7 Tips as You Prepare to Hire Your Next Intern

Summer is prime time to have interns working in your business (although these experiences can happen any time of year). Having interns working in your business can provide an excellent opportunity for students to put their knowledge and passion into practice, gaining job-related skills and experiences to help them progress in their chosen career fields. For your business, you get access to great talent and the opportunity to invest in their growth while also seeing if these individuals may be candidates for future needs. 

Well, this sounds like a win-win and may even seem like a no-brainer decision to have interns supporting your business. But based upon my experience of creating and overseeing several internship programs during my HR career, here are some points I urge you to consider as you determine if now is the right time to bring on interns and how to hire an intern to ensure the experience is a great one for all involved.

1) Why do you want to hire an intern?

When done well, internships take time, care, and energy to ensure that they are beneficial to both the business and the student. Interns should not be seen as “cheap labor” to get overdue tasks off your to-do list or be tasked with busy work. An effective internship provides the intern with the opportunity to contribute to the organization through the application of their knowledge and skills, deepen their understanding of the discipline/field, and be seen as a valued member of the team. 

You also want to ensure that the creation of an internship role or program makes sense for your business. Consider the capacity of your current team to develop and manage an experience of this kind well. Also, consider the types of projects that lend themselves well to an internship. If they don’t currently exist or don’t make a whole lot of sense for your current growth cycle, it is a good idea to forego it right now. Finally, consider your long-term goals. If pipelining for early-career professionals with innovative and diverse skillsets and experiences is important to and aligns with your business goals, then this may be a great option to explore.

2) Will they be paid?

I get asked about internships a lot. Many times leaders are under the impression that it is an easy way to get help in their business without actually paying for that help.

Note - an internship should not be created so that you can get free labor. Let me repeat, if you are interested in getting an intern so you can save a dime…DON’T!

Some internships may be paid. Others may be unpaid, often with students receiving academic credit for the experience. It is important to note that the Department of Labor provides guidance regarding this through their “primary beneficiary test” (who primarily benefits from the relationship - employer or intern). If you are a for-profit employer, this is a great resource to review. 

For paid internships, you want to ensure that you follow federal, state, and local employment laws regarding minimum wage, overtime, and employment of minor workers. Also, consider additional costs/incidentals related to employing interns, especially if you’ll require non-local students to be onsite at a physical location.

3) Where will you find interns?

For unpaid internships, I suggest working directly with high schools, colleges, and universities. This will ensure that together with academic advisors and/or career services personnel, you craft an experience that is meaningful and provides an educational benefit (hopefully translating to academic credit) for the student. You may also consider community-based initiatives (that may or may not be classified as internships), that pair employers with students, youth, or early career workers, where their wages are paid through the sponsoring agency/organization.

For paid internships, connecting with educational institutions to be able to advertise the opportunities directly with departments and degree programs is helpful. Also, Handshake is the go-to job board for college recruitment. So be sure to post there. 

Other recruitment sources to include are industry-specific job boards that allow internship listings, professional organizations with chapters at the student level, community boards/organizations for local opportunities, and your social media channels and email list. 

4) Who will manage the relationship between the intern and the business?

This is an important piece. First, like any team member, interns should be thoroughly onboarded into the organization and the role. I also recommend that you determine who will act as the intern coordinator/liaison to ensure their experience is going well and to help them navigate the experience. In my experience, it works better when this individual is not their direct supervisor in that they can help the intern openly discuss concerns and receive coaching and feedback.

If the intern also has a cooperating professor at their educational institution, it is great to have a POC from your organization that owns that relationship and checks in periodically with them. Before the internship begins, document the roles and responsibilities, expectations, reporting requirements (to ensure receipt of college credit, if applicable), the cadence for check-ins, and the process for escalating any issues that may arise.

5) Who will supervise the intern day-to-day?

A member of your team should be assigned as the direct supervisor for the intern. Speaking from past experience, ensure that the supervisor is able to invest the time needed to participate in onboarding, training, goal-setting, and ongoing, regular supervision of the new team member. Also, it will be important that they embrace the role of coach, mentor, and technical expert (or liaison to the experts) to ensure the intern is properly supported and resourced. 

6) What will the intern do during the internship?

Scope out the project(s) that your intern will be working on. Clearly identify milestones, deliverables, timelines, and what success looks like. Then ensure that there are consistent check-ins with the supervisor (at least weekly), times for team interactions and collaboration, and 1-on-1s with key stakeholders throughout the experience. Ensure the resources needed to be successful are secured, and readily available, and proper training has been given.

7) How will you evaluate the internship experience?

Before the internship begins (even better, before you start recruiting for it) identify:

• What does success look like for the intern?
• What does success look like for the company?
• How will we know if the internship experience was successful and something we want to do again?
• What metrics will we use to measure success?
• When and how will we provide objective feedback to the intern? (*I suggest weekly check-ins, mid-point evaluation, and end-of-internship evaluation. All of these should include manager and self-reflections/feedback.)

Why is it important to prepare to hire interns in your business?

Internships can be a great way for students to get real-world experience related to their field of study or job interest. It allows them to be a member of a team, contributing to business success, while also determining if that is a company they’d like to work for in the future. As an employer, you are able to being new insight, passion, and expertise onto your team while also nurturing a prospective long-term contributor and team member.

Internships, like any other type of relationship within your business, should not be entered into whimsically nor without proper planning. Involve your team in designing an internship experience that is win-win for both you and the intern, and that aligns with both your business needs and the career aspirations of the intern(s) you’ll be working with.