To address this challenge, a growing number of state IT departments have now built internship and apprenticeship programs that go beyond seasonal staffing to grow a workforce from the inside out. And many of them are starting to see results.
NORTH CAROLINA
Although the department has hosted interns for several years, a formal program was established in 2023 and now has multiple student cohorts, as well as HR support, visible recruitment efforts and dedicated funding. The number of interns rose from 16 in 2023 to 43 in 2024, and NCDIT’s human resources team now receives more than 1,000 applications per cohort.
Deputy HR Director Angela McCray and HR manager John Alexander are internship champions who actively promote these positions at college employment fairs. They told Government Technology that interns are paid well above minimum wage, and, in some cases, they transition into full-time jobs or longer temporary roles. The programs include structured training, partnerships with colleges and universities, and a cohort model that builds community and continuity. As interest grows, the agency plans to hire two additional HR coordinators to help manage the workload.
“The program has grown in recognition and robustness,” Alexander said. “Managers have embraced it. They really want interns and try to keep them. Sometimes they have to come up with the funding after the program has ended. We need to work with managers so that they can keep them, and we do get them to either permanent positions or to have individuals continue temporary employment with the agency once their program has ended.”
Two key initiatives feed the NCDIT pipeline: The Tech Internship for students seeking IT and related degrees, and the Future Technologist program for non-technologists and high school students. The pay rate is $20 per hour and there is on-the-job training, state government tours and a range of professional development. NCDIT also partners to support Carolina Cyber Network Cybersecurity Internships and the North Carolina State Government Internship Program. There is even a small apprenticeship program leading to full employment.
Together, these efforts produce future public-sector IT generalists, network specialists and cybersecurity engineers.
NCDIT also works with managers early in the process to set expectations. When a manager is selected to host an intern, HR staff advise them that the program runs from Point A to Point B, but if the intern seems like a good fit midway through, managers should start the conversation about potential next steps — offering a temp role or creating a position. The department continues building and refining the experience, creating new ways for interns to connect, McCray said. They launched an internal chat group and plan to host activities like Lean Six Sigma boot camps to encourage networking and camaraderie among interns.
Executive support is crucial, McCray noted. State CIO Teena Piccione is a key driver of the internship program, helping match interns to managers and championing the program across the agency. McCray also said that she’s passionate about finding entry-level opportunities to offer, encouraging outreach at student career fairs.
CURRENT OUTLOOK
Public-sector government organizations, in general, are in the process of welcoming a new generation of workers, while leaders remain alert for retirements, said Gerald Young, senior researcher at MissionSquare Research Institute.
According to its 2025 State and Local Government Workforce Survey, responses from public-sector IT agencies show recruitment became easier between 2022 and 2025, but 40 percent of organizations continue to report IT positions as “hard-to-fill.”
Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of responses show that public-sector engineering jobs are among the hardest roles to fill today, up there with policing and nursing. This year’s survey had about 380 participants, of which 79 percent were from local government entities, 13 percent were from state agencies and 8 percent came from other municipality types, such as special districts. Young, who compiles the yearly report, noted that although not focused solely on IT, there are visible trends from more than a decade of surveys.
Corporate knowledge gaps resulting from retirements remain a concern for public-sector leaders as well. Young said the sector has already passed “peak 65,” which is the moment when retirements were expected to surge, but the effects are still unfolding.
61 percent report having no formal succession plan. This needs to be the next priority, Young said, adding that the public sector needs a “deep bench of potential successors.”
And while retirements remain a concern across the public sector, IT leaders in North Carolina and Virginia hope to seed a new generation of IT professionals who are ready to step into those roles.
When CIO Bob Osmond arrived at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) in April 2022, he found a seasoned workforce “staffed with people who had very rich state government experiences,” but there was a need to pair that maturity with new talent, Osmond told Government Technology earlier this year.
Under his leadership, VITA launched the Emerging Talent initiative, adding internships and a junior associate program to bring in entry-level staff. Now, about 10 to 15 percent of the agency’s workforce is new talent, a shift he described as both cultural and practical — helping spark curiosity and innovation across the team.
Programs like those in North Carolina and Virginia show how internships can be more than seasonal labor — they’re evolving into strategic talent pipelines. These aren’t the only states investing in early-career talent, either.
The Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology has added an IT training program but hasn’t set a date for the next cohort, a spokesperson said. In Michigan, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) will oversee its own internships, as the state’s internship program has transitioned from a central model, said Laura Wotruba, DTMB communications director.
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PRACTICAL ADVICE
The University at Albany, part of the State University of New York, offers a wide range of internship programs — from high-profile employers like NASA to sports teams to smaller private companies.
The College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity there also partners with the New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) to provide students with IT and cybersecurity opportunities. There are options available in spring, summer and fall semesters, with some students extending their internships and others having converted to full-time roles.
The program emphasizes experiential learning and student success, with an average of between 15 and 20 students per semester. The ITS internship programming started as an informal idea from an adjunct professor who happened to be a state employee, and it soon grew into a regular collaboration. It took about two years to stand up.
Erin Couture, the college’s student experience director, oversees and manages applied learning programs — including internships, peer education, capstone and research — for both undergraduate and graduate students. Working alongside interns and employers, she has several recommended best practices.
“What was surprising is the resources and amount of time that it takes to get up and running,” she said. “This turned into a formal process of weekly meetings for the better part of a year, which then thankfully went to monthly after the bulk of the work had been done.”
Couture recommends that would-be employers start local and build connections with nearby universities and colleges. She also suggested reaching out to faculty or staff responsible for student success, experiential learning or academic affairs. If those connections aren’t readily apparent, find the academic chair of an IT or cybersecurity department. It’s also good practice to look for academic programs that mirror the organization’s skill gaps. For instance, North Carolina partners with Wake Technical Community College and Fayetteville Technical Community College, which are just two of many higher education allies.
A clear, consistent application process, defined participation guidelines and realistic timelines help set expectations — both for students and the agency. Oregon, for example, has even published a workbook to guide agencies through program design and onboarding.
“You need to formalize a process that you think will work best for both parties, make an attempt with it, and then kind of adjust,” Couture said. “We can now point to the parts that worked as we made those adjustments, and that really helped.”
Strong internships require collaboration and communication, staff time, feedback loops and refinement. North Carolina started staffing ad hoc internships, but they moved into a cohort system so that all internships will start and stop at the same time. This was due in part to students who said they wanted to get to know their peers better. Other advice includes paying attention to what works and what doesn’t, gathering metrics when the time comes and taking advantage of existing tools. For instance, interns might apply using the state HR platform or a university website.
“The more that folks in the industry work with their local institutions, the stronger the relationships are going to be, and the easier it will be for the workforce to hire the best prepared,” Couture said. “But really, working closely with institutions really helps create a more robust opportunity and pool of folks — the graduates … early-career folks that the companies keep.”
PLANNING AHEAD
At their best, internships serve students with real-world experience and provide agencies with fresh perspectives and future talent, Couture said. Treating internships as mutually beneficial — rather than a seasonal necessity — is the key to long-term success.
Speaking of the long view, as more government IT agencies formalize internship and apprenticeship programs, the focus is shifting from short-term staffing to workforce development. NCDIT’s fall 2025 cohort is set to run through the end of the semester, and HR has launched a new apprenticeship program featuring career paths for cybersecurity, IT generalists and networking. These efforts contribute to continuity for a skilled workforce, which benefits both employer and future employee. McCray, who’s served in the public sector more than 25 years, said these are options as organizations look at succession planning, which benefits new workers, career changers and the agency.
“We have a mission,” Alexander said. “And we can grow you up here.”
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.
