Evaluate Future
Employees
Students approach internships as opportunities to learn more about
an industry or job role, to develop new skills, and to expand their
professional networks and strengthen their resumes. With these
specific goals in mind, they also search for internships that provide
challenging and varied work experiences.
In this climate, the development of an effective internship program
can benefit the employer in a variety of different ways: they attract
enthusiastic and productive employees who are eager for experience
and motivated to work; they create the opportunity to recruit future
employees once interns have had the chance to be tested and prove
their competence in a professional environment; and they can utilize
the student’s educational expertise.
Marketing Opportunity With today's tight labor market making it increasingly difficult
to recruit talented workers, smart employers are seeing internships
as a high-payoff recruiting tool. Hewlett Packard, for example,
is one company that recruits much of its workforce this way. In
one year, it recruited 70% of its workforce from its pool of interns.
Employers who think of internships in terms of short-contract,
highly focused work experiences gain the best results. These types
of internships often place the student in a position to assist
or implement special projects, and they also develop supervisory
skills for full-time staff.
Another aspect of internships is that students can free the workload
of full-time, salaried employees and allow them to work on higher
profile demands, while still being challenged with special projects
that meet their expertise. In this way, providing interns with
real work experiences in which they have ownership over their projects
not only benefits students by adding value to their resumes, employers
are creating a return on their investment in the form of real work
accomplished for their company.
“Reasons I hear as to why employers don't bring on students
is that they don't feel they have the time to properly supervise
a student,” states
Linda Gully, Assistant Director of the BCom Careers and Co-op at
the Sauder School of Business at UBC. “They also feel they
can’t provide quality work and learning experiences, and
don't have the physical space and resources to create a workstation
for a student.”
Meaningful
Work
It is a misconception that interns can’t accomplish valuable
work since they are only on a short-term contract. Providing meaningful
work is key to impressing the intern and to getting the most out
of the intern as a business resource. Students overwhelmingly prefer
assignments that challenge them and expose them to new things.
“Students want to feel that they are a part of the organization
and contributing something of value during the time that they are
working. They will quickly sense if they are being treated differently
because they are the "intern" or "co-op" student,” states
Gully.
“We want employers to treat our students when they are
on co-op/internships much the same way they would regular employees
in their organizations. Students are there to gain work experience
and therefore should be expected to perform with the same accountability
as regular employees.”
Examples of specific work experiences can include: the market
research phase of a plan to launch a new product; a business plan
for introducing an e-business initiative; and analysis and recommendations
for cost cutting or a new inventory system.
Being Part of a Team
Interns need to have a manager and a team of people to be a part
of. Effective intern management is more than simply assigning and
reviewing work. Managers provide administrative assistance, mentoring,
feedback, guidance, and professional and social networking opportunities.
Facilitating opportunities for interns to interact with senior
managers is also a crucial aspect of a successful internship program.
“We encourage employers to spend time sharing with our students
various life lessons and wisdom they have gained from their years
of working, “ says Gully. “Students really appreciate
when people in the organization take time to talk with them and
share their insights and expertise.”
It is vital that employers take the time to find out how their
interns are enjoying their experience and what the employer can
do to improve their program for future interns. It is also very
important that managers give interns performance coaching and feedback.
Interns have no way of gauging how well they're doing unless managers
provide feedback.
A feedback cycle can include formal mid and end of program sessions
as well as informal weekly and bi-weekly updates. Frequent feedback
gives interns the opportunity to make adjustments and hone their
skills along the way. Feedback should be specific and reference
tangible skills. Inviting interns to meetings and social activities
also encourages the intern to feel more connected to their employer.
Compensation
There are no clear-cut guidelines for compensation to internships.
To attract talented students to a program, however, a competitive
wage is necessary. Unpaid internships are less common now as they
were in the past, and many companies offer at the very least a
monthly or weekly stipend to cover a portion of living costs. Many
companies offer at least $1000 or $1200 dollars a month.
Core Components
The core components that make up a successful internship program
are meaningful work/projects and a well-thought-out structure. A
poorly organized program can create bad press through word of mouth
advertising by the intern. A successful program, however, will provide
an excellent return on an employer’s investment.
As Gully advises: “Take the time to create a work plan for
the student; Set objectives and mechanisms to track progress and
provide feedback; Include the intern in regular company meetings
and social activities; Conduct a mid-term review with the intern
and their supervisor and then an exit interview with the intern
for feedback on what worked well and what can be improved for the
next intern coming in.”
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