PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

“Three Chears for Internships” was a headline for a piece that ran last week in the Wall Street Journal and, based on my own experience, I could not agree more.

I have watched as my daughter and her husband turned internships into full-time jobs. Without the internships, it is likely they would not have landed the employment, at least not as early as they did.

Here’s how the Wall Street Journal conveyed the point in its headline:

Three Cheers for Internships

Even without pay, they offer experience far more valuable than most classes.

The writer, Andy Kessler, put it this way:

“It’s that time of year. Students hoping to land summer internships are flooding inboxes with their résumés. Managers should hire as many as possible. It’s good for the company but even better for the student—and for society. Pay them? Don’t pay them? It doesn’t matter. Just let them in the door.

“In my junior year of college, I got an internship at Hewlett-Packard. It was way across the country in Cupertino, Calif., where Apple’s spaceship headquarters is today. To save money, since I had little, I got an apartment with no furniture, slept on the floor, used a shopping cart for a dresser, and borrowed a friend’s bike to get to work.

“Still, I can’t think of anything better for college students than plopping them in the middle of some exciting enterprise. It almost doesn’t matter what the company does; good interns absorb it all. I call it learning by osmosis. Lessons about your industry, trends, pricing and profits can’t help but work their way into the pores and brains of hungry students bored from endless reading assignments and seminars.

“Put them at the center of whatever a company does—not in the copy room. I can almost guarantee that they’ll be a net positive. The payback usually comes in the form of a single good idea, one productive change that fresh eyes will see while others, especially those sucking up for a promotion, won’t.”

For my daughter, her internship was arranged by Seattle Pacific University (SPU) at a new children’s clothing company organized by Anne Geddes, the famous photographer of babies. It was a great place for my daughter to get her start in the business.

Plus, she loved textile design, which was her major at SPU.

That first job led directly to another one as a clothing designer for Tommy Bahama, which was headquartered in Seattle.

Great for my daughter, but also great for me because I got a bunch of Tommy Bahama clothing, which was rejected for sale because of the smallest reasons, none visible to my naked eye.

From SPU, which my son-in-law also attended, he competed and got an internship at Microsoft, also headquartered in Seattle. It was a huge achievement because all of the other interns were from Ivy League schools back east.

My son-in-law has proved his worth. His internship led directly to employment and today he ranks as the CFO of Microsoft’s entertainment division, which includes X-Box.

To be sure, internships are not a magic answer to anything. But they provide a basis for a college student to obtain some experience that, as they apply themselves, will give them a leg up when they compete for full-time, post-internship jobs.

So, I say to colleges and universities – arrange all the internships possible. And I say to businesses – hire interns to give them experience, which can be gained in no other way.