Nearly 300 interns attend InternOKC event, workforce pipeline strengthens

Nearly 300 young professionals from 35 companies from across the metro came together in person this summer for InternOKC, a program of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber designed to help interns develop the soft skills they need for today’s workplace.

Created in 2006, InternOKC is a way for students to discover the benefits of living and working in Greater Oklahoma City, while also fostering peer networking and providing resources to help interns transition from college students to young professionals. Sessions typically include programming from industry trainers with topics that cover personal behavior and habits, building relationships and networking, as well as developing a mindset that fosters problem solving.

The program also provides insight into living and working in Oklahoma City, as many interns live outside the market.

Interns also have an opportunity to earn a microcredential, which they can use to beef up their résumés. Participating companies, in turn, get interns with some enhanced soft skills, qualities deemed very desirable among employers.

Each of the three sessions during this summer’s InternOKC program focused on different topics related to the three core competencies. The topics included:

• Learn how adopting the right habits and practices will have an impact on your career development.
• How to navigate and form relationships that build your career and make positive differences in those around you.
• Build a mindset and perspective that builds resiliency, solves problems and makes a positive impact on your career and on others.

Lee Copeland, director of talent and business growth for the Chamber, said some companies have become more intentional in their training programs for interns, and that it is an ongoing effort to offer an experience that would be a complementary resource for their interns.

“In many ways, how we help companies equip interns is evolving,” Copeland said. “We want to continue to try to stay on the cutting edge on what we’re offering. We want to try to continue to have InternOKC be a high value add for regional employers.”

Copeland said the Chamber has already begun preparing for InternOKC in 2023. Communicating earlier and more often to companies about the program will be one of his top priorities leading up to next summer’s event.

“We want to make sure that we’re listening and engaging with all our stakeholders, and we are looking for feedback and input to help drive their participation,” Copeland said.

Feedback from the interns who participated in InternOKC this summer has so far been largely positive and encouraging. Interns said they really appreciated the networking opportunities to meet other young interns, the interaction with the volunteer table hosts, and hearing all of the insights about Oklahoma City, especially if they resided somewhere outside of Oklahoma City.

This article originally appeared in the August 2022 edition of the VeloCity newsletter.