Joseph Phelps knows he wants to be a lawyer and figured that spending this summer interning for a Honolulu firm would boost his resume and improve his chances of getting into a prestigious graduate school.

Phelps, a 21-year old incoming senior at Hawai'i Pacific University, is part of a growing generation of college students looking for internship opportunities in Hawai'i.

So far, Phelps' internship at Leavitt Yamane and Soldner has only strengthened his ambitions to go into law.

"Every day, I come in and learn something new," he said.

No one keeps comprehensive statistics on the number of internships, but job recruiters, employers, career counselors, and others agree that the number of summer internships seems to have jumped this year — and so have the number of applicants.

At Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, 63 students had internships in 2003. The number increased to 82 in 2004 and 88 in 2005. Likewise, 48 students at HPU have summer internships this year, up from 33 last year.

While businesses continue to struggle to fill openings in the nation's tightest job market, Alex McGehee, executive vice president of Enterprise Honolulu, an economic development agency, believes that more companies are turning to internships as a way to receive temporary help and motivate interns to return as full-time employees.

Among the companies that offer internships to University of Hawai'i-Manoa College of Business students, about 50 percent also offer the possibility of full-time employment once the internship ends. At BYUH, 70 percent of the students who do internships get full-time employment offers.

Companies are deciding to be proactive about recruiting interns, since internships can result in a higher number of qualified full-time applicants, McGehee said.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES

The concept of interns has been around for a while, but Beth Busch, executive director of the WorkForce Job Fair, has seen a dramatic pick-up "within the last year or so" because of low unemployment rates.

The WorkForce Job Fair drew a record 206 recruiters to the Neal Blaisdell Center in May.

Hawai'i's 2.8 percent unemployment rate means that a lot of companies have openings, and Bank of Hawaii spokesman Stafford Kiguchi sees this as great for students who now have "good opportunities in a wide range of sectors within the economy."

College career centers in the state are also noticing an increase in internship opportunities.

"About a year and a half ago, we started seeing a much bigger increase in the number of internship opportunities," said Rick Varley, director of internships and career development at the UH College of Business. The internship situation is now the "complete opposite since five years ago," he said, with companies now competing for students.

One of the ways in which companies compete is through offering paid internships. Lianne Maeda, director of career services at HPU, has been noticing an increasing number of employers offering paid internships.

"With the job market right now, employers have to find ways to get students to consider their opportunities," Maeda said.

TAPPING YOUNG TALENT

At the UH College of Business, the 65 to 70 business majors enrolled in a summer internship class found 75 to 80 employers looking for interns.

Students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa School of Travel Industry Management are also in "high demand" according to Kawehi Sellers, the internship and career placement coordinator. "I think that companies are seeing the benefit of students who are investing in their education and who can be a new market source for employees."

There are about a dozen Travel Industry Management students from UH interning for four Starwood Waikiki properties, according to Sellers. Four more are at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, eight are at the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island (where they are also being housed), and two are at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on the Big Island.

Travel Industry Management student Kayla Sakumoto wanted to spend the summer on the Big Island and thought an internship with the Fairmont Orchid would be a great match for her educational emphasis on hospitality.

The incoming senior from Kane'ohe decided to intern to gain skills.

Sakumoto has "had a great time so far," spending her internship shadowing different managers in different departments.

WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE

According to Busch, most employers understand that they have a responsibility to help interns explore the various aspects of the work environment, so the student ends up experiencing different departments and responsibilities to see what they really want to end up doing.

Internships are the best way to really get a feel for a business, and more students are realizing that, said Busch, adding that the opportunities to network can be useful when looking for a permanent job.

There is also a "distinct advantage" to getting employment with previous internship experience," said Meli Lesuma, Academic Internship Director at BYUH.

Stephanie Ching, a 21-year old student at University of California, Los Angeles, will graduate next year with at least two internships. She began interning with First Hawaiian Bank last summer and liked it so much she decided to return for another one.

The Honolulu woman found internships at home particularly valuable because employers carry "an aloha spirit," and "are invested in your future and can help you learn, so you can graduate and return home."

Working in a professional environment also "gave me a good sense of what I want to do."

Sheila Sumida, executive vice president of human resources at First Hawaiian Bank, said the internship benefits are mutual — students are able to find valuable summer work at home, while the bank gets extra help and forms relationships with potential future hires.

Kimi Sato, a student at Willamette University, knew she wanted to come home for the summer and intern. The 21-year old from Honolulu found an internship with Planned Parenthood Hawaii after previously working with the nationwide organization in Oregon.

Sato said she is gaining experience while pursuing her interest in sexual health and collecting information for a senior thesis. She added, "Internships give you a taste of what a job's really like before you commit."

Reach Christine Terada at cterada@honoluluadvertiser.com .