Staff Report //June 20, 2019//
Every business in the Charleston area is working to recruit the next generation workforce to their company, and the Department of Defense is no exception.
Four interns started at Joint Base Charleston’s summer intern program earlier this month, exposing them to the opportunities that exist as a government employee.
The 90-day intern program replaces the Summer Hire Program, which allowed military dependents to fulfill different tasks such as cutting the grass and shredding documents across the joint base during the summer months.
The new program will allow more people to apply and participate in the day-to-day missions and tasks at Joint Base Charleston.
“The labor market both here and across the country is increasingly competitive and much of our local community … are unaware of the opportunities to serve our nation in civil service in the Air Force or the department of defense,” said Lt. Col. William Parker, 628th Force Support Squadron commander, in a news release. “Our objective is to do our small part to create awareness and build marketable employment skills for those in our local Charleston community.”
Each intern will work through three rotations during their time at Joint Base Charleston, allowing them to work across seven units: 628th Air Base Wing Staff
Agency; 628th Force Support Squadron; 628th Logistics Readiness Squadron; 628th Contracting Squadron; 15th Airlift Squadron; 628th Communications Squadron; and 628th Civil Engineer Squadron.
Parker said he sees potential for the summer intern program to spread to other military installations across the country.
“Our hope is to take our lessons learned from this year and grow this program next year,” Parker said. “We see tremendous opportunity to create additional bridges to build employment opportunities in our local community and nation as a whole.”
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