At the IMA Financial Group in Denver, public relations manager James Williams knows firsthand the value of a great intern.
Last summer, Williams and his office got to enjoy treats an intern made as an expression of that young woman’s passion for gluten-free baking. When an IMA sales rep asked for out-of-the-box pitch ideas, Williams, inspired by the intern’s recent creation, asked, “Why don’t we shoot a video analogy about how making gluten-free banana bread is kind of like picking an insurance broker?”
Williams and his intern then wrote a script comparing each ingredient to a different component of the complex broker decision. The intern subsequently baked two loaves of bread: one for the video and one for the presentation.
“We got the account, with the intern’s expertise,” Williams told me. “We highlighted her skills by using them in a way that would benefit the company, our team and her future. She used the example for her portfolio to help her get a job working for an ad agency specializing in organic food brands.”
Still not convinced of the value interns can bring to growing companies? Here are five reasons you should see these young up-and-comers as more than mere coffee fetchers:
1. Create a reliable talent pipeline.
When the opportunity arises, Circa Interactive in San Diego often hires past interns into full-time positions.
“We know that if they are a good fit culturally, and thrive in their position, it wouldn’t make any sense to go outside and hire someone without any experience or training with our company,” Caroline Khalili, public relations manager at Circa Interactive, told me. “It’s a win-win situation.”
Build a lasting relationship with your own interns from the beginning. Check in with interns throughout their experience; ensure they are gaining value from their internship. Keep track of interns’ post-grad goals to help attract them to a full-time position when one opens that aligns with those goals.
Tools like Phenom People can help create this pipeline by building candidate profiles so hiring managers can target and nurture top talent, which may well include past interns.
Also, keep in touch with interns who go back to school so they’ll be excited to return full-time after graduating. Reaching out on a regular basis with company insights, full-time job opportunities and exclusive information can give you an effective way to keep former interns in the pipeline.
2. Develop employees at all levels.
Full-time employees can also develop leadership skills by managing interns. This means it’s not just the students who are learning, but also employees who work for the company already.
“I’ve had an employee who was at the…