If your program isn’t big enough to warrant a dedicated full-time staff member, an excellent short-term solution is to hire a graduate student (look for a student working toward an advanced HR degree) to be your intern, and put this college relations intern in charge of the daily operation of the internship program. The Witte Museum promotes lifelong learning through innovative exhibitions, programs, and collections in natural history, science and South Texas heritage. Lifelong learning is demonstrated in our daily activities, both inside and outside the museum. Marymount is an independent, Catholic school in NYC that prepares girls to challenge, shape, and change the world.
An intern should be so much more to you than free labor. He or she may actually be a prospective employee.
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College interns can be an effective source of labor as well as prospective employees for smaller businesses. According to Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter, approximately 75 percent of college students participate in an internship or co-op program. With more than 20 million college students, that means that more than 15 million students are available each year to work as interns. That is a lot of potential help in a tight labor market.
Related: 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Internship
At our company, we have employed several interns over the years, and have found that applying a few basic principles helps make the most of the experience for both the intern and ourselves. Too many companies view interns simply as reduced-cost labor and put them to work performing the most menial duties without regard for the skills and knowledge the intern should be developing.
We're different: We believe that companies accepting interns have an obligation to ensure that these young people have a learning experience. Your company should do the same. To this end, we suggest six tips:
Define a clear project that can be completed during the internship. Have a plan for what your intern will do. When possible, we like to define a discrete project that the intern can see through from start to finish. Make sure that the project is germane to your business. Remember, a significant part of the value an intern gains is a clear understanding of what it is like to work in your industry.
For instance, one of our interns helped us create, implement and analyze the results of an online survey for our website. This was a project that could be completed in the ten-week internship period.
Identify measurements for success -- As you would do with managing any other employee, develop objective, quantifiable goals. Make sure that the goals are achievable, with effort. It doesn’t help to have goals that require little effort or goals that cannot be realistically obtained.
Related: Done Correctly, Your Internship Program Could Generate Serious Cash
Spend time helping the intern succeed -- You wouldn’t expect a new employee to succeed without training, supervision and coaching. Creating a positive experience for your intern will require at least the same level of effort. If your intern can succeed without your help, he or she won’t learn much; the task is too simple. To create a robust experience for your intern, invest in this person.
Expanding on the example above, we worked closely with our intern to create the survey and included work with our web-development team to design the user access and experience. Online resources welcome to 4th grade!. Because our intern was a marketing major at a local college, this experience added greatly to her skill set.
Broader exposure to your business -- Make sure that your intern gets full exposure to your business. One of the big pieces of value your intern will receive is a good understanding of what it is like to work in your industry. This person may decide that your line of work isn’t right for him or her, or, alternatively, actually decide to make a career of it. Help your intern reach that potential decision by helping him or her understand your business. Take time to explain your company’s core values and your strategy for delivering value to your customers.
We also suggest spending time learning about your intern. Find out this person's goals and aspirations. Assess how well you think he or she would fit with your company. While you have no obligation, you may wish to offer employment once the internship ends. Interns are an excellent source of new employees because you've had a chance to see them work before you make the hiring decision. Make sure you have assessed this person's fit for your firm.
Prepare your intern for success beyond your firm -- In many cases, your intern will not join your company when the internship concludes. Perhaps you have no open positions. Perhaps this industry isn’t right for him or her, or the intern isn't a good fit. Regardless of the reason, prepare your intern for success after the internship ends. Help get this person's resume into good shape. Show how to add the experience gained through your internship. If you can say positive things, offer to serve as a reference or write a letter of recommendation. Make your internship as valuable for the person holding it as you can.
Give candid feedback -- Like any employee, your intern will have demonstrated some strengths and some opportunities for improvement. Help him or her grow by providing kind, but candid, performance feedback. In some cases, this is the most valuable thing an intern takes away from the experience. A performance appraisal is also often required by the learning institution involved. However, even if it isn’t required, take the time, because feedback is important.
