A group of eager students arrived at Prime Electric at the beginning of the summer, ready to blaze their own trails. With a total of 12 interns, 7 in Washington and 5 in California, PRIME’s robust internship program trained these students and young employees with a passion for the construction field. PRIME looks for individuals that are motivated, take initiative, and are detail-oriented. When interning with PRIME, we strive to foster growth in students and pre-apprentices who are interested in the electrical trade by offering them a glimpse into every department. Our goal is to show them their full potential and give them the necessary tools to have a successful career in electrical construction.
1. Connect with Recruiting
Interested candidates can find PRIME’s recruiting team attending career fairs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and industry networking events. Individuals will be invited to apply for PRIME’s yearly summer internship.
2. Intern Interview
Candidates will receive an initial phone interview where regional leaders will connect with them to determine if they move forward to PRIME’s Event Competition.
3. Event Competition
If selected from the initial intern interviews, PRIME will cover expenses to come out to San Jose, California, to connect with the company’s executives while participating in an event competition. This competition consists of being grouped into teams, given a problem to resolve, and presenting the solution to a panel.
4. Summer Internship
Those that qualify will be invited to PRIME’s 2–3-month summer internship. Depending on proximity to the internship, PRIME will organize housing, travel, and plan a time frame that works with their schedule. The internship will consist of rotating through a variety of departments within PRIME. Interns can gain experience in Purchasing, Virtual Construction Services (VCS), Warehouse, Estimating, Engineering, and Safety.
5. Job Offer
At the end of the summer internship, a position could be offered to work at PRIME. Depending on the qualification of the intern, they have the possibility to be offered to work in any one of PRIME’s departments.
Last year, now current PRIME Project Engineer, Courtney Ellison was given that opportunity. Courtney learned about PRIME at the ANEW pre-apprenticeship program. He went through the steps of the internship, gaining hands-on experience in the field and seeing projects come together. When Courtney completed his internship, PRIME offered him a position as a Project Engineer. However, he felt that he wanted to learn more about the processes and flow in the field and politely asked to start as an installer. He shared, “I didn’t want to take the elevator; I wanted the stairs to take time to learn everything.” After one year, Courtney has been promoted to the Project Engineer position and feels that the internship opened his eyes to the office vs. the field, giving him a clear direction in where to take his future.
As PRIME’s 2022 summer internship comes to an end, our interns have gained hands-on experience and learned the ins and outs of the electrical industry. As they return back to school PRIME is gearing up for next year’s round of interns. For summer 2023, we will start to take initial interviews and hold the event competition on November 4th, 2022. We encourage anyone interested in an internship with PRIME to be responsive, clear about goals and come prepared with questions about what you want to know. For more information and details about PRIME’s summer internship please contact us through PRIME’s “Intern with us!” form.
