The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 39, No. 2 14 15 BEST PRACTICES FOR INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS Other work arrangements that have been found successful with students include keeping them on as part-time, remote employees aer they go back to school (depending on the type of work they do for you and whether they have a willing manager), and having them come back and work over school breaks for a couple of weeks. ese are excellent ways to keep communications open and build a stronger bond. Best Practice #7 Have an intern manager. Having a dedicated manager for your intern program is the best way to ensure that it runs smoothly and stays focused on your criteria for success. Unfortunately, the size and resources available to most internship programs mean that this isn’t always possible. If your program isn’t big enough to warrant a dedicated full-time sta member, an excellent short-term solution is to hire a graduate student (look for a student working toward an advanced HR degree) to be your intern, and put this college relations intern in charge of the daily operation of the internship program. is gives the interns a “go-to” person, and gives you and your sta a break from the many daily tasks involved in running a program of any size. For this to work, you have to plan the program structure in advance (don’t expect your intern to do it), and be very accessible to your college relations intern. Best Practice #8 Encourage team involvement. Involve your college recruiting teams—whether they are “volunteers” who participate in college recruiting, sta members dedicated to college recruiting, or some combination of both—in your intern program. ey can sponsor social or professional development events, and help to orient the interns to your company culture. In my experience, college team members served as cooks at intern picnics, hosts at speaker events, and drivers for social outings such as ball games. Best Practice #9 Invite career center sta and faculty to visit interns on site. Although some programs—especially those that are very structured on the university side—make visits by career center sta and faculty a regular practice, most do not. In general, career center sta and faculty members have relatively few opportunities to visit employer work sites to see rsthand the types of experiences that their students are getting. By inviting them to your site, you will build a better working relationship with these groups, which can lead to more student referrals, enhanced campus visibility, and increased exibility on their parts when your business needs dictate it. Best Practice #10 Hold new-hire panels. New-hire panels are one of the best ways to showcase an organization to interns as a great place to work. ese are panels of ve or six people who were hired as new grads within the last three years. ey act as panelists in a meeting of interns, giving a brief summary of their background and then answering questions from the intern audience. Your interns get insight about your organization from your new hires—people who they perceive are like themselves and who they consequently view as credible sources of information. In these meetings, I’ve found that the interns consistently bring up the same topics: Why did you choose this employer over others? What was your rst year like? How is being a full-time employee here dierent from being an intern? Do you recommend getting a graduate degree? In the same eld, or an M.B.A.? Is it better to go straight to graduate school aer the bachelor’s or better to work a while? It’s also fairly consistent that the new hires will oer other types of advice to your interns, such as how to handle nances those rst couple of years out of school. (eir typical advice: Don’t run right out and buy a new car, and, Start contributing the maximum to your savings plan as soon as you are allowed.) College relations sta should attend these sessions, but should remain unobtrusive, staying in the back of the room so as not to stie the conversation. By being there, you stay aware of what is on the minds of your target group, and you can answer any detailed questions that may come up, such as those related to benets. Best Practice #11 Bring in speakers from your company’s executive ranks. One of the greatest advantages to students in having internships is the access they get to accomplished professionals in their eld. Consequently, speakers from the executive ranks are very popular with students—it’s a great career development and role modeling experience for interns. Having a CEO speak is especially impressive. Best scenario: Your CEO speaker is personable, willing to answer questions, and willing and able to spend a little informal time with the students aer speaking—your interns will be quite impressed. » continued from page 13 »
PLSO Issue 2, 2016 March/April
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