提供实习机会可以创造双赢局面

小企业主们在眼下的经济衰退中看到了“利好”的一面：他们可以通过实习项目吸引到更多的人才。

“最近的这茬实习生太让人惊喜了，”Matrix Group International Inc.的总裁皮内达(Joanna Pineda)说。Matrix Group International是一家总部设在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿市(Arlington)的提供全方位服务的网络服务提供商。

眼下，皮内达正考虑在公司原有的面向高中生和大学生的暑期实习项目以外，再增加一个为期一年的带薪实习岗位。

经济衰退导致的预算削减让大型企业在今年砍掉了大约五分之一的实习岗位。与此同时，学生就业市场紧缩，而如今的雇主们也比以往更加看中求职者的工作经验，因此学生们的实习需求不断上升。

“这对小企业主来说是个不错的机会，”美国小企业联合会(National Small Business Association)主席阿什莫斯(Keith Ashmus)说。阿什莫斯同时也是克利夫兰市一家名为Frantz Ward LLP的律师事务所的共同创办人。他说，在大公司压缩实习计划规模的时候，他的公司推出的带薪实习项目正吸引来更高素质的求职者。

Small-business owners are discovering an upside to the economic downturn: a deeper pool of talent to tap through internship programs.

'The latest crop of interns was amazing,' says Joanna Pineda, chief executive of Matrix Group International Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based full-service web solutions provider.

Pineda is now considering offering a year-long paid internship alongside the company's longstanding summer program for high-school and college students.

Large employers have slashed the number of internships by around a fifth this year as part of recession-related budgets cuts. At the same time, demand for internships is rising among students facing a tight job market where employers are increasingly putting a premium on work experience.

'It's a good opportunity for small-business owners,' says Keith Ashmus, chair of the National Small Business Association. Ashmus, who is also a co-founding partner at Frantz Ward LLP, a law firm in Cleveland, says his firm's ongoing paid-internship program is attracting higher-caliber candidates as larger firms cut back.

Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, says while larger companies tend to have broader brand-name recognition, 'interns may enjoy the less bureaucratic nature of small companies, and the often more dynamic work environment.'

Interns can pitch in to support projects that might otherwise languish on a back burner. They can also energize a workplace with their enthusiasm. An internship program can also serve as an effective recruitment ground for future hires.