Commercial Integrator September 2022 - 65

Crestron interns assembled care
packages for deployed troops and fi rst
responders, wrote thank-you cards,
made paracord bracelets and stuff ed
bears in conjunction with the nationwide
nonprofi t Operation Gratitude.
JUDSON SONNET, a second-year
production engineering intern at
Crestron, followed his brother's
footsteps to the company. " My
brother interned at Crestron and
really enjoyed the program, so
I gave it a shot, " he explains. " I
was pleasantly surprised by how
awesome it is and how much I've
learned. " He continues, " I really
didn't know what to expect initially;
I didn't have the slightest idea what
Crestron did. [But] I don't feel like
I'm working just for any company,
I'm working with the company. It's a
very cohesive environment. I really
enjoy coming into work. I love that I
can go up to anybody [at Crestron]
and ask them a question, and they'll
give me a true, straight answer. "
Crestron. Fitzpatrick notes an increase in
the last several years in areas focusing on
cybersecurity and data analytics. " There
are data analytics interns in fi ve of our seven
diff erent functional divisions this year, " he
explains. " It shows how data-driven the
program has become and how it's empowering
our company to create, to understand
and to make decisions based off data in a
more effi cient manner. "
Many departmental managers at
Crestron are jumping into the internship
program because, as Fitzpatrick explains,
" ...they see the short-term value of being
able to have some bright young people
come in and work on these projects, but
then [they also look] at a full-time, longterm
talent pool. "
commercialintegrator.com
From Intern to Full-Timer
To that very point, last year, Crestron
converted 40 interns from prior internship
programs (2019 to 2021) to full-time
employees. The conversion rate for interns
who qualify for conversion to full-time
employees is well over 50%, according to
Fitzpatrick.
Speaking of the Crestron internship
program, he notes, " By having an industry-leading
internship program of this size,
of this scope and of this success, it's going
to benefi t the industry. What that'll do is enable
the industry to become more nimble,
more agile and more innovative. " Fitzpatrick
continues, " We will be able to be seen
as an industry of choice among young
people, college students, and people of
any age or any background. "
Crestron has carefully built relationships
with more than three dozen education
institutions, colleges and universities across
the U.S. and Canada - some because of
proximity and some because of the curriculum
or the alumni base. The growth of Crestron's
offi ce in Plano, Texas, has attracted
students from the University of Texas at Dallas.
" As we hire more co-op students, who
are here for eight months, instead of three,
we see students from Rochester Institute
of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, " Fitzpatrick explains.
He continues, " There will always be those
partnerships where we see such a great
translation of their skill set and their curriculum
to what we do here [at Crestron]. A lot
SEPTEMBER 2022 Commercial Integrator 65
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Commercial Integrator September 2022

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