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What would be the issues with young interns?

9/6/17       
Mark B Member

Im not sure that interns would be the best term but in our area there is a huge push into the STEM/STEAM studies.

What would be the issues with a day or two a week bringing in/incorporating young, interested, individuals, into the shop with regards to hands on, design, conceptualization, execution, and so on.

For years I have thought about shop classes and asked here and warned its a legal nightmare.

We have not taken the time to really look into it but given the focus on STEM/STEAM wondering if anyone else has dealt with it.

9/6/17       #2: What would be the issues with young ...
cabmaker

What is STEAM?

9/6/17       #3: What would be the issues with young ...
rich c.

What age is young?
My biggest concern would be loss of production while you hold their hand during training. With just a day or two a week, they won't fit into a job well. They'd see the job, maybe twice, then it would be delivered before they came back for week 3.

9/7/17       #4: What would be the issues with young ...
Paul Miller

Website: http://MCCWOODWORKING.COM

Years ago, in the 90's there was a program in our area where High School shop or woodworking students could work half a day for four days a week in a shop. I had a few students that worked for me under this program and it was very good. I never had more than one student at a time and if they were under 18 which they always were, they could not operate power tools. (That is a State Law) I think the pay was less than minimum wage or about minimum. They had a teacher or counselor that visited our shop and made a report. This was a good program. I know three former students that are still in the trades. One is a roofing contractor another runs the cabinet shop at the hospital and the third is the lead engineer at another shop.

I am in Michigan and the problem here is that most schools have eliminated the Shop classes. I think this program went away in the late 90's. Not all the students work out and you have to be conscious of their age and that most do not have any work experience. But, this was a good program and if you can get something like this started in your area, I would say go ahead. Insurance was not an issue.

Generally, they would do assembly, sanding, staining and some finishing, cleaning and wrapping etc. You might also have them load and unload your CNC. You will see fairly soon which ones have a passion for what you do.

9/7/17       #5: What would be the issues with young ...
Alan F. Member

Generally interns receive minimal or no wage based on the EDUCATION they receive and training. Federal law recognizes the training time and effort may reduce efficiency and increase costs.

We had a young woman about 10 years ago that was a HS junior or senior that wanted to pursue CAD and design. We let he focus on library and system, work that needed to be done, we allowed her to develop a plan and we trained her as needed and she received valuable work experience which is most interns goal. We paid her more than min wage but her hours were limited, I think it was about 12 hours per week based on her class load.

The intern plans are not based on getting cheap labor for no effort.
A-

9/7/17       #6: What would be the issues with young ...
Pat Gilbert

A good point.

A more animated version

9/12/17       #7: What would be the issues with young ...
Mark B

Pat,
Ive often been intrigued about the subtleties of your personality. This provides valuable insight.

9/12/17       #8: What would be the issues with young ...
Mark B

What age is young...

Could be anything from mid teens studying or interested in the trades. The issue of age wouldn't necessarily be pertaining to poaching a low paid/slave labor base, but more so trying to cultivate interest/passion in something other than...

Paul, We do have done the same for many many years. When was in trade school we had a co-op program where if your academic grades allowed in your Junior year of HS you could go out in the field every other cycle (we had two weeks of trade and two weeks of academics). This meant that Junior year you could be in the field for two weeks every other month. In senior year you could be in the field every trade cycle (two weeks per month). We have always tried to take trade kids while they are in school and then carry them through after school. Some success stories, a lot of not (due to our rural area).

We are not looking for low wage slave labor but are also not looking to fall on the sword.

I was more asking how comp, unemployment benefits, and so on are handled as compared to a normal hire.

9/13/17       #9: What would be the issues with young ...
JeffM

IMO, you would be doing a great service to the kids and the community...not necessarily your business. You would almost certainly need one dedicated employee that you write off on his contribution to production while they hold the hand and train your intern. You absolutely can never take anything for granted with a teenager no matter how good you think they might be. Like I said, great thing to do if you're willing to take the hit in production and stay of top of them like a hawk.

9/13/17       #10: What would be the issues with young ...
Paul Miller

Website: http://MCCWOODWORKING.COM

Actually, I didn't feel production took a hit at all when I employed High School students through the school. They work with other employees. They are a Clean Slate, no bad habits, don't tell you how it was done somewhere else and they tend to be very receptive to any knowledge you can pass on to them. I miss that program.

You do have to be careful in your shop. No profanity, no nudie pictures. This isn't a problem in my shop, but some places it might be. I had on a couple of occasions, female students and I was a little more careful with who I would have them work with.

If you do this, just exercise common sense.

9/13/17       #11: What would be the issues with young ...
Pat Gilbert

Yes Mark, I am intriguing.

The cartoon was mistakenly posted to this thread.

9/14/17       #12: What would be the issues with young ...
Markb Member

Mistakenly or not.. Its an interesting post. I've been a Simpson's follower for a long time and am familiar with the episode.


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