A successful internship program provides the intern with real-world
experience and your company with new insights and feedback on how to run
an even better internship program. It can be a win-win situation.
If you’ve hired the wrong intern, however, you may suffer lost resources and productivity.
Students are using sites like Internships.com, SimplyHired.com, and
Craigslist.org to find internships. Your company should be visible on at
least one of these sites, if not all.
While the internship requirements vary based on the business, there
are a few traits that every marketing intern should possess to succeed
and make a positive impact on your inbound marketing strategy.
The following are a few tips on finding good interns for your small business.
1. Literary competency
Writing competency is a crucial part of the success of any business
venture. If a new marketer is joining your team, he or she should be
able to contribute written content.
Ideally, your intern maintains his or her own blog, even if it isn’t
about your industry or marketing in general. Consistent writing habits
make for strong writers who, likely, will produce valuable content for
your company.
2. Interviews
Interviews are crucial in evaluating how an intern will operate under
pressure. A good intern should be able to operate successfully even
when under pressure. Look for eye contact, professional attire and clear
communication skills.
Decide on whether your interviewing style is more casual or more
intense, and stick with that theme through all of your interviews. Every
prospective intern should be subjected to a comparable amount of
pressure and intensity. An intern’s actions under the pressure of an
interview can be indicative of their behavior in high-pressure
situations at work.
3. Great expectations
Finding someone that is excited to work can be difficult, but those
people do exist, especially among a younger demographic that’s hungry to
prove their worth. Look for an intern that is excited about starting
work in a real-world setting, wants to gain professional experience and
already has some ideas of a project he or she could start right away.
4. Social media savvy
Lately, social media has become as much a professional platform as it
is a friendly one. If the prospective intern has inappropriate pictures
of themselves on Facebook or hasn’t built up a LinkedIn profile, that’s
a red flag.
Assume that your intern prospects have been sufficiently warned and
that any questionable findings are a deliberate choice to ignore those
warnings.
5. Experience
While the intern may not have years of experience, it’s important
that they have some context in order to communicate clearly about
marketing with the rest of your team. Interns will have a lot to learn
but they should not weigh down the progress of the department.
After getting their footing, your interns should have enough
knowledge to take the position to new levels and generate their own
ideas and contributions.
6. Team work
It’s important the prospective intern demonstrates experience in
teamwork and time management. A prospective intern with leadership
experience, whether they hold a position on the student council or
founded a nonprofit organization, is likely to be self-motivated and
hard working.
One of the most important internship traits is the ability for an
intern to think on his or her feet. Give interns some room to mess up
and learn for themselves because it will be a more effective learning
opportunity.
Finally, it’s important that your intern leaves with a positive
impression of the internship with you because his or her recommendation
will impact the success of your internship program in the future.
Whether the goal is to train new talent for your company, have an
impact on the success of a young professional or increase productivity,
be sure to take time and care when hiring your next intern.
Yo Noguchi,
Post from: SiteProNews