Internship program – An obvious solution to startup woes
About the Author: Anuradha Agarwal is the founder of Multibhashi, an e-learning platform for learning English from different regional languages, free of cost in a fun and intuitive way. She talks about internship programs and provides valuable tips for hiring and managