High Profile Staffing hosted an interactive roundtable discussion on Thursday, February 24th, entitled “Best Practices for Developing a Successful Intern Program”. The Roundtable Lunch Series has been a rousing success, and this discussion was no different! The panel discussed everything from college recruiting to executive involvement.
The development of an intern program in any company can be a time-consuming endeavor that may take both year-round planning and involvement from everyone on the team to make it a success. Below are some of the most valuable insights from the roundtable discussion, which touched upon some of the specifics of starting an intern program.
Executive Involvement
Every internship program in any company requires the involvement of company managers and executives to make it happen. Here are some of the things that companies should do to get their executive team involved:
- Have managers submit a requisition form to the executive team, requesting the need for an intern.
- Enlist the help of your executive team to help build partnerships in the college campuses, by offering to speak to students on campus, participating in panel discussion and participating in college initiatives.
- Ask the executive team to speak to the interns at various times during their internship.
College Recruiting
College recruiting is, and should be, a vital part of the development of any internship program. One of the most important tips given at the roundtable was the need to engage the college to assist a company’s efforts in finding interns. This can be achieved by working directly with Career Centers to share resumes of possible interns and have them set up interviews for your recruiting team. Remember that if the interns have a positive experience at your company, they will be your ambassadors on campus, continuing to build your reputation, which means more interns for your program later. Maintain a strong, ongoing relationship with the interns by keeping in touch with them through monthly emails.
Special Offerings
Some ideas offered up to enhance the internship experience for the interns in the program included:
- Business etiquette and behavioral training
- Community outreach programs
- Personality assessment
- Scholarship programs
- A mentor/champion for each intern, where the champion makes sure that the intern is actually doing something meaningful, not just going out on coffee errands for the rest of the office. The Mentor meets with the intern once a week to go over goals and personal growth development.
- Performance reviews and 360 degree online feedback for those in internship programs
High Profile Staffing Roundtable Discussions
Many thanks to the contributors who helped make “Best Practices for Developing an Internship Program” roundtable discussion a success. Future roundtable discussions were suggested, including Succession Planning, Leadership Development and Wellness Program Set Up.
High Profile Staffing is the leading staffing agency in Dallas, helping professionals in the fields of accounting, administration and finance. For more information, visit our website at https://www.highprofilestaffing.com/ .