Recruiting Strategy
6 ways you can change how you hire summer interns
Orla Hodnett
HireHive
Orla Hodnett
HireHive
Orla Hodnett
HireHive
Orla Hodnett
HireHive
Internships: they're a key part of the recruiting process. 60% of interns or work experience candidates go on to be full-time employees. It's a unique way of recruiting, as it gives you the opportunity to fully vet a suitable candidate and give them training relevant to the day-to-day job, before offering a full time role. Interns often bring new technical skills and challenge existing processes, so this method of hiring is essential for making a good skills and culture match.
Interns often bring new technical skills and challenge existing processes.
Finding suitable university students or graduates with the appropriate skills, and in light of competition from bigger organisations, can be a considerable task. Here's a few things to consider when looking for a star intern:
Time and Place: consider flexibility in the internship or work experience you offer. Your requirements for staff may even go beyond the summer months. Is it essential that an intern be there for the whole working week? Or could they carry out the necessary tasks remotely? Some organisations have gone very experimental in their mode of internship, offering virtual internships for the purposes of learning on the job skills. Very modern altogether.
Back to school: whether you have need for an intern, a work experience candidate or similar, a university partnership could be the way to go. By getting in contact with a university, you can target degree programs or courses which relate to your industry and find interns with interests or qualifications close to your requirements. If you have very specific requirements, you could target a particular class or module. By getting in contact, you may even become involved in work placement programs for students.
An internship is as much about providing a learning experience for your intern, as it is about meeting your own staffing requirements.
Hey buddy: as an internship is as much about providing a learning experience for your intern, as it is about meeting your own staffing requirements, you should have a system which caters to your intern’s needs. A buddy system places your intern in contact with an experienced member of your staff to teach them the ins and outs of your organisation. It’s often a good idea to pair them up with a relatively recent hire, who still remembers what it’s like to be the new kid on the block.
Hello?: reconsider your means of advertising to college students or how you communicate with them. Snapchat is the social media platform du jour, so consider that for advertising roles. Using social media tools helps you to develop your brand and communicate with potential hires in a relatively authentic way. Creativity in this area can help you keep down the cost to hire, which doesn’t hurt either.
Game plan: before even considering hiring an intern, set out a plan for your internship. A vague outline or a lack of clarity can be a cause for concern for any potential candidates. Set out what you hope the organisation and the candidate to take from the experience. If resources are not available for a week of training, work out a scheme of ongoing, on-the-job training. Even stating this in your job description can give candidates a good understanding of what will be expected of them and what they can hope to learn. A set of clear objectives will appeal to any driven candidate.
Ditch tradition: the traditional hiring process may not be the best idea for an internship, as it is simply too expensive and time consuming.The average time it takes to fill a post is well over a month, which may not be an option if you have a staffing requirement and a brief window of time to fill it with a suitable candidate. As stated already, embracing online tools, like Twitter or Meetup.com are very cost effective and reach the right kind of candidates.
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Hilary Dempsey Head of HR at Life Credit union
