If your long-range business plans include recruiting young professionals, consider hiring one or more student interns now to prepare them for a full-time position after they graduate. To make your decision easier, the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) is making available Student Internship Grants (one per company) to offset your cost of hiring interns. It's a win-win for everyone in the industry. The 2007 grants are for $2,000 and MCAA members are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to interns who are members of an MCAA student chapter. Go to www.mcaa.org/careers for a current list of student chapters. The grant requests are due May 15.

For more information about the grants, please contact Ann Mattheis at amattheis@mcaa.org.