Related: 3 Ways to Make an Internship Invaluable, Regardless of Pay
Interns can benefit your business. They can be a low-cost way of getting real work done. They can also be a pipeline of talent for your company. However, it is your obligation to provide an experience that is beneficial. Ensuring that your intern receives the full value of the experience will require some effort on your part. But following these six tips will give you a good start toward providing a wonderful internship experience.
We know, we know. We talk A LOT about our interns and you’ve probably read Kyle’s words on “The power of appreciation” or Judith’s input on how she’s building her career path.
But to be fair, who wouldn’t want to continuously talk about them?
We happen to have some of the coolest, most hard-working, skillful and independent interns from all levels and organizations within HP. Our interns are working on amazing projects while building their career paths throughout their time in HP’s Internship program.
And if you don’t believe our word, you can definitely take their’s:
Dáina Cristina Silva
Category Intern, HP Brasil.
- Tell us in a few sentences what is your favorite thing about working at HP?
Working with a company that is building the future is what motivates me to work here.
Technology is the future and HP is constantly reinventing itself every day to adapt to new technologies and create them.
A Peek Inside Weebly Summer Internship Programs
Working at HP contributes in a variety of ways to my career: besides being a company prepared for new challenges, I have an extremely capable and totally open team to share their experiences and knowledge with me.
In addition, having a mentor prepared, experienced and with a deep sense of leadership pushes my career forward and allows me to absorb the maximum of knowledge.
See our current positions open at HP Brasil.
Adit Kansara
Robotics Process Automation Developer Intern in Finance Innovation Office, HP Palo Alto.
- What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on throughout your internship at HP?
As a part of this role, I was a part of Robotic Automation Development for Foreign Language Translation.
Unlike other internships where we don’t get hands-on experience with the skills we have, at HP I was leading the project with my partner Rebecca Molnar and were expected to drive through the project by ourselves.
We had a great experience and were able to understand the complete life cycle of the project starting from analyzing the requirements for moving the Robot to production.
See our current positions open in HP Palo Alto.
Alejandro Andrés Narbona Yúsari
Consumer Sales Intern, HP Chile.
- What are the 3 most exciting things you’ve learned during your internship at HP?
- One of the most potent signs provided to me by HP has been by far ‘empowerment’ on my daily tasks. This allows me to create and project very meaningful strategies, where flexibility becomes the main objective.
- The multiple connections with offices around the world become essential when you pursue a good quality job. You don’t only work with your local team; you also learn from working with an entire culture and set of professionals from different countries worldwide.
- Adopting the HP culture and internalize it has been a very productive way of doing things, inside of the office as well as in your daily and personal life. This merger is just awesome. Keep reinventing.
See our current positions open at HP Chile.
Stephen Bang
Consumer Sales Business Analyst Intern, HP Canada.
- How is your HP internship contributing to your career path?
HP is constantly challenging me, both technically and qualitatively.
By working on a team with many managers, I am able to continually develop how to effectively communicate, juggle competing deadlines, be efficient with my time and optimize my technical abilities.
For example, I’m currently taking a class offered for free on HP’s internal portal to learn how to use SQL, and automate reporting.
By challenging me every day, and giving me the resources and support to develop myself as a well-rounded professional, HP is allowing me to be the best version of myself.
A Peek Inside Weebly Summer Internship Programmes
See our current positions open at HP Canada.
Ray Ji
A Peek Inside Weebly Summer Internship Programme
Commercial & Consumer Business Analyst Intern, HP Canada.
- What excites you the most about HP’s future?
I’d love to see how HP can adapt to today’s constantly changing tech market by inventing more creative products. And I’m also really positive on HP’s device-as-a-service strategy for its PC & print market.
See our current positions open at HP Canada.
Just like them, start building the foundation of your career story, while still pursuing your academic degree.
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Contributed by Adrienne Massie, Employee Engagement Management for HP Americas.