Category: Employees

    How Businesses Benefit from Offering Internships

    Offering an internship is very beneficial to both a business and the people taking advantage of the internship offer. However, it does require a good deal of effort to have a successful intern program. The focus on any internship should be teaching a new generation of workers, not free labor.

    Here’s how to make the most of an internship program so that both businesses and interns gain maximum benefit.

    * Test Drive Future Contractors or Employees – If you are in the market for a new contractor or an employee, having an internship program is a great idea. You can hire two or three interns, with the idea that if one works out they will become permanent. Seeing more than one intern working can let you know if your expectations are too high or on target.

    * Get Short-Term Support – If you don’t need full-time support, but you have more work during summertime, then having interns during that time is a great way to give back to the community by training future workers, but without having to make promises of permanent work.

    * Find Low-Cost Labor – Due to lack of experience, interns often get paid less than someone you have to hire on a permanent basis. In some states it’s legal to use an intern free as long as you have approval from certain colleges so that the student can get credit. Plus, most states require you to be a non-profit before allowing you not to pay interns.

    * Get Fresh Ideas – Bringing in new blood often brings in new ideas. If you run your internship asking for fresh ideas from your interns, leaving the door open for them to bring their ideas into the mix instead of just focusing on tasks that you assign them, you’ll boost your business in ways you haven’t considered.

    * Help Students – It feels great to help students and young people who haven’t started their career yet. Giving them information to put on their resume, even if you cannot hire them later, will help them in more ways than you can imagine. Experience is hard to come by but required for most large companies.

    * Attract Top Talent – If you are a small company, or even a work-from-home company, you likely cannot afford the best talent. But, with an internship program you can get top talent because they need experience to get those top-paying jobs.

    * Acquire New Technology Skills – If you’re short on new technology skills, by starting an internship program you can recruit interns who have outstanding technological skills to do the things you cannot do. Even if it’s short term, you can get a lot of things off the ground.

    * Improve Training Programs – Whether you hire contractors or employees, an internship program will help you improve your training programs. Upon doing an exit interview with the interns you hired, you can ask the right questions so that you can find out how you can do better.

    Remember, internships aren’t free labor anymore. There have been several lawsuits against for-profit companies using interns as free labor who have been forced to pay the interns after the fact. Some companies under a very limited basis can get by with doing unpaid internships but only under very specific circumstances. So if you want to offer unpaid internships, make sure you consult a lawyer in your state who has experience in this area.

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    How Internships Help You Build Your Skills

    Interns, while coming to you for experience and education, can also teach you a thing or two. Anytime you bring new blood into your organization you can learn something new. You just have to be open to learning from someone new to your business who might be a lot younger than you.

    How to Live and Breathe Social Media

    Young people seem to be tethered to their mobile devices and social media. They know better than anyone how people are using their smartphone along with the internet to get things done. They’re a lot more likely to be using technology, apps and more to get things done. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot from them about social media and what it can do for your audience.

    Better Collaboration

    Young people today are a lot savvier about communicating with people of all ages, sexes and cultures. They are not shocked by differences like we might be. We can learn from them by watching how they work things out and collaborate with others using technology in ways we may not have ever considered.

    More about Online Communication

    Communicating via email, text, social media, Skype and other types of online communication is second nature to younger people. They grew up with it and don’t know much different. It’s probably like you with TV; you don’t know anything different and neither do they. If you pay attention to how they communicate you can learn a lot.

    Being Authentic

    Most young people aren’t as terrified of people knowing who they really are. They are themselves around everyone, good, bad and ugly. They don’t worry about other people knowing things about them. But, while you can maybe learn to let go a bit, they can learn to protect themselves more with your help.

    Enthusiasm for New Challenges

    Young people are a lot more excited about the challenges ahead of them than you probably are. You can learn to look at situations from new, fresh eyes by borrowing their view for the time they are with you. They have excitement about each task they take on and it can remind you of how you felt when you first started, jump-starting your own renewed energy to boost your business.

    Less Fear of Change

    It’s more than likely that your new intern didn’t live in the same small town their entire lives. Most people switch jobs a lot more today. Due to feeling more of a connection with the entire world, young people adapt to change faster and easier. They can go from one task to another without too much confusion. Seeing this again can put a spark in you too.

    Renewed Idealism

    Face it; after years of being beat down you may not be as idealistic as you used to be. If you’ve written down someplace your big dreams and plans for the future, or you can remember what they were when you first started, you might laugh at your idealism. But, what if you had kept up the same amount of energy and idealism – where would you be now?

    Relationship Building and Networking

    Young people are being taught in high school how important it is to build relationships and maintain contact with those whom you meet at networking events. You’ve likely been so busy with your business that you may have forgotten how easy it is to keep in touch, especially with the new technology available.

    If you open your mind and your eyes, you can learn from your interns as much as they’ll learn from you. They can breathe new life into your business as well as you if you give them a chance.

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    Should You Pay Your Interns?

    Unpaid internships used to be very popular with employers and students. But, in the last few years there have been several high profile lawsuits that have not gone the way of the business. In fact, they were ordered to pay the interns back pay.

    Of course, in the case of these lawsuits, the interns were not doing work in the field they were contracted to work in the internship; instead the firms were using them to do other types of work such as food runs, cleaning, and things that gave them zero experience in their field. However, it is still worth paying your interns and this is why.

    * Most People Can’t Afford to Work Free – In the case of a lot of internships, if you only offer unpaid internships you may miss out on some really exceptional labor. You’ll only be able to take on the people who have support from someone else such as a spouse or parent. There are many talented individuals who need to have at least their basic needs met to be able to even do the internship.

