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Six years ago, Maryland-based Bozzuto Landscaping Company revamped its internship program. One of the first moves it made at the time was to set up a separate budget for interns, to remove them from the direct labor rolls. “That one act,” says Tom Davis, company president, “encouraged everyone in the company to view interns as interns and not as employees.“ Davis goes on to explain, “Interns can fall into a situation where they are put on a crew and asked to pull weeds for the duration of their internship. Filling that role or another one like it may be advantageous to a crew, but it does not help an intern who wants a more broad-based view of your company and the industry.”

He continues, “We want to show interns the good, the bad, and the ugly of the industry by giving them a complete overview of our company and what the industry has to offer before they return back to school in the fall.”

Having an internship line item in the budget gives interns a special status for their 12-week stay, but it is only one of several steps Bozzuto takes to ensure students get a complete overview of the company. “One of the first things we do is set up a matrix or spreadsheet for each intern,” Davis relates. “The matrix schedules interns to see every area of our company, from working with maintenance and enhancement crews, designers, fleet managers, and salespeople to spending time with the company controller. They may even have a stint with our pressure-washing crew.” Bozzuto interns are also invited to attend monthly planning sessions, and the matrix also includes any past experience they may have had with another landscape contractor.

Davis explains, “After interviewing interns and selecting them for the program, we ask them to detail their past experience. We want them to experience as much as they can here, but we do not want that experience to be redundant, especially if they have a desire to do something else. For example, if interns have had previous experience working on maintenance crews and would like spend more time in another area, we will weight their schedules accordingly.”

Most first-year interns have little experience in the industry, he emphasizes. “Second-year interns, those who may have spent a summer working with another contractor, usually have a good idea of what they want to do. For them, the internship here gives them a second look at a potential career and a first look at us.”

Interns are encouraged to take a week of vacation time (also included on the matrix). Then, prior to showing up for work, they are e-mailed a copy of their schedule, eliminating any confusion about what that will be doing once they show up for work.

Every intern is also assigned a mentor or manager, preferably one who has also gone through the company’s internship program. Mentors oversee their interns’ stay and meet with them once a week to answer any questions they may have about the company. Then approximately three-quarters of the way through the program, the company holds an “intern luncheon.” Here, Davis takes the opportunity to ask interns if they have experienced everything they have wanted to experience and how the company may want to change the program to make it a better experience overall for them.

“I think the intern luncheon is one of the most important aspects of our internship program,” says Davis. “It gives the interns an opportunity to voice their opinion about the program, to tell us what they did and did not like. It also gives them a chance to change the emphasis of their last couple of weeks with us. For example, I ask them if there is something they would like to see that they have not already seen or experienced, or if there is something they would like to revisit. Then I ask them if their brother or sister or someone else close to them were to intern with us next year, what would they suggest we do to make the experience more fulfilling.”

If the Bozzuto internship program appears to be weighted heavily in favor of interns, it is for a reason. Davis wants to give them an opportunity to learn about the company, about the industry, and about themselves. What is in it for Bozzuto? That is an easy question to answer, says Davis. “We want our interns to be ambassadors for us and the industry. Even if interns decide against coming to work for us, we want to make sure they have had a good learning experience here. We want them to leave, if not feeling good about our company and the industry, at least knowing they have a better understanding of both. As I said before, we want to make sure interns get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of what it is like to be a landscape contractor.” That, he adds, is something schools cannot teach students.

11/03

By Rod Dickens, ALCA Contributing Writer