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.1. Understand what it means to have an intern
“Take time to think about what you want to get out of your internship program,” said Meghan Lantier, the coordinator of the internship program at Bliss P.R., a boutique 30- employee public relations company in New York City. There is a big difference between hiring someone with an eye to them one day becoming a full time employee, and hiring someone to lick envelopes, Lantier said.
In a small company, Lantier said everyone needs to be on board and excited about an intern. The fewer employees a company has, the more the internship program will need to follow an “all hands on deck” philosophy.
Companies looking to hire an intern need to understand that it isn’t slave labor, added David Lewis, president of OperationsInc, a human resources consulting firm based in Stamford, Conn.
Interns treated poorly will report their experience to the dean of their college and their friends. If their experience wasn’t positive, then your company could potentially damage its reputation and ability to recruit students from that school, Lewis said.
2. Know where to find them
Good students start looking for summer internships early in the year, so if you’re seeking top talent, it’s a good idea to advertise in January or February for a position starting in June.
The best place to find interns is at universities and in organizations where your employees are already affiliated, according to Mason Gates, founder of Internships.com, a job listing site.
“Getting to know your local career center is the most incredible thing you can do to make connections at a university. Get to know that contact, and they will speak highly of you and recommend you to students,” he said.
If your small business has a lot to offer and is in need of an intern, don’t be afraid to approach the head of a university’s particular discipline. This personal approach will set you apart from middle-range companies, Lewis said.
Although a college’s career counseling office should be every business’ first stop for recruitment, online job boards are also available. Job boards such as HotJobs.com, CareerBuilder.com, Dice.com and others are good options, Lewis said. Employers can post want ads for interns using
Other options include posting company information around campus on message boards and communal areas.
3. Be specific
“The clearer you can be about an intern’s role and the contributions expected, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to identify the right skill set and have positive results,” said Jenny Floren, CEO and founder of Experience.com, an online provider of career support to college students and graduates.
Point out in the opening paragraph what the business is and how many employees you have, she said.
If a small business can demonstrate that it wants to provide an educational and active learning experience for a student, it will make itself far more attractive than a 400 person company that is going to require that a student lick envelopes for three months, noted Lewis of OperationsInc.
Also, if your company is trying to recruit students from other areas of the country or world, make sure to mention in your ad that the company does not provide any type of room and board, and how long the internship lasts, according to Lewis.
“You’re only going to get good people in if you screen them and ask them the good questions,” according to Lewis. “You won’t know if you’ve got something crappy until you unwrap the package.”
He recommends asking student-geared questions in the interview because students interview differently than individuals with work experience. Employers should ask how they study, how they test, and go beyond the questions they can prepare for at the door Lewis said.
Instead of asking students about their strengths, ask them what classes they have taken, which ones they like, and which ones they didn’t like, and why they want an internship in the first place. These questions should offer a perspective on the student’s level of maturity, according to Lewis.
5. Give them “real” work to do
“Make sure you identify projects for your intern that are well-defined and will allow them to contribute value,” said Floren of Experience.com, “The worst thing you can do for an intern is to give them “busy work.”
Lewis seconded the thought that interns should be allowed to spend time with the leaders of the company.
“You don’t have to do a ton of work as a business to provide a good experience for the intern,” he said. Bring them to meetings, let them be observers, give them a chance to ask questions and interact with different people in the organization, he said.
6. Pay them
Duffy and Partners, a small 20-employee design firm in Minneapolis typically pays interns between $7,000 and $10,000 for a six-month internship depending on the candidate’s experience.
Although an intern’s pay will vary depending on the market, a stipend should be provided that will cover the student’s gas prices, according to OperationsInc’s Lewis. In most places, $10-$15 per hour is a reasonable rate, but that depends on the length of the student’s commute and how much class credit is being provided.
“I always advocate paying the intern something,” Gates of Internships.com said. “But if you don’t have a lot of finances and you get a free intern, then it’s your obligation to really educate the student.”
Even if your company can’t afford to pay an intern, Gates said to offer the intern whatever you have. “If your intern says, ‘I need to fly home to see my mom,’ then perhaps you have some frequent flyer miles for a free trip somewhere.”
7. Offer them college credit
For most interns, the experience is more valuable than the compensation, said Experience.com’s Floren.
“Not every student can afford to work for free,” she said. “However, in the grand scheme of things, the wage that a student will earn at that stage in their life isn’t going to make an enormous impact.”
The experience an intern will gain will accelerate their career path, something that money can’t do, Floren said.
8. Save Money
Today there is less overhead associated with having an intern than ever before, according to Gates. His company, Internships.com, employs eight interns, some of which are “virtual,” meaning they work from home on projects via the phone or Internet.
Because today’s interns are tech savvy, there is more opportunity to use them in unconventional ways to get the job done, Gates said.
If an intern is only employed for a certain period of time, like three to six months, they are not eligible for benefits. Also, if an intern works less than 40 hours per week, they are not eligible for benefits, according to Jay Zweig, an employment law partner with Bryan Cave, a business law firm headquartered in Phoenix Ariz.
9. Don’t keep them employed for too long
Most internships last for three to six months, and they really shouldn’t last any longer than that, according to Zweig.
Interns should be provided in writing the details of their internship when they start. The document should detail whether or not they will be paid and how long the internship is expected to last.
The United States Department of Labor has set state by state wage and hour regulations. Federal statutes governing internships say that unpaid internships have to have benefit the intern more than the employer. The internship must be put through a six-part test looking at whether the employer is getting work product, and whether the intern is getting training and experience to supplement what they would learn in college.
“Essentially, if the company is not just using the intern to produce work product that another full time employee could do, then it’s okay,” said Zweig.
Employers should also check state laws for more specifics. States including California and New York have unique laws about overtime and the amount of time you can keep an intern employed without offering them benefits.
10. Hire them if you like them
“In a small business, that additional resource at an internship level has a significant impact," Lewis of OperationsInc said. “You get a chance to get a fresh college graduate in a way that you wouldn’t if you hired a stranger right out of school.”
By working with a new hire as an intern for three to six months before they are hired, companies get to know their new hires in a “low-risk” setting, he added. .
At Duffy and Partners, Founder Joe Duffy only hires interns who are college graduates.
“We believe in hiring interns who are working their way into the work place so that the internship becomes a stepping stone into the full time job of their career,” Duffy said.
Seventy-five percent of Duffy’s interns are hired on as full-time junior designers because of the six month “trial” period they are put through as interns.
