The Clackamas print., December 02, 2015, Page 5, Image 5

Intel looks to community colleges
State’s largest private employer offers paid internships
BY SAIGE KEIKKALA
For the first time ever, Intel is offer­
ing paid internships exclusively to
community college students.
The than ks goes to Jen M iller,
a com p u ter in stru cto r here at
Clackamas Community College.
M iller kept askin g her friend ,
Daman Oberoi, an employee at Intel,
w hy the company w asn’t recruiting
community college students.
“ He said, ‘Well, that’ s not how we
do it; that’ s not part of our program.’
And I said, ‘W ell you guys should
change your program,” ’ said Miller.
photo by Katie Archer
—_
She kept asking until she got a yes.
Oberoi visited Clackamas on Nov.
23 to tell students about the new
program; ten paid internships w ill
be offered to current com m unity
co llege stu d en ts or com m u n ity
college students who have moved on
to a four-year school.
Miller worked at Intel for 10 years
and know s Oberoi through w ork
there and school at the University
o f Portland. She recruited him as
an industry adviser for com puter
science, som eone w ho could keep
M iller aligned w ith the industry’ s
requirem ents so she can properly
educate students.
M iller said that she w as able to
"He was able to
convince Intel
Internally that they
were missing out on a
lot of talent from, not
,r+ r r r hi if - j ™ nrr
just
i l l , out also r i i
-Jen Miller
“ bend his ear” and convinced him
to work with CCC.
“ 1 started talking to Daman about
this last spring, trying to get him to
understand that Intel is missing out
on a lot of talent here because they’re
overlooking the community college
students when they look for interns,”
said Miller.
“ And he’ s great, by the w ay,” said
Miller. “ He was able to convince Intel
internally that they were missing out
on a lot of talent from, not just CCC,
but also PCC.”
On Nov. 23 in the Gregory Forum,
Oberoi talked about the possibilities
for students interested in computer
scien ce, p h ysics, m a th em a tics,
chemistry, technology or engineering.
Not m any fem ales attended the*
talk, w ith the m ajority being m ale V
students.
“ I’ m here to id en tify th e b est
talen t,” said Oberoi. “ Intel is a lob
more than just hardware. We don’t
just hire a bunch o f engineers or
com puter en gin eers and science
majors.”
He reassured students that they
don’ t need a specific set of classes
for this paid internship.
“ That’ s actually one thing about
this com m unity college internship]
program : I’ m not recru itin g to
degrees, I’ m recruiting to skill sets/’^
said Oberoi. “ So even if your degree^
doesn’t align to what that internship
is, but the internship sounds awesome;
to you, w ell then show me on your6
resume what you can do and why you
could be qualified for that.”
“ Obviously the goal of this then
is to hire you, so when you apply, I
choose the best qualified candidates'!
and we hire you,” said Oberoi. “ Then
we train you. You get paid to learn.”?
In terested stud ents should be
enrolled or have transferred from al
community college, have a 3.0 GPA
and have a permanent right to work •
in the U.S.A. without sponsorship.
M atthew Bloem er, a 17 year old
interested in mechanical engineering,
said, “ I think it would be a really cool3
experience. I’ve always liked In ter
itself, its com pany. I don ’ t know*
if I can get it [the internship] this
year because I am only 1 7 .1 have to
graduate high school and all that.” c
0
To apply, send your resum e to
Oberoi at daman.oberoi@intel.com.
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