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Creating an internship program is a great strategic choice for any business looking to poach some serious talent in a fast-paced business landscape. You’ve got so many benefits: giving fresh new faces real-world experience, enriching the company with new ideas, and increasing overall productivity with more employees. Getting started is straightforward, too. Whether it’s an internship program for recent graduates or freelance writing jobs for beginners in Australia, students are always on the lookout for different types of work opportunities to get experience and their foot in the door. This article will look at what an internship entails, the benefits it can have for a business, where and how to build a successful program and what exactly a sustainable internship model looks like. Remember, throughout the process, it’s important to put your company and employees first, so at every step of the way it can be worth taking feedback to see what’s working and what isn’t.
The Internship
I hear what you’re saying, and no, I’m not referring to the 2013 comedy starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. You’re probably not Google, first of all. Essentially, an internship is a period of work experience that’s provided to graduates, students, or anybody with an interest in transitioning to a new field in which they have little to no previous involvement. Typically, internships are temporary, but the range can be massive: they can be anywhere from a week or two to a year. They also don’t have to be paid positions. The status of unpaid internships is dubious in some countries, however. In Australia, an unpaid work experience or unpaid internship can be lawful if it is a vocational placement or there is no employment relationship. In particular, the intern must not be doing “productive” work, must be getting the main benefit of the arrangement, and it must be clear they are receiving a meaningful learning experience. Generally, these internships will take place during university or school breaks or as prescribed vocational programs within a curriculum. They’re a two-way street, too. An intern gains exposure to a ‘real’ workplace within an industry they’re interested in, and the business benefits from young minds full of ideas, while also potentially upskilling a valuable future employee. Remember though, the main benefit of the program must be for the student/intern, not the business.
What’s In It For You?
There are myriad reasons for establishing an internship program. For starters, think about the expense of recruitment. There are reading applications, screening references, reading cover letters and work papers, then face-to-face interviewing — throw in some psychometric testing and you’ve got a stew going! These processes are incredibly resource-intensive and can be a bit of a waste if the employee’s work style doesn’t fit your company’s profile or their assigned role. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to screen for this kind of fit — unless you have an internship program, that is.
By giving interns a taste of your company culture, you can see if they have the skills, work ethic, and enthusiasm to accept a full-time role at the firm, which they’ll often be extremely excited to accept. For a fraction of the cost of full-blown hiring, you can snap up capable graduates who are rearing to work in their chosen fields, and spend their internship deciding if they’re the right fit for you. All the while, they’ll be working their hardest to impress you to try and land that permanent gig. What’s more, the interns are paid at a lower rate than full-time employees, so the budget can still be managed while productivity remains high.
Finally: leadership. Interns aren’t just productive robots, they’re people, and they need mentoring. Staff can build leadership and management skills by communicating with these fresh hires and providing constructive feedback on their work. You can only teach if you know, so it can also be a great way to see who knows what around the office!
How Do I Get Started?
So, you’re interested in the idea. It all sounds great, doesn’t it? Planning, resources, and strategy are key in the first phase: what will your program look like, and what is it meant to achieve? You need to define the purpose of an internship at your company before you commit to anything else. Do you want to build a pipeline for future hires, or do you want assistance on specific projects? If you start with a clearly defined objective, it’s easier to refer back to when you’re trying to share the vision with others or partner with specific institutions that could help.
After that, you need to write job descriptions that underline the roles, responsibilities, and qualifications that you’re looking for in an intern. Don’t make it a mystery — clearly define who should be applying and what they’ll be doing so that you attract the right candidates for your company. At this point, you can reach out to educational institutions and collaborate with local universities to get access to a wider, or more specific, pool of candidates. Then, the work begins: recruitment. Just like regular hiring, you’ll have to screen resumes and conduct interviews, and be mindful that it may be many of the interns’ first times in a ‘proper’ job interview.
Once you’ve nailed down some starters, take them through an onboarding process, and maybe include some mentorship or a buddy program to get them settled in as quickly as possible. Remember, you’ve got to provide them with a valuable experience, so make sure you treat them with the same respect and care as you would any other employee!
After this, the rest is up to you. Internship programs are a surefire way to attract talent and make people want to work at your company if they’re done right, and can be great to keep culture fresh and maintain a steady flow of new faces with new ideas. The workforce is competitive, so offering an internship can help you engage with and shape the next generation of professionals, and really get a head start on the competition: who doesn’t remember their first job?
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