Before moving to Aspen two weeks ago, the only real job experience Samantha Smith had was as a waitress and house-painter.
But, on the path to graduate from Ohio’s Denison University in a year,
Smith wanted to get some more applicable training on her resume, so the
21-year-old recently moved to the Roaring Fork Valley to intern with
the Wheeler Opera House and Theatre Aspen.
“There wasn’t a lot available,” says the film major, about her peers’ options. “I am one of the lucky ones.”
Fortunately for Smith, Wheeler Opera House Executive Director Gram
Slaton is a Denison alum, so when he went searching for some help this
year turning to his alma mater was a logical step.
“There is enough going on around here, and I have the time to have an
intern this year,” said Slaton. “It’s a chance to give them some
insight so that we can expose them to a wide variety of cultural and
entertainment types.”
The Wheeler Opera House had recruited one intern, who came from
Bennington University, prior to Smith. Every year is different in terms
of the amount of help they need, he said, but they’ve got Smith busy
this summer. Slaton added that the “youthful energy” is a real plus
around the workplace, and the technological savvy of younger
generations translates into a learning environment for older employees.
“When you have someone that young with all the new technology, it gives us an education too,” he says.
Mutually beneficial relationships
Internships and apprenticeships date back to the beginning of
employment, but the way they’re undertaken has changed. And, it seems
Aspen is becoming more of an outlet for those soon-to-be and
post-college graduates.
As the job market tightens, degree-holders and students nearing
graduation are seeking more creative alternatives to the typical
big-city internships that dominate resumes.
And, as it becomes more difficult to pay solid salaries to entry-level
positions because of the nation’s economic downtown, staffing eager
employees for little to no pay is more enticing.
A recent survey shows that 61 percent of national hiring managers plan
on finding an intern for this fall, and 44 percent of those would like
to hire college interns as full-time, permanent employees, according to
a poll from careerbuilder.com. Of those positions, 36 percent are paid,
and 14 percent of hiring managers say they have both paid and unpaid
positions.
Evan McCormick, who will be a senior at University of Denver in the
fall, originally looked into an internship with Jones Trading in Los
Angeles, near his hometown of Santa Barbara. But when the staff at
Jones Trading in Los Angeles suggested he look into a position at their
office in Aspen — a place he’d only been only vacation — it seemed like
a no-brainer for the now Colorado resident.
“I’m an international business major, but wanted to get some experience
in finance,” he said. “I still want to go to grad school, and this is a
way to get some exposure.”
As the first intern in the Aspen office of Jones Trading, it’s a
learning experience for both McCormick and his mentors. Working unpaid,
for the experience, he takes part in meetings and does some data entry,
but also runs errands. He says the shadowing experience, and finding
out what it’s like on the inside, is the goal of his two-month gig at
Jones.
Like McCormick seeking out the job at Jones, Theatre Aspen’s new
artistic director Paige Price was also approached by a handful of
interested interns.
Smith, who is working with the Wheeler, is also sharing some duties
with Theatre Aspen, but two more interns will soon arrive to help Price
with her new position, and the overhaul that’s happening at Theatre
Aspen, a nonprofit known for its Theatre in the Park summer series.
“We realized it was our 25th anniversary and needed some more help,”
said Price, about an organization that hasn’t had interns in the past.
“They aren’t getting stipends, and it’s a real internship in that
sense.”
Programs in action
Plum TV has an increasingly successful internship program that was
created four years ago by Graham Veysey, who was then an intern
himself. The local television station provides programming in boutique
markets such as Aspen, Telluride, Nantucket and the Hamptons. It was on
the East Coast that Veysey, now the executive producer for Aspen’s Plum
station, started a program that currently makes up half of his staff.
“We advertise to the top 50 schools, and get hundreds of responses,” he
said. “It’s a really competitive process, and if you look at our staff,
the majority of them were interns.”
Right now, there are five interns on Aspen’s Plum staff of a dozen.
While Veysey also completed an internship with “Meet the Press,” he
says the beauty of the Plum program is gaining hands-on experience.
“Where a big media organization like CBS or Bravo has union camera
people, they can’t touch the equipment at those places,” he said. At
Plum, they gain training in framing shots, editing and marketing.
Provided with a housing and stipend, in four years it’s developed into
a program that captures the essence of interning: on-the-job experience
that potentially parlays into a position with that company.
christine@aspendailynews.com
