HOW WE DO IT: Offering Internships at Bozzuto Landscaping

Bozzuto Landscaping Co. has offered a college internship program for more than a decade. With this program, the intern gains valuable hands-on experience and a great introduction to our company. At the same time, we share our expertise, evaluate interns in a variety of on-the-job situations and determine if they will fit in with our company culture.

Generally, we find that a small group of three to five interns creates the best learning experience. A number of additional factors contribute to our program’s success.

1. Preliminary research. Early on, we spent a great deal of time gathering information to create a meaningful experience for our interns. We spoke with others in the green industry and learned from their companies’ successes and mistakes. We also interviewed college professors and students to find out what they felt would make an internship useful to them.

Also, we analyzed the cost to our business and have budgeted interns’ pay, uniforms, benefits and related expenses. Our average total cost to host one intern is $7,500.

2. Set guidelines. At Bozzuto, we use the same employee manual and have the same expectations of conduct for our interns as for all of our staff members. Effectively scheduling the interns’ time also is important. We develop a "matrix" or spreadsheet for each intern to document working hours, requests for time off and the topics that will be covered during the internship. The interns sign an acknowledgement of the form and their professors receive a copy before work begins.

3. Recruit the best. Our company is extremely selective when choosing employees, including interns. To identify good candidates, we rely on campus recruiting events and our relationships with university professors. While most of our interns come from landscape-related fields of study, having hands-on experience isn’t necessary – that’s the purpose of the internship. However, all candidates complete an application and interview process during which we ask about their interests, motivations, expectations and future plans to ensure they’re not just looking for a summer job.

4. Offer paid internships. Generally, the industry average is a range of $9 to $12 per hour and our hourly pay falls within that range. Their commitment is important because of the challenging work and the fact that they may spend their time with us at one of our offices in Maryland, Virginia or North Carolina. During the program, interns will often perform in a supervisory role, run crews and participate in important presentations. Compensation shows we value these contributions.

5. Give interns a voice. Our 10- to 12-week summer program lets interns spend time with mechanics, designers, estimators, accountants, enhancement managers, officers and others to provide exposure to a number of business aspects. However, if an intern has a particular interest, we try to give them more time doing what they enjoy. This flexibility means that an intern may spend several weeks in one area and only a couple of days in another. Still, exposing interns to all aspects of our business gives them an opportunity to experience areas they may not have considered otherwise.

6. Assign mentors. Mentors make our interns’ experience especially meaningful. We take care to select an employee who will make a good teacher, has come from a college program and is a good personality match with the intern. The mentor helps prepare the matrix, works one-on-one with the intern to answer questions and make sure their expectations are being met, and works hard to make the internship positive and beneficial.

7. Ask for feedback. At the end of the internship, we host a luncheon for all of the interns, branch managers, mentors and myself. We take this opportunity to thank the interns for their hard work and to gain valuable insight from them on ways to improve our program. We use their comments to constantly evaluate and adjust our program as needed and include their comments on our Web site with the goal of attracting future employees.

As a three-month job interview, we find that effective internships are an excellent way to enhance our staff, build our company’s future and invest in the future of the green industry. – Tom Davis

The author is president of Laurel, Md.-based Bozzuto Landscaping Co., and he can be reached at tdavis@land.bozzuto.com.