5 Tips to Keep Your Interns Happy and Productive

An internship program can be a tremendous asset to your company. Not only does it become a source of relatively inexpensive labor, it can also become a hiring pool. Yet, if your interns don’t’ find your program valuable, they’re going to bolt. You’ll wind up with a program that’s lackluster, at best, with high turnover, low productivity or both.
That said, you’re not IBM. You can’t provide extensive benefits to your interns. However, there are a few things you can do to make your interns happy with the program and more productive while they’re in it:

1.  Give him something to do.

One of the biggest challenges facing companies with interns is finding something for them to do. Interns aren’t yet skilled in their field; after all, that’s why they’re interning. They want to be, though.

Not only do they want to learn how your business runs, they also bring to the table skills of their own. Find meaningful work for your interns to do, and you might just be surprised how well they do it.

Along these lines, try to pick meaningful tasks for your interns. Give them something to do that makes a difference. Let them contribute to the whole business. Even if it’s a small task, let them do real work. They aren’t there to do mundane data entry; they want to be able to have hands-on, real-world experience in your industry.

Give your interns progressively larger and more important assignments as you go. When they complete something well, move onto something bigger and better.

2.  Provide her with constant feedback.

Understand from the beginning that feedback for an intern can be different from feedback for an employee. An intern is there to learn. As such, you need to be able to provide all feedback in a positive manner. Point out what the intern does well, of course, but also be positive about things that didn’t go well.

For example, if you need to make corrections to an intern’s work, follow up with a discussion about it. Explain to her why you made the changes that you did. Talk to the intern and make sure she understands what those changes do to the overall process and the overall product or service. Make her feel like an integral part of the creative process.
Feedback for an intern shouldn’t be a weekly or monthly meeting focus, either. It should be something that happens on a daily, moment-by-moment basis.

3.  Help the intern identify his strengths.

Don’t ask an intern what his strengths are. He may not know, especially when it comes to how those strengths relate to your industry. The question creates all sorts of unnecessary pressure, and there’s even a good chance they might answer wrong.
Instead, find out what the intern likes. You’ll get a more honest assessment. Put interns on assignments that interest them, and you’ll find them in a much happier state. Along the way, chances are pretty good you’ll help them identify what exactly it is that they really are good at.

4.  Make the experience usable after she’s gone.

You want your intern to take what they did at your company and be able to proudly display it on a resume. By allowing your interns to do real work (see #1) you are giving her real experience. That experience will help her when they move into a job of their own.
Teach your interns how to describe the work that they did at your company so that they can use it during the job interview process.

5.  Value your interns.

If you truly value your interns, they’ll know it. If you demonstrate to them that you appreciate the work they do, that you are happy with the work they do, and that you’re glad they’re a part of the team, they’ll be much happier. Your interns will believe you truly care about them, and that you’re not just out to get free labor for a summer or a semester.
Accordingly, treat your interns to an occasional lunch. Consider inviting them to certain office events, such as your annual holiday party. Introduce your interns to a visiting client, and let the client know how happy you are to have the interns with you.
Give your interns some positive experiences, and they’ll be much more productive. Not only will they learn more in the process, your internship program will have a decent reputation and you’ll draw only the best applicants, year after year.

About the Author:

Greg Muender is President of of Ticket Kick, a California company that helps drivers get red light tickets, speeding tickets,  and other traffic tickets dismissed by helping drivers through the “trial by written declaration” process. The company, which formally launched in 2010 has been providing similar services since 2006 and is the leading company in this location and growing rapidly.