How to nominate

To nominate an Intern or Employer of the Year, go to

crainsdetroit.com/nominate. The deadline is April 9. Internships must have occurred sometime between January 2009 and May 2010. If you have questions about the process, contact Michelle Darwish at (313) 446-1621 or mdarwish@crain.com

What's the best way to promote the benefits of internships?

Recognize the region's top intern and those employers that provide the best opportunities.

Today Crain's Detroit Business, working with the Detroit Regional Chamber's InternInMichigan.com, will kick off its Intern and Employer of the Year contest.

Crain's, which has a long tradition of recognizing local talent and employers through such recognition programs as “20 in their 20s,” “40 under 40” and “Cool Places to Work,” will select one model intern and a for-profit and nonprofit employer as winners.

All three will receive a paid trip to the chamber's 2010 Mackinac Policy Conference, June 2-5, courtesy of InternInMichigan.com, and be recognized in Crain's and the The Detroiter, the chamber's member publication.

The Intern of the Year will also receive an Apple iPad, courtesy of Crain's.

Not every internship ends in a job offer, but the selected intern would have treated the experience as a real audition, not just as satisfying a credit requirement.

Selected employers likely will have defined programs that offer interns genuine opportunities to learn and grow.

Nominees need not have worked through InternInMichigan.com.

Launched in April 2009, the site connects students graduating from Michigan colleges and universities with internships at Michigan companies. It was developed among the Detroit chamber and the West Michigan Strategic Alliance, along with Michigan's higher education community.

The intent is to keep young talent in the state by helping line up internships that could turn into jobs.

Surprisingly, employers still say it's hard to find good talent, said Greg Handel, senior director of workforce development for the chamber. At the same time, young professionals feel they need to leave to find opportunity.

Handel suspects that it's just not easy for employers and interns to connect.

By logging into InternInMichigan.com and creating profiles, students can search and apply for internships. Employers can create organizational profiles, post internships and recruit college graduates.

Since the site's launch, more than 10,600 Michigan college and university students and 890 employers have registered. Those employers have posted about 530 internships — 147 of which are now open. The chamber estimates that about 67 percent of those posted are filled by registered interns, though it's hard to be certain because employers aren't required to report results.

Even the chamber has bumped up its number of interns in the past year, from an annual average of five to as many as 10 — and they're not just doing busy work, Handel said.

“This is your chance to test drive potential employees,” he said. “We need to look at internships as an important part of development, not a laborious exercise.”