Beonce Fraser learns about SPRINT intern program at Thursday's fair.
Business and marketing student Beonce Fraser, 20, didn’t consider working in the bioscience industry until she learned about a search for summer marketing interns in the field.
Fraser and hundreds of other New Haven students found those opportunities at a Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce-hosted internship and career fair Thursday at the Long Wharf Maritime Center.
The event included the official kick-off of a “Student Program to Ready Interns for Next-generation Talent” (SPRINT) internship program, which grew out of the Governor’s Workforce Council Bioscience Collaborative launched last year.
The SPRINT program currently has 60 internship positions posted from over 25 biotech employers.
The collaborative was established to offer a single centralized location for the growing bioscience sector, said Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce CEO Garrett Sheehan.
This program’s goal is to provide 100 paid internships this summer in the life-sciences industry to students attending Connecticut colleges and universities.
SPRINT collaborators celebrated the launch of the program and described this summer as a “great time to be in bioscience” as the industry grows throughout the state.
“Seventy percent of internships in the Northeast lead to full-time jobs,” governor’s office staffer Niall Dammando said.
In addition to introducing New Haveners to dozens of career paths and internships, half-hour workshops were offered to students and other residents on productivity tips for working remotely, steps to becoming an entrepreneur, and tips for improving LinkedIn profiles and online interview strategies.
The Life Science SPRINT campaign plans to make local and statewide job opportunities more accessible and visible to the new generation.
“Not every student can afford to take an unpaid internship,” Sheehan said.
While getting more information about the program, students applied to positions on the spot with help of a QR code. The open positions range from the finance field and human resources to manufacturing in emerging and established companies. The majority of the internship positions will begin this May and continue through the summer.
Fraser (pictured above), a junior, majors in business and marketing at Southern Connecticut State University.
Fraser stopped by the fair Thursday looking to secure her first paid internship this summer. She visited companies with positions in real estate, insurance, and marketing.
After stopping by the Life Science SPRINT table, she said she will consider applying for a marketing internship to learn more about the industry.
Her long-term goal is to be an entrepreneur.
This is awesome! Paid internships and apprenticeships can help young people gain skills and choose careers in fields that they may not have been able consider if it was unpaid. Hopefully this leads to more jobs for young people in the area.