How to Develop an Internship Program
Running an internship program can be challenging, but if you implement the right practices you can ensure success. That means recruiting the right interns, onboarding them correctly and training them for their roles.
Developing interns is an investment for your company and a key way to filter out the best talent. Interns who excel in your program may eventually be hired for full-time positions.
Recruiting
Developing an internship program is a great way to attract, train and retain bright young talent. It is also a cost-effective way to manage human resource costs, support local education, and serve the community.
Recruiting for an internship program is much like recruiting for any other position – you want to find candidates who bring the right mix of skills and experience to your team, and who fit in with your company’s culture. Here are some ways to find and hire quality interns:
Don’t rely solely on resumes and cover letters when hiring for an internship. Instead, focus on personality traits and the candidate’s past school projects and extracurricular activities.
For example, a student with a strong extracurricular record who is self-motivated and enthusiastic about their future goals can be a good candidate for an internship.
Another key to success with an internship program is to fully support your interns, according to Chris Browne, co-founder and CEO of CLA. He recommends that companies establish a dedicated coordinator, outside of the intern’s direct supervisor, to guide students through their experience.
This person should be able to answer questions and give tips, advise the intern about other internships that may be a better fit, and provide an overall evaluation of the internship’s success. This can be done by holding a mid-point check-in with the intern and reviewing their progress to date, providing additional opportunities for them, and reiterating expectations.
As the internship program goes on, be sure to provide internships that allow the interns to practice real-world work skills and gain a sense of what it’s like to be part of a team. This will make them more comfortable working with your company after they leave your program, and will also help you evaluate their potential as a full-time employee.
You can also assess their problem-solving skills during the interview process with situational questions that are based on situations they will face on the job. Using this format will make the interviewing process more meaningful and engaging, while helping you find candidates who are well-suited for your organization.
Onboarding
Developing an internship program is an important part of any organization’s growth. Interns often come to the company with new ideas and a fresh perspective, and they can make an impact on the business as a whole.
However, it can be difficult to integrate interns into the company culture without a well-planned and structured onboarding process. This is especially true when the interns are working remotely or are just starting out in their career.
The key is to build a culture where your interns feel comfortable being honest and open with you, as well as getting constructive criticism from managers who can help them grow and become more productive. This will not only encourage your interns to stay with the company, but it can also save you from having to terminate an intern whose performance has fallen short of expectations.
A great way to start is by communicating to your interns well in advance about the company culture and what to expect on their first day. Share information such as what time they should arrive to the office, who they will meet and if there is any special dress code or company rules that they should be aware of.
This will take away some of the stress from your interns, and it will give them a chance to get to know your business from the inside out. This is also a good time to review your internal policies and employee handbook, as well as any other important information that they may need to know.
You can use a variety of methods to onboard your interns, including video interviews and meetings with a team. Using a virtual engagement platform like Livestorm makes onboarding easier and more efficient, as you can schedule one-to-one meetings and group sessions with your interns in one place.
Once you have your interns ready, set up a schedule for regular check-ins with them. These meetings can be a brief 15-minute one-on-one session to review their progress on projects and answer any questions they may have.
Another way to onboard your interns is to schedule a site visit where they can meet with the rest of the team and get a taste of the company culture. This will make them feel part of the organization and help them to build relationships that are a valuable addition to their work.
Training
Developing an internship program is important for your company, and there are several things you should do to ensure it runs smoothly. Among these are setting expectations, training employees to handle interns, and evaluating the program after its conclusion.
The first step is to determine your company’s objectives and goals for the program. Your company may want to convert a percentage of interns to full-time employees or create new products or resources that would not exist without an intern’s help. Knowing what your goals are can also give you a guideline for the type of work that you should assign interns to do.
Another important thing to do is to train the managers that will be interacting with your interns. They should be equipped to build and maintain good connections with your interns, which will ultimately increase their motivation to learn and develop.
When training your interns, it is best to avoid the rat race and move slowly so that you can make sure they are learning effectively. You should also ask them for feedback and encourage them to ask more questions when they don’t understand something.
It is also best to allow them to work with current company issues and propose solutions to them. This gives them the opportunity to use their problem-solving skills and gain valuable experience.
However, you should also be careful when allowing your interns to sift through your company’s database of client contacts. This can cause your interns to become very familiar with the structure of your database, which can be a distraction.
Once you have a list of projects you plan to assign your interns, you should schedule an orientation and begin working with them to develop their learning goals. It is also a good idea to schedule a midpoint and final evaluation with your interns to discuss their progress, strengths and areas that need improvement.
Finally, you should encourage your interns to keep a daily journal during their time with your company. This will consolidate their learnings and help them to form a foundation for their review sessions with you.
Evaluation
An internship program is a valuable resource to organizations of all sizes and in any industry. It provides an opportunity for students to gain real-world experience that can enhance their academic career goals. It also connects new generations of employees with the culture and norms of their future workplaces.
Developing an internship program that meets the needs of your company is important to the success of your interns. A good internship program includes a written position description, clear employment expectations and an orientation for the interns that provides them with a general overview of the organization’s goals and culture. It also introduces them to co-workers and key contacts within the organization and gives them a chance to ask questions.
Once an intern is assigned to a particular role, it’s necessary to evaluate their performance. The evaluation process can take one of several forms, but it should be part of the regular feedback cycle with the supervisor.
A standardized evaluation system will make your internship program more efficient and ensure that all interns are evaluated equally. However, if you’re a small business and don’t want to invest in a formal evaluation process for each intern, it is still important that you provide written evaluations for all of your interns.
The evaluation process for interns should involve a number of different aspects, including written evaluations, supervision discussions and supervisor reports. A standardized evaluation system will help you assess the level of performance of your interns and their impact on your business.
An evaluation form should include an assessment of the intern’s overall performance, a summary of their responsibilities and an explanation of how they performed. It should also contain a list of specific areas that they need to work on.
When interns receive feedback from their supervisors, they are more likely to perform at their best during the course of the internship. A standardized evaluation system will also help you assess whether your internship is a good fit for the intern.
Interns are expected to complete their training years with a high level of competence. This requires that they be capable of mastering all profession-wide and program-specific competencies. They should be supported in their efforts to develop and build on these skills and experiences, through supervision, didactic activities, and the environment of the training program.