Thinking of hiring an intern? Here's what you need to know.
Thinking of hiring an intern? Here's what you need to know.
Over the last three years, we at LMF Network have taken on numerous interns and volunteers. These individuals have come through our doors with little "professional" experience and gone on to start side hustles, gain full-time roles, earn salaries starting from £30,000 and even win awards. They have added value to the LMF Network's practises, including finding gaps in our policies and processes, encouraging us to start a mentoring programme, leading our social media strategy and even reminding us how to get back up when things are looking dire. Interns have a nativity about them which in some way can truly benefit businesses, especially those who are changing course.
I believe that to make your interns into superstars and empower them to go from intern to freelancer to full-time staff (as we have in LMF), you must be ready to take on the responsibility of teaching them professional skills, level them up in corporate knowledge and mentor them in their career path.
I actively share my successes with interns and, for that reason, have received numerous requests asking for advice. So, here is what you need to know about hiring an intern:
Who's an intern?
An intern is a student or trainee who works to gain work experience or satisfy requirements for qualifications. An intern is NOT someone you hand tasks to without training and expect them to provide free labour. An intern is not defined by their identity characteristics but by experience or lack thereof.
What are the benefits of an intern?
Interns can bring new ways of working, perspectives and experiences into a business. Let's face it; when you start working, no matter how woke or open-minded you may be, the workspace does influence you to have tunnel vision, often because you're so in your business that you don't see it from the outside. The great things about interns are that they come with their research, ways of doing things and hacks. A good example is social media - I was not (despite what you think) great on social media. Our intern trained us on content planning, canva and scheduling tools, making the execution much more effortless.
Cognitive diversity
Simplicity of experience
Outside-of-the-box approach
Hacks and magical tools
Ambition, hustle & drive
What are the challenges with interns?
You can't have the good without the awkward. Interns are ready to get going, but often they run before they can walk and need training. On top of that, some interns may come into your business to gain brand clout. My advice? Hire fast on passion and skills, and let go faster when not performing CLEARLY DEFINED tasks and measurable.
Need career guidance - especially with little to no experience
Require clearly defined tasks and measurables
Have little to no professional experience, so I may need to have regular 121s
May have different drivers than the business and business people
Have little to no experience in managing life, work and business (so be kind)
What do you need before you hire interns?
Okay, It's easier to answer this in bullet points and lay it all out.
Know WHY you want an intern - value add, experience, tasks etc
Provide information on WHAT an intern will be doing, with CLEAR tasks, time and measurable KPIs, contacts, steps of progression etc
Understand HOW the onboarding will look like and WHEN you will carve out time for 121s, career development meetings and skill building
Confirm WHEN and WHERE you want the intern to work - remember this is a task-based role versus time
Commit ONE person to be your interns' primary point of contact and another (not manager) to be a buddy or mentor within the business
Organise REGULAR sharing and learning sessions, where your intern leads and can take ownership of what they are doing, learning and contributing to
Communicate what GOOD looks like, what best practice is and what the process is if things don't work out
Define the probation period and what happens if both parties aren't aligned in or successful at moving forward
Share the compensation package, skills-swapping desire or other
Where can you find interns?
We have some AMAZING TALENT in our LMF NETWORK community, and ALL our interns and contract staff have come through here. Feel free to drop me a line if you are interested—otherwise, local universities, job centres, networks, social media and recruitment sites.
What do I need ready before reaching out to interns?
If and when reaching out, have a clear job description, mission statement, link to your business website, link to the founder's Linkedin, an ED&I statement, compensation and skill swapping information, a few notes on what day-to-day tasks look like and an application process, with clearly defined processes, e.g. the number of rounds, where the interviews will take place and start dates. [you can find a template on our website for this].
What's the cost to a business of recruitment, resource and upskilling?
I can't (and won't) give you a definite numerical amount because I have found far more value-added working with interns in LMF Network than not. Our interns have helped us get things wrong quickly, made us lean/agile, educated us on new ways of working, and encouraged us to think outside the box.
Yes, there is the counter-argument that senior or experienced individuals come in and get going. And now, as we scale and are figuring it out, we will be hiring more senior stakeholders to lead on business units (which we've only just defined). The cons are that such people with experience cost a lot more money, they may have their ways of working from one business to another, and they are somewhat moulded in the corporate world.
Working with interns, there is a lower cost of recruitment, onboarding and general day-to-day going into their pocket (and therefore out of business). However, there is a business responsibility to train, listen and level up where possible - this is a cost to a more experienced professional in time, hours and tasks. Sometimes interns need help understanding studies or getting them wrong, which may take time and effort. If this happens, my advice is to have a transparent process, share best practise and have a 3-strike rule.
If you go about it emotionally (like I have before), you will want to support interns who are causing problems and fighting fires, costing you time and effort and putting you behind your growth plans. In 2021, I kept on two interns for longer than I should have, thinking I could help and train them, despite seeing slight improvement or commitment from their side. When it started to cost the business financially with clients and the community, I put on my business hat and communicated that it wasn't working. This was not a 15-minute phone call but a 1-hour meeting with examples and recommendations on how their skills can best be put to you, and I helped them to transfer what they had done (honestly) onto their CV and cover letter so they could find new jobs. Don't be mean but manage people and expectations.
Want more help or information?
Feel free to contact me at hello@sonyabarlow.co.uk for more support, job description templates, inclusion advisory, and your business opportunities to share with the more comprehensive LMF Network and any points you want to add to this text that I have missed out on.
Sonyabarlow.co.uk & @LMFnetwork
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