& So Much More

NACE Webinar with Ampersand Professionals

As we reflect on 2021 and consider where we are going in 2022, we take a minute to pause, reflect and introspect on what worked, what didn’t, and what lessons learned we want to focus on.

If you are considering bringing on interns to help with your team’s workload, but are a little uneasy about the idea, we have some starting points to help you and your team become great first-time intern managers.

It is estimated that more than 40% of internships are still unpaid. Here are 3 reasons Ampersand wholeheartedly believes paid internships provide more value to both an intern and a company than unpaid internships.

Research shows that 77% of employees have experienced burnout in their jobs, and burnt out employees are 2.6 times more likely to search for another job. Bringing on one or more qualified interns can help reduce employee burnout by reducing their workload, at a fraction of the cost of hiring more full-time employees.

Ampersand is lucky to witness, first hand, the level of talent, ambition and drive our Gen Z professionals bring to their work, everyday.

Finding and recruiting new talent can be daunting, time consuming, and expensive. As you may already know, Ampersand combats this problem by screening highly motivated, skilled candidates and training them before strategically placing them in an internship with our business partners. But how do you successfully communicate with and manage your Gen Z interns once you have recruited them? 

People often ask for a breakdown of what we’re doing at Ampersand…here goes. Ampersand is a recruiting and training platform, matching aspiring young professionals with companies eager to hire driven, diverse talent.

Finding work for an intern to do can be a task of its own, and can often discourage companies from bringing on an intern. As many as 62% of companies shy away from hiring interns because of the immense amount of time usually involved.

Overall, Ampersand is one of the best experiences that I had in my entire life. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of headspace I’d be in if I didn’t have these experiences, the knowledge that I gained, or the resources I now have at my disposal because of this program. This experience changed my life.

Unemployment and underemployment for young professionals entering the workforce is a huge program in the US. Currently over 50% of recent college grads are either unemployed or underemployed, meaning they have a job that does not require a college degree. 

As Spring Break season comes to a close, that only means one thing... summer internships! Now is the perfect time to begin preparing for opportunities and setting yourself up to be in the best position possible to acquire these upcoming experiences.

Over the past eight months, the corporate world has flocked from brightly lit open-plan offices to the safe haven of Zoom. Morning commutes are slashed, employees are negotiating million-dollar corporate budgets from the comfort of their bedrooms, and after-work happy hours have huddled into Zoom rooms with zany backgrounds. It’s a tough transition, and research tells us it isn’t a temporary shift.

YES! Internships provide so much value to students and young professionals: not only can they lead to entry-level job opportunities, they can set the stage for a successful career. On average, completing internships increases job offers by 16%, and a 2018 survey reported that 83% of students said the knowledge and skills gained from their internship were “very or extremely important” to their career development.

College is a magical place: a whole campus filled with young adults on brand new paths of self-discovery, professional development, and academic specialization. For first-years, this new environment also entails a whole new set of decisions like how to spend your time, who to surround yourself with, where to get work done, and most importantly, what you’re going to study.

With colleges and universities restricting in-person classes and activities, detracting from the value of tuition in the eyes of many students, a gap year has never been more attractive. For others, financial strains due to the current pandemic’s economic impact has made staying at home inevitable, especially in low-income communities.

The pandemic has encouraged more than a fifth of college students to take at least a year off from their studies. But are these gap year experiences preparing students with tangible skills for their futures? The Hechinger Report says that college students take an average of 26 unnecessary college credits as they determine their interests, paying thousands of extra dollars in tuition.