How to Find Interns and their Benefit to You

Trying to run a business with a small number of employees and the lowest possible overhead costs is smart, but also can become very hectic and demanding. 

Maybe it’s about time you considered finding an intern. Internships are mutually beneficial programs that can reduce your workload with little to no cost. 

These are wonderful opportunities for both the employer and the student/intern, as both receive benefits from the relationship. As an employer, you provide the unique knowledge and training that will help prepare the intern for a job in the real world via experience, while in return you receive hard work and new ideas from a college undergraduate who is eager to begin working and building their resume.

 
Internships give students the ability to show off what they have learned in school and how they can apply it to real life. Interns have something to prove and are obligated to demonstrate what they are capable of in order to receive proper recommendations for a future job they may be working toward.

Today, an internship is the best way to get one's foot in the door of the workforce, post-graduation. This equates to there never being a shortage of interns as they have more to gain then just professional work experience. Not only do interns learn the ins and outs of the trade, they also are receiving college credits required for graduation, saving them thousands in tuition costs. Even though you aren’t physically paying them, the internship has much more value as a whole.

Interns are not hard to find, you just have to make yourself available. Start by contacting career centers at nearby universities to see if they can add your firm’s name to their list. Then they will recommend students that may be a good fit for your company. According to The National Association of Colleges and Employers, the four most widely considered criteria for recruiting interns at schools are the majors offered, the college's recruiting experience, the quality of the programs and the school's geographic location. However, university career fairs and on-campus recruiting is not necessarily the only way to obtain an intern. Talk to your friends, colleagues and clients to see if they know anyone who is looking for an internship and could use the experience. Chances are, there are a handful of people out there determined to jump on the opportunity.

Internships offer employers insight of the potential value a new employee can bring to the workplace. Since the internship is rather brief, lasting only a couple of months, that time must be fully utilized. 

Think of the internship as an experiment to see if a particular intern is capable and comfortable doing your kind of work for a living. 

The (NACE) notes that “among responding employers, converting students who have taken part in an internship or co-op program into full-time employees is a primary goal for most programs.” Hiring is the goal, and proper training is the way

Use your time with the intern to challenge them. Make them work hard for their credits and give them extra responsibility they aren’t used to. Take full advantage of your intern and allow him to share the load of work. The more you have them do within their range of capabilities that pushes their comfort levels, the more they learn and the more experience they gain to bring with them to the private sector.

 
Keep in mind that the intern is still learning and will likely make their fair share of mistakes. Be sure to check over all the work you have them complete for any spelling or grammar issues or other detail-oriented concerns. It is important to also go over those mistakes with the intern to teach them what mistakes they made, how to fix them and why. This is perhaps the most interactive part of the internship. Although you gain the responsibility of vetting and training someone, you could be taking care of it early on so that later they are strong candidates to be hired full-time by your company - having all of the required experience for an entry-level position.

For more information concerning growing your company or project, please contact us at Spotlight Publicity today.