Large organizations aren't the only ones that can benefit from interns
There is a perception in the business community that only large companies have the resources to build an internship program. Experience shows this is not the case.
Putting together an internship program is as easy as identifying an opportunity. When we hire interns, it is often to deal with a new business idea that we do not want to assign to a full-time employee because we are not sure how far the idea will go. Hiring an intern to research or execute the early stages of an idea allows an enterprise to still focus on its current business, but create an opportunity for growth in the future.
For example, we recently decided to start publishing a new type of magazine that would be customized for universities across North America. An intern was assigned to sell the publication to universities and sign up accounts. Within three months, more than 40 schools had signed contracts with us.
Now, a full-time employee is being hired to handle business development for this division. The intern helped prove the business model and paved the way for the division to grow to the next level.
When hiring an intern, look for the same skills as when hiring a regular employee. The ultimate goal, after all, is to hire the intern when the internship is completed.
Although the work is assigned based on current needs, interns should be encouraged to take the initiative to identify new opportunities and manage their own projects.
One of the issues is to find challenging projects that will showcase an intern’s skills. Another is to develop a timeline that coincides with the length of the internship.
When it comes to mentoring, an informal open door policy is advisable. In a small operation, an intern gets more than enough direction and feedback with this policy.
Last year we hired an intern to work in the sales department assembling media kits. Within two months he decided to automate the process and wrote a Web-based application to track how many media kits each salesperson was sending out. He also created a system to help the salespeople let him know what to put into each media kit. In this way, each media kit was customized for a potential client.
Not only was this a great tool for everyone in the department, the intern used a skill we didn’t even know he had. Today that intern is a full-time programmer working on one of our key business units. This intern, who couldn’t find a job as a programmer when he graduated from University of Toronto, had within months created for himself a full-time role within the company. We had to find another intern in the sales department to replace him.
One of the drawbacks of hiring interns is that they tend to be current students or recent graduates who are testing you as much as you are testing them. We had an intern who worked part time during the year and full time during the summers over the past four years. When she graduated she left to work in a different industry because she wanted to try something new.
This is a classic sentiment of young talent and is totally understandable.
But when a student has proven her ability over four years and then decides to go somewhere else for a full-time job upon graduation, it hurts.
That said, I am still a big believer in internships and know first hand how easy they are to implement. Treat an intern like all other employees and chances are you will get results that far exceed expectations.
Mark Laurie and Nathan Laurie are the owners of the jobpostings Network, which helps companies recruit university and college students. They can be reached at (877) 900-5627 or [email protected].
Putting together an internship program is as easy as identifying an opportunity. When we hire interns, it is often to deal with a new business idea that we do not want to assign to a full-time employee because we are not sure how far the idea will go. Hiring an intern to research or execute the early stages of an idea allows an enterprise to still focus on its current business, but create an opportunity for growth in the future.
For example, we recently decided to start publishing a new type of magazine that would be customized for universities across North America. An intern was assigned to sell the publication to universities and sign up accounts. Within three months, more than 40 schools had signed contracts with us.
Now, a full-time employee is being hired to handle business development for this division. The intern helped prove the business model and paved the way for the division to grow to the next level.
When hiring an intern, look for the same skills as when hiring a regular employee. The ultimate goal, after all, is to hire the intern when the internship is completed.
Although the work is assigned based on current needs, interns should be encouraged to take the initiative to identify new opportunities and manage their own projects.
One of the issues is to find challenging projects that will showcase an intern’s skills. Another is to develop a timeline that coincides with the length of the internship.
When it comes to mentoring, an informal open door policy is advisable. In a small operation, an intern gets more than enough direction and feedback with this policy.
Last year we hired an intern to work in the sales department assembling media kits. Within two months he decided to automate the process and wrote a Web-based application to track how many media kits each salesperson was sending out. He also created a system to help the salespeople let him know what to put into each media kit. In this way, each media kit was customized for a potential client.
Not only was this a great tool for everyone in the department, the intern used a skill we didn’t even know he had. Today that intern is a full-time programmer working on one of our key business units. This intern, who couldn’t find a job as a programmer when he graduated from University of Toronto, had within months created for himself a full-time role within the company. We had to find another intern in the sales department to replace him.
One of the drawbacks of hiring interns is that they tend to be current students or recent graduates who are testing you as much as you are testing them. We had an intern who worked part time during the year and full time during the summers over the past four years. When she graduated she left to work in a different industry because she wanted to try something new.
This is a classic sentiment of young talent and is totally understandable.
But when a student has proven her ability over four years and then decides to go somewhere else for a full-time job upon graduation, it hurts.
That said, I am still a big believer in internships and know first hand how easy they are to implement. Treat an intern like all other employees and chances are you will get results that far exceed expectations.
Mark Laurie and Nathan Laurie are the owners of the jobpostings Network, which helps companies recruit university and college students. They can be reached at (877) 900-5627 or [email protected].
