Group Internship Learning Experiences
Whether you're a family-run, small or large business, having the right people on your team can make all the difference between succeeding or failing. And while hiring new employees can bring fresh, creative ideas to your workplace, it can also take weeks or even months to onboard them to do their jobs efficiently.
In many cases, a great alternative is to offer interns full-time employment when the time is right. Not only does this help you and your company in combating employee attrition, but it can also provide much-needed stability in company culture. Listed below are four areas you can focus on to help interns transition smoothly to their new role and responsibilities.
Reflect on Previous Internship Learning Experiences
At the start of their new position, take some time with your former intern to self-reflect on where they began and what they accomplished. You can do this by asking what competencies they improved on most or what changes they made during their most productive quarter. You can also have them acknowledge useful and important universal skills. While they'll learn new day-to-day functions, these building blocks are still a great foundation to embark on a new role.
You can also go even further and help them list their internship on their resumes in a “work experience” or “internship section” to showcase the real-world experiences it brought them. You can also write and edit an internship experience reflection essay together for them to share on their professional platforms like LinkedIn or an online portfolio. You can even repost them on your company website's blog section or on your social media channels to drive more engagement to these stories.
Help Them Create Lasting Habits for Stability
Although adjusting to this new chapter can be exciting, it can also be a daunting thought for many. With new things to consider like life insurance, health insurance, long-term disability insurance or retirement matching, industry or financial jargon can be intimidating for recent hires who've never had to take these things into consideration before. Studies have even shown that upwards of 93% of GenZ are anxious about their overall finances. As a leader, suggest associations, national foundations and 501(c)(3) nonprofits that provide pro bono financial consultations that interns can utilize for one-on-one conversations that avoid the high prices of certified financial planners.
A more hands-on approach for increasing their financial confidence and overall feeling of security is to create individualized SMART financial goals together. While some of these goals may seem unattainable now, take small steps together to empower them to get there in the near future. For example, if they want to become a homeowner by a certain age, talk about what credit score they'll need and how expensive of a house they can afford. Or, if another goal is to retire by a particular year, research ways investing can help them achieve this.
Invest in Their Education
As they kick off this new chapter, it's also a great time to introduce them to the 10 Rockefeller habits. As an intern, it's unlikely they have been exposed to these and these habits give them the best practices of the best companies. This transitional period offers an ideal time to level set with them to ensure they are starting off on the right foot. One key onboarding step is to help them understand the importance of core values and core purpose and whether they fit them. The importance of these in their daily job is understood when a company lives its purpose and values.
One of their goals might be to clarify how they want to measure or quantify their efforts and success. For ideas, they can consult individuals on their immediate teams or larger departments. Together, they can set daily, weekly or monthly benchmarks and metrics to hit. Now more than ever before, these open and honest conversations with remote workers are an important way for employees to meet one another and hold one another accountable.
Broadcast Future Opportunities & Positions
As they move up from interns to full-time employees, it's important to continue to make your people aware of how they can grow at your company. Not only will this keep them motivated and engaged, but it can also allow them to see where they might fit in the company soon. Continue to share promotions or positions of horizontal movement that they can apply to and what career roadmap people typically follow to get there. You can also use a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) to manage your employee lifecycle at your company.
Lastly, when the time does come for them to go through the process of internal interviews, be diligent about what they need to do before and after this time. Prior to the interview, make all employees aware of the job description, requirements needed and any job-specific skills they need to be proficient. Even if they don't get the job, host follow-up videos or in-person sessions as an empathetic way to circle back. This will let them know actionable advice that they can improve on and let them know that someone is rooting for them.
If you need additional guidance, contact us for our Guide on How to Hire Rockstar Employees. Happy hiring!