Summer Internship Planning Guidelines
Providing a “win-win” situation for your organization and summer interns will maximize the experience for all involved. Interns will provide useful project assistance for your organization while also gaining on-the-job training that will assist them with their future career search.
- Decide how many interns are necessary and where they will work. Consider:
- Workload and the availability of intern projects
- Who will supervise interns
- Office space requirements
- Budget for the cost of a summer intern (about $5,000 if working with the Oregon Management Internship)
- Front-end time necessary to plan for and implement necessary training
- Identify major projects for interns (create meaningful and challenging projects and tasks)
- Be sure to have some additional projects available in case an intern successfully completes a project ahead of schedule
- Plan ongoing weekly meetings to stay up-to-date with the intern's progress
- Create shared measurable learning objectives
- Try to include the intern in organization events such as staff meetings, a tour of the entire facility, special development classes (such as business writing, leadership, etc)
- Encourage opportunities for networking and informational interviewing with key personnel.
- Create a true learning experience by using constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. Consider allowing intern to propose and implement an individual project
- Allow intern to offer advice and feedback on the experience. Questions to consider:
- If you designed the internship program, what would you do differently?
- What did you enjoy most about your internship with us?
- Do you have any additional comments or feedback that you would like to share with us?
- Do you have any suggestions for your supervisor?
- Think and treat interns as potential employees, not just temporary help—internships are, by far, the number one way by which new talent is identified.
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