Fifty-five young adults from across Mobile County wrapped up a five-week internship program this month designed to give them real-world experience in the local job market, with several parlaying the opportunity into offers of permanent employment. The group was honored at a luncheon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center, where organizers, county leaders and local business partners celebrated the interns’ work over the summer.
The event featured a keynote from Don Keeler, vice president of human resources at Austal USA, the Mobile shipbuilder that has become one of the region’s largest employers. His remarks focused on the qualities local companies look for as they build out their workforce, a theme that ran throughout the program.
The Mobile County Job Internship Program is coordinated by Spherion Staffing Services and Workshops Etc., and pairs young people with area businesses for a structured introduction to professional life. Participants spent their first week in intensive job readiness training, covering resume writing, workplace expectations and interview skills, before moving into four weeks of on-the-job placements with local companies.
This year about 50 businesses took part, a number organizers say has grown steadily as more employers recognize the value of the pipeline. Interns took on substantive assignments rather than simple busywork. Among the projects highlighted at the luncheon were an intern who helped streamline an engineering process to reduce costs, others who worked in financial investments, a pair who contributed to engineering projects, and one who built a database and helped re-program a system while working in hospital administration on a nursing floor.
Getting into the program is competitive. Applicants between the ages of 17 and 22 must submit a personal essay, maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average, provide recommendations, sit for interviews, and pass a background check and drug screening. This year’s class came from high schools and colleges across Mobile County, with participants ranging from local public school students to a student attending Harvard University.
“This is one way to get our talented and deserving youths into the workforce when experience is a requirement,” said Mobile County Commission President Connie Hudson. “At the same time, we hope to develop the workforce to better meet the needs of our local companies.”
Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl echoed that sentiment, calling the internship program another building block in preparing young people to enter the job market. “Hopefully these experiences will lead these young people back to Mobile when they are making their career choices,” he said, adding that keeping young talent in the region after college or trade school remains a priority for county leaders.
The program is led by the Mobile County Commission in partnership with Mobile Works, PNC Bank and the University of South Alabama. Organizers say the collaboration between government, private industry and higher education has been key to matching students with meaningful placements and giving local businesses an early look at future hires.
County officials say they expect the program to continue growing in coming years as more employers sign on, giving even more Mobile County students the chance to build skills and connections before they enter the workforce full time.