Intern Programs, How Can We Help?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Mike Taylor

Every company has them and yet very few elevate and bring out the best in them.  Having an intern program seems to be a great way to raise a team of young talent to become your go to guys.  They have no “bad habits” to break, therefore making them the best possible candidates to learn the way “we do it”.  Seems like a slam dunk, right?  Well I have been struggling with what the best way to get this program started. 

I have many friends in the industry, and am not sure I have once heard about a good intern program yet.   I see where the word intern just seems to mean a free worker.  I want to make sure that when CTS Audio unrolls an intern program, that we are teaching a skill that is usable whether you stay at CTS, or move on.  I do not want to have a place where teaching does not occur.  If you have a true desire to be in the live sound industry and are serious enough to trade your time for knowledge, then you should be treated fairly and given a skill for that time.  That is not to say that you should not start at a basic level and have to work your way up.  Putting your time in and doing some dirty work is necessary to earning your place in a company as long as there is a means to the end. 

That really begs the question that I am looking for the answer to.  What is it that we can teach to you that would make you want to intern at CTS Audio?