The Best Laid Plans:
Tips for getting started
- Establish clear internship program goals and objectives.
- Solicit and maintain top management support.
- Allocate resources to plan and implement program.
- Determine the functional areas that would best be served by an intern program and plan specific responsibilities, assignments/project criteria and timelines.
- Don't disguise routine jobs or "grunt" work as an internship.
- Set up a budget for student salaries or stipends based on current market demand and the complexity of work assignments.
- Coach managers in effective supervision/mentoring techniques to maximize student training.
- Reward them for a job well done.
- Don't assign "green" managers to interns.
- Determine when students will begin and end their assignments.
- Understand the dilemma of the academic vs. business cycle - respect the university's main goal of education and its academic schedules.
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Find the Best:
Recruiting and Hiring an Intern
The students you hire for internships and other career-related opportunities should be as carefully
chosen as other employees. These are individuals in whom your organization is making a significant
investment. They may also be potential permanent employees. To recruit students successfully,
consider the following points:
- Determine which business concentrtaions you will find students with the course work, interests and career goals that fit well with your organization's experiential learning assignments.
- To build your organization's name among students and broaden your pool of applicants, engage in some traditional college relations activities, e.g., attend job fairs, establish relationships with student professional associations, and advertise in the school newspaper.
- Once you have received resumes from interested students, interview them in person at your organization, if possible, so that they can meet potential co-workers and see the actual work environment.
- Try to elicit information from students about their immediate work interests and career goals to develop a good match between the student and your internship assignment.
Who's in Charge:
Develop a Plan for Supervision
- Involve the manager who will be responsible for supervising the student in the development process
- Provide supervision and mentoring by a professional. .
- Be prepared to discuss "learning objectives" with your student workers.
- Many students will need to develop clear objectives for the learning they want to achieve while working in and experiential learning position.
- Prepare students to step into the role of a productive professional and help them be perceived as valuable team members.
- Offer progressively challenging series of work assignments.
Begin with the end in mind:
Make a Plan for Evaluation
- Provide students objective evaluations and assessment of progress throughout the co-op intern experience.
