Companies of all sizes and industries hire interns to gain valuable support for the company and its existing employees. By hiring interns, your company builds an entry-level talent pool that allows you to retain high-performing people fresh out of college.
Tech companies hire interns because they want cheap and free labor. Interns take the low-paying positions because the job market often requires new applicants to have entry-level and internship experience before they can acquire employment. So the company exploits this barrier for financial gain.
As an added incentive, interns who go full-time are much more likely to stay at your company. After spending a few months at your company, employees who complete an internship and then sign up as full-time employees understand your culture, are committed to your mission, are trained in your operations, and are much more likely to be retained thereafter. . Across all industries, companies convert interns to full-time employees more than half the time, so a good internship can lead to a full-time job after graduation.
Companies Claim to Be Interested in Top Talent
Companies can select and develop future talent through internships and improve retention rates, as many interns get jobs after they complete their internship. Good internship programs become competitive by providing companies with strong candidates to choose from, which can strengthen the program and open up new recruitment opportunities from the intern team.
Other companies advertise internship opportunities to help them find the best people for permanent positions. Many companies have internship opportunities listed on their website, but if not, don’t delay.
While most companies have job descriptions for full-time positions, they may not have the same for internships. Keep in mind that companies rarely post job openings for internships on their website outside of the standard internship season. For paid internships, the company most likely just wants to hire really good, experienced and talented people, using only the title “intern” to justify paying a lower salary.
Interns Desire Work Experience
The company must provide meaningful internship experience, must have non-residential workspace, and must employ interns as employees (W-2). Many medium and large companies have internship coordinators or entire departments to manage their programs, while smaller companies may assign an employee as needed to support intern recruitment.
Interns can take on lower-level tasks, freeing up colleagues’ time for other tasks, although more internships now offer responsibilities beyond administrative duties. This is where interns are especially useful; they can take on many simple, practical tasks that you and your employees don’t have time to complete or demotivate; for example, lead generation, marketing campaigns, research, administration, and the use of Mailchimp and HubSpot, etc.
Marketing and business software. Technical internships typically provide interns with important projects and responsibilities that have a direct impact on the company and its clients.
Interns Often Claim to Feel Appreciated
Even though this is a company with thousands of employees, the interns feel like their supervisors are seeing them and gaining valuable insights on how to survive in the industry. If your startup’s interns are employees, then they should be treated like employees, with all the financial responsibilities that entails. However, not all internships are the same, as you have probably heard horror stories about demanding bosses who take advantage of their interns without teaching them anything about the industry.
Hiring the right amount of interns for your company is important because you want them to have time to settle down and get comfortable with their new colleagues before they start working on any big projects. In fact, there is a growing trend of interns heading to various startups and companies to broaden their skills to better prepare after graduation. Companies are increasingly choosing to have graduates work as interns before hiring them full-time – a “try before you buy” approach.
Employers are also more selective and feel less urgent when it comes to recruiting top IT graduates, so they can use internships to screen candidates and give companies more opportunities to evaluate them. Many companies need interns who can offer fresh perspectives; extra hands for real work; and positive mentoring experiences for existing employees that can boost morale and improve corporate culture. Co-ops also provide employers with greater flexibility in project assignments and give interns an incentive to take ownership and risk-taking over their work.
Internships Rarely Translate into Full-Time Jobs
An internship doesn’t necessarily translate into a full-time job, but hiring an intern who fits your startup’s corporate culture, has a personality that matches your team dynamics, and is just as passionate about your vision as you are will help you create the best possible environment for a successful internship. Having an internship program coordinator on board will ensure that your internship program runs smoothly, is well structured, and is of value to both your company and your interns.
As an intern, you can take part in brainstorming sessions and meetings, or provide input and suggestions to company executives or interns. Interns offer a fresh perspective on a company’s day-to-day operations and procedures and can share ideas about strategy, plans, policies and more.
Interns need care and support early on, but as they hone their talents, they can quickly become a powerful asset to the company. Interns make valuable contributions at a significantly lower cost than regular FTEs and can be involved in short-term projects that current employees cannot complete. Interns are also affordable as they value the “learning” they get from the internship experience, and there are a number of government incentives and programs that fund the use of interns, making recruitment costs negligible for employers.
An internship can help a student make the connection between the classroom and the workplace, make invaluable connections with industry leaders, and launch a career in a competitive marketplace.