Finding a good employee-someone who has basic office skills andis willing to learn-can be a frustrating task. Employers today arelooking for that perfect employee. But what, really, is a perfector even a good employee? What skills do businesses require, andwhat skills do good prospective employees possess? The answer tothese questions may be as close as your local high school orcollege. In 1991 U.S. Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin commissioned astudy of businesses across the country to help determine whatworkplace competencies and basic skills are required for effectivejob performance. Survey results were reported in the Secretary'sCommission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report, whichdefined and linked the competencies and skills. SCANS focused onone important aspect of schooling, which the report referred to asthe “learning a living” system. The initial report was titled “WhatWork Requires of Schools.” As outlined in that report, ahigh-performance workplace requires workers who have a solidfoundation in the following five key skill areas:

• Resources: Manages time, money, material and humanresources.
• Interpersonal: Participates as a member of a team, teachesothers, serves clients and customers, exercises leadership.
• Information: Acquires, organizes, interprets and usescommunications and computers.
• Systems: Understands social, organizational and technologicalsystems.
• Technology: Selects, applies and maintains technology.

These competencies are just what insurance agents need in theiremployees. However, finding an employee who has these qualities isnot an easy task.

The SCANS report charged colleges and universities to developprograms to teach these skills and nurture a capable, competitiveworkforce. In an effort to address this issue, colleges anduniversities have developed several programs. In one, a collegestudent performs a project for a business in the community. Inanother, a student The first type of program requires a student towork with a business on a project or help with a particular part ofthe business. A national study suggests that such programs improvegrades and attendance, and develop personal and socialresponsibility. Work can include developing an ad campaign, Webpage, business card, logo, graphic design or other one-timeproject. The student receives college credit, and the businessbenefits from free or low-cost expertise.

The internship program involves a long-term commitment from bothstudents and employers. Students receive college credit for workthey do on a regular basis for a business. An increasing number ofschools include completion of an internship as part of theirgraduation requirements. Students typically work 40 to 50 hours forevery hour of college credit they receive. For a typical three-hourcollege class, a student would thus work approximately 150 hours.This might be over a period such as eight weeks, based on apart-time schedule of 20 hours per week.

Students may or may not receive pay for the internship. Whatthey do receive is training, real-world business experience and thechance to apply what they have learned in school (plus a salary insome cases). An employer benefits by being able to assign somebasic tasks to the intern, freeing a more highly skilled person tosell and service accounts.

Our office has taken advantage of both types of programs in thepast three years. Using the first, we had a student develop anewsletter for our office. The newsletter had information about ouragency, our agents, the companies we represent and generalinformation on workers comp and computer coverage. It went out toall of our commercial clients, and the Chamber of Commerce allowedus to distribute the newsletter free with its own monthlynewsletter. We received a good response from this publication,including several requests for quotes from new clients. It wassuccessful enough that we decided to continue publishing thenewsletter on a quarterly basis.

A second project was to have a student develop our Web page.This student was new to such work, so she added to her skills bydoing research and finding a more experienced student to help her.The original page was “bare-bones,” and we arranged to have anotherstudent jazz it up at the end of last year. Our only cost for theWeb page was for the domain name and the purchase of the MicrosoftFront Page program, for editing and changing the page. This came toless than $200. Best of all, we didn't have any set-up or laborcosts.

The internship program has served us the best. We have workedwith three interns in the past three years. Some of their taskshave been to update our filing system, format letters, make a listof prospects, take pictures and run general errands. They alsoanswer the phone and learn how to complete a loss report andhomeowners application.

One of these students is currently working for an agency inColorado. A second is working at a large corporation, and the thirdis working for us on a full-time basis. She has developed into areal asset and was working toward her insurance license at the timethis was written.

We paid these students a salary based on the current minimumwage. Our only responsibility to the school was to fill out a shortweekly report, which we sent to the internship office. At the endof the internship, the students wrote a report detailing what theylearned and whether they wanted to continue in this type ofbusiness.

These are win-win programs for students, colleges anduniversities, and small businesses. It provides the students withthe opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom toa real-world business setting. The program enhances the typicalcollege curriculum and builds stronger relationships between highereducation institutions and businesses. For the employer, itprovides free or inexpensive extra labor for short periods.Additional advantages include the infusion of new ideas, especiallywith software and computer equipment, from an up-to-date college oruniversity. A possible disadvantage is that a business may spendextra time training a person, only to lose that person to acompetitor. Involving students as interns in your agency helpsbridge the gap between school and work. It can increase youroffice's efficiency, provide new ideas and technology and benefitstudents and an educational institution. The idea has worked wellfor our agency, and we plan to continue offering theseopportunities.