majoring in city and regional planning at The Ohio State University. He is originally from Marion, OH.

Many college students are motivated, excited and desire creating change and leaving their marks in life after graduation. My question is, why wait?

During my nine months as the community affairs intern with the Village of Canal Winchester, not only did I gain experiences that directly lead toward my future career path in government and public affairs, but I helped implement social media for the village’s overall communication strategy.

I worked closely with my boss in drafting a plan, and then working on explaining the benefits of having a presence on both Twitter and Facebook to village officials. We had to do some convincing and we had many obstacles to overcome, but we kept at it.

With a budget of exactly $0 to complete the project, I helped my boss with tips, suggestions and tools from various websites that I had been researching, along with creating a list of people to follow on Twitter. I actually designed the current layout on the Twitter page. What happened? The village of Canal Winchester embraced the new social media presence. Citizens now know where they can go to find answers to questions, and to share any concerns and most often, kind words about what they love about living there.

At a village council meeting, my boss and I presented the new pages to the media in attendance, along with the village officials. I was asked a few questions by reporters, and I was quoted in one publication, and had my name published in another. Having a few quotes in the paper while only being an intern is an awesome feeling.

There was a lot of work involved in the planning, researching, convincing and designing of this project and at first the project seemed overbearing. I knew going in that this project would add a lot of work on my part and it could have been easier deferring the project. When an opportunity like this comes along, however, I knew I had to take it. I believe the whole point in an internship to be challenged and to grow from the experiences; otherwise, what’s the point of having the internship?

My suggestions to you interns out there: Learn all you can about the company or organization you work for. Once you know all you can, don’t be afraid to make suggestions and use research as your source of confidence. Successfully achieving tasks is great, but if you help implement something that makes your boss’ life easier, your organization will never forget you and your hard work. Don’t just reach expectations, but become remarkable and overachieve. Leave your mark, even if you are only in college!

Steven Nyeste received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Dominican University in May. He majored in public relations.

Columbus Internships intern spotlights put a focus on students, their experience, what they do and how they are involved with local businesses.

Some of you may not realize the importance of internships. If that’s true, I was right there with you four years ago, but after a little advice from professors and peers, I finally learned why they are so important Here’s a little bit about my internship journey.

After two years of classes at Otterbein College and still not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with an organizational communications major, I decided that maybe I should listen to my mentors and find an internship. I wanted to see for myself what the hype about internships was all about and if organizational communications or, communications in general, was something I really wanted to pursue.

During the summer before my junior year, I held my first intern position at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County. I worked with the communications coordinator on strategies and the planning of the program’s annual ice cream social. What I ended up discovering was that internship was probably one of the best choices I had made thus far in my college career. I not only found a passion for my field and working with non-profits, but I realized I wanted to do more internships; three more to be exact.

Finding a passion wasn’t the only thing I found that summer, I found myself. It ended up not just being about applying the skills I had been learning in classes, it was, and probably more so, about finding “me.” I gained confidence in all aspects of my life.

That confidence led to my success of obtaining an internship at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Since I had gained that confidence and was beginning to see who I was and wanted to be, I was able to build upon classroom skills and apply them to real-life situations. I not only wrote articles for the weekly newsletter, I wrote news releases for local, regional and national media and interviewed doctors and staff. My confidence only increased at Riverside through those tasks and projects.

Finally, I put all that I had gained to use at Leadership Lorain County. I soon found that I, once a quiet, shy and indecisive person was now outgoing, taking charge and working on real-world projects; something I would have never thought I could do in college.

Looking back I was silly to have ever questioned the value of internships. The experiences I’ve had through mine have shaped the person I am today. Without the hardships and successes in the “real world” I don’t know if I would feel as prepared as I am to take on the next step in life: Graduation.

In summary, if you find yourself in the same position I was, not really sure about the value of internships, you should get one, or two or three. You’ll thank me later.

Kaitlin Smith is a senior Organizational Communications major at Otterbein College.

The Columbus Internships intern spotlights put the focus on students, their experience in the Columbus Region, what they do and how they’re involved in internships with local businesses. To submit your student story for an internship spotlight contact Nick Wood.