The Washington State University (WSU) SBDC research intern program was established in 2011 with eight WSU interns in response to a State grant to grow new exports. It quickly became clear that most of the students had sufficient research capability but lacked specific experience using proprietary databases and other more sophisticated research resources for in-depth and targeted market intelligence research. In addition, the students lacked experience in writing research reports to meet the needs of small to medium business owners. To resolve these issues the program has become very sophisticated over the last three years in the quality of the research methodology and information transfer training of the interns and the resources being used. The most significant change was the in-house development of a comprehensive intern training and mentoring program that advanced the student intern’s knowledge and capabilities by orders of magnitude. For the students, the result is increased quality and quantity of research, providing them a substantial increase in their marketability in the job market. Their first employers state that the knowledge, professionalism and communication skills the interns gain through working in our program for a year or more was a deciding factor in hiring. For the businesses assisted through the program, they gain the needed knowledge to enter the export market confidently and successfully. Ultimately, long-term relationships are forged through this program. Due to the success of the program, it has expanded to 10-12 active interns and from several universities across the state. View the full case study at http://universityeda.org/value-to-members/best-practice-sharing/awards-of-excellence/2014-awards-of-excellence/awards-of-excellence-2014-finalists/training-world-class-research-interns/

1. Training World Class
Research Interns
Terry L. Chambers, Int’l Program & Training Director
509-358-7894 terry.chambers@wsbdc.org
Economic Development and External Affairs

2.  Launched statewide Export Program in 2011
◦ State grant focused on New-to-Export
companies.
 The need: in-depth one-on-one advising
and market research data.
 Advisors doing research takes away from
“advising” clients.
 The Fix: Just hire some bright –
inquisitive and eager interns, right?

3. Deliver high quality market intelligence
to clients so they could make better
informed decisions.
What we developed:
Intensive intern training program with the
capability of delivering accurate, relevant,
timely & high quality market intelligence to
clients.
Result: Interns added 25% additional
capacity to each advisor’s time
with clients.

4. 1. Clients had no idea of where to begin!
2. Clients did not have market research
ability!
3. Interns lacked relevant research
experience.
4. Research database training was
insufficient!
5. Training and mentoring needed to be
virtual.

5.  Gained needed expertise doing
research.
 Did gap analysis for existing training.
 Coord. & interns developed training
materials.
 Hosted on-line training and assigned
mentors.
 On-going refinement continues.

6. Intro to SBDC & Research
1.0 - SBDC Internship Recruiting
1.1 - Conflict of Interest Form
1.2 - Student Code of Ethics
1.3 - Time and Task Reports
Intro to research
2.0 – Research Req. form rev-14.2
2.1 - Report Structure
2.2 - The ART of Effective Market
Research
2.3 - The ART of Understanding the
SBDC and its Clients
2.4 - The ART of Data
>25 Resource Training programs/tools

7. Research tools
Report Templates
ProActive Research
5.0.1 Intern Tools--Dropbox, Google
Drive, Snipping Tool
5.0.2 Intern Tools—Refworks
5.0.3 Intern Tools—Zotero
Additional Resources
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
6.1 Research Brief Format
6.1 Research Brief Template
6.2 Research Report Format
6.2.1 Client Report Template v.14.3
3.0 - Proactive Research Spreadsheet
3.2 - export.gov USCS reports
3.4- Using the Matrix rev 14.7
Training went from 3 months to 3 weeks
• Research and report writing went from 60
hours to 30 hours
• 66% reduction in time to reach desired level
of high quality competence

8.  In-depth and customized training tools &
mentor program.
 Interns deliver high quality market
intelligence reports.
 Research reports are deeply impacting real
businesses and the Students doing them!
51 interns >10,000 research hours
>200 Research Projects 373 export jobs
590 total companies 132 now exporting
$107,000,000 in new exports

9.  Students get long-term and in-depth
experience.
 Students learned how to build tools
and processes to solve “their & clients”
research problems.
 Students build their resumes.
 Students are better prepared to get
the jobs they want!

10.  Every interview that I have had has been impressed and interested in
hearing about my experiences as a WSBDC intern, because it shows
real-world experience in international trade. - Nicole P. GU
 This internship enhanced my employability by showcasing my ability
to focus on minute (yet critical) details needed for a report or a
project. Matt GU
 I say with certainty that it is because of my experience with the SBDC
that I was able to get a good job out of college in the field I wanted.
Vance C WSU
 Overall, the SBDC (internship) has been a tremendous platform for
me to grow professionally and help small businesses develop. Ian C.
WSU
 Thank you for the excellent research Papers….I gleaned a whole lot
of key information from the documents. Key issues that we would
not have considered stood out clearly. Client - GD