Intern Awards for Students Who Will Shape the Future
Date Posted: November 29, 2015
Posted In: Workforce,
From Equipment World: When contractors talk about the lack of skilled construction labor, they’re usually referencing laborers and equipment operators. But there’s another lack that is just as troubling to many of the contractors I talk with: the people needed to run a company, especially when there’s no apparent next generation.
Which is why I found being one of the judges of the inaugural Construction Intern Awards, sponsored by software provider HCSS, so intriguing. Presumably some of the contest candidates here will find themselves in construction company ownership positions in the coming years, along with those who rise from the labor ranks. The candidates, all college upperclassmen who had interned in a construction company this year, were asked to describe the main projects they worked on, and then answer four questions:
- What results did you achieve on the projects, and what impact did they have on the company?
- What real-life technical or business skills did you learn?
- What did you learn from this internship that will affect your life in a positive way?
- Where do you think technology will make the biggest impact in construction in the next few years? How will it do that?
As I read through the answers of the 20 candidates that made it to the final judging round, I couldn’t help but be impressed. The contractors, as contractors want to do, truly put these interns to the test—and even in one case, over a job. “Within the first couple of weeks, I had learned more than I have in three years of college combined,” said one candidate, a construction management major working for a multifamily builder out of Indianapolis.