Save time and money with an intern! A How To Guide…

Getting An Intern

• Prepare your “job or intern” position.
  What will they be assisting with?
  More importantly, what will they be LEARNING?
  Is it paid? Unpaid?
  How long is it?
  Any requirements in education or experience?
• Prepare a contract. Nothing fancy, just this is how long you will be here, here are your responsibilities, and we don’t have to give you a job when this is done, but one may be available to you. Or something to that extent.
• Visit your local college websites.
  On here there should be a Career Center or other link available with more information on their unique steps for posting your internship opportunity.
• Visit your local colleges.
  Ask the students where the Career Center is.
  When arriving, speak with the admin assistant there. Butter them up, they are your key to getting in front of all the other opportunities. They can also help you with the process of adding your position online, on their bulletin boards and tell you more about intern workshops or fairs they may have coming up.
  This may mean a personal letter to the schools teachers in your field of expertise to announce to their student who may not have found you otherwise.
• Post your internship online. (If you haven’t done so already form the above.)
• Once you receive emails, start interviewing your interns. Perhaps have them come in for a “trial run” day. Make sure they are interested in both your industry and, if you’re working with Cal Coast, that they have an itch to learn about marketing. Especially social media!It’s a good idea to have your interview questions ready as a checklist to see what they know about Twitter, Facebook, blogging, emails, etc.
• Select your intern.
  Paid interns need to be reported. Check with your payroll company.
  Unpaid interns need to sign that contract!
  Decide on intern hours. Often times they have school schedules.
• Start training!
  Use them to help you with your daily needs. show them the ropes. What does it take to run a business like yours?!
  And of course, schedule them to meet with a Cal Coast rep to train on how to best optimize the use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn & blogs to keep your social media campaign getting you referrals!
  Let  US show them how to maximize the resources while YOU tell them about the opportunities to post about. You are the Zen master of your industry, no?
• Complete Internship
  Once the internship is complete, make sure you follow any instructions the college gave you for completing paperwork or forms for the student to receive college credit.
  If pleased with their work, offer them a paid position at your company to continue working on what they’ve been trained.
  If not, offering a referral letter is also helpful to the student in the future.
  And be sure to ask them if they have friends with the same focus who would be interested in the next internship.