In a recent article published by the Boston Business Journal, Galen Moore explains a study by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI), a Suffolk University think tank, which ranked Massachusetts the most competitive state for business - again. Massachusetts beat out closely ranked North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Utah, who were followed closely by Colorado, Texas, and Washington. Using Government & Fiscal Policy, Security, Infrastructure, Human Resources, Tech, Business Incubators, Openness, and Environmental Policy as their measures, the BHI concluded that Massachusetts had the overall highest index at 7.77, a full .78 points above its closest competitor, ND. Please see the full article, below:
Study ranks Mass. the most competitive state for business - again
Human resources and technology put Massachusetts at the top of an annual ranking of U.S. states by their competitiveness, expected to be published by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) later today.
The Suffolk University think tank bases its State Competitive Index on 43 indicators related to government, security, infrastructure, human resources, technology, business incubation, openness and environmental policy.
North Dakota placed second in this year's index, followed by Minnesota, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Virginia and Kansas. It's the 12th year the BHI has published the ranking.
Education, technology and infrastructure are the strong suits of states that rank high in the index, said its project manager, Frank Conte, in a statement. "“In terms of generating high income for its residents, Massachusetts continues an impressive run as a competitive state,” he said – adding that states like Texas and Louisiana have made impressive gains. This year, Texas ranks 7th, Louisiana 37th.
Here's a table showing scores and rank by state on each of the index's measures.
Tufts University has an upcoming Internship Fair, in which they invite companies to come to campus and recruit Tufts students for summer internship opportunities in communications, business, finance, the arts, media, marketing, non-profits, education & government. As such, Kristin Casasanto, Assistant Director of Employer Outreach, would like to invite Greater Boston Chamber members to Tufts University's upcoming internship fair.
Tufts Internship Fair
Friday, March 8, 2013
12 noon – 3 PM
Recruit students from Tufts University, College of Arts & Sciences for summer 2013 internships
To register, log in to Tufts Jumbo Jobs
If you have any further questions, please contact Kristin at Kristin.Cassasanto@tufts.edu
MassBay Community College invites Chamber members to host a MassBay intern this spring, and to attend their event! Below is a letter from MassBay:
Enhance your business by hosting a talented MassBay technology student intern this spring.
- Web Design students are able to update your website and manage your social media presence.
- IT students have the capacity to upgrade your network and troubleshoot problems.
- Database students can translate your data into reports that work for you.
In addition to benefitting your business, granting students internship opportunities is a valuable service, boosting their employment credibility and enabling them to shift from the theoretical problems of the classroom to the applied problems of the workforce.
From 8:30-11:00 AM on Thursday, November 29, we invite you to attend a technology internship event, hosted by MassBay Community College. There is no fee to attend this initial screening or to hire an intern, and student compensation for the internship is at your discretion. If you find a match, students will be available for Spring 2013 assignments ranging from six weeks in duration and beyond. Internship candidates are currently preparing to meet you by participating in extracurricular employability trainings.
Register for our November 29 internship event at www.tinyurl.com/MBCCTechInterns
For any questions, please contact Dimitri Linde at Dimitri.Linde@umb.edu.
Hey Chamber Intern Connect Member Companies!
Now is the time to post your fall internship opportunities! Whether you have a paid, unpaid, full time, part time, 3 month, 4 month, 1 year, or any other type of internship in the Greater Boston area- you are now welcome to post the internship directly onto Chamber Intern Connect and start looking for your potential future workforce! Chamber Intern Connect is a free service for all Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce members, and we encourage all of our members to post as many internship opportunities as they have available.
Don't miss out on the most talented student interns in the region- post your internships sooner rather than later, using the applicable link below!
In a recent article in the BBJ entitled "Today’s unpaid intern could be tomorrow’s plaintiff," author Lisa van der Pool quotes Sara Goldsmith Schwartz of Schwartz Hannum PC in Andover who says she urges clients to pay minimum wage to avoid legal liability with interns.
