Ahead of this summer's internship program at Indium Corporation, we received 712 applications; 13 (2%) of those students were hired.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Nate Discavage, and I have been the Talent Acquisition Supervisor here at Indium Corporation for almost one year. I previously worked in a similar capacity for another Central NY company, and when this opportunity arose, Indium's reputation and my working relationships with several of their employees made it an easy decision to apply.

I knew of Indium’s #NotYourAverageInternship program long before my interview. When I was working for my former employer, I had the opportunity to attend several trainings and panels about student development programs; representatives of Indium Corporation were almost always in attendance at these events and serving as thought-leaders. In fact, I took back some tips from my predecessor, Jim McCoy, to help start a new Student Worker program at my former employer.

I remember being shocked at one panel session to see that Indium Corporation was supporting nearly 20 summer interns at that time. For reference, my Student Worker Program would involve roughly three-to-five students per summer. I couldn't fathom a group of interns as large as Indium’s and all the management that went into it. However, now that I’m overseeing the program, I get to witness, first-hand, the internal support it garners.

Instead of asking around trying to find managers to take on students, I have managers asking me for "just one more." This is because the work that our interns do each summer makes a significant contribution to the organization. In fact, there are several processes and programs that we actively use today that were started by interns. As a result, we also have a very high “return rate” of interns who come back to work for us full-time after they graduate.

To be hired as an intern here at Indium Corporation is a privilege. Each of our interns proved their own merits and advocated for themselves to get into the program. Quite frankly, they are brilliant. I am so excited to hear about all the fascinating projects that they will be working on this summer and hope you are too! Make sure to stay tuned for upcoming blog posts from our interns who will be sharing their projects, experiences, and thoughts about it all.