Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders: TRSA’s ’22 Internships
TRSA launched its internship program in 2017, and for the past five years it’s offered a great way for students and young professionals to connect with the linen, uniform and facility services industry.
The program matches up prospective interns with companies in the industry for 10-week summer internships. This initiative is back for ’22 with the goal of benefiting both interns and the companies that hire them.
TRSA interns will focus on strengthening various skills such as video marketing, purchasing and accounting – to name a few. Last summer, interns served at the following companies:
- CITY Laundering, Oelwein, IA
- M+A Matting, LaGrange, GA
- Mickey’s Linen, Chicago
- NOVO Health Services, Atlanta
- Paris Cos. (a division of NOVO Health Services), DuBois, PA
- Prudential Overall Supply, Irvine, CA
All of the interns gained valuable experience, while also contributing ideas and more to the companies where they worked.
One intern who gained critical skills through his internship was Luke Wingert. He worked at CITY Laundering. Currently a student at the University of Northern Iowa, Wingert saw his internship as an opportunity to get first-hand knowledge of videography. Over the course of his internship, he contributed to a number of the company’s digital projects, including promos, documenting events and various other marketing tasks.
Wingert worked directly with CITY’s full-time videographer. Wingert described “Coordinating with the full-time videographer and learning how to utilize Adobe Premier on creating high-end video content,” as his most memorable experience. The staff at CITY Laundry appreciated having Wingert as well. “Luke was very helpful when it came to providing an extra hand in editing and shooting videos here at CITY,” said Emily Hauber, the company’s director of communications. “He provided a fresh perspective.”
Another intern, Nica Pretorius, worked as a summer intern at M+A Matting. A student at Point University, she focused mainly on accounting during her summer at M+A. Pretorius learned a great deal about business finance during her internship, including accounts receivable/payable, uploading excel files and customer outreach. M+A was satisfied with Pretorius’ work, and they look forward to pursuing other internship opportunities. “Nica had an excellent set of computer skills – she was able to create templates for others to use,” said Stephanie Jordan, M+A’s manager, accounting “Another benefit was her willingness to push for improvement and ideas that inspired others.”
A third company that benefited from TRSA’s internship program was Mickey’s Linen. Their summer intern, Nur Yunlu, currently attends Roosevelt University. Yunlu focused mainly on marketing for Mickey’s, specifically social media. Some of Yunlu’s responsibilities included conducting and presenting industry research, planning for a Google Ads pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, setting up a two-month Facebook content calendar and creating a Facebook ads proposal. She felt her most valuable experience came in learning the ins and outs of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PPC and Facebook Ads, since she had no previous experience with any of them.
Broadly speaking, the internship program facilitated by TRSA for the linen, uniform and facility services industry has had a significant impact. Each year, dozens of college students get a shot at working 10 weeks in a business and learning about an industry that serves the $40 billion linen, uniform and facility services market. Most students have little or no knowledge of the industry before serving as interns at a laundry or supplier-partner company. The benefits are mutual as students learn and often offer ideas for improving operations.
TRSA looks forward to a new round of interns next year and the continued success of the program. In 2021, TRSA reached out to prospective applicants from 313 universities nationwide. A total of 29 companies received intern applications and six companies (noted above) hired interns. Those companies have applied for 11 stipend grants (a total of $5,500) from TRSA to help defray the costs of hiring interns.
To learn more about TRSA’s internship program, plan to participate in a Jan. 18, 2022, webinar on the program. Click here to register.