The Small Business Administration reports that small business provided fifty-three percent of all jobs and created two of three new jobs in 1992. In many communities across the United States, small businesses are the only employers. In addition to their key role in the economy, small businesses provide unique learning environments for students. Public Policy Associates, in a 1995 survey of small businesses, highlighted several distinct benefits of small business work-based learning opportunities, including exposure to the full range of activities necessary to run a business, the development of entrepreneurial skills, and the immediate opportunity to contribute to the enterprise.
Several factors help to explain the limited involvement of small business.
Small businesses also have relatively fewer employees, each one of whom typically performs multiple roles that a larger company could assign to several people. Major employers more often have a specialized human resources staff with the time to attend partnership meetings and to develop and administer placements. Cultivating these connections builds a sense of community and encourages a culture of participation, which gradually may assume momentum, attracting other small businesses into the system. To create this kind of network requires thinking of small business involvement as a long-term partnership, one that means building trust and relationships based on mutual respect and benefit. Although building upon personal connections is essential when recruiting small businesses, and in smaller communities may be an adequate strategy, practitioners report success with other approaches that build upon the foundation of personal networks.