Interns Part 2- Establishing an internship

There’s no shortage of popular culture around the idea of interns and internships. You don’t have to look far. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as out of place adult interns at Google. Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro in an aptly titled film called ‘The Intern’.
Thinking about internships often conjures the idea of young eager students and recent grads making their way into the work world by way of unpaid work. That’s why adult interns (Vaughn, Wilson & De Niro) are supposed to be funny. They are the exact opposite of who we picture interns to be.
The reality is that your interns will likely, and hopefully, be a diverse range of individuals that will greatly contribute to your organization. They may have lots of education and little professional experience, or quite a bit of professional experience and less education. They may be on a second career, branching out, finishing a degree, or taking on an internship for school credit.  Either way, diligently planning your internship process and hiring interns in a similar way to hiring other employees will make sure you find a great person to join your team.
If well established, an internship program can be an excellent win/win for both the organization and a young professional who may one day be an employee or a client.

So how do you go about setting up this impressive internship?  The following tips are a guide to setting you on the right track:
1) Obtain buy-in from all levels
You need buy- in from all levels of your organization. Make sure executive and management levels are aware of the benefits of having an intern and they know how the internship will work. You should also make sure your team and anyone who might be working with the intern understands how someone will be chosen, what work they are expected to accomplish, and how team members can support and be supported by the new addition.  It’s a good idea to establish boundaries before bringing an intern onboard. It’s easy for fellow team members to slip into Hollywood ideas of internships and do little more than ask for coffee runs.
2) Decide on the length of the assignment
From the beginning of your process, long before you’ve solicited applications, you should establish the length of the intern assignment. It needs to be long enough that the intern can obtain meaningful work experience and also give you an opportunity to evaluate their work. If you want to keep them on once their internship assignment is up, it’s time to think about hiring them.
3) Decide on compensation
We wrote a pretty thorough blog (Part 1) on this topic within a Canadian context. Click here to check it out.
4) Set people up for success
Your interns will be valuable assets to your organization, but they need support too. Prior to bringing anyone on, identify someone who has the capacity to coach and support an intern. It doesn’t have to be extensive, but someone does have to be the point person. Establish a schedule for feedback and performance reviews so the intern can adjust as they learn and contribute. Also make sure that the person has a thorough onboarding experience. Treat them as you would any new employee who needs a good introduction to the organization.
5) Have structured goals and open communication
When establishing your internship be very clear about what your goals and expectations are for the position. From day one your intern should understand their responsibilities, compensation and the duration of their assignment. Open communication will set clear expectations and give the intern some direction.
6) Talk to your intern!
Once onboard, engage your intern. Ask them about skills they have and would like to use. You may be surprised what they can bring to the table. Ask them what skills they would like to work on. Wherever possible identify tasks or responsibilities that your intern can own. This builds their professional development and helps ensure that their contribution is significant and meaningful.
If you take into consideration these 6 tips you are well on your way to creating a successful internship process and engaging a new addition for your team. Each organization will approach internships slightly differently in a way that best works for them. However, open communication, clear expectations and consideration of your new intern will go a long way to ensuring you access top talent. Well thought-out, planned internships are excellent win/win situations. You and your organization access fresh new talent, and your intern gains significant professional development opportunities.
In Part 1 of this series we tackled compensation for interns. In this blog (Part 2) we addressed planning your internship program.  Check in soon for Part 3 on how to actually select the best intern, now that you have buy-in and have a plan in place.
In the meantime, if you have examples of how you set up your interns for success, please share below!