Interns

By Entrepreneur Staff

Pencil

Interns Definition:

A person, usually a student, participating in a program of temporary, supervised work in a particular field in order to gain practical experience

Some colleges encourage students to work, for a small stipend or even for free, through internship programs. Student interns trade their time and talents for learning marketable job skills. Every year, colleges match millions of students with businesses of all sizes and types. Since they have an eye on future career prospects, students working as interns are usually highly motivated. Does your small business have anything to offer an intern? Actually, small companies offer ideal learning experiences for interns since they typically have a great variety of job tasks and offer a chance to work closely with senior employees.

Keep this in mind: In most cases, offering routine secretarial or "gofer" work won't get you an intern; colleges expect their interns to learn specialized professional skills. Hold up your end of the bargain by providing meaningful work. Can you delegate a direct-mail campaign? Have an intern help on photo shoots? Ask her to put together a client presentation? Get involved in a technology implementation?

Check with your local college or university to find out about their internship programs. Usually, the school will send you an application, asking you to describe the job's responsibilities and your needs in terms of major, skill level and other qualifications. Then the school will send you the resumes of students they think could work for you.

The best part of hiring interns? If you're lucky, you'll find a gem who'll stay with your company after the internship is over.

More from Employees

Absenteeism

An employee's deliberate or habitual absence from work

See full definition

Consultants

A person engaged to provide professional advice or services for a fee, but not as an employee of the business that engages him or her

See full definition

Cross Training

Teaching your employees the skills and responsibilities of another position at your company to increase their effectiveness

See full definition

Hiring

The practice of finding, evaluating, and establishing a working relationship with future employees, interns, contractors or consultants

See full definition

Latest Articles

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Real Estate

3 Emerging Trends Shaping the Future of Real Estate

These three innovations are reshaping the real estate industry — discover tips for effectively covering these trends.