If you're not using student interns, you're missing a huge
opportunity, says Patrick Daw, president of $1.4-million Triad
LLC, in Glastonbury, Conn. Because they regard the sponsoring
company as a potential employer, interns "want to take the job a
step farther," observes Daw, who finds them "dedicated, solid,
and dependable."  Internships also help promising students
develop specific skills before they start asking to join the
staff permanently. Walter Joseph Communications, a Chicago
video-production company, has hired about a third of the 35 to
40 interns who have logged time there.  And regular staffers get
an ego boost from teaching others their skills. "You get used to
what you're doing, and then there's a new, lively person who's
in total awe of everything you say and do," says Walter Joseph's
Dale Vermillion, vice-president of operations. "They rejuvenate
the staff."