As the snow begins to melt each spring, homeowners hold their breath to see whether the paint is still sticking to the exterior surfaces of their home. Decks particularly can be chronic failing surfaces. Many of us grew up grimacing at the thought of the annual family ritual of repainting or re-staining the deck that seemed to inevitably peel, fade, crack, chip or bubble every year. There is hope!

One of the most important components of painting your home is choosing a color scheme.  It is important to know what your long term plan is regarding your home.  If you are planning to live in your home the rest of your life, you will have a lot more freedom in choosing your paint color if you want to put some flair into it.  If you will be selling your home in the next few years, you might want to be a bit more conservative and choose an earth-toned or neutral color scheme.

I was managing a fitness center at the time, enjoyed what I was doing, but was looking for more.  I was on several job-posting sites and came across a student job board.  I found College Pro Painters.  It seemed perfect, a chance for a young adult to run their own business and be responsible for everything, develop skills and get some real-world experience.  I thought it was too good to be true, I wondered is there a College Pro Painters scam?  Who would let inexperienced young adults run a business?

Are you looking for a great summer internship opportunity?  If you answer “Yes”, then College Pro Painters is ready to provide you with the tools needed to be a successful entrepreneur.  Since 1971 College Pro has been helping business students and entrepreneurs realize their potentials by offering an exciting, challenging, and rewarding summer experience.  Your experience can be filled with learning, development, and growth that the classroom alone cannot provide.

So I looked up “the ten most important job skills a job candidate should have” to support what I experienced in my student job at College Pro.  It turns out, those skills are as follows:

• Budget management… at College Pro you learn how to manage, and actually do manage all finances in your business
• Speaking… you learn how to sell a product and yourself, more importantly how to speak with assertiveness
• Writing… you create print marketing material and write contracts for customers
• Public Relations… you interact daily with employees, community members, suppliers and customers

I remember not too long ago when the unemployment rate for students nearly reached 20%.  I remember listening to students explaining that they had sent out as many as 150 resumes with little or no reply. The market has slightly improved but a wise person would agree that we are in for a rocky road ahead, one with many more peaks and valleys. So, in a struggling job market, how do you position yourself for success? The answer is to either make yourself extremely marketable or create your own opportunities. College Pro is the best opportunity to learn to do both.

Through my experience as an entrepreneur I noticed that a lot of students tend to settle when looking for internships. Many of my peers in school would look for any place that was hiring just to gain some experience. Why settle for less?

In college I was able to gain valuable entrepreneurial experience with College Pro Painters. While learning how to run a small painting business, I gained real world business experience that enhanced my resume. All the while, I was building long-lasting relationships with other students around the country who were entrepreneurial minded.

Lots of young people attend school to learn about life and business, but how many take the leap and attend a Business Training Camp to actually run their own business?

Year after year (going on 41 now), College Pro has selected 500-800 students across North America to run painting and window cleaning franchises.  While these franchises function as real businesses, there are no up-front fees to own the franchise, and the business commitment lasts 1 winter, spring and summer term.

Rarely has there been a more challenging time for the job prospects of graduating college students.  Lingering unemployment and the scarcity of lucrative entry level jobs has made competition for those jobs quite fierce.  It no longer is adequate simply to have a degree on your resume.  Meaningful real-world experience is at a premium and College Pro Painters is one of the best places to gain it.

Students who take the challenge of the College Pro Painters entrepreneur opportunity give themselves hands-on skills in what it takes to start up a business, from the marketing and business plan all the way through to the hiring and management of employees.  Few places give students the chance not just to simulate entrepreneurship, but to truly experience real successes and challenges.

You may have seen the signs around your neighborhood— the “College Pro Painters” logo in the yards of your neighbors or other community members. Or maybe College Pro representatives were at your school’s job fair. Or maybe you haven’t heard of the company at all. Whether or not College Pro is on your radar or in your vocabulary, it may be beneficial to know more about North America’s largest and first student-run painting company.