How to run a successful internship program – from someone who did!
About the Company: Flickstree is India’s first intelligent movie discovery platform that helps users find what movies to watch and where to find them. It’s run diligently by three partners who share the secret behind running a successful internship program.
Interns are often considered as the backbone of any organization, especially for a startup dealing with merely a handful of employees. At Flickstree, we have a proud team of 6 full-time interns (Akshay, Komal, Anagha, Chaitali, Sugandhi, and Laxman) in charge of the daily in-house processes including data sampling, social media management, content creation, and creative writing.
To quote the business Moghul, Arte Nathan, “You can’t teach employees to smile. They have to smile before you hire them.” This is why we believe that the recruiting process is fundamental to having a reliable intern that’s not just capable but eager to get work done. As we learned the priorities and driving forces for young students looking to jump into the working sector, we incorporated a few revisions in the modus operandi of our recruitment:
1. Bagging the first mover advantage:
While dealing with an internship application, we found that being in constant & immediate contact with the applicant can heavily influence his/her decision to be recruited. We ensure that our interns are contacted on the same day of their application to keep the opportunity fresh in their minds.
Waiting for many applicants to register before beginning to contact them, would only depreciate your company’s image in the eyes of initial applicants.
2. Avoiding the transparency turmoil:
We believe that every job seeker wants as much information as possible directed towards them while beginning an application. We aim to be very clear with what we expect from our interns by giving a detailed description of the job profile, including generally overlooked aspects such as the location of workplace, stipend, and conveyance costs. We do not want any intern to be blindsided with the responsibilities she was not aware of beforehand.
3. Consistency vs Contingency:
As recruiters, an important rule is to not underutilize talent and more often than not, employers find themselves sticking to the job profile even if it doesn’t match the skill/forte of the hired intern. We strongly believe that flexibility in job allocation can play a huge role in developing a young career and helping interns discover their own talent.
We faced such a case while recruiting Telecallers for an ongoing project. During the face-to-face interview, we realized that Akshay, while fully capable of doing the Tele calling job, showed promise in digital marketing and content creation concepts. It was then that we decided to create a position suitable to maximize the potential of the selected intern. This helped us expand our reachability and adaptability in the long run.
4. Increase intern involvement:
We believe that the provision of responsibilities is the primary motivation, particularly in the case of young aspiring entrepreneurs. It would be lackadaisical on our part to micromanage and scrutinize the work of a young intern, who has entered an organizational culture with a fresh perspective.
Empirically speaking, we’ve also found that intern retention is also an aspect most companies need to work upon. Thus, we focus on providing the interns with a ‘why’ rather than just a ‘what & when’ regarding their day to day activities. If interns feel involved in the day to day operations, they are more likely to work wholeheartedly with a sense of fulfillment and simultaneously add to the culture we are trying to build.
These are four simple, yet essential tips for running a successful internship program and to keep interns engaged even after they have parted ways. We, even today, have previous interns turning in blog posts, movie reviews, and valuable feedback that helps us progress in the right direction!
If you are also looking to start an internship program, please post your intern requirements here.
