It ain’t just paint

Tuesday, November 24, 1998

It ain’t just paint

BUSINESS: For participants in the Student Works Painting
program, it’s about money and business experience

By Chauntelle Anne Tibbals

Daily Bruin Contributor

Every quarter, many UCLA students enroll in Management 1A, a
prerequisite for the economics major, and most get no practical
management experience from it.

However, an announcement given during class led William Reeves
to years of first-hand experience in business management with the
Student Works Painting program.

"I was talking to a friend in class, not paying any attention.
The only part (of the announcement) I even heard was ‘make
$7,000,’" said Reeves, a fourth-year economics student.

The Student Works Painting program, supported by the National
Services Group (NSG), is an internship opportunity that allows
undergraduates to manage their own trade business. Students in the
program hire painters, find jobs and manage all the intricacies of
a small company.

After a series of interviews and preliminary training, new
"interns" begin to manage their own painting business. A series of
higher-level interns support and supervise the new interns. An
intern is "promoted" to a higher level of management after each
successfully completed year of the program.

All painting supply costs, insurance and business licensing is
paid by NSG, so therefore all the intern must do is develop and
exhibit their profitable management skills.

Although $7,000 was the average expected income for a first-year
manager, Reeves managed to double that amount. Since his second
year at UCLA, he has become a general manager, continuing to run
his own projects while informing other students of the
opportunities in Student Works.

"Basically, (Student Works Painting) is an opportunity to get
necessary management experience in a risk-free environment," Reeves
said.

"But it definitely causes more stress than (student life) alone.
I smoke way more now than I did before," he added.

Michael Rothman, a 1997 alumnus, said his current job as a
financial planner is a lot like the work he did for Student Works
Painting.

"The program allows you to stretch yourself to your ultimate
capacity. Student Works made more difference to my future than even
UCLA," Rothman said.

Rothman, 23, said he felt, in particular, that the program
taught him skills necessary to work with older coworkers and
customers.

"I meet with families or people who are retiring to plan their
entire financial futures. It is not unlike meeting with a family to
plan financing house painting," Rothman said. "In both cases you
have to sell your abilities."

"No matter how good or bad you do in Student Works, you will
still learn a lot about yourself and your limitations," Rothman
said.

The program is also available to undergraduates at other UC
campuses.

Jeremy Kisner, a 1992 business economics graduate from UC Santa
Barbara, was Student Works’ top branch manager in the state of
California during his first year in the program.

"It was the single greatest accomplishment of my life. I had to
work harder for that than anything else I have ever done," Kisner
said.

Today Kisner is a senior manager of a Fortune 500 company,
Environmental and Ecological Engineering (3E). He began building
3E’s sales division in 1993 and today, 3E supplies environmental
management information to companies such as Home Depot and the
United Parcel Service.

"A lot of what I do today I learned from Student Works. It gave
me the confidence to (become an entrepreneur)," Kisner said.

Some alumni of the undergraduate program have gone on to make
Student Works their career.

UC Santa Barbara alumnus Jeff Gunhus started interning for
Student Works Painting during his freshman year in college. After
graduating with degrees in business economics and political science
in 1995, Gunhus and business partner Matt Stewart decided to expand
the overall scope of the company’s program.

They subsequently bought half the company and began expanding.
Now, a Student Works intern can become a partner in the company and
take the program to another state.

"Before (Stewart and I) expanded the program, we were creating
leaders and watching them walk out the door. We had no career
opportunities to offer within the company," Gunhus said.

"With the (expansion) opportunities available for partners,
(interns) can either take their leadership skills to another field
or they can continue on here," he said.

The learning opportunities available through Student Works will
provide any student with business management career goals with
first-hand, experienced knowledge.

"Regardless of what industry an individual chooses to go into,
that person does not want to enter at the bottom," Reeves said.

"(Employers) want to hire people with management position
experience. But where is an undergraduate student going to get such
experience?" he said.

The Student Works program provides a way for students to gain
the actual experience necessary to get inside and potentially ahead
in the business world.

"Everyone writes their resumes after the same model in the same
book," Gunhus said.

"(Student Works interns) can say to any prospective employer,
‘not only can I claim these skills, I have the proof that I can do
them,’" he said.

For more information on Student Works Painting, call (800)
394-6000AARON MICHAEL TOUT/Daily Bruin

Will Reeves (left), a UCLA student, is part of the Student Works
Internship program and runs a

painting company. He is accompanied by (from left to right) Ed
D’Angelo, Robert Tai, William Soto and John Straube, who are
currently working on painting a house in the Mulholland
Estates.

BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin

Leila Orr, a third-year psychology student, tries to recruit
students to work in Student Works painting on Westwood Plaza.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]