Apply for an Ignite Internship Grant

Want to develop a talent pipeline to your business? You’re not alone. The average NSCA member has at least seven open positions at any given time (that’s 17,000 open positions, nationally).

The Ignite Internship Program is here to help. It provides internship grants for qualifying integrator and manufacturer companies with a goal of transitioning paid interns to full-time employment. The program also provides helpful guidance on how to structure an internship. It’s part of our mission to assist businesses in recruiting and cultivating talent, while helping link students to promising careers in an industry where the only barrier to growth is a shortage of skilled workers.

Each Ignite Ambassador company can apply for reimbursement of $1,000 to offset the wages associated with hiring an intern. 

• A company is eligible for a maximum grant stipend of up 3 internships at one time (pending availability).
• Funds can only be used for reimbursement of wages during the designated internship period.
• Funds cannot be used to cash flow a business.
• Agreed-upon funds will be reimbursed at the end of the internship if all requirements are met. See below

Eligibility

• The internship must teach skills related to the career path the intern chooses.
• The internship must be a paid internship.
• The internship must be in a targeted Communications Technology industry (AV, IT, Security or Life Safety).
• The employer must agree to assign the intern a mentor/sponsor.
• During the program, the employer must agree to at least one status meeting with the workforce development project leader.
• The internship must last a minimum of 8 weeks and average no less than 30 hours per week.
• The intern must submit a progress report back to the NSCA Foundation upon completion of the internship.
• The Intern must have a set work process schedule that covers expectations and compensation factors. The intern and employer must review this together.
• If you need assistance in structuring your internship, a high-level curriculum is optional and available through TalentLMS. www.nsca.talentlms.com.

The Ignite Internship Structure

The Ignite internship program, available free to NSCA members through the NSCA online Learning Management Tool, is meant as a blueprint for your organization to jumpstart your own internal internship program.

The blueprint is structured as follows:

• Phase 1: Onboarding. During this time, interns gain an understanding of your business as a whole, spending at least one day in each department to understand its inner workings and how each department impacts the others. Your intern then reports on what he/she has learned (which may be helpful for you to hear, too).
• Phase 2: Ride & Decide. For a five-week period, interns will gain specific skills and knowledge to spark interest in our industry. They’ll receive in-depth exposure to three specific departments and career paths of their choosing. Their tasks will be a mix of job-specific activities and soft skills training. Upon completing this phase, the interns report on what they have learned, and work with you to determine their areas of interest.
• Phase 3: Learn & Earn. Through the use of NSCA’s C-SIP program, interns gain relevant experience and credentials in sales, operations, marketing/social media, or project management. After completing this program, they once again report on what they have learned, focusing even more on interests and skill sets.
• Phase 4: Real-World Application. At this point, interns have chosen a specific area or department that appeals to them most. For two weeks, they spend 80% to 90% of their time on projects in that area. They also craft an essay that documents what they’ve learned in regard to quality, performance, process improvement, and personal growth. In this final phase, interns report one last time on what they have learned – with an explanation of how they see themselves fitting in at your company.

For more information, please contact Laura Janssen at ljanssen@nsca.org or by phone at 800.446.6722.