Five Tips for Creating an Internship Program
What do you think of when you hear the word “intern”? Do you imagine a person who just gets the boss their daily double shot expresso, oat milk, no whipped cream? Or maybe you’ve heard the controversy among paid vs. unpaid internships and get nervous about internships generally.
We’ve worked with six interns from high schools as well as colleges in the past year at Sipley the Best. We’d like to pass on five tips - points to consider - if you’re considering creating an intern program.
Where would your interns come from? Typically internships are built in partnership with a school, community college, or university. Would you recruit from public and private high schools? Connect with college students through career fairs and the college job board Handshake?
Will this be a paid or unpaid internship? You might have heard that unpaid internships are illegal if you are for-profit. That’s not true - you can offer an unpaid internship, but you need to follow the Department of Labor’s guidelines, where the “primary beneficiary” of the internship is the student. Your internship job description can NOT list the same duties of a paid employee. Instead, their activities need to complement their career goals and current degree, should align with their school semester, and have clear learning objectives.
What will the intern life cycle look like? You need a clear job description for your interns, orientation and onboarding, any needed background checks or certifications, a training schedule, and an internship conclusion. Are you looking for interns who can learn the tasks quickly and leave after a semester, or stay for several semesters? How much supervision and structure will your interns need, and who will be accountable for managing their status on projects? What if your interns express a desire to stay with your team but only as paid staff? Get a career map in place before you get on the road trip of starting an intern program!
What benefits will you offer your interns? Related to point #2, remember that the intern is the one who benefits from the relationship, whether they are paid or unpaid. An intern comes to you needing training, mentorship, development, and growth opportunities. What learning outcomes can this intern expect to gain? What unique opportunities can you offer them that entice them to come intern with you? If you’re in hospitality, maybe they get a hand in creating intern appreciation events and touring your clients’ venus. If you’re looking for IT interns, they may get access to proprietary software and practice processing help tickets. If you’re in healthcare, they might get to shadow different practitioners or receive free CPR, BLS, DCF, or other training.
How will the internship program benefit you? Yes, of course you’re getting humans who will work for you in the internship and work on assigned projects. But also, how will this intern program affect you long term? Will you be able to market to your customers and audience that X% of your interns cite gaining valuable skills while working for you? Will you be able to share the stories of interns impacted by your program and integrate this with your marketing and branding? Maybe you stay in touch with interns years after they leave your company and reconnect with them, and see how their perspective on their internship with you changed over time.
An internship program is a large undertaking but an exciting opportunity to teach and mentor future professionals! Before you get started creating the program, read through the DoL’s fact sheet on internships here.
