How to manage virtual internship programme successfully – List Dose experience
Toukir, Content Manager at List Dose, is currently managing more than 30 remotely working interns. He recently shared his experience with us of running a virtual internship programme at List Dose and how he manages his interns. Below are the excerpts of the talk.
Q. What is your philosophy of having an internship programme at List Dose ?
Ans: Well, List Dose is a content based and information oriented p0rtal, so the primary idea behind running an internship programme is to find great writers. Through our internship programme, we provide budding writers an opportunity to showcase and brush-up their flair for writing, and in return we get great content.
Q. Have you ever done any important project in which interns played a critical role? Please elaborate.
Ans: Yes. You see, it is only because our interns played a vitally important role, our current project is in its final phase only in 2 months. We’re anticipating it would take at least 5 to 6 months to complete the project, but thanks to our super enthusiastic interns we completed it only in 2 months.
Q. While hiring interns, what are the skills/attributes that you look for in a candidate?
Ans: Since we offer mostly content writing internships, we look for excellent writing skills and passion for writing while assessing a candidate.
Q. Have you ever made mistakes while hiring and ended up hiring totally wrong candidate(s)? What were those mistakes? And in your opinion, what are the common pain points of intern hiring?
Ans: This is my first hiring, and I have been fortunate enough to find good interns. Interns working with us are very dedicated and loyal towards their work, and I am very happy with their performance.
And speaking of pain points, we mostly offer work from home internships, so for me finding right candidates is not much challenging- I am sure there are many students out there with passion for writing, and if they get paid to do things they like, they’d definitely show interest.
Q. You mostly offer work from home/campus internships, so how difficult or easy is it to manage remotely working interns?
Ans: Well, virtual internship programme has its own advantages and disadvantages. If we talk about advantages, interns are easily available round the year; and from a student’s point of view, they can work according to their convenience, and they don’t have any restrictions like coming office on time, etc.
So far I have faced one challenge: since communication happens over phone, email or on chat, so for remotely working interns, sometimes it’s really tough to explain them what exactly and how exactly you want a particular thing to be done. And occasionally, you’d find a gap between what you expected and what you got.
Q. A message that would you like give to the companies/start-ups running internship programmes?
Ans: According to me, companies should give interns a chance to learn something new- something that interns would enjoy and it’d also add value to their career- rather than just expecting them to work like an employee.
Q. What is your message to students who are looking for internships?
Ans: Just be confident and try- don’t ever think that you are not capable of doing things. Put continuous efforts to learn and improve your skills.
The internship is the only thing which will make you ready to work in a live environment.
If you’re an employer and want to share your experience of running an internship programme, or want to hire interns for your own organization, drop a line at shadab@internshala.com. We’d love to hear from you.
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