Keeping an Eye on the Next Generation

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Figure 4: Indium Corporation supports STEM and student programs with activities such as presentations, tours, program support, mentoring, job shadowing, and more.

Each year, local students and educators from grade school through college are encouraged to participate in facility tours and job shadowing. Several Indium employees even serve as student mentors, providing guidance on everything from college applications to potential career paths. We’ve also established connections with military veterans groups.

The company has started to garner recognition for our exceptional recruitment activities. In 2016, the New York Association of Training & Employment Professionals presented Indium with a Business Leadership Award for outstanding workforce development advocacy. Indium also earned an Outstanding Business Partner Award for its exemplary dedication to the advancement of STEM students.

Not Your Average Outcomes

Some may be wondering why Indium invests so much time and effort into its early recruitment programs—especially those responsible for budgeting. If so, you may also be asking yourself, “Why dedicate hours to providing professional development to a group of temporary student interns? Why open your doors to kids, some of whom haven’t even entered high school?”

“The short answer is, it makes us better,” Roller said.

Figure 5: Indium Corporation 2016 Summer College Internship Program students and supervisors pose for a photo during orientation activities.

Indium benefits from developing a bright and promising pipeline of future employees, creating lasting business and community partnerships, and further developing current employees’ skills.

"Students need an opportunity to put their skills and interests to a real-world test," Roller explained. "Employers need the opportunity to engage, evaluate, and identify future potential employees. As a high school senior, my guidance counselor and business teachers encouraged me to apply for a part-time clerical position at Indium to gain real-world experience that would help me evaluate a career in business. I’m now in my 30th year at Indium, and it all started with a willing employer giving an ambitious student an opportunity to observe, learn, and do."

"My internship experience was an ideal way to transition from academia to implementing my skills in the professional field," Reece concluded. "And I think my work was really beneficial to Indium."

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