Career Services

Internship for employers

Internship Programs can be an excellent return on your recruiting investment for many reasons. A well thought out and effective internship program can:

  • Increase your organization’s visibility, brand awareness, and allure on campus.
  • Differentiate you from other employers and help you stand out from the crowd.
  • Give you an opportunity to try out the student talent—to experience how the students perform on the Job.
  • Offer a cost-effective source of talent for your full-time job opportunities.
  • Provide terrific ambassadors on campus and valuable word-of-mouth for your recruiting efforts—it the interns’ experience has been positive.
  • Give you economies of scale for you full-time recruiting since you are developing relationship and hosting activities on campus anyway.
  • Enable you to cultivate stronger relationships more quickly with the school’s faculty, staff, and career services group, given your commitment and visibility to the school.

1. Know Your Purpose

There are many reasons why employers want to recruit interns—it may be because they are using the interns as a pipeline for full-time hires, looking for a specific kind of talent, or trying to build a more expansive presence on campus. Knowing why you want interns will help you clarify your objectives and purpose for an intern.

2. Develop An Integrated Plan

You will want to make sure that whatever you are doing for your intern, you also integrate some efforts and activities with whatever else you are doing with the school. Some of these efforts and activities may include:

  • Being clear on what you want out of an internship, and its availability.
  • Getting the internal support and resources you need to create an excellent program.
  • Building strong relationships with the schools’ career services staff and key faculty.
  • Deciding which school activities you will participate in (i.e. job fair).
  • Preparing everyone involved with your recruiting to be the most effective ambassadors possible.
  • Implementing your plans and initiating feedback on what worked will and what did not.

3. Offer Real Jobs

They may only be with you for 10 weeks or so, but give them day-to-day responsibilities that are much like those performed as if they were really employed. This gives you a chance to see them in action and how they relate to others and perform their tasks as asked. Have them work on discrete part of a project, handle day-to-day activities of a group, apprentice with a great teacher, or have them sit in on meetings, follow up phone calls, and/or interact with clients and others in the company.

4. Call On Your Best People

  • Assign your interns with your best, or better managers; poor management reflects poorly on your company and its reputation.
  • If your going to spend your time and energy on a great intern then you should give them the best experience with the best people, plus it helps your reputation when your intern has completed his/her training with a great experience to tell of.
  • Those who intern for you go back to campus “as” your company and they aid in the pre-recruiting and interviews and reflect what you have to offer.

5. Create A Program Beyond The Work

Make sure the interns are exposed to different groups, departments, and senior managers within the company. Include a social component such as a welcome breakfast or lunch or a going away lunch or dinner.

6. Give An Up Close Look and Feel For The Company

  • Let your interns get to know who you are as an organization.
  • Give them an opportunity to have their questions answered and meet members from all stages in the organization.
  • The object is to give your intern a genuine picture of what it is like to work with you.

7. Provide Timely Feedback and Offers

  • Make sure your inters get regular feedback on their performance.
  • Make sure the managers give a balanced perspective on what’s working and what needs to be improved.
  • Consolidate feedback in a centralized database or source so that you can go back and review it when it is time to make an offer.
  • Keep more than one option open for each position depending how many of the main candidates accept or decline your offer.

8. Incorporating Your Interns In Your Recruiting.

  • Make sure and involve the interns in your recruiting process for they are a valuable asset to what’s appealing for new possible intern candidates.
  • Once interns are back at school keep them connected as they serve as your best ambassadors in campus and contribute to your activities at their respective schools as a valuable extension of your recruiting team.
  • You can do this by e-mailing a calendar of upcoming events, visit the school, or invite them to events such as information sessions.
  • Make your interns feel special and make an effort to keep connected with them.
  • Treat them well and they will treat and serve you well.

Last Updated: 4/8/09