Ton of companies hire interns. Let’s face it, you get good, motivated talent for free and milk it. Sometimes you get some truly cool work that has an economic impact. Internships are the haps, as Dave Robicheaux or Cletus might say. But is there an opportunity to do more with an internship from the company point of view? I believe so.
When the engagement is over, sponsoring companies should ask the question “What did we learn from this intern?” and do a write up. It’s a smart exercise. If the company didn’t learn much, it wasn’t trying. Interns go through a vetting process, so they were deemed capable to begin with. And if the intern wasn’t motivated to perform that’s important learning. And needs to be fixed. But the hope is that the intern will perform. And will provide value. And that value will teach the hiring company a thing or two. After all these tyro employees are next gen consumers.
Companies like to take pictures of their graduating interns. They promote intern fun on Instagram. They post thank you videos at the end of the summer. But what really inspires an intern is knowing they had an impact. It’s the least we can offer. Whet the way for growth.
Peace.
