The traditional way that small business owners do a background check when hiring interns is to ask for past references. Then they call up your old boss and ask him/her a few questions about when you worked there 2-3 years ago. Yea your boss remembers you but it’s been a while since you worked there so the best they can do is give general answers like, “He was a hard worker” or, “She was very motivated.” Does this really provide any value to your new employer? No! Those responses could have been about anyone because they said nothing specific about who you are or what you did. Ladies and Gentleman, the old way of giving recommendations is dead! Hiring interns using the old method is really tough, which is why in this article you’re going to learn how we give killer recommendations that actually work!

 

                The biggest thing that sets our recommendations apart from 99 percent of other small businesses is that we take the time to shoot a quick video. This way, our interns will always have a great recommendation from us that they can host on their YouTube channel and show future employers. There is no need for employers to play phone tag trying to get in touch with us, and we don’t have to try and remember all the past accomplishments of our interns.

 

                Whenever you are shooting a recommendation video for an intern you want to remember to be as specific as possible. We will say things like, “John exceed expectations on project A which directly affected our small business in these ways…” From a small business owner’s point of view a recommendation like that can go a long way. Obviously not every intern is going to be a superstar, but you can always find something good to say about how they improved over the course of the internship or how they were really good at time management. The key here is to refer to specific examples where the intern shined and include numbers or percentages where appropriate.

 

                We are in the internet age so we better start taking advantage of it. The benefits of video recommendations outweigh the traditional phone call in every category. They can be hosted on the internet so your interns always have them and it looks really professional when they are able to show their new employer a personal video from their boss. Your interns will also strive to exceed expectation when they know that they are going to be rewarded with such a great recommendation at the end. As long as you remember to be as specific as possible and site examples you will be giving your interns killer recommendations in no time. 

As a small business owner, hiring interns does come with some important responsibilities. But don’t worry; these responsibilities are minor when compared to the amazing benefits that come with hiring interns. Some of the top responsibilities include making sure the internship is set in a learning environment, keeping in contact with the intern’s university, and writing a post-internship evaluation.

 

                When hiring interns, it’s always important to see things through the eyes of the intern as well as from your point of view as the small business owner. In addition to being able to put real world experience down on their resume, the main reason students take internships is to learn. When you hire an intern, you are responsible for maintaining a learning environment. This means being open to answering any questions they have and guiding them in the right direction on projects and assignments. Having a learning environment really sets the tone of the internship and makes it enjoyable for the intern to show up to work every day and help your small business succeed.

 

                Another responsibility you take on when you hire an intern is the responsibility to keep in contact with the intern’s school. Many small business owners think that after they hire an intern they are done with the university until the end, but this is not the case. From the school’s point of view, they want to make sure that things are running smoothly and the intern is fulfilling the duties listed in your job description. Some schools will go as far as to make on site visits to your place of business, while others will just want to email back and forth during the internship to make sure things are ok. We recommend emailing or calling your internship coordinator every now and then to discuss the internship because it helps your small business form a strong relationship with the university.

 

                In most internship programs you will also be required to fill out a post-internship evaluation form. When filling out this form, it is always important to be honest. Many small business owners will only state the positives about the intern instead of the negatives. This approach actually hurts the intern because it doesn’t give them anything to work on and improve.

 

                As you can see, hiring interns does come with responsibilities. It may seem easy to maintain a learning environment, keep in contact with the school, and fill out an evaluation form, but these are actually very important and can mean the difference between a good and bad internship program. If you have any questions or comments about your responsibilities when you hire an intern make sure to post them in the comments section and we will be glad to answer them. If we get enough feedback we’ll post a more in depth second part of this article…maybe legal responsibilities???? 

Intern Profits  is a website that shows business owners how they can hire interns to work for their company. This is the sixth video in a series that updates entrepreneurs and small business owners on the various tasks that an intern can do for them.

Mike the intern explains how the Intern Profits with a training video small business owners can give to their interns to help establish an internet presence for their small business. However, this video covers so much information that Mike decided to create a supplementary social SEO training course that answers almost any question your interns will ever have about implementing social SEO in your small business. Mike also explains how this supplementary social SEO training course has helped to automate many of their business process.


Check out our site to learn how you too can hire interns to automate your small business processes and implement social SEO to establish an internet presence for your small business. At InternProfits, we provide entrepreneurs the tools and resources to find, hire and manage interns to help grow and expand their business while creating educational opportunities for tomorrow's talent today. Discover how your small business can hire interns to automate your business processes today.


If you want to learn how you can quickly grow and expand your small business by utilizing the power of interns then head over to our site to learn more.

The main question we are constantly asked is what exactly can an intern do for me? Well, at http://www.internprofits.com we like to approach this question differently and ask what can’t they do for you? Business owners are unaware of the endless amount tasks that can be completed by interns.

After viewing this video you will gain a better understanding of the numerous amounts of tasks that an intern can undergo such as market research, website creation, surveys of your customer base, and countless other things. You will also learn how to utilize these interns to gain an edge on the competition so your company can achieve the upper hand!

With so many students out there looking for internships and experience, it certainly should not be that hard to find an intern. You can easily find an intern in places like Craigs’s list or by running an ad in your local newspaper, but the quality of applicants will not be that high. At InternProfits, we personally like to approach colleges and universities as we find them to be the best places to find the highest caliber interns. To begin, you need to identify the school or schools that you want to approach. If you attended a trade/vocational school or college/university, it is normally a good idea to start your search there. We suggest hiring interns from your Alma matter because having a common interest with your intern is always a good start to an internship. Being an alumni may also help you when speaking to the intern coordinators at the school because it is a natural way for you to build rapport with that person and quickly and easily establish credibility for your business.

 

If you didn’t attend a trade/vocational school or college/university, then you might want to focus on hiring interns from schools that are geographically close to your small business. While it is not important to find an intern that can physically come to your place of business, it might be nice for you to be able to meet up with prospective interns for interviews or to network with the school’s coordinators. Another option that many small businesses choose to do is hire virtual interns from well known educational institutions. A virtual internship is a situation where the intern works out of their own home or office and communicates with you over the internet on a daily/weekly basis. Normally computer science, journalism, or internet marketing students will opt to take virtual internships. Virtual internships are starting to become a very hot trend because it gives employers an almost unlimited pool of high quality applicants.

 

Our biggest suggestion outside of hiring interns from your Alma matter would be to search for a school that offers majors in the area you are looking for an intern. For example, not every school offers a computer science and software development program to their students. If you are looking for an intern to help with your computer systems, then it would be best to find a university that offers those types of classes. 

                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. 

Mike the intern shares how he was able to promote the http://www.internprofits.com website through guest blogging. He goes on to show how his post was featured on a newsletter that goes out to over 5,000 employers and how he was able to capture 77% of all clicks on the newsletter. Not only did the guest blog post help Intern Profits get massive exposure online, but it also helped form an industry related business relationship. Finally, Mike urges small business owners to have their interns guest blog so they too can get massive exposure online.

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!