An upcoming event is geared toward employers who want to learn the ropes regarding hiring interns.

Representatives of more than 50 area corporations, companies and small businesses will meet on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Nov. 6 to discuss the best ways to attract local college students as interns, according to event organizers.

The event, called "Internships 101: Recruiting and Hiring Your Next Generation Workforce," is being held from 8:30 to 11 a.m. in the UMBC Albin O. Kuhn Library.

It was organized by the Baltimore Collegetown Network and will offer two sessions of workshops, said Kristen McGuire, the group's executive director.

McGuire said registration for the event has been extended and is available at www.baltimorecollegetown.org/internships/internship-workshop.

The nonprofit group, a consortium of 15 area colleges and universities, held a similar event last year at the University of Baltimore as a way to promote its online internship database, which it started a year-and-a-half ago, McGuire said.

The success of the event inspired the group to make it annual, she said.

McGuire said encouraging local businesses to offer internships supports her group's threefold purpose of attracting students to the Baltimore region, getting them engaged with the community and encouraging them to stay in the area after graduating.

It will also help businesses build "a great pipeline of future employees," McGuire said.

The event is being co-sponsored by UMBC's Shriver Center, the Baltimore Business Journal, the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development and the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce.

According to Keith Scott, president and CEO of the county chamber, the event comes at a time when more and more area companies are looking to hire interns -- in some cases because they don't have the resources to hire full-time employees.

"In a tough economy, these types of opportunities are a real blessing, and allow businesses to thrive and grow," Scott said.

In hiring interns, the companies are able to evaluate the work performance of young people they may hire in the future, and the interns get to see if they like the company, Scott said.

"It's kind of like dating," he said.

Christine Routzahn, director of professional practice at UMBC's Shriver Center, said the event dovetails perfectly with the center's mission of facilitating productive internship experiences between companies and students.

The center is a "central hub for internship placements" on the university campus, and places 1,300 students in internships each academic year, Routzahn said.

The event will "help to really make sure that the community understands how internship hires are valuable to them," Routzahn said.

"One of the goals of this workshop is really to get people talking and sharing their best practices."

Among the topics that will be discussed at Friday's event are internship basics, best practices in hiring interns, converting interns to employees, legal issues surrounding the hiring of interns, volunteer interns, common intern pay rates and examples of companies that are already working with interns, Routzahn said.

Representatives from other area colleges and universities, including Stevenson University and Loyola University Maryland, will also attend the workshops, she said.

Sara Trenery, workforce development coordinator in the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development, said the event will be geared toward companies that may not have dealt with hiring interns before.

"We're really targeting small to medium-size businesses who might have been interested in hiring interns, but haven't known how to go about it and maybe don't have a (human resources) department," Trenery said.

Trenery said she has heard from a lot of companies interested in hiring interns recently, and hopes the event will point them in the right direction and help them in facing the economy.

"When it's harder to find employees, the companies are interested in ways they can access young people on their way up, and kind of get them into the workplace," she said.

"I think a lot of companies look at this as a way to recruit people before they get out of college."

When area companies are able to do that, it helps the county to "retain more of the students who are coming out of our local colleges," Trenery said.

"It's good to be able to keep your talent," she said.

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