"Two high-profile national lawsuits brought by disgruntled unpaid interns in recent months highlight the little-known fact that many companies do not follow specific federal guidelines that must be met in order to have unpaid interns kicking around the office doing everything from mundane data entry to helpful, entry-level tasks."
To read more, please visit this site: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/print-edition/2012/03/09/todays-unpaid-intern-could-be.html
To post paid or unpaid internships, please click below!
Dear Valued Members of The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce,
You are invited to participate in a business and technology networking event on the morning of April 12th, hosted by MassBay Community College. This event will provide you with an opportunity to meet over 20 internship seeking undergraduates with expertise in PC skills, web design and development, and e-mail marketing. These students, with their diverse range of contemporary computer skills, are an affordable way to update or expand your business’s online presence.
At this initial networking event you will spend six minutes with each candidate. A week beforehand, you will receive resumes, a list of technical competencies, and a work sample for each pre-screened student.
There is no fee to attend the networking event or to hire an intern. Likewise, should you attend the event, there is no obligation to hire an intern, but if you find a match (and we’re certain you will), students will be available for assignments ranging from six weeks in duration and beyond, at costs as little as $12.00 per hour. More information can be found on the attached flyer.
The MassBay Technology Internship Program is sponsored by MassBay Community College, and supported by BATEC, the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Computing and Information Technologies.
Please consider attending this April 12th networking event.
Sincerely,
Dimitri Linde, Outreach Coordinator, BATEC, The National Science Foundation’s National Center for Computing Technologies (978.886.9638)
In an article in the Boston Herald today, Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren spoke about the current unemployment rate and its disparities within educational attainment and race. As stated in the article, Rosengren dispelled the argument that students aren’t learning the right skills to succeed in the workforce. He also stated, “Those with no high school diploma have less than half the median income, and those with just a high school diploma (no college experience) have about three-quarters of the median income. And those with professional degrees have more than twice the median income.”
As such, Rosengren encouraged the use of Chamber Intern Connect as a means to improve the work environment of the greater Boston area, and keep the talent pool growing and developing. Chamber Intern Connect, which you are exploring now, is a program that came out of the partnership between the Fed and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce which connects college students to Boston-area employers.
Read more at: BostonHerald.com
In an interview with Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator, Mark Zuckerberg spoke about his experiences founding Facebook and forming it into a company. Zuckerberg talks about his time working in other parts of the country, and concludes to the audience, "If I were starting now I would do things very differently... If I were starting now, I would have stayed in Boston."
Read more about the interview on Tech Crunch.
Internships not only help students and employers, but they also help the local and national economy. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, statistics about internships indicate a valid truth in our Chamber’s Leadership Initiative- the more internships being given, the more full time jobs being offered, and as such, the fewer students being left unemployed upon graduation from college. As quoted from collegeplus.org, “In 2008, employers extended job offers to nearly 70 percent of their interns.”
Companies are finding that interns are a great asset to their teams. Interns can often help develop new ideas for their teams, and come up with new ways of thinking about stale problems. They can see the company from an outside perspective for a while, and use that as a way to benefit the company. Interns also can be trained in the business of that company- they are still students, ready to learn and develop the skills that their company is looking for in their full-time staff. This eagerness to learn and gain experience not only helps interns gain valuable skills and knowledge, but helps their companies gain valuable team players and contributors. In turn, internships allow graduating students to become hirable, and as such, help the state keep them out of the unemployed population.
...or you are welcome to request a free internship consultation!
In an article in Xconomy, Gregory T. Huang writes of the take-home messages from the recently concluded FutureM, the huge annual marketing event in Boston that hosts the hottest topics on the future of marketing. FutureM, created by MITX, had one particilarly important take away, according to Huang, which has been reverberated time and again by many of the big names in town.
This important take-home message was... INTERNSHIPS!
Investor Eric Paley of Founder Collective was quoted as saying "We should be insanely aggressive about internships." Huang agrees, continuing that "top kids go to school in Boston" and that we need to keep them here. Of course this applies to every field, but specifically he continues that we must "champion broad efforts to get young people who are interested in entrepreneurship to work at local companies."
To be insanely aggressive about internships, post your company's availabilities below: