Tiffany C. Wright

Need More Human Resources? Hire College Interns



Posted: Saturday, February 05, 2011

by Tiffany C. Wright
Toca Family Business Services

It is not just corporate America that benefits from interns. It is often harder for small and medium businesses to find new talent because these entities do not have the recruiting staff to send out to college campuses or recruiting fairs nor do they have the cache to attract up and comers. Companies can both meet their human resource needs and reduce their staffing costs by pursuing interns.

The number of companies that offer internships is significantly smaller than those that offer full-time positions. The same applies to the number of positions offered. I remember this very well from my days at Wharton. The investment banks offered one-fifth to one-seventh the number of internships as they offered full-time positions for the summer of 1997. It was a similar situation at consulting firms. So small and medium businesses that provided a great experience had a chance at attracting talent that may not have considered them for a full-time position. Once you get a college or graduate intern in the door, the likelihood of him or her joining full-time upon graduation is very high (assuming your company makes an offer).

You do not need to put a formal program in place to hire an intern or two. You just need to ensure that you clearly layout the following for the interns: what you expect them to accomplish during the time they are there, what their role and responsibilities are, who they report to, and who they should approach for assistance. (Sometimes who they work for differs from who provides assistance.) Discuss this with them before they start their job or on their first day of work. By doing this, if their skill set or interests are distinctly different from what the internship entails, you may be able to modify their assignment to be a better fit. Why? You want to get great work out of them now AND make a favorable impression. And most companies have a list of items that need to get done so the modification should be relatively painless. Of course, discussing the internship scope during the interview or as soon as an offer is made will allow you to adapt BEFORE you make all the arrangements.

Most internships are paid. Engineering interns make the most. But their wage expenses are still much lower than a full-time staff member in a similar position. And remember, you do not provide healthcare and other benefits. The best way to locate interns is to post the position at the applicable career placement centers at colleges and universities you would like to recruit from. Need help with finance or accounting tasks? Hire a finance intern from a local business program. Need help with construction sales? Hire an architect or engineer from a local architectural or civil or mechanical engineering program.

About the Author: Tiffany Wright, is the author of the ebook, "Help! I Need Money for My Business Now!!" available at http://www.smallbusinessfinancingresource.com/EbookOffer.html. She is the president of Toca Family Business Services, an interim management firm, based in Atlanta. As a former CFO and business advisor, she's helped companies obtain over $31 Million in financing. She has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and her B.S. in Engineering. You can also view her blog at http://blog.smallbusinessgrowthcapital.com.
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