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Why We Hire Interns and Co-ops
Corporate Culture
Experiencing a CRG Internship
Ohio 3rd Frontier Program
Types of Internships
Preparation for Careers
Student Housing
Comments and Feedback from CRG Interns
CRG’s internship program has proven to be
a win-win arrangement for both the company and the students. College
and university students develop job skills and expertise before
they graduate, and the company benefits from their energy, intellect,
creativity, and willingness to learn. In fact, several students
and former students have been responsible for a few research and
process technology breakthroughs.
Corporate Culture
CRG’s corporate culture creates a climate of “accelerated
experience” for its Research Associates (co-op students).
The co-ops work alongside full-time professional staff on hands-on
projects for both government and commercial customers. This accelerated
work experience gives college student graduate-level challenges
and real-world work experience while undergraduates.
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Former
Ohio Governor Bob Taft visited CRG in September 2006 to promote
the Ohio 3rd Frontier internship program. He spoke with many
of CRG's interns that day, noting that CRG is a great example
of the win-win situation resulting from companies hiring college
interns and co-ops. |
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Experiencing a CRG
Co-op/Internship:
- Team-oriented atmosphere
- Freedom to be creative and take risks
- Unique, fun-loving culture
- Hands-on experience
- Competitive pay
- Active mentoring from professional staff
- Fast-paced work environment
- Responsibilities that are usually
assigned to college graduates
- “Real world” work experience
- Development of skills essential to future
career
- Solving difficult challenges on a regular
basis
Ohio Third Frontier
CRG was able to broaden and enhance its internship program through
the Ohio Third Frontier initiative, a program offering subsidies
for companies employing college interns in high-tech fields.
Types
of Internships
The company employs many interns from universities and colleges
in disciplines ranging from engineering, chemistry, materials
science, optics, physics, legal, graphics, and business. Along
with active mentoring, these students are given responsibilities
that would usually only be assigned after a degree is earned.
In this way, students at CRG are able to obtain real-world work
experience and develop skills essential for their future careers.
Preparation
for Careers
Many current full-timers at CRG started out at the company as
student interns. Prior interns now serve in capacities such as
director of business development, group and division managers,
research engineers, patent attorney, graphic designers, and business
associates. Experience has demonstrated a tremendous pay-off from
investing in top-notch college students while they are still in
school. By the time they graduate, these interns demonstrate a
high level of practical workplace and technological expertise,
maturity and self-confidence in project management, and entrepreneurial
initiative.
Student Housing
For out-of-town students, CRG has established a reasonably priced
co-op housing option. Take a look at some of the housing at Student
Housing.
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Comments and Quotes from
CRG Interns and Employees:
“Professionally, I became a
much better communicator, critical thinker, and overall team player.
The responsibilities bestowed upon me by my project leader forced
me to enhance my communication skills to a whole new level. This
is evidenced by the fact that by the time my term ended I had
met and worked with individuals with diverse educational backgrounds
and large amount of experience in what they do. This automatically
rubbed off on me and allowed me to feel free to ask any questions
and/or give any relative feedback.”
~CRG Intern, in a report to the Ohio 3rd Frontier Program
“My project leader and I have
had numerous conversations about resin formulation, better composite
processing, our progress as a whole, and the direction we currently
see our project heading. It felt good to know that my opinion
mattered and that my own thoughts and ideas were impacting a project
of such a high magnitude.”
~CRG Intern, in a report to the Ohio 3rd Frontier Program
“The best part about CRG’s
internship program is the whole experience. Interns working for
CRG obtain valuable real-world engineering experience while becoming
a part of a unique company culture.”
~Student at Wright State University,
majoring in Mechanical Engineering
“Working together with engineers
and scientists at CRG in a team-oriented approach has allowed
me to take on distinct responsibilities and has helped promote
my leadership skills on a daily basis. I have been exposed
to the challenges of transitioning products and materials
into a manufacturing environment, and this is my favorite
part of my co-op experience. I enjoy combining innovative
thinking and foresight in a manufacturing environment to prevent
failures before they happen. Overall, my experience at CRG
has allowed me to take responsibility and initiative to improve
my technical, professional, and leadership skills and has
reinforced my career choice in chemical engineering.”
~Student at the University of Dayton
majoring in Chemical Engineering
“The internship program at CRG
is a great chance for engineers to mentor students and help them
learn new things and ways of doing business. I enjoy working with
the students here because they bring a lot of energy and drive
to the table, and that makes the company an exciting and fun place
to work.”
~Division Manager, former student intern
“This experience has most certainly
confirmed my desire to be an engineer. It gives me a sense of
pride to know that my line of work directly connects to the lives
of so many people. The possibility of seeing what I’ve been
researching being used as a common industrial practice is invigorating.”
~CRG Intern, in a report to the Ohio 3rd Frontier Program
“Through my roles as both support and lead
on a variety of projects I was able to develop leadership qualities
including, lead by example and lead by following, both of which
are critical skills for technical and non-technical success both
at work and in life.”
~Research Engineer, former student intern
“I especially enjoy working with
the young people. Watching them grow professionally and accomplishing
things they never would have thought possible a few years earlier
bring me great joy."
~President/CEO
“From the company's very beginning, research
associates (interns) have been core to our company's success.
Their enthusiasm and fresh ideas beautifully complement the
experience and depth of the professional engineers and scientists
who supervise them. The mix of half-college student, half-professional
staff drives innovation for our customers at a phenomenal
pace — one that a team made up of just one type or the
other wouldn't achieve.”
~Director of Government Programs
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