If you’re looking to plug holes and drive on in the recession, perhaps it’s time to consider internship, the current hot topic on the business agenda
In entrepreneurial circles, ‘intern’ has become something of a buzzword. Search Twitter, and you’ll find call-outs for locating good interns doing the rounds. And it’s all with good reason. Two years ago, if you’d asked most businesses what their biggest constant challenge was, most would have told you variations on hiring good ‘people’.
Thanks to the recession, cashflow and finance now top the agenda. But people are key to success in both these areas. The best staff produce more, better and faster, keeping cash flowing and making businesses attractive to investors. Simple.
This is why interns – essentially free talent – are the order of the day. And the recession is putting more redundant talent and recent graduates on the market, hungry to get experience on their CVs if paid roles aren’t forthcoming. New matching services, such as Enternships and Inspired Interns, are examples of the zeitgeist.
Even the government is chiming in with its Graduate Talent Pool internships scheme and Mini Knowledge Transfer partnerships aimed at getting graduates and post-graduates working on specific projects with companies. In the US, reports suggest graduates are even paying for internships. But where do you find the right interns, and what kind of work can you throw their way?
Delivering value
Interns may be free, barring expenses, but treating them as a panacea for your staffing shortcomings would be a mistake. For Susanna Simpson, the founder of public relations company Limelight, internship has been a long-term policy borne out of her own experiences in the job market. At just 16, she experienced a “brilliant internship”, which led her to choose a career in PR. She set up her own company at 24 and has since gained a reputation for giving enthusiastic people a taste of life in the industry, similar to the one that shaped her own future.
“It’s all about taking interns seriously,” she says. “It’s got to be about more than simply having another bum on a seat.”
Limelight, which employs 17 and turns over £1.2m, gets 20 people a week asking for work experience, and has learned to be selective to ensure both parties get tangible value. “We look for people who are serious about a career in marketing and PR,” she explains. “Half of the time they are given tasks to work on, and the other half we invest our own time in exercises, taking them into client presentations – with permission from the client – and providing real-life experience.”
Recruitment is key
Just because interns are free doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest the same amount of time in the interview process that you would for a paid recruit. Limelight puts a lot of effort into recruiting interns. Two or three hours are spent vetting applicants, starting with a phone chat followed by a meeting with one of the directors. Each one is hired for two weeks, and Simpson claims it doesn’t add much instant value to the company. However, it provides a pipeline of potential full-time employees, with the fortnight ending on an “as real” pitch for a prospect client to Limelight directors.
While many will be looking for a longer-term commitment – the summer, for example – and real value from any interns they hire, for Simpson it’s about the future. She keeps a talent pool database and a number of her staff started as interns. So be clear about what you’re looking to get out of internship, as now could be a great time to sound out future employees for when the market turns.
Another company using interns was PJ Investments, owned by Peter Jones of Dragons’ Den fame. It used Enternships, which places the cream of enterprising graduate talent at the behest of entrepreneurial businesses, typically early stage ones where they can make a real difference. Jones’ company hired six ‘enterns’ for two weeks each over the summer of 2007, having conducted a standard recruitment process. They spent their time analysing business ideas submitted via Jones’ site, wrote appraisals of them, and worked on below-the-line marketing activity, such as social media. According to Jones’ executive assistant, Katie Prescott, the company plans to take on one this year, and says the only thing she would do differently would be to set a task beforehand to test ability and interest.