Requirements

Must have completed at least 30 semester units or 45 quarter units by June 2011.
Must be enrolled in a degree program for fall 2011.
Alumni of the College Summer Interns Program may re-apply but cannot be considered for the same office the intern has previously interned with. This does not apply to intern alumni of other programs, like the High School Interns Program.

Deadline to apply: February 25, 2011

Matchridge encourages businesses to open their doors and work with young people to enjoy the benefits they can bring to a workplace and to invest in the workforce of tomorrow. Since its inception, MatchBridge has taken every opportunity possible to offer paid internship opportunities to youth in the community including within their own organization.

Most recently, MatchBridge was able to create another internship opportunity within the program thanks to the Mayor’s Youth Employment and Education Program (MYEEP). MYEEP provides subsidized employment opportunities to approximately 1,400 high school aged youth each year. The goal of the program is to support the positive development of youth in San Francisco by engaging them in meaningful employment, career, leadership, and community involvement opportunities.

MYEEP’s collaborative agencies provide employment programming, which includes work experience, job readiness training, transition planning, educational support, and community involvement opportunities, to youth with barriers to employment. Thanks to the MYEEP program, MatchBridge got a qualified and motivated candidate at no cost to the program.

MatchBridge has been more than happy to welcome our newest intern, Priscilla Abaurrea. A life-long local, Priscilla was born and raised in the heart of San Francisco. When her counselor referred her to MYEEP, she figured it would be an excellent chance to get some entry-level, job experience.

“I really felt like I needed more office experience. Not only that, but I wanted to better understand what it was like to build relationships with people on a professional level,” said Priscilla. Priscilla plans on continuing her education to ultimately become an ultrasound technician someday.

“Several members of my family are in the medical field, so I’ve gotten a lot of exposure and inspiration from them. But I’m not very good with the sight of blood and other things like that, that I might encounter on the job. Then one time, I was examined for a pain in my side and was told I needed an ultra-sound to diagnose the problem. I spoke with the technician who was working on me and it sounded like a perfect fit.”

As an intern Priscilla’s duties will include general office duties, and assisting Mayela who runs MatchBridge’s Youth Services.

The YEC also promotes opportunities that provide training and professional development to youth workforce service providers as well. This winter season, the Youth Employment Coalition and MatchBridge have been hosting free training seminars lead by Larry Robbin, Executive Director of Robbin and Associates.

Larry Robbin is widely regarded as a national expert in the workforce development and youth employment fields. He has over forty-five years of youth employment experience as a direct service provider, program developer, evaluator, consultant, and keynote speaker. Larry has trained over 100,000 people in workshops held in every state, presented at more than 500 conferences and worked with over 1000 public, private and non-profit organizations. He has designed over 50 youth employment, training and education programs serving all types of at-risk youth.

Larry has been a keynote speaker and presenter at the nation’s largest youth employment conference, the National Youth Development Symposium and the Department of Labor has used his consulting services to develop national peer-based youth employment programs.

The YEC hosted three training sessions featuring Larry. The first, “Finding Assets to Employment,” focused on challenges that face at-risk youth and provided unique strategies and perspectives to better promote a successful experience. The second, “The Radar Approach to Job Retention,” focused on the typical experiences youth face in the workplace and new creative methods to best prevent job loss. The third, “Are You Talking Like Businesses Think?” offered strategic insights into marketing agencies to the private sector.

This year’s Seasonal Job Fair series has been MatchBridge’s best yet. Companies such as Best Buy, Gap, Old Navy, Ross, UPS, Skechers, Macy’s, and Nordstrom Rack participated this year and hired a total of 26 young jobseekers.

The Winter holidays are the busiest retail season of the year, where retailers do a high volume of hiring for seasonal employees- an ideal time for motivated youth with an interest in customer service to break into the retail industry. Between 25% and 50% of total annual retail sales take place during the holidays and retail employers usually increase their workforce by at least 4% just for the holiday gift-buying rush.

Young people tend to work well in these positions as many are home for the holidays from school and are looking to spend that time earning some extra cash. Many retailers recommend hiring young people because the time commitment is a perfect fit and the energy and enthusiasm that young people bring to the workplace becomes key during the busy holiday season.

MatchBridge responded to the needs of retail employers by developing the Seasonal Job
Fair Series to connect them to pre-screened candidates, who were qualified and well-equipped to take advantage of these seasonal opportunities. As retiring populations increase, more companies are taking an interest in programs like MatchBridge that specialize in youth workforce development and connect them to young people with career-specific potential.

Here are a few testimonials from this year’s participating employers:

“Thank you for getting us such motivated candidates!”
-Ross

“The job fair was a valuable use of my time. Your [MatchBridge] candidates are exactly the profile we are looking for.”
-Gap

“You can tell the candidates were well prepped and prepared for the interview.”
-Old Navy

“My regional recruiter loved how poised, professional and energetic the [MatchBridge] candidates were! We feel they will be a great asset to our team. I look forward to partnering in the future!”
-Skechers

The Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults (RE4TA) program is a partnership between MatchBridge, United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Real Estate sector to provide paid internship opportunities to young men and women interested in careers in the industry.

This summer, twenty-six young San Franciscans benefited from internships provided MatchBridge’s RE4TA program. Interns were assigned to various property and real estate companies as workers. Youth also attended seminars tailored to give them all the initial skills they need to get their careers started whether or not they decide to stay in the industry long term.

The seminars targeted the general skills they would need to start their careers, moved them to realize their goals, and pushed them to facilitate a plan of action. Professionals from the business community volunteered to teach each seminar utilizing their own experience to illustrate the principles.

United Way of the Bay Area’s Rebecca Riley and Kim Pham came in to speak on the power of networking. Wardrobe for Opportunity’s Hank Ramirez showed the youth how to
create a professional image. BRE Properties’ President and CEO, Constance B. Moore came in with colleagues Michael McKann and Sheryl McKibben to talk about careers in the real estate sector. And Wells Fargo’s Gregory Michail finished off the seminars by teaching the interns the values of budgeting and financial planning. A big round of thanks to all the speakers and volunteers!

RE4TA and the experiences of it’s participants would not be possible without your continuing dedication and support. “What an amazing young man. The guys in IT love him! He’s a winner,” said one satisfied employer. MatchBridge thanks all of the volunteers, companies, and interns for taking part in this year’s program and investing in tomorrow’s workforce.