A successful internship not only requires considerable effort on the part of the trainees, but managers and supervisors must also make an effort to ensure that the trainees gain meaningful experience.
Every summer, a new group of young, motivated and energetic interns take on jobs in your company. Although this new summer staff can give your startup an additional set of hands and a lot of energy, finding the right way to get them to work for your business and at the same time giving them a positive experience can be a challenge.
A successful internship not only requires considerable effort on the part of the trainees, but managers and supervisors must also make an effort to ensure that the trainees gain meaningful experience. On behalf of the students, we always work with them on what they can do to become the best interns. For example, we talk about the values and skills that employers are looking for in a good intern. We are also talking about workplace etiquette, as the work environment is usually very different from what they are used to in a college setting.
To apply for an internship, students have to write a great dossier. Alternatively, they may have help writing about themselves from services such as best essay writing service on Reddit.
Determine the role
The role of the trainees should be clearly defined and ideally include their work on a long-term project where they can see how this contributes to the overall mission of the organization. Katharine Kreis, head of PATH’s innovative nutrition group, says she is not interested in involving people in the “application and organization” or simply looking for what they need to do next. “It’s not a good experience for an intern,” she adds. Think about the new skills that a recent graduate or novice can give to your team and plan for them to take responsibility for the significant and complex projects in which they are used. Kreis says it is important to have “a very narrow range of responsibilities” and to have a clear understanding of how this person’s skill set fits into this range.
Decide what you need
What exactly do you need? Do you need experience in accounting, marketing, launch, strategy, websites, finance, supply chain, etc.? Determine what experience and interest you want your intern to have. This first question also requires you to describe the projects you want to undertake during the internship. Do you need to add content to your website? Or do you need to create a reporting package? Whatever it is, write it down. Then make a commitment to the time you need to complete this project. It would be foolish to expect a college student to work 40 hours a week. This is simply not possible; besides, you would waste your money because their performance would be low. What time do you expect from your intern? Think in the range of 10-30 hours per week.
Reward interns
Reward an unpaid intern in other ways. If your company has a cafeteria, give the intern a pass that will allow him/her to eat for free on working days. Take the intern to a professional meeting as a guest, pay for lunch and introduce him/her to other professionals. At the end of the internship, issue a gift certificate and write a letter of recommendation. Interns are your best source for future trainees, and students share their experiences. Make sure that everyone wants to intern with your company so that you have a wide range of excellent candidates.
Create a list of actions
You should make a list of the projects to be interned during the year during which the projects will be implemented. In addition, the projects should be finite, with a start and end date which covers the internship period. If you have a large project that lasts longer, simply break it down into phases. A great way to structure a list of activities is to make an action plan.
Finally, projects should be relevant to the organization. This means not using them simply for copying and filing! The talents that an intern brings to the table make sense. Don’t waste their time or the company’s time on work that doesn’t contribute to everyone’s success.
Be kind and considerate
Send an email to the mailing list where the trainee will be working asking for a warm welcome. On the day of the internship, the trainee manager should give the trainee a tour and introduce the new employee to the individuals on the team.
The development of short-term and long-term projects for trainees ensures that the trainee remains involved and does his or her best to do his or her job. If you are an intern, try to join the team. Good luck!
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