I hope this message finds you well and your spring semester is off to a productive start. I am writing to introduce myself as the new Internship Program Manager for the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education. I am joining OSHE with over 15 years of experience in higher education, 14 years of that experience in Career Services. I am excited about this new role and even more excited to start building partnerships with our Career Services colleagues at the Institutions of Higher Education. I will be overseeing the NJ Career Accelerator Internship Grant Program-a program designed to strengthen the connections between employers and New Jersey institutions of higher education (IHEs). The grant program will provide funding to New Jersey employers who are interested in hosting undergraduate interns from New Jersey’s IHEs for Summer 2023 (June through August). This grant program aims to foster mutually-beneficial relationships between New Jersey undergraduate students and New Jersey based employers.

I would like to ask for your assistance in sharing this opportunity with your NJ based employer connections, to assist them with starting or expanding their internship programs. On the NJC3 website you will find a flyer to disseminate via e-mail, a sample e-mail to employers, a social media image, employer guidelines, eligibility and requirements for the grant funding, and FAQs about the program. I am asking that you share this information with your NJ employer connections. I am aware that you are in the thick of spring recruiting activities, including job fairs. I am also asking if you would include the flyer in materials you share for any NJ based companies visiting your campus. I welcome conversations about the best way to get this out to your employers and then to disseminate the open opportunities to your students. If interested, you can schedule a meeting with me to discuss further using this link.

I appreciate your support for this program. Over the next few weeks, we will also need your assistance sharing out the open internships-some of the employers have already been working with your offices for their recruiting needs. I will be collecting the internship descriptions and sharing out accordingly once I have them together. Stay tuned for more information to share out with your students.

For more information about the program and the grant expectations, please see the OSHE Career Accelerator Internship Grant guidelines.

Nikki Bailey

OSHE Internship Program Manager