PLSO The Oregon Surveyor March April 2020

8 The Oregon Surveyor  | Vol. 43, No. 2 Featured Article W hen Steven Monterrosa first came into my office, the first thing I noticed was that he had one of the best moustaches I had ever seen. I am not sure just why I brought that up other than for the sake of hones- ty, but during the course of my interview with him, I realized he was eager, bright, interesting and seriously interested in becoming a surveyor. He had a break in school where he was studying some- thing other than surveying. I am thinking to myself, why would anyone study any- thing other than surveying? I had a field crewman taking an extended vacation so hiring Steven for a two week intern- ship made a lot of sense. I had Steven come in the next Monday and sent him into the field with two other crewmen so that he would be able to begin train- ing on how to set up an instrument and use a data collector. Our beginning field personnel begin as instrument people because the crew chief can better plan and direct the job if they are in front of the instrument. As I recall, the weather that day was abysmal and miserable, but when Steven came back to the office he was all smiles and told me that he had one of the best days he ever had on a job. I either wanted to hire him perma- nently or drop him right then and there because his day involved cutting brush in torrential rains and hiking several times up a brutal slope and I wasn’t too sure he was all that sane. It turns out he was sane enough and that he really enjoyed surveying that much, and he still does close to three years lat- er. He still works for me and I am doing anything I can to get him to enroll at the evening and weekend surveying program at Clark College in Vancouver, Washing- ton. Steven isn’t the only intern I have hired. I have never had to actively look for other employees since I started hiring interns because I was always able to hire top notched workers which were careful- ly vetted through an internship program. The Education and Outreach Committee of the PLSO has a pretty aggressive goal of getting an internship for every single student who wants one. That’s right, 100% or we have failed to do our job properly in making connections. Fortunately, we have had two straight years where every student who wanted a summer intern- ship got one and we had more internship possibilities then we had students to fill them. The lesson here is that if you want a summer intern, you better get moving sooner, rather than later or an intern will not be available. The last couple of years we have had employers contact the PLSO looking for interns in the middle of June but most students had internships se- cured by the end of May or early June. And why wouldn’t there be a shortage of interns? This program makes so much sense to everyone involved. For the stu- dents, they can find employment in their future field over the summer. They gain valuable job experience that makes the lessons their instructors are teaching something that is real and grounded in the reality of the profession. They can earn a higher wage than they would working in a convenience store so it can alleviate financial pressure on the student trying to get through school on limited funds. Many students find long term employ - ment before even leaving school based upon contacts they made during their internship. For the employer, there is huge upside to hiring interns over the summer. They get a head start in hiring the best and the brightest employees, such as Steven, by giving them a test drive during the sum- mer. Quite a few students are offered permanent employment by those that hired them for a limited time internship. As an employer, the student interns are available at the peak summer months so you can smooth out spikes in work- load by hiring an intern during the busy season and they go back to school when the demand for surveying begins to ebb. This means you do not have to lay any- one off and have your unemployment insurance go up. As for the schools, the summer intern- ship is invaluable. The students get back to class in the fall with real experience of what surveying actually is, so it grounds their lessons in something that is real and practical. Students are also going to come back to class and share their experienc- es and lessons they learned on a real job with their classmates, which will reinforce the messages their instructors are trying to get across. The students come back Summer Internship Opportunities But You Better Hurry! The Education and Outreach Committee of the PLSO has a pretty aggressive goal of getting an internship for every single student who wants one. That’s right, 100% or we have failed to do our job properly in making connections. By Lee Spurgeon, PLS