    * You’ll Get More Applicants – With paid internships you’ll get many more applications of a higher quality than you will if you offer only unpaid internships. Even if all you can pay is a small stipend, you’ll still get more high quality applicants.

    * Paid Interns Are More Likely to Work Hard – People are more willing to work harder, and do everything they can if they are also going to be paid during that time. Plus, you won’t have to worry about if you occasionally ask them to do things that aren’t in their field.

    * Paying Lowers Risk of Lawsuits – Due to the recent legal climate, it is best if you pay a small amount (even minimum wage) to interns in order to lower your risk of lawsuits by interns. This is really an important reason to consider paying your interns.

    * Improves Your Brand’s Reputation – When others find out you offer paid internships over unpaid internships, your street cred will go up and your reputation will improve immediately. Unpaid internships are often looked down upon and even can be seen as scams.

    * Improve the Value of Your Program – Interns who are paid are more likely to be of higher caliber than unpaid interns, not to mention more diverse. Paying allows you to be more choosey about whom you let into the program and have higher standards of success.

    * You Can Gain from Your Interns’ Work – Legally speaking, you can still get free interns, but one of the criteria is that you cannot gain anything from their work if you don’t pay them. By paying a small stipend you open up many possibilities because anything they create on the job belongs to you.

    * Paid Interns Become Fans – When you pay an intern, they’re very happy to be doing the work they’re doing and happy they were given that chance to gain real work experience. When it’s over they will likely talk about your company in a good way, thus improving your reputation in many ways.

    While ultimately it’s up to you on whether you pay your interns or not, keep in mind that the law states that you must not increase your revenue by whatever the interns do. Plus, the internship must benefit the intern and not you. By paying them, you change the entire dynamic so that the internship becomes a win-win for everyone.

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    Where to Find Great Intern Opportunities

    The hardest thing about an internship opportunity is finding it. But, with these tips you’ll find plenty of opportunities that you can apply for. Remember to send in your best resume, follow their instructions to the letter and then follow through on what you say you’ll do.

    1. LinkedIn – Fill out your completed profile on LinkedIn and let people know that you’re open to internship opportunities in certain fields. Include your resume, examples of your work, and a video introduction that explains exactly what you want in an intern opportunity.

    2. Online Communities – Join online communities that consist of the type of businesses that you want to work with. Talk to and make connections with people answering questions, offering help and so forth. Use your profile and signature to let people know you want an internship. If you’ve been part of the community a long time, create a post asking for an internship opportunity.

    3. Professional Organizations – Find the professional organizations within your industry and join them. They will often list intern opportunities and if they have a message board for members you can inquire.

    4. Colleges and Universities – Any college you have graduated from will help you locate internships if you go to their career offices and ask them about them. Sometimes they will help people who did not graduate there. Just call any local college or university and ask.

    5. Intern Websites – Websites like Intern Match work to match you to an internship program that you want within your field. Join and fill out a profile and then start finding matches.

    Link – https://www.internmatch.com/

    6. Write the Company Directly – If you know what company you want to work with, send them a letter asking them about internship opportunities. Send them your portfolio if applicable, give them your LinkedIn information and explain in a cover letter why you will make a great intern in the department you desire.

    7. USAJOBS.gov – Believe it or not, they don’t just list jobs on this website; they also list intern opportunities for college students. When you join you’ll need to fill out a profile and state which types of positions you’re willing to take.

    8. Search Google – If you are looking for a particular type of internship opportunity, it’s important to leave no stone unturned. Do a Google search using the job title you want, and the word internship in the search.

    Finding great internship opportunities might be right under your nose. If you are part of any group or organization, they may offer just what you need. You can also let everyone you know in on the fact that you want an internship in a certain area, and due to the power of social media you may get connected with someone who can offer the right connections.

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    Where to Find Great Interns

    Finding a great intern has as much to do with your program, compensation plan, and the education you plan you have, as to how you advertise to fill the position. There are many ways to go about collecting intern applications and you can use one or more of these places to find a great intern. However, do create an online application form so that you can easily look through them and avoid spam.

    * With Your Website – Blog about your need for an intern, tell the world about what is involved in the internship, what the intern will be doing, mention whether it’s paid or unpaid, and provide a link to the application. The application should be as complete as possible to ensure that you can determine who is right for your internship mostly through the application process.

    * On Social Media – Share your blog post and application on every social media network that you have and encourage others to share it, too. That way more people will find out about your internship opportunity and hopefully you’ll get more applicants.

    * Via Local Colleges and Universities – Every local college or university has a career development center and will work with you to not only help you find appropriate interns but also help you ensure that your internship program is valuable.

    * Through the Grapevine – Start telling people that you have an internship opportunity that you need to fill and ask if they have any suggestions.

    * Ask Colleagues – If you know anyone who uses interns, ask them how they found theirs and how they set up their internship program. You can learn from others simply by asking.

    * Through Your Local High School – If you need younger interns, you can contact the local high school to talk about your internship opportunity. Many high school students are also attending community college at the same time and would be thrilled to have an internship.

    * Professional Organizations – If you’re a member of any professional organizations, you can list your internship opportunities with them.

    * Post a Job Listing – Another way to find an internship is the same way that you find employees or contractors. List your opening via job websites as well as places like craigslist.org. Link to your online application rather than your email to avoid getting spam sent to your email address.

    To find a great intern you need to have an awesome internship program. Plan out the internship program in advance so that you know how much work you’ll give them, what type of freedom they’ll have, and how you’ll rate the internship at the end of the contract. Then, bring on only the people whom you believe have the right temperament and really need the opportunity, and you won’t be disappointed.

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