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What benefit does this give the company?
What rationale can I use to solicit these internships?
The benefits, as several others have stated, are cheap labor,
Drudgery work gets done, you can try out possible future
employees, etc.
One thing I haven't seen stated is the experience and guidence a
tech writing department can offer. An internship is their chance
to shape the future of the industry.
One thing you need to be careful of is the "free intern."
Yes, companies would love cheap interns, but if you have unpaid
internships, you might wind up with a devaluation of your
students.
A similar situation happened at a University I attended.
The students in the journalism and broadcasting school usually
wound up doing time consuming, difficult, and unappreciated unpaid
internships.
The college had problems with the program because students didn't
like the internship program, and it seemed employers had caught on
that the internship didn't necessarily mean the graduate had
practical experience in the field.
ciaos
kirk
Kirk Foster
TSCOM
Drexel University
"Parents: Not for drinking.
Keep out of the reach of children."