Aroostook businesses, students take advantage of internship opportunities

5 years ago

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Before graduating from the University of Maine at Presque Isle with a degree in business and accounting in 2017, Tyler Proulx of Presque Isle was one of four people to participate in MMG Insurance’s annual summer internship program. Since then he has worked at MMG full time as an associate personal lines underwriter and credits his early career success to his experiences as a student intern.

“I think coming here as an intern shows students that insurance is a lot more interesting and exciting than they might realize,” Proulx said. “It’s not the stereotype of people just sitting at desks writing insurance policies. Lots of people who work here don’t deal with the insurance aspect.”

MMG established their internship program in 2012 and has since offered summer work experiences to four college students per year. During their time at the company, interns job shadow all departments, collaborate with each other and employees on various projects, participate in community service events and activities, and attend regular business lunches with colleagues.

As an intern, Proulx mainly worked as a commercial and personal lines underwriter. One of his projects involved reviewing home inspections and determining what changes to make in homeowners’ insurance policies as a result. He considers the job shadowing and lunches to have been great networking opportunities and to have given him a chance to see what the workplace culture was like at MMG.

“You get to know quite a few people in a short period of time and everybody’s very friendly,” Proulx said. “Essentially, I was learning the same type of work that an entry-level employee would do. If you’re hired in the same department you interned for, it’s a pretty flawless transition.”

Proulx learned about MMG’s internship program through UMPI’s Business Club and credits his professors for helping him make connections with the company and encourage him to apply for the internship. Although UMPI’s most common graduation month is May, the university allowed him to count the internship as a six-credit course and graduate in August 2017. MMG officially hired him the week after he completed the internship.

MMG human resources business partner Bryan Fuller noted that the company decided to invest in summer interns after realizing the potential to attract and retain young talent. With out-migration and an aging population being major concerns for local businesses, he believes that both employers and college students can reap the benefits of an internship or similar work experience.

“It’s an opportunity to bring people into the company and see how they interact with other people,” Fuller said. “We also want interns to realize how many young employees we have working in different departments. We’ve hired people from various degree fields such as accounting, marketing, customer service and information technology.”

According to the most recent study of Aroostook County out-migration — the Caring for the Crown Report — the region is expected to lose 6,000 people during the next 10 years. In recent years, officials from the business and education worlds have begun to increase discussions surrounding how to retain as many young people as possible while also attracting educated workers from southern Maine and out of state.

Paul Towle, president and CEO of Aroostook Partnership, said his organization has continually spoken with companies about the benefits of hiring short-term interns and encourages business owners to maintain regular contact with the career and internship programs of The County’s four colleges — UMPI, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, Northern Maine Community College, and the Husson University satellite campus at NMCC.

“I think the first step for any company who wants to start an internship program is to talk with the local colleges, and ask questions about their programs and about how those programs can work toward workforce development,” Towle said.

UMPI’s office of career readiness is one of many programs that works with Aroostook Partnership to promote internship opportunities for students. Nicole Fournier, director of career readiness, said that all UMPI students are offered the chance to participate in some type of experiential career learning and numerous students take advantage of those opportunities.

“An ‘internship’ for some students might be a service learning project, but for others it’s student teaching, practicums, healthcare clinicals, research projects or an internship with a business,” Fournier said. When “students complete those experiences can vary depending on their program of study, but for a business internship we recommend students complete one in the year prior to their graduation.”

Many businesses, Towle noted, might at first be wary of internship programs, thinking that they involve numerous administrative costs to train students for a relatively short period of time. But he thinks the advantages of recruiting young interns are their enthusiasm for learning the ropes of the company quickly and willingness to develop skills and take on real-life work projects.

One way Towle suggests businesses can establish successful internship programs is by allowing students to work on projects that the company had previously set aside due to lack of full-time staff or time. More importantly, interns give businesses a regular group of potential employees to hire, which is one reason why he thinks MMG’s program has been so successful.

“MMG was one of the first companies that saw what was happening with the demographics across Aroostook County and put an early focus on retaining good, young talent,” Towle said. “They give students more work experiences than just answering phones.”

Since beginning its internship program, MMG has hired 18 students as full-time employees, including Proulx. He remembered that at one time he considered leaving Aroostook County and might have done so if the chance to intern at the company hadn’t come up.

“Before I got the internship, I told my mom, ‘If I don’t get into MMG, I’m not going to stay,’” Proulx said. “I think having such a great company like this in Aroostook County could help more young people decide to stay here.”