Business owners are invited to find out more about how to hire University of Houston-Victoria students for internships and other opportunities through a free webinar at the end of November.

The webinar is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 29 and is a joint effort between the UHV Small Business Development Center and UHV Career Development Center, formerly known as UHV Career Services. Business owners, including small business owners, are encouraged to attend the webinar to learn more about how they can benefit from having a UHV student work for their business.

Amy Hatmaker

“Students are great ambassadors for the businesses they intern at, and employers can help create a pool of talent here at UHV,” said Amy Hatmaker, director of the UHV Career Development Center. “The university can serve as a great tool for businesses.”

The two departments decided to link up for this event to help promote student services to the businesses in the community, including clients of the UHV SBDC. While the UHV SBDC offers counseling, training and technical assistance to existing and startup businesses in an 11-county area, the UHV Career Development Center helps students with services such as interview preparation, resume writing and connecting students and alumni with employers.

The webinar will include key information for business owners who are interested in having students work at their businesses, including legal and institutional requirements and the differences between an internship, a work-study position and job shadowing and how to create those opportunities. The Career Development Center also is looking to expand internship offerings for students, as UHV students across all programs and degrees could benefit from internships in their fields. Some of the skills UHV students have that can be useful for businesses include app development, accounting, web design, project management, human resources management, marketing and more.

By connecting with the university, businesses also can create a recruiting pipeline, Hatmaker said.

“Internships are so important to the student’s learning experience because of the skills that they develop in the workplace,” Hatmaker said. “At the same time, it is so beneficial to have a student work at a business, as they are learning the latest tools that can be applied to the business during their internship.”

Students with a skillset and competencies in their fields are helpful for businesses that may need someone with those skills, and at the same time the business can provide a student with real-world experience before graduating, said Lindsay Young, director of the UHV SBDC. Businesses would be matched with students that have the skills and knowledge that would enhance the business as well as the student learning experience.

Lindsay Young

“We have so many students who have different skills that can be very beneficial to various businesses,” Young said. “We want as many businesses as possible to know that there are opportunities for collaboration between them and a student population that is looking for experience.”

The webinar is free and open to any business owners in the Crossroads area and surrounding counties. Businesses do not need to be a client of the UHV SBDC in order to attend, but those that are clients are encouraged to attend as well.

For more information about the UHV Career Development Center, contact Hatmaker at 361-570-4369 or hatmakera@uhv.edu. For more information about the UHV Small Business Development Center, or to sign up for the webinar, go to www.uhvsbdc.com and sbdc@uhv.edu.