5 Reasons Why an Intern Can Help a Small Business

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Your company may not be large enough to have a formal internship program like the big consultancy firms or financial institutions. And your business may not be well known enough to have university students knocking on your door directly asking for some work experience.

So how do you find an intern and why can an having an intern really benefit your business?

The trick is to go where interns are. You could place a normal job ad on a job board, but unfortunately most students are not looking online for an internship.

A better way is to find someone who has access to students who might be looking for internships.  The best prospective interns are those that are studying or have just finished studying and who would be keen on gaining some practical experience.

Key Takeaways:

• Having an intern can help bring in new ideas and provide a fresh perspective on how to do things.

• Interns often have a positive attitude and they are eager to learn.

• Interns are an extra set of hands to help contribute to the teams output, especially during a busy season.

5 Reasons Why an Intern Can Help a Small Business

Here are 5 reasons why you could benefit from having an intern spend time in your business:

1. They have the right attitude. Interns are looking for experience in their chosen field. If they’re given a chance to work in your company early on in their career, they will do their best to make a great impression since their experience (and your recommendation) will form a part of their CV. An intern will be extremely grateful for the fact that you have helped introduce them to the professional career they are looking for.

2. No pressure to make a permanent hire. When you hire an intern there is never any obligation to ever bring them in on a full-time basis. Most interns will be happy to help out in different areas of your business. They’re just after the experience. Not a job offer. Of course if they are a great fit, you can always ask them to stay longer and one day they may even become a full-time employee.

3. Every business can use an additional pair of hands. If you know when your business might be experiencing a rapid increase in workload, having an intern can contribute enormously to your team’s output. Even with minimal training, an intern can help to get certain tasks done for a specific period of time without having to add any new full-time or even part-time employees to your business.

   You may need help with a specific marketing campaign; a research project you haven’t had time to conduct; running a customer survey; or just catching up on a backlog of administration. An intern can help you out with these or similar such projects.

4. Bringing a fresh pair of eyes. It’s very common for a business owner to get so caught up in the day to day running of the business that they will rarely (if ever) challenge processes. Things have been done in such a way for this long, so why change them? Often an intern can contribute with a fresh perspective and bring new ideas on how to do things from a different point of view.

5. Interns are great with technology. Many small business owners (in particular) are well aware of what they should be doing in their business from a technology or social media perspective. But it’s not always easy to take the leap when they may not be familiar with exactly what’s involved. Interns belong to a generation that has used technology since they were very young. Why not leverage their natural knowledge to help take your business into the digital era?

Intern FAQ

1. Why are internships so important?

   Internships are important because they are able to help develop intern’s professional aptitude, strengthen their personal character, and open a door to more opportunities. Internships are a great time to work at a company and gain some experience while still in college. This will help start to build your professional network which can be beneficial to you when you graduate and are looking for a job.

2. What are important characteristics to look for in an intern?

   When looking for an intern, you should be someone who has a competitive drive to work hard and someone who is willing to learn new things. It’s also important to look for someone who has a positive attitude and has enthusiasm about growing in their career.

3. What are some tasks to prepare for interns?

   Having tasks prepared for your interns can help prepare them with an enriching learning experience and provides some additional work if they get their primary work done/ Some tasks to have prepared for interns could include:

   • Learn more about your competitors

   • Sit in on client meetings

   • Lead a team meeting

   • Do research for a new project

4. What skills are gained from doing internships?

   During an internship, interns will learn how to put their knowledge to use in a real world setting. They can also get a sense of understanding in how the workplace runs and what a workplace culture means.

Author

Bernadette Eichner

Bernadette Eichner has had a successful career in hospitality sales, real estate, and recruitment. In 1999, she founded HRM Resolutions, a strategic human resource consultancy, and later became a founding recruiter and investor at RecruitLoop.