Turning Internships into Full Time Jobs
Many students take internships in hopes of distinguishing themselves from others in the post-college job market. With only a limited number of positions in any one area and many students, it’s not surprising that many individuals end up on waiting lists. In some cities, such as Philadelphia, the number of available internships has increased by almost 1,000 positions since last year. Still, in Philadelphia alone there are over 2,000 students who desire internships that are finding names added to the already long waiting lists.
With that many students looking for summer work opportunities that provide them with valuable experiences, starting an internship program now could benefit many companies. Despite age and lack of official experience, students offer fresh ideas, raw talent that is ready to be molded, and enthusiasm that most employees can’t top. Offering an internship program also allows a company the first glimpse of the talent that will be entering the job market after graduation. With many post-college students applying for jobs with the companies they interned, one could almost think of it as a junior recruitment program.
Although it may not be difficult to find interns with the abundance of students without positions, companies should focus on creating programs that offer more experience than a lesson on how to operate a copier/fax machine combo. Creating a quality internship program takes thought and strategic planning.
Knowing what one’s company hopes to gain from creating an internship program is a good start. Each business should know what valuable skills they have to teach the next generation and exactly what talents they expect their interns bring to the workplace. After all, it’s difficult to hire the perfect intern if one has no idea what they are even looking for.
For an internship program to be successful there has to be some form of company cooperation. Students should have clear cut job descriptions that are both interesting and useful. Other employees should be encouraged to share their knowledge with the interns. It is also important that the human resources department responsible over interning students be willing to educate these individuals and should not be the sort of person to judge an employee’s worth by their age. These supervisors should be capable of giving both positive and negative feedback so that the intern in question is able to go away from the experience with a wealth of knowledge.
Before the internship begins one should also have in mind exactly how many individuals the company would be willing to hire on as possible full time employees after college. Frequent evaluations of an intern’s ability to learn and implement new information along with their general work ethic should be recorded so that when the process is over, the most valuable candidates are obvious.
