Four Maryland-based Organizations Create
Internship Platform
The State of Maryland has identified a problem—a skills gap problem. Most recent college graduates lack the validated skills needed to hit the ground running as an intern or entry-level employee and it’s often too challenging to hire good interns. The Maryland Department of Commerce, along with three Maryland-based organizations—the Maryland Tech Council, Fearless, a Baltimore-based software company, and Breezio, an online community platform solutions provider based in Rockville, have created the Internship Network of Maryland (inMD).
inMD is a digital marketplace where students, mentors, and companies converge in an online learning and information exchange. By posting your organization’s internships, sharing information on your company, and engaging your employees in the community, you’ll join an ecosystem where students are actively exploring their career options and earning badges for completing training on your company or industry, doing informational interviews, and engaging with industry experts. inMD uses this information to score them and sends you recommendations during the year as to who matches your company. In all, the platform connects 165,754 businesses, 360,000 students, and 57 universities.
In developing inMD, all four partners just needed to look at the numbers to know that a platform of this type was needed. Eighty percent of jobs are filled through networking and internal referrals, more than 4 out of 5 recent college graduates do not have a job when they graduate, and just 40% of college seniors feel they are prepared for a career. The inMD platform will offer a number of features to address those statistics including an interactive job board, video conferencing, virtual career fairs, skills training and digital micro-badging, searchable student profiles, virtual interview scheduling, and more.
inMD plans to open for Beta testing in June with a soft launch in October. As early adopters, companies that participate in Beta testing will have increased visibility among students and will receive special recognition when it launches this fall. Companies interested in Beta testing can complete a form on the inMD website.
Companies interested in partnering on any aspect of inMD can contact Bret Schreiber (bret.schreiber@maryland.gov) or Tami Howie, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council at (tami.howie@mtc.org).