RICHMOND – The Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP), in collaboration with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, recognized 32 recipients of the inaugural 2022 Top Virginia Employers for Interns Awards today. The virtual recognition event included video remarks from SCHEV Director, Peter Blake, Virginia Chamber of Commerce President & CEO, Barry DuVal and Virginia Business Higher Education Council President, Kirk Cox.

The Top Employers for Interns Awards mark one of several ways the Commonwealth acknowledges the inaugural Virginia Intern Day (VID) whereby employers, higher education and student interns are recognized for their participation in work-based learning opportunities. Governor Youngkin signed a proclamation recognizing Virginia Intern Day on July 28, 2022, aligning with National Intern Day on the last Thursday of July every year. Recipients represent small and large employers from across the Commonwealth.

The award recipients, on average, each plan to hire 11 to 50 interns this year for paid hybrid and in-person internship positions. Key characteristics of recipients’ internship programs generally include: A minimum 8-13 week-long internship; exposure to senior leadership; structured mentorship programs; and team lunches, social events and learning opportunities. Some select internship programs also offer paid time off, 401K contributions and training for industry certifications and security clearances.

“Work-based learning creates important opportunities to connect students’ skills and competencies gained from education with those used in the workplace,” said Peter Blake, director of SCHEV.

“Internships enrich the education experience for students and consequently reinforce Virginia as the top state for education, talent and business,” said Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “The 32 recipients represent a distinguished group of employers that help to cultivate talent here in Virginia for the betterment of its students, regions and the commonwealth as a whole.”

Listed below are the recipients in alphabetical order.

2022 Top Employers for Interns Recipients

1. The AES Corporation (Arlington): The work is hands-on and At AES, we focus on a 70/20/10 approach to learning and development to allow interns to grow through experience and exposure, learning through others, in addition to formal learning opportunities. After the internship, we have a global program, Energy4Talent, to prepare entry-level talent personally and professionally to be a leader in our fast-paced, sustainably innovative, corporate environment.
2. Apex Clean Energy (Charlottesville): Each week, our interns meet with a different team leader to learn the specifics of that team’s day-to-day work, the tools they use, their milestones, how the team has evolved over the company’s 13-year history, and the obstacles faced and how they are addressed. Much of the discussion time is set aside for questions from the interns to customize the experience.
3. Busch Gardens (Williamsburg): In addition to holding a leadership role in the park, interns attend a series of Leadership Seminars where they learn from various departments across the park. Interns gain real world leadership experience as they learn how to serve guests and manage a team of ambassadors at one of the most visited tourist destinations in the
4. Busch Vacuum Solutions (Virginia Beach): We care about the development of our interns so we ensure we are prepared with projects based on SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound) goals so that they have a clear understanding of what to expect during their internship with us. We currently have many employees who started out as interns and who are now proud to be a part of our team.

5. CGI Federal (Fairfax): The goal of CGI’s S. summer intern program is to provide a holistic, hands-on program that allows our interns to gain corporate experience, alongside practical training and development in order to best prepare them for their future careers at CGI and beyond. Each intern is assigned directly to a project and account team who provides a meaningful work experience and guides them through the intern program.
6. Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) (Prince George): For the past 10 years, CCAM consistently offers summer and academic semester internships to engineering and technology students from our partner universities: VCU, VSU, VT, UVA and ODU. These outstanding experiences pair students at either the undergraduate or graduate level with top research engineers to help solve challenging technical problems for our industrial members.
7. Dewberry (Fairfax): Our interns are provided meaningful work and given the opportunity to work on similar projects to what they would be working on as a full-time employee. Interns get the opportunity to network with other interns, as well as staff and senior leaders across Dewberry through a series of workshops and events.
8. Dominion Energy (Richmond): We provide engaging programs that include high-level networking opportunities, meaningful work experiences, mentorships and onsite learning activities, such as tours, to get an up-close view of our offshore wind turbines and nuclear facilities, among others. The intern program is specifically designed to turn successful students into productive employees.

9. Framatome (Lynchburg): Our interns are immersed in a project directly related to their field of study during which they are assigned a mentor and have opportunities for frequent interaction with our senior leaders. In recent years, about half of the graduating interns join Framatome as full-time employees after graduation.

10. Germanna Community College Technical Services Department (Fredericksburg and Locust Grove): Germanna Community College Technical Services (IT Department) Internship program is a direct outcome of enhancing the College’s work-study positions. Our students gain hands-on experience in a higher education environment; this leads to skills that are transferable to many other organizations.

11. Inmotion (Blacksburg): Our interns get immersed in real role activities they would actually see in their careers. Our interns report to the management team to show the work they have done and their completions and take-aways.

12. Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) (Danville): We host interns at our organization and set up and coordinate paid internships for high school students with local government departments and private employers in the region. With internship opportunities in communication, IT, economic development, maintenance, conference services, advanced learning and research, there really is something for everyone.
13. Kaiser Permanente (McLean): Kaiser Permanente offers flexible, virtual career exploration and educational opportunities that connect students with highly skilled healthcare experts addressing social determinants of health and support professional development and training through exposure to Kaiser Permanente’s leading health system. Our programs also support financial needs through competitive wages and scholarships for healthcare-related careers and include a no-cost, signature e-learning program in partnership with Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation to enable interns to build foundational skills required for success in the modern workplace.
14. LabCorp (Richmond): Labcorp’s phlebotomy internship in Virginia is a two-four- week practical experience based program in partnership with participating community colleges such as Tidewater Community College based in Norfolk, VA. The program runs year round and focuses on providing students with practical experience and training in phlebotomy and customer service.
15. Learning Tree International (Herndon): We ensure the internship scope of work is impactful to the company and provides each intern a well-rounded learning experience. In addition, interns attend weekly collaboration meetings and Executive Roundtables which provide interns with broad exposure to the business and various leadership styles including CEO Insights, Financial 101, Career Search Best Practices, Effective Communication Skills, and Marketing 101.

