Orbis parent Menasha offers a wide variety of internships

Internships at Menasha Corp. don't involve making a Starbucks run or fetching dry cleaning.

The parent company of reusable plastic packaging maker Orbis Corp. sees this time as being much too valuable for both the participants and the company for these types of errands.

"They actually get in and do purposeful work and augment our workforce in the time they are with us. And at the time of graduation, we look at them as prospective candidates," said Dennis Rooney, vice president of human resources at Orbis.

"The emphasis on that fills a need that we have. It's not make-up work. It's meaningful, purposeful work," he said.

Neenah, Wis.-based Menasha Corp., which also includes corrugated packaging operations through Menasha Packaging, hires between 35 and 45 interns each year, according to Amy Wittig, talent management specialist with the corporation.

"We have anywhere from engineers to structural designers to graphic designers. Folks majoring in tax, finance, supply chain, HR. We have a wide variety of programs that are open to join us. It just has to be relevant to their major and the work directly related to the major they are hoping to achieve," Wittig said.

Paid internships typically last eight to 10 weeks during the summer but can stretch out as long as 12 or 13 weeks depending on individual circumstances.

Wittig said the company expends a "pretty significant amount of energy to find talent."

Gone are the days of "post and pray" as the company travels to job fairs, advertises openings on its website and reaches out to schools hoping to land top-tier candidates.

Internship candidates can land on-site interviews at job fairs and be offered positions the same day or soon after, Wittig said.

"It certainly has something to do with the job market. It's finding the right candidates that want to work with Menasha. And we want to make sure we have the top talent, so we put a lot of energy into making sure that we find that," Wittig said.

About 26 percent of those in internships ultimately end up working for the company after graduation. But even if interns do not land full-time jobs, Wittig said the meaningful experience they gain helps make them more attractive to other firms.

"They are going to get valuable applied experience that they don't get in the classroom out of hypothetical situations. They get the networking with other interns," she said. "It gives them an opportunity to go back to campus and apply what they have learned in that internship to the work they have remaining in their program."

"It is definitely mutually beneficial for both of us to put time and energy into an internship program," Wittig said.

Internships allow the company to gain insight into the mindset of the next generation of workers and understand what they are being taught in school.

Interns bring fresh minds and out-of-the-box ideas to the company, she said.

The search for interns actually begins in the fall as company locations identify where they will need help in specific areas the following summer. The company then starts looking to recruit candidates to help.

There are clusters of interns at certain company sites, such as Orbis headquarters in Oconomowoc, Wis., but internships can take place throughout Orbis and Menasha locations depending on individual site needs.

Rooney called it "good corporate citizenship" with both philosophical and practical benefits. "There are individuals who are just top talent, and we get good utilization of that talent when they are with us. It's a great feeder. We look at individuals as prospective candidates when they are with us and remember them and stay in touch with them and recruit them away from their campuses upon their graduation," he said.

The internship program has grown and changed over time, and Wittig said that will continue.

"It hasn't been something that was crated and meant to be static in nature. We've learned from the participants. We've learned from the managers of those interns. We've learned from just the business and how the business has evolved," Wittig said.

"We've allowed the program to evolve with it," she said.