‘Impressive!’—TRSA Internship Program Soars In Its Third Year

January 2020

Key: Professional Development
Author 1: Meredith Powell

‘Impressive!’—TRSA Internship Program Soars In Its Third Year
Nine students participated in the ’19 program, contributing to and learning about the laundry business

When TRSA launched its internship program in 2017 to help companies find skilled labor and, in turn, give undergraduate students a chance to learn something about the laundry business, the association created a great partnership. Now in its third year, more than 475 applications, from 200 schools, were collected. After asking human resources and primary contacts for interest, 22 companies responded—a jump from 15 from 2018. TRSA advertised three positions; marketing, management and engineering through “Handshake” (a popular job/internship search tool at universities.) Engineering, was, once again, the most popular position.

TRSA and the TRSA Next-Generation Executives Committee members felt that a career in the linen, uniform and facility services business is seldom on the radar of most students. Funding for a pilot effort to showcase the industry for them came from the not-for-profit organization known as the Textile Rental Education Research Trust (TRERT). This year’s TRERT invested in nine interns, with nine grants of $500 each for a total of $4,500.

Those chosen to participate in the program interned at CITY Laundering Co., Oelwein, IA; UniFirst Corp., Wilmington, MA; Wildman Business Group, Warsaw, IN; M & A Matting, LaGrange, GA; Huebsch Services, Eau Claire, WI and earned wages between $10-$15 per hour.

The interns worked on tasks such as social meeting marketing, “vlogging” (i.e., a video blog, or posting short videos online), catalog descriptions, various plant projects and, most importantly, customer service. The majority of the interns reported learning quite a bit from their myriad experiences and could see a possible future for themselves in the laundry industry.

TRSA obtained feedback from both interns and their supervisors that provided insights on the program.

Olivia Simons, College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, interned with Huebsch. She learned about the opportunity from her father, who works at Huebsch. “I decided to intern with Huebsch because it is a company that equally values everyone’s roles and contributions,” she said at the start of her internship last summer. “I hope to grow professionally by collaborating with Huebsch employees in all departments.” One of her many accomplishments while at Huebsch was creating a training manual for route services representatives.

Sydney Peugh, Taylor University, Upland, IN, spent her time at Wildman Business Group. Her experience, “Made me see the importance and complexity of promotional items and apparel more than I did before. I also did not realize how many competitors there are in the U.S.” Audrey Russell, director of human resources, was so pleased with Peugh’s willingness to help with outside sales, order entry and web support that, “We would love to hire an intern that would fill the role all year-round.”

Working with graphic designers, photographers and models for a catalog photo shoot was a particular highlight for Alayna Tivnan, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA, who interned for the second time with UniFirst. “I also assisted with the preparation of press releases and product catalog descriptions, and helped write social media posts,” said Tivnan. Donna Kish, PR/communications specialist, was delighted with Tivnan’s performance, “Alayna helped to create media lists and press releases announcing a major rollout of first-aid and safety solutions at select UniFirst locations throughout the U.S. She then assisted with email media distributions to the major news outlets in those areas. We would certainly consider hiring another intern to help with the volume of work that the UniFirst marketing and communications department receives on an ongoing basis.”

Many of the interns mentioned how surprised they were to learn about the impact of the laundry industry, which they had never given much thought to before. Natalie Rudrud, Upper Iowa University, Fayette, IA, who completed her internship at CITY Laundering, said that, “I knew about this industry vaguely before the internship, but now I realize how many businesses rely on these kinds of rentals and services.”

David L. Watterson of M & A Matting was particularly impressed with his intern Matt Janes. “He came up with an idea for a ‘Mat-Made’ presentation to the management team. Impressive!” Watterson said. Janes, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, also developed and constructed new electronic infrastructure and traveled to different states to meet with customers, including New Orleans, where he met and presented a research project to managers and salespeople. “I have much more respect for this industry. I now view it as a segment of product service industry, rather than traditional cleaning services,” Janes said. Watterson was equally enthusiastic about his second intern, Colin Greve, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, who was heavily involved in customer service during his tenure. Greve was even invited to attend the Clean Show in June in New Orleans, LA.

Feedback from all the companies that participated in the program confirmed that they were grateful for the energy, enthusiasm and fresh ideas the young adults brought to their internships. All reported that they are looking forward to using interns in the future and encourage other companies to jump on board!

Companies interested in interviewing intern candidates, or with questions about the program may contact TRSA’s Susie Gordon at sgordon@trsa.org or 703.519.0029, ext. 113.

Meredith Powell is a freelance writer based in Logan, Utah.



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