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June 21, 2006
Interns
Two more interns started this week. I love interns.
My first real job was an internship at Microsoft which led to a full-time position. Once I left and started my own company I knew we needed interns as soon as possible. We hired two our second year, even though we could barely afford them. (We couldn’t fly them out. They came 2,000 miles on a bus. And brought their own computers.)
Identifying talent from a resume and interview is difficult. We use summer internships as a 12 week interview that helps us smoke out the winners in next year’s graduating class. This gives us a chance to make offers to the best candidates nine months before they hit the job market. We get in front of other potential employers, we know exactly who we’re hiring, and once they graduate our new employees already know their job, their co-workers, and the location of the restrooms.
We have hired 10 of the 35 interns we have had in software development, and all but one of our application developers started as an intern. Sometimes we don’t have an opening for a great intern, but we try to keep track of them. When a position does open up we know who to call, and we know what we’ll be getting with our new hire.
Internships are great for the company: even though only half of our intern work product turns out to be useful, interns still get a lot done. And we find out who we do and don’t want to hire full-time.
Internships are great for the intern: real world experience helps interns decide if they really are pursuing the right career, and if we are a company where they want to work. And they learn a lot.
Intern tips:
Offer passion a chance. Students without significant work experience often don’t have a compelling resume. An internship is a lower risk way to give a chance to someone whose passion for your business is high, even if their paperwork is weak.
Don’t segregate. Seat your interns in ask-a-question-out-loud distance of their full-time coworkers. Include them in meetings and planning sessions with the regular team.
Throw them in the deep end. Give interns real tasks, not secretarial drudge work. It’s worth a few disappointments to find out who can step up to the challenge.
Make it fun. Feed your interns well and take them on occasional field trips. Use them as an excuse to do something fun with the whole team.
If your business is growing, you need interns. Internships aren’t just an investment in a student; they are an investment in your business future.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at June 21, 2006 5:00 AM
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