With high school and college coming to a close, many students will be on the hunt for internship opportunities. Creating an internship program within your company can be extremely beneficial as the right candidates can make significant contributions to your business and potentially join your team full time. Here are some effective ways to create an internship program that reaps huge collaborative benefits for both the intern and you.
1. Know what you want
Finding an internship is easier than ever these days with sites like College Recruiter, ScriptEd, and Internships.com. Companies have access to a number of candidates and their list of skill sets instantly. But in order to find the right talent, you need to know what you are looking for. A great way to figure this out is to ask your employees. Make a list of necessary qualities an intern will need to get the job done and choose your candidates according. This will not only improve company culture by getting your employees involved in this decision, but it will help you focus in on who will be the best asset to your internship program.
2. Onboard Efficiently
An intern's first 90 days might be the only time they have with your company. Therefore, your onboarding processes needS to be condensed in order to bring the intern up to speed on the workload, company values, and company culture. A great way to streamline this process is to get the intern acclimated to a relevant project that acts as kind of an orientation as well. With your guidance, this will allow the intern to get comfortable with higher priority projects.
3. Empower Interns with high priority projects
According to Business 2 Community, “many companies fear giving valuable projects to their interns.” But they have found that when interns are given more responsibility, they really deliver.
Empowerment is key. Some ways to do this is by inviting your interns to sit in on meetings and customer service calls or encourage them to build relationships with clients and give them projects that they can own. Not only will this allow interns to feel as though they are of value to the company, it will also help them build critical problem-solving skills and motivate them to return to your company full time if the opportunity presents itself.
4. Company Culture
Every company has their own culture, through office traditions, weekly social events, initiatives or overall work environment. It's important to allow interns an opportunity to be a part of that and feel a sense of camaraderie. While most internships don’t take the time to develop a community among interns, creating an effective internship program is about building a relationship with the intern so that they are more open to collaboration and feedback, which ultimately benefits the company.
5. Invest in training
Entrepreneur. com suggests heavily investing in training for your interns. While it may seem counterintuitive to designate resources for training when interns are only with the company for a short time, that is not the case if you want your interns to return to your organization.
“If interns feel their learning and growth was significant in the few months they were with your company, they are more likely to continue investing in themselves and their growth by returning full time.”
This investment can reap rewards and allow for a successful program that will make interns want to stay with you and help grow your business.
For help with creating a successful intern program, contact VertiSource HR® today! Call 855.565.VSHR (8747) or email us at info@vertisourcehr.com.
