As Q Burke Mountain reshuffles its staff, the ski resort has formalized a longstanding internship program at Lyndon State College to cycle students through the slopes — but not as skiers.
A memorandum of understanding between the business and the school was announced Thursday morning. The school said the agreement “addresses increased workforce development needs” at the mountain, which is gearing up for massive growth and expansion into a four-season recreation resort. The first round of construction has been put off till 2014.
The $160 million project will be financed through immigrant investors under the state’s EB-5 Regional Center, which was established to capitalize on a federal employment-based immigration program. Burke Mountain is affiliated with the state’s largest EB-5 project, the Northeast Kingdom Economic Development Initiative, which is run by Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros, partners in the ski resort at Jay Peak and several other business developments.
The junior Quiros, who goes by Ary, took over management of the renamed Q Burke Mountain Resort in 2012. He said each department likely would hire one or two interns to start — marketing, food and beverage, base operations (including rentals, retail and guest services) and mountain operations (including ski lifts and patrol, snow making and vehicle maintenance).
“The interns (will) help train my staff to be good leaders,” Quiros said. “And at the same time, my leadership team will give them jobs that have value.”
Ann Nygard, director of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at Lyndon State College, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Quiros said the internships will pay a minimum wage to start, with flexible schedules.
“I’m hoping to have 10 to 15 hours per week per student, and have a lot of students,” he said.
Staffing at Q Burke has undergone significant cutbacks since Quiros took the helm. Several long-time and top management staff were let go in August. Quiros said he did not plan to hire back all of last year’s seasonal staff, because he thought the resort could be run more efficiently.
He emphasized that the paid internships are designed to fill the roles of accountable staff members, not show up as tag-alongs.
“For example, if I have a four-person grooming team, I’m not going to hire an intern just to be a fifth wheel,” Quiros said.
A full vision for how the collaboration between Burke and Lyndon State might play out is not yet clear. The school’s news release indicates potential for new experiential learning opportunities, adult education and new skills training.
Quiros said the mountain’s current workforce needs are met by the local population.
