Community colleges: intern programs help train future workers.

The numbers from the Nuclear Energy Institute are staggering. During the next five years, more than 38% of workers in the electric-power industry will be eligible to retire. More than 25,000 of them are in the nuclear sector, according to the institute, a Washington, D.C.-based policy organization.

Fortunately, energy companies, universities and community colleges in the Carolinas have been collaborating to produce educated--and trained--candidates for those positions. Trained? That's right, courtesy of intern programs that introduce engineering students to companies and, perhaps more importantly, companies to the students.

Duke Energy is one of those companies. Debra Hager, strategic workforce-development manager for the Charlotte-based utility, says its program has been established for years. It works with UNC Charlotte, N.C. State, N.C. A&T State, Winston-Salem State and Johnson C. Smith universities in North Carolina, and the University of South Carolina and Clemson University in South Carolina. It also looks outside the Carolinas, to students in Texas, Tennessee and Ohio.

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"Generally, we start right now (in early fall) to go to college," Hager says. "Our recruiter and young engineers will go there to have sessions with the students and tell them what to look forward to."

The acceptance process is rigorous, with all applications scrutinized by engineering managers. Only the best candidates are selected. The number varies from year to year, according to Duke's needs, Hager says. Once selected, students report to the company the next summer at various nuclear sites, with some working at the corporate office as well as on the design side of operations.

"The managers fight for the interns," Hager says. "They would love to have more. The interns are given projects, very valuable work to do."

In addition to the day-to-day work, the student employees serve another purpose.

Each is assigned a first-year hire as a mentor. That gives young employees some initial management experience, Hager says. Near the end of the term, the students do a report on their projects.

"It gives them a chance to work on their presentation skills, to learn to talk to a manager," she says. Hager couldn't estimate how many ultimately get job offers but says it is "a lot," adding that other companies also recruit graduates who've been through the internships.

Duke also has programs with Spartanburg (S.C.) Community College and is working with...