For many Rhode Island college students, finding an internship that allows them to summer in the Ocean State is a tricky endeavor. But bRIdge, a new state-wide initiative launched Oct. 9 by Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14 and higher education leaders, is tackling that problem by helping connect students to local internships. The goal is "to match Rhode Island employers with talented students looking to gain valuable professional experience," according to the program's website.
Through the initiative's user-friendly website, bRIdge.jobs, college students and recent grads can create an account and personal profile in as little time as it takes to open a new Facebook account. Users are able to search for internships in almost any field, including journalism, engineering and health care. Employers are also able to create profiles that explain the qualifications, expectations and compensation of their proposed internships. The website includes a "featured" internships section and even offers the option to upload resumes and send them directly to employers.
bRIdge is different from other internship portals like Monster.com because it is designed to link Rhode Island college students with state organizations. The website is a "central match mechanism" for employers and college students, said Michael Trainor, special assistant to the commissioner of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education. bRIdge is truly the first of its kind, he said.
The initiative was created to help students sort out what they want to do after graduation, introduce students to local employers and prevent the notorious Rhode Island brain drain. "We want to keep our brightest students here," Trainor said.
"Experiential learning is extremely valuable," Trainor added. More than 80,000 students attend Rhode Island colleges, and national studies show that college students who complete internships are more likely to receive job offers after graduation than their peers who do not have internship experience, according to the Providence Journal.
The website is the product of three years of planning by organizations including the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island and the Board of Governors for Higher Education. This collaboration made bRIdge available to all 11 of Rhode Island's universities and colleges, public and private alike, said Daniel Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island. The presidents of these institutions are very excited about the initiative and have leveraged their support, Egan added.
Career centers at local colleges like the Career Development Center at Rhode Island College and the CareerLab at Brown have already gotten on board with bRIdge. "RIC has been providing internship placements for many years through its Career Development Center," wrote Jenifer Giroux, director of outreach programs at RIC, in an email to The Herald. "However, this new website will allow students, graduates and employers the ease of accessing and posting to the site 24 hours a day," she wrote.
bRIdge is also an effective tool for young entrepreneurs and new businesses. Smaller companies can often get lost in the swarm of major internship search sites, but bRIdge aims to simplify the process of promoting internships, said Adrian van Alphen, RISLA's employer relationship and internship development manager. He provides tips, sample profiles and resources to new businesses to help make their profiles clear and impressive.
Adam Leonard '10, the program's manager, said small businesses have a difficult time becoming visible on internship boards, especially if they lack a human resources department. He said he believes that with a Rhode Island-specific program, these businesses can develop close relationships with the academic institutions and use the state's small size to their advantage.
Furthermore, bRIdge helps to assure students that the internships are safe and high-quality by visiting the individual businesses and getting a better idea of what the student will be doing during their time there. All companies are required to meet certain criteria before they are able to advertise their profiles, van Alphen said. "This initiative is a great way to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit of talented Rhode Island students," he added.
Since its launch, the initiative has proved to be a breakthrough for many state schools. At RIC, responses from administrators and students has been "overwhelmingly positive," Giroux wrote.
The CareerLab will provide more information for students through email and social media as employer presence begins to increase on the site, Jim Amspacher, career advisor and coordinator for Careers in the Common Good, wrote in an email to The Herald.
