It's intern season. If you don’t have interns lined up to join your business this summer, it’s still not too late. Make an effort to do that, because interns bring many good things with them. Your entire team will appreciate their fresh faces, energy, ideas, and perspective.
Interns can help get things done to maintain business momentum in a still-difficult hiring environment. They can also help grow your company by checking off business initiatives that have been sidelined.
So, there is a strong return on investment associated with interns, too – but only if you manage the opportunity well for everyone involved.
you need a planInternships can be a good marketing opportunity. Or they can backfire, because how you treat interns demonstrates how you treat your full-time employees. Just adding a body (or several) to your roster won’t benefit anyone.
Interns need and deserve meaningful work. They need a space where they can work comfortably and collaborate effectively with others when needed. Without that, they are going to have a negative experience. And that will reflect poorly on your company.
The intern will be turned off to your business as a potential employer, and potentially far worse, they will spread the word about their time with you. They’ll warn their friends, and they’ll speak plainly about their disappointment when interviewing for future jobs.
Planning ahead assures your interns will have a productive, positive experience. Lay out your plan, and document it just as you would for any other important project. Start with tasks to accomplish. That might be:
- Cleaning up admin projects that are important but not urgent
- Special initiatives planned specifically for interns to address in marketing, finance, or other business areas
- Projects that keep getting pushed back due to chronic manpower shortages
Identify the tools and resources interns will need to accomplish their work. And someone who will be responsible for hiring and following up with interns to maximize their experience and value to company.
take time up front to train
High caliber interns will be excited to get right to work. However, investing time up front for training will pay off at the back end. Your interns will be able to work more efficiently and more independently, making the best use of everyone’s time.
Train managers, too, on how to effectively use interns -- not just to improve their work product but to enhance managers’ culture-building skills. In fact, adding interns to your staffing mix helps company leaders and managers sharpen their training and teaching skills as they talk to the interns about the company, your industry and its dynamics. Along that same line, how a supervisor handles interns can help identify employees who have management skills and further leadership potential.
Review performance. Set milestones to measure productivity and ROI, just as you would do for permanent employees. Then check in regularly for progress reports and feedback.
identify talent you want to bring back
When you have a group of interns, it creates a sense of competition as well as collaboration. As the summer progresses and you get to see your interns in action, in your environment, you’re getting to know their skills and personal traits beyond the basics that brought them to you as an intern. Think about who is rising to the top. These are the one or two you’ll want to keep front-of-mind for future internships and hiring.
And those you don’t wind up bringing back or hiring? Having had a great experience interning with you, they will go forth and recommend your company to their sharpest classmates and friends as a priority potential employer.