Acronym

Ann Oliveri has a thoughtful post up on her blog today about how professional societies can promote the development of true professional mastery in their members. Her suggestions are great ones; I’m especially glad that she mentions the Urban Land Institute’s advisory services teams, where her members come together as volunteers to tackle real-world problems. That’s a program I’ve found inspiring ever since I first heard about it a few years ago.

Her post reminded me of conversations I had with students while I worked at the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Typically, I was interviewing the student for an article in our magazine, and I would ask him or her what readers could do to help draw more students toward a career in industrial hygiene. Invariably, the answer would be (at least in part), “Offer us hands-on opportunities to work alongside you.” Many of them noted that once they had actually done work in the field and had seen how interesting and rewarding it was, they had been hooked—and they felt other students would be as well.

But for some reason, so many internships in so many fields aren’t about hands-on work; they’re about sitting at a desk, staying out of the way, maybe making some copies. And there aren't nearly as many internship opportunities as there are students interested in taking advantage of them. A lot of this is because folks are busy; to provide an intern with real, practical learning opportunities, you have to add “part-time teacher” to your normal job description, and it’s hard to make the time.

But more of us should, and our members should too. If we really want to put students on the track to dedicating themselves to the professions we represent, the best way to do that is to give them a taste of the work, and get them hooked on that experience.