Urban Vision Initiative Consultant Internships
Student Consultant Internships: Apply Now
The Urban Vision Initiative (UVI) is currently seeking exceptional interns to serve as consultants to entrepreneurs starting businesses in Chattanooga’s under-served communities.
Intern consultants will have the opportunity to practice entrepreneurship in a rewarding social and financial context. As a student consultants you will use your current skills and develop other skills that will allow you to to become a valuable resource for start up businesses who are participating in the Urban Vision Initiative.
To assist you in developing your consulting skills, participating interns will be surrounded by Chattanooga’s civic, social and business leaders, as well as UTC faculty and staff. While UVI is a huge challenge, it presents intern consultants with an unmatched opportunity to work closely with Chattanooga’s vibrant startup community.
However, the most important qualifications are soft skills. Successful intern consultant candidates will demonstrate that they are:
- Committed: UVI entrepreneurs urgently require their business to produce income for their families. They are deeply committed to their fledgling enterprises. Intern consultants must be equally committed to the startups’ success.
- Alert: Intern consultants must be alert to the challenges and opportunities the entrepreneurs face at any given time. Intern consultants will be supported by UTC faculty and staff as well as mentors from Chattanooga’s civic, businesses and non-profit organizations dedicated to serving entrepreneurs from low-income communities. Consultant entrepreneurs must be constantly alert to situations where calling upon their support network will help the entrepreneurs capitalize on an opportunity or successfully mitigate a threatening circumstance.
- Empathetic: The practice of entrepreneurship is uniquely difficult under the best of circumstances. For entrepreneurs in low-income households the problems are magnified. Personal capital needed to develop a new business is not available. Any income the business produces will go to putting food on the table. Any income the business consumes takes bread off the table. Intern consultants have empathy for the urgency of the startup business’ success, and the stresses this brings to bear on the entrepreneurs.
- Resilient: Early stage businesses operating in under-resourced conditions are particularly vulnerable to existential threats. Even well-resourced startups must pivot when external conditions change, or the customer discovery process fails in the startups’ early iterations. Consultant interns must accept that change is a natural result of the myriad uncertainties startups face even under the best of circumstances. Under-resourced entrepreneurs are the least equipped to endure a long customer development, but they must navigate it nonetheless. Intern consultants will bring to bear the UVI resources at their disposal to assist entrepreneurs on their journey.
UTC students from across campus are invited to apply. Skills from the creative arts, engineering, health, psychology, and business are required to successfully build a business. Working with UVI, selected intern consultants will apply their skills to perform a social good.
Successful candidates can expect a formal on-boarding process that includes classroom training and team building. Intern consultants will be part of a challenging, fast paced initiative with unique and rewarding work. The work will strengthen resumes with real world experience and gain a professional reference.
Target Start Date: August 19, 2024 (in-class training) Expected End Date: April 22, 2025
Requirements to Apply:
- B Average or Above (3.0 GPA+)
- Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or Graduate Student
Process to Apply:
- Complete and submit the online application (using button below)
- Participate in interviews with Mike Bradshaw, [email protected]