Madison—The widespread wave of workers leaving their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent labor shortage has made finding talent through cheese and dairy internships more important than ever.

The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) recently hosted a webinar on sourcing workers during 2021’s Great Resignation through internships and – more germane to the current job climate – “returnships.”

The new term was coined for the return of adult learners in the workplace. It applies to professionals interested in changing careers, who have voluntarily or involuntarily been out of the labor market for a certain amount of time.

Tim Strait, coordinator of the Wisconsin Internship Initiative (WisConnect) with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, outlined how dairy businesses can create a successful internship program – recruiting students fresh out of college or seasoned workforce veterans.

“...as our manufacturing systems and technology continue to evolve, we need to really make sure we have the right skill sets and the right people to be able to operate that new technology.”

— Louie Gentine, Sargento Foods

WisConnect was created in 2017 to keep Wisconsin’s best and brightest in the state, Strait said. Since then, its mission has expanded and the nomenclature has changed.

Many schools are abandoning the word “internship” for “experiential learning activity,” Strait said.

Colleges and universities are using that angle – putting into practice what they learned in the classroom out into the world of work.

We’re aware of how much the labor market has changed over the past five years, and our goal is to help businesses find and keep interns, he continued.

“Rather than keeping students in the state of Wisconsin, now we’re a little bit more aggressive, helping employers go out and find the best candidates,” Strait said.

“In these very confusing times – what we’ve come through and what we’re going to be going into – do not shy away or be afraid of being creative in the way that you attract interns,” Strait said.

“Chances are that if you’ve got an intern, train them up to the system, get to know how they work, and they’re going to be a full time employee,” he said. “If you extend that offer of full-time employment, more often than not they’re going to accept and you’ll have someone already trained up to the system.”

Dairy operations have found success with older professionals in a “returnship” arrangement.

“For the people I’ve talked to that have done returnships, it’s been nothing but a win-win proposition,” Strait said. “You have someone that knows what it’s like to be in the world of work. They have a wonderful wealth of experience, and are able to apply it in new situations.”

It can be a little off-putting for some employers to the possibility of evaluating learners in a new career, he continued, but most people have been pleasantly surprised by the returnship experience.

Employers should directly contact career services at colleges and universities for applicants, and cast their net a bit wider for returnships.

“I would put it in your position announcement,” Strait said.

“When a person reads that they’ve been welcomed as someone changing careers, and express an interest in what you’re offering, you’ve got a much more solid build-up already. When recruiting interns, companies don’t need to “recreate the wheel. Colleges have entire departments whose primary role is to get students into internships.”

Sargento Internship Program

Sargento Foods, Inc. of Plymouth, WI, has been a long-time business partner with the Wisconsin Internship Initiative.

Leah Iocco, associate food scientist and former intern with Sargento, said internship programs provide the necessary confidence and experience needed to pursue a particular career path.

University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Sheenagh Cleary is an intern with Sargento’s accounting and finance department.

“I’ve found my niche, and it’s what I like to do,” Cleary said. “I ultimately looked for a company with a great culture, and was going to be a place that was supportive.”

Chay Vue, Sargento’s director of corporate engineering, works on the company’s internship planning team and serves as a student supervisor and mentor.

They allow us to be mentors, Vue said. They allow us to teach them and coach them. For us, that’s added value.

Sargento CEO Louie Gentine stressed that internships are more important than ever, now that the US workforce is in transition.

“It’s talent attraction, but as our manufacturing systems and technology continue to evolve, we need to really make sure we have the right skill sets and the right people to be able to operate that new technology,” Gentine said.

We take a lot of time when we take on an intern, and we want to have the right program in place, he said. It’s in all of our best interests.

Grande Internship Program

Jill Swanson, human resources talent acquisition partner with Grande Cheese Company, said the company typically hosts about 20 interns every summer, from mid-May through the end of August.

Recruiting is done prior during the fall and winter through career and internship fairs; from their current Grande associates and associate referrals; and through career website posts.

Grande hosts weekly personal and professional development events and offers a housing stipend for interns who live more than 45 miles away from the work location.

“We’ve used this as an added attraction for students at schools that are further away,” Swanson said.

There also needs to be a genuine business need, Swanson continued. We don’t want to put an intern into a role we couldn’t support or make meaningful for them.

Cade Christensen, a senior ag business and animal science student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, was a 2021 milk marketing intern for Grande.

Christensen said the “culture” of a business can be very attractive, especially to young employees just out of college who want to have fun and enjoy going to work.

Christensen also highlighted Grande’s mentorship program, which teamed him up with a veteran 67 year-old employee.

“It was cool to get a different perspective on life,” Christensen said. “We became very close, talking every day. The knowledge I got from him was great, and he helped transition me into the milk marketing program.”

“Having an internship experience can also turn you on or off to a particular employment opportunity,” Christensen said.

How Much Do Interns Get Paid?

Determining interns’ salary is a widespread question for businesses, who want to make sure the regular staff is paid more than interns.

Local conditions and precedent within the organization can effect how much an intern is paid, Strait said. There’s guidance available from the Department of Labor, and about 87 percent of internships in Wisconsin are paid positions.

The average pay is between $12 and $14 per hour. The highest salary on WisConnect was $27 per hour.

Grande’s Swanson said her company has a compensation team within its human resources department. For most interns, pay is slightly higher than the $12 to $14 range.

It’s important to list monetary compensation for each position, along with other kinds of compensation such as direct experiences – things these students can put on their resumes, said WCMA senior director of programs and policy Rebekah Sweeney.

The free WisConnect site is open to all college students with a .edu email address. For more information, visit www.internshipwisconsin.com.