Why We Invest in Our Interns

At CCA Global Partners, each summer brings energy and excitement as we welcome interns into our Manchester, NH office for a meaningful real-world work experience. But, it’s during this time of the year that we start gearing up for our next class of interns. We’re always looking for new ways to create a positive internship experience. We feel that a meaningful internship should benefit the company and the intern. I should also include a true representation of the work the company does. We’ve worked hard to create an internship program structure that sets up our interns and our mentors to be successful and integrates our interns into our everyday work. Over the past seven years of our internship program, we’ve grown our program and keep improving the experience. There are some key lessons we’ve learned along the way.

CCA's 2019 Interns with their mentors on their first day.  

Our Current Internship Program

Each year, eight to ten college students from schools across the country become team members at CCA Global as part of a full-time, paid internship program. These students work hard, collaborate, have fun and create memories that will impact their futures. Our internships tend to attract candidates who are values-based, entrepreneurial, and tech-savvy. As a cooperative, the work we do to support and empower entrepreneurs and independent business owners serves thousands of businesses through the co-op models and helps them grow in an ever-evolving marketplace. We know that these values resonate with our Gen Z interns.

CCA 2019 interns visit the NH Motor Speedway to learn more about corporate communications.  

Why Our Program Works

An internship program can only be as good as the time and investment a company puts into it. Internship programs that are well-managed and well-though-out will, in turn, be more meaningful to both interns and full-time employees. We find that a combination of work-based learning and hands-on experience leaves our interns with a feeling of accomplishment as well as a wealth of new-found knowledge that they can apply to their schoolwork and future careers. We feel that internships should not be a way to get low priority projects or administrative tasks completed.

What we’ve found is that with a little extra thought and time, both our mentors and our interns finish each summer with new knowledge and experience that will impact their future. Our interns go back to school and into the world with more confidence and understanding. Our mentors go back to their work with a new perspective.

CCA's 2019 interns enjoy the company patio on a beautiful day.  

After many years of fine-tuning our program, we’ve found that these five lessons have been the most impactful. 

1. Internships can be valuable to the intern and the company. More than just a line to put on a resume, real experience means interns are more prepared for the challenges that lie ahead…and that helps our community and the future of our businesses. While they may have little experience coming in, interns have been studying and learning. Everything is fresh and new and this can invigorate those around them.

    

2. Purpose matters. There’s a reason we don’t just have our interns making copies and running for coffee. While there is some value to just being around the work, we feel when our interns see the purpose of their work, they rise to the challenge.

    

3. Make it relevant. In addition to their real-world work experience, we give our interns the opportunity to address the issues they see in the world and present ways that the cooperative business model can address these issues. Most students are not exposed to the cooperative business model and it’s amazing to see how they immediately start thinking of ways that businesses and communities benefit from shared ownership.

    

4. A true experience through and through. It’s important that interns get the full picture. At CCA, interns work side-by-side with our full-time employees. They are fully immersed in our culture. They are included in employee outings, in-office perks like yoga classes, and staff meetings.

    

5. It takes the village. We make sure that our entire office knows who the interns are and where they’re from. We email the entire office with photos and interesting facts about each intern. Even if they’re not working directly with one of our interns, our entire company welcomes them to the team. In addition to the work our mentors put in preparing for and nurturing their interns, we have a dedicated intern committee that plans and coordinated meaningful programs throughout the summer. They also serve as additional resources to interns, offering advice and guidance.

 If you want to learn more about our internships, please contact us at [email protected].