SC&R Foundation supports workforce with internships

Many members of our industry are working tirelessly to attract young workers into this incredible trade, as they continue to combat an aging workforce. The SC&R Foundation has developed a new program to assist SC&RA members in providing an internship stipend for a top candidate they may not otherwise be able to hire. 

The Foundation asks that SC&RA member companies submit an Internship Reservation Application by March 23 in preparation for summer or fall internships. Both U.S. and international SC&RA member companies are accepted. Internship awards will range from $500-$3,000 depending on the length of internship and total amount to be paid to the intern.

”The Foundation has been very active with grants and scholarships,” said Dave Wittwer, senior vice president, Hays Companies and SC&R Foundation board member. “But grants and scholarships are targeted more towards existing employees of member SC&RA companies. Internships are oriented or targeted towards attracting new, prospective employees to this industry across all job categories. So, whether it’s welding and garage operations, a driver or a crane operator, or it’s engineers, route planners, financial folks, brokerage or riggers, we want to attract them all.”

Wittwer added that the concept behind the internship program was to compete with other employers and industries that are trying to attract the same talent and give them the mechanism in which they could give exposure to and learn about the industry.

“Demographically, we have an aging work population,” said Wittwer. “We’ve got to attract the so-called millennial generation into this industry because there’s a lot of high paying jobs, there’s a lot of highly compensated opportunities, there’s opportunities to own your own business, there’s opportunities to run divisions, you know across that spectrum, that’s why we’ve got to bring them in. They’re the leadership of tomorrow.”

Internships have also shown proven success. Wittwer provided the example of teaming up with Rafael de los Santos, Managing Director, Tradelossa, to support a college intern.

“He and I put our heads together and basically funded an internship between us. Rafael’s operation is in Mexico, and we had a college senior who was very interested in the industry and was fluent in Spanish. So, he went down and did a two-week internship in Mexico, in Monterrey at Tradelossa and got to see the full gambit of the operation, from driving a truck to dispatch to working with the field reps, working with the sales guys, spending some time in HR and accounting, etc.… At the end of it, he had to write a white paper and make a presentation to the management team at Tradelossa.”

He added that today, that young man is in graduate school at Arizona State at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, learning, improving and getting more education and specializing in supply chain and logistics in a global management environment.

“That’s a real success story, because that’s the kind of person who’s going to work in this industry in some fashion,” said Wittwer. “Because the crane, heavy-haul and specialized transportation industry is all part of that supply chain. So now, we’ve had a young man who’s gone out and done an international internship, and been able to come back and apply that, and is now getting a graduate degree in supply chain and logistics. He’s a future leader in our industry. So, we know it works. We’ve seen it work, and I know we can do it.”

The deadline for internship applications is March 23 and the winners will be announced at the Annual Conference with the Scholarship and first round of grant winners.

More information can be found here. http://www.scr-foundation.org/internship-award-details/