16. LifeNet Health (Virginia Beach): LifeNet Health offers interns a 10-week project-based, real-world immersion at a multi-faceted, global organization — giving them tangible experience that directly applies to their future profession. Interns are trained on communication and presentation skills, improving self-awareness, understanding others through DiSC training, and LEAN process improvement.

17. Mary Washington Healthcare (Fredericksburg): Mary Washington Healthcare consists of Mary Washington Hospital, Stafford Hospital, three emergency departments and more than 50 healthcare facilities and wellness services in the surrounding counties that enable us to offer a wide variety of learning opportunities. With both clinical and non-clinical areas available, there is a large opportunity to find the perfect internship.

18. Navy Federal Credit Union (Vienna): Our internship program investment is to develop our interns, support their learning and build a talent pipeline for full-time employment opportunities upon their graduation. As a result, we offer the majority of our interns’ full-time roles with the organization.
19. Northwest Federal Credit Union (Herndon): We offer our students a variety of exciting networking events such as Intern Orientation, Muffins with Managers, a Top Golf Welcome event with team building enhancements and an opportunity to go out into the community and receive paid volunteer hours for participating in National Intern Volunteer
20. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (Roanoke): As an intern, you are doing the job of a national bank examiner from day one. Participants are able to see exactly what an examiner does and get paid while doing Our interns are immersed in a training experience provided by our top employees designed to expose them to all aspects of banking and the regulatory environment.
21. Parsons (Centreville): Our agile culture allows us to get our interns working directly and hands-on with the various projects for our We strive to integrate mentorships, career development opportunities and social events to ensure that interns are getting the most out of their time with us and being given opportunities to grow their network with their fellow interns and other employees within the company.
22. Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) (McLean): All interns participate in a Leadership Seminar along with Project and People Management courses provided by our L&D department. Interns receive four days of formal Leadership and Project Management Interns meet directly and regularly interact with our Executive Team and learn from industry experts.
23. Peregrine Computer Consultants Corporation (PCCC) (Saint Paul): Interns work on a variety of client projects with oversight to expose them to a wide-variety of computer and cyber security tasks. All interns also participate in our multi-week cybersecurity 101 training program that focuses on computer networking and cyber security fundamentals while providing them with the equipment they need to excel.
24. Serco Inc. (Herndon): In addition to Serco’s formal three-tiered learning approach, our program also incorporates an Intern Executive Challenge project designed to provide interns the opportunity to work together insmall teams to solve high-visibility challenges formulated by Serco’s Executive Management Team. Serco is immensely proud to share that 92% of interns eligible for full time offers have received full-time offers.

31. Soccer Shots (Fairfax): During the first four weeks of the internship, the intern will work closely with the Regional Directors on preparing for the upcoming season — scheduling instructors, running demos and promoting the season. As an intern participants will go through our comprehensive training program and become a certified Soccer Shots Coach.
32. State Corporation Commission (Richmond): The SCC is committed to the development of the next generation of public-service professionals. Interns have the opportunity to work with and learn from senior staff members who are subject matter experts in their SCC internships provide practical real-world experience that prepare interns for exciting full-time career opportunities.
33. STIHL (Virginia Beach): STIHL designs its internships with a future focus in mind. We hope the investment of time and energy will lend to the student choosing STIHL as their career path following graduation, providing a full-time position with great pay and benefits.
34. TekSynap (Reston): During an intern’s time at TekSynap they are exposed to all levels of Interns have access to engage in open dialogue with management, executive leadership and our C-Suite.
35. Tech for Troops (Richmond): Tech For Troops brings in interns year round and teaches the students all facets of IT work: refurbishing computers, networking (both IT and with customers), logistics and research. At times, we also ask the interns to help teach a class of Veterans how to use a computer.
36. VA Bio | VA Bio-Connect (Richmond): In addition to offering its own internship positions, VA Bio | VA Bio-Connect offers the STEM2VA Internship Program, a statewide program that matches students from two-year to four-year+ institutions with life science organizations across the Commonwealth. STEM2VA is an immersive industry internship experience where student-interns, as part of a statewide cohort, gain access to a broader network and learn lucrative skills in entrepreneurship, leadership, communication and more that will aid them in their professional settings.
37. Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer P.C. (WEC) (Norfolk): We train our interns to learn the skills necessary to do the same type of work that an entry-level staff accountant would The goal is that our interns show progression to receive a second offer post internship, which helps us to build our entry-level staff group.
38. Wolf Trap (Vienna): Since 1980, Wolf Trap has been offering paid, professional development opportunities to help advance and build the next generation of arts administration professionals. Wolf Trap programs a comprehensive schedule of workshops, seminars and events that not only benefit its interns and apprentices but also the organization.

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