The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s CareerEdge workforce initiative, is partnering with Suncoast Technical College to place their full-time trades students, who are only months away from graduation, in paid internships to gain hands-on skills, course credit and a paycheck while schools are closed.  “We are in unprecedented times. Working with the technical colleges, we came up with a creative approach allowing trades students to continue their education through hands-on training. Our partnership provides students near the completion of their education the chance to pursue the skills needed to gain employment after graduation,” said Mireya Eavey, CareerEdge Executive Vice President.  

Responding to the evolution of need during this time, CareerEdge adapted their Intern Reimbursement program model to make funding for this program possible. CareerEdge funding will reimburse participating employers $10/hour of the intern’s wage and is asking companies to pay their interns at least $13/hour.   CareerEdge is seeking employers in construction, HVAC, electrical, automotive, manufacturing, and plumbing to hire technical school student interns to continue their education through a quality on-the-job training experience.“This program helps the students and our business to meet our customer’s needs.  This is a wonderful partnership. I encourage local employers in the trades to take advantage of this unique opportunity,” said Bill Pabis, President, Mictron Inc. When schools reopen, the students will return to complete their programs. The technical schools are developing a procedure to count the internship toward the students’ certification. 

Interested businesses can contact Mireya Eavey, Executive Vice President, CareerEdge at: meavey@sarasotachamber.com or 941-809-7430.

More about CareerEdge.