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EXCERPTS FROM TOTAL INTERNSHIP MANAGEMENTSeven Millennial Traits Howe and Strauss detail seven core characteristics of Millennials, which may help us to understand them. • Millennials are special. And they’ve been told all their lives just how special they are. They had activities planned for them, their schedules were a family priority, and their every success was encouraged and praised. Consequently, they have extremely high expectations for themselves, and they hold others to the same standards. As they enter the job force, they will be increasingly demanding and place a higher expectation on internal customer service – the treating of employees the way that customers are treated. Additionally, they will care about their workplace and believe that they, as the new employees, are the ones who will bring in the fresh ideas and initiatives that will benefit all. • Millennials are sheltered. They have wonderfully close relationships with their families, and feel truly supported. They also struggle with disappointment, as they have in many cases been sheltered from such experiences throughout their formative years. With such protection, they haven’t had much occasion to experience letdowns, and their coping skills are somewhat deficient as a result. They also have little experience figuring things out for themselves. Job recruitment professionals have been experiencing a sharp rise in the numbers of parents accompanying Millennial recruits on job interviews and contacting Human Resources for contract negotiations or to address on-the-job issues that their child may be experiencing. Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now! Is an Organized Internship Program Really That Important?Yes! When an intern leaves your organization they will either become an ambassador or adversary. This outcome is largely dependant on how well your organization executes the processes outlined in this guide. The job and internship search are the primary activities of college students, and therefore a chief topic of conversation among friends and families. Students will talk about their experiences; whether or not they have good things to say comes down to the dedication of your organization. Giving interns a great experience in an organization has huge long-term benefits, such as great public relations on the intern’s campus, as well as an edge when it comes time to recruit for full-time positions. While well-organized and effective internship programs have the potential to greatly benefit a company, it is important to remember that unorganized programs have their consequences as well. 92% of surveyed professionals agreed that an internship could help the recruiting brand of an organization; yet only 29% thought that an internship program has the potential to hurt the recruiting brand. Of the students who reported having taken part in an internship, 96% agreed that they had shared their experiences with friends, and 99% of students who had not yet taken part in an internship agreed that they would share experiences with friends. This is one of the largest disconnects between organizations and students, which should caution organizations that a lack of knowledge and preparation could yield negative returns in recruiting talent. Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now! Money Does Not Come Out On Top One of the most interesting pieces of data to come out of this portion of the research is where “earning money” fell in the ranking. Positions 8 and 9 shed a great deal of light on one of the largest apprehensions that organizations have about hosting interns. From this data we can learn that so long as many of the items ranked higher than earning money are fulfilled, students may be willing to accept less monetary compensation. The vast majority of reasons ranked higher than earning money are content- and structure-based, proving that you can have a successful and beneficial internship program without being tremendously concerned with monetary compensation, provided you work to ensure that your program is academically sound.Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now!
Don’t Leave Things Out It is an overall best practice in the Human Resources field to provide job candidates with a realistic preview of their potential job duties. It was once routine for recruiters to make jobs sound highly alluring and exciting. The candidate would accept a job offer only to be disappointed with their employment and leave the company prematurely, leading to a high turnover rate and high acquisition costs. In an internship program, a realistic job preview is just as, if not more, important. Students are present to learn more about a specific job in a particular industry, with the hopes of possibly being offered a full-time position. By hiding certain tasks of a particular job function, an organization can only harm their relationships with these potential full-time employees. Virtually all (98%) of students agreed that they must be given a realistic preview of the field during an internship program. Approximately 1 in every 5 interns reported that they only slightly agreed, or did not agree at all, that they were actually given this realistic preview. Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now! Supervisor Selection Remember, interns are going to represent your organization. The supervisor has a great deal to do with whether the student will have a positive or negative influence on your campus recruiting strategies. Therefore, choosing and properly training a supervisor is an extremely important, yet currently under-appreciated, component to an internship program. So under-appreciated, in fact, that only 2% of organizations reported that the individual who is suggested to be the supervisor for interns is evaluated for their ability to act in a supervisory role for students. The vast majority (81%) of organizational survey respondents strongly disagreed, disagreed, or were neutral when asked if they evaluated potential internship supervisors. Choosing a supervisor, and evaluating that person for the ability to perform as an internship supervisor is an important step in the process that must not be overlooked. Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now!
Interviewing your intern candidates is an important step that, surprisingly, some organizations skip. If you choose not to interview candidates, you will not truly know if they are a good fit for your program. Having an effective interview process is critical, and it needs to be treated professionally. One of our placement students recently told us a story about a time she applied to work for a nationwide restaurant organization. The company had been to the job fair on campus. The job fair booth was tended by the manager of the local establishment in Boston, but if students were interested in applying, they had to contact someone else, whose business card was available. The company offered an in-depth management training program, part of which included time spent in the Wine Country of California. She eagerly applied. She never received acknowledgement that her resume and cover letter had been received. Two weeks later, the recruitment manager emailed her to setup an interview time. When she called him at their scheduled time, the call went to voicemail. He returned the call the next day at a random time and somehow expected her to be ready for the interview without notice. Luckily, she was. He was traveling and conducting the interview over his cell phone. The reception was lousy. About ten minutes into the interview he had to disconnect to go through airport security. He promised he would call back in a couple of minutes, but he did not call back for a half hour. The interview continued, on his cell phone, with the noise of airport announcements and travelers talking in the background. She also stated that the interviewer didn’t take a genuine interest in anything about her – her educational experiences, leadership experiences, etc. All he asked was “what do you know about us” and “what would make you a good fit to work for us.” To make a long story short, she wasn’t offered a position. But she also stated that even if she had been offered a position, she was so dissatisfied with the lack of professionalism from the interviewer that she wouldn’t have accepted anyway. And, to further speak to our point that students are representatives no matter what (even at an early stage, such as an interview), she did tell all of her friends about her experience. On-boarding, or orientation, is your chance to show off your organization and prepare students for their internship experience. It serves a multitude of purposes. First, it provides the student with a chance to relieve some anxiety: few things can be more stressful for 20-year-old students than being placed in an environment with individuals older than they are who have been working with the organization or within the industry for several years. Without the on-boarding process, supervisors would be responsible for all of the topics covered within the program. Therefore, the process can save time for the intern’s supervisors. The on-boarding program also helps to set realistic expectations for the intern. Remember that most students have had part-time jobs in the past to finance their education or social lives, but this doesn’t mean that they are familiar with other aspects such as organizational culture and politics, the need for confidentiality, or other items specific to your organization. Organizations must be committed to the on-boarding process, including supervisors, who need to provide students with concentrated time at the beginning of the program. This level of direct supervision will decrease as interns become more independent and productive colleagues.Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now! The Coaching Dialogue: Asking Good Questions Of all the strategies for working with interns, sitting down with the intern and asking questions about their experience are essential behaviors if student learning is a key goal of the internship experience. The developmental coaching model has, at its core, the use of effective questioning as a fundamental process. It is highly recommended that interns receive frequent coaching and that the supervisor’s coaching approach includes the use of questioning (versus lecturing). For example, after a project was completed, a supervisor might ask questions such as “How did that go?” “What was it like?” “How did it feel” “What were you trying to accomplish?” “What did you learn?” and “How do you plan to use the learning from this internship?” The use of questions in a positive tone demonstrates the supervisor’s willingness to understand the intern’s experience from the student perspective. Read more in The Guide - Order Your Copy Now!
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