Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about the ethics behind hiring interns for unpaid positions. If you decide that you want to hire interns for unpaid positions then you must be able to pass the Department of Labor’s test for unpaid interns. However, if you decide that you want reward your interns for their work, then there are many more ways to pay them instead of just a salary. Some of the best alternative payment methods that many small business owners use are bonuses, perks, and training.

 

                Sometimes when we hire interns, we decide to pay them with bonuses. Bonuses are a great incentive for the intern to work hard because they are tied to performance. The best part about bonuses is that they can be molded to any industry. If you are in real estate, then you can decide to give the intern a percentage of all of the real estate deals they worked on or closed. Another example would be giving the intern a percentage of the sales in a product launch. The main thing about giving bonuses is that they must be attainable. Giving an intern an unreachable goal and calling it a bonus is misleading to both the intern and the school and could get your small business in trouble.

 

                Perks are a great form of payment because they provide valuable learning experiences for the intern. Sometimes when we hire interns, we will pay them with perks like inviting them to (and paying for) industry dinners or seminars. Interns love attending professional events for the experience, but they also feel like they are a valuable part of your small business. Another example of a perk could be paying for the intern’s transportation and parking.

 

                Training and development is also a great form of payment. When hiring interns, we often make it clear that they will receive outside training from a third party to help their professional development. It is important to make a distinction between training that benefits the intern at your job and training that they can take with them through future endeavors. Whenever you use training as a reward for your interns, you want to make sure it will be something that will benefit them even after their internship is over.  

 

                When hiring interns you should remember that there are many non monetary forms of payment that you can give your interns. If you can’t afford paying your interns a salary, we suggest using a mix of bonuses, perks, and training to compensate and reward your interns for their efforts. The more value you provide your intern in exchange for their work, the more beneficial the internship experience will be for both the intern and your small business. 

                Many small business owners don’t know how to hire an intern. They are great with running the business and dealing with clients, but when it comes to hiring interns they just don’t have the time or knowledge of what to do. Some of the steps that most small business owners get tripped up on are writing a winning job description, figuring out how and where to post the job description, and screening candidate resumes once they have interns applying. If you can get these three steps right, you can be hiring interns for your small business in no time.

                The problem with writing a job description for a small business internship is that the intern will probably be working all over the place instead of just one area like marketing for example. Many schools are actually fine with broad ranging internships because it will introduce the intern to a wide variety of work experience. The key is to be as detailed as possible with your job description. You should explain things like: what the learning outcomes for the intern will be, the type of work the intern will be doing, and why you are hiring interns and how they will benefit your company.

                There are many options when it comes to posting your internship opportunity. Some small business owners choose to post their internships on mass posting sites like NACElink, UCAN, or LACN. This strategy is good because it makes sure that you are going to receive a large applicant pool. Another popular strategy that many small business owners use is to post their internships to individual schools. Many small business owners hire interns this way because it lets them control the quality and type of students at can apply. It’s also very rewarding when you can hire interns from your alma mater.

                The final step in hiring interns is to screen through all of the resumes. If you wrote a really good job description and followed an effective job posting strategy then you should be receiving a large number of applicants. The standard approach that many small business owners take is to separate resumes into three separate piles for yes, no, and maybes. We like to take our resume screening process one step further and add a resume screening tool. A resume screening tool can be something simple like a requirement to write a cover letter or a small about me paragraph. What you are looking for here is not the best cover letter ever, but the ability for the intern to follow directions. This extra little step helps insure that the best students are applying for your position.

                Every small business owner should look into hiring interns because it is an extremely effective way to help grow and expand your business. When writing your job description, always remember to be as detailed and honest as possible. Next, choose the job posting strategy that will allow you to hire the best interns for your small business. Finally, add in an extra little resume screening tool to make sure you are receiving high quality applicants. 

Many employers are afraid to hire interns for a virtual position because they feel like it’s almost impossible to effectively manage the interns and ensure they are giving you quality work. On the surface these challenges may seem legitimate, but the key to hiring interns for virtual positions is communication! Remember, virtual interns are just like normal interns, they are highly intelligent workers that just need a little guidance. Being able to effectively manage your virtual interns can make you a huge difference in how beneficial a virtual internship program is to both the intern and your small business.

 

Whether you are hiring virtual interns or normal interns, you should always be using a project management tool. A project management tool serves as a way to organize everything in one central place over the internet. By using a project management tool with a ticketing system, you never have to deal with the “I can’t find it” conversation and you will find it easier to track your intern’s progress. Most small businesses that we have encountered wouldn’t be able to exist without project management tools such as Google Docs, Basecamp, or Freshbooks.

 

Ok, so now you have all of your projects organized in one place, but that is only part of the picture. Unless you can hire an intern that is completely self sufficient and motivated, then you are going to need a way to monitor the intern’s daily progress. That is why we always have our virtual interns send us a daily email update. In this update, our interns tells us what they did and the results they got, some of the problems and challenges they faced, and any questions they have for us.  This is great because it opens the communication lines between the small business owner and the virtual intern. We also have the intern include the number of hours they worked on that particular day and the cumulative hours they have worked on the internship so far. In addition to the project management tool tracking their work, this allows the intern to also track their own hours.

 

So now you are at the point where everything seems to be getting tracked and you have open communication lines. This sounds pretty good, but the final step of the process is a weekly conference call with your virtual intern. Written words can only say so much, that is why a live conversation is vital to bringing this all together. During these phone calls we encourage small business owners to not only give instructions and training, but also talk about general topics like sports or TV. This allows you to build a better relationship with your virtual intern and get to know them on a personal basis.

 

Every day small business owners are hiring interns for virtual positions. The main difference that separates successful virtual internship programs and failures is effective management techniques. If you look at the most successful virtual internship programs, they all revolve around clear and open communication lines. The best ways to accomplish open communication lines is to use a project management tool, require daily email updates, and have weekly conference calls. If you implement the strategies outlined above you can hire interns to help expand your small business today! 

As a small business owner, you should be taking advantage of the power of internships to grow your business. Before you create an internship, you want to make sure that the school you decide to hire interns from will be the right fit for your company. You also want to make sure your job description meets the school’s standards for quality internships; otherwise, they will not let you hire interns. By asking the right questions, you can make sure that both you and the intern get the most out of the experience.

The first thing you want to find out is who the main point of contact is at the school. Some schools have a centralized structure where there are one or more people that can answer all of your questions on how to create an internship. Other schools are decentralized, so you are going to have to find a different contact for each type of internship you plan on offering. After you figure out who you should talk to, it is a good idea to get all of their contact information so you can refer back to them throughout the process.

                Some good things to find out are what the schools expectations of the employer are from the internship point of view.  Each school has a different set of rules regarding the relationship between the employer and the intern. Some schools require the intern to be constantly supervised and mentored, while others allow a little more relaxed relationship where the intern can do some independent work. The type of work the intern will be doing is also important.  Many schools have regulations on how much time an intern can spend on non major related work. For example, many small business owners try to hire interns to answer calls or do busy work for them. This is a guaranteed way to get your small business banned from offering internships at that university.  

                Learning more about a school’s on campus recruitment opportunities can also be vital to finding the best candidates. Many colleges have career fairs, business workshops, and recruiting events throughout the fall and spring semesters. By attending these events, you can hire interns that are highly motivated to work for your company.  Attending events also helps you build your brand awareness on campus, which will increase your applicant pool.

                 Knowing the right people to talk to and learning the schools exact expectations of you as the employer, will help you create an internship that will benefit both you and the student. Finally, attending recruitment events will help you build brand awareness on campus for your small business and ensure that the best students apply for your internship.