A Portland firm that specializes in connecting employers with workers has expanded its website to included student internships into the mix of options for job seekers.
The Live + Work in Maine website is operated by Pro Search of Portland. College administrators, such as James Westhoff at Husson University in Bangor, say students are increasingly using internships to secure employment opportunities.
“We partner with a lot of organizations to get the word out about internships,” he says. “They’re incredibly important for our students. They often turn into full-time jobs. The national statistics show that about almost more than 60 percent of internships turn into full-time jobs with the organization that the student is with.”
Westhoff says even if students don’t secure a job from the experience, an internship can be a powerful resume builder.
“It helps them learn about themselves and what they’re good at and what skills they like to use, what’s important to them values-wise in a job, and I think it makes them imminently more employable,” he says. “It puts them out there doing real work, real projects.”
There are currently nearly 40 internships listed on the website. Westhoff says the site is already attracting the attention of Husson seniors and graduates, about 80 percent of whom are trying to land careers in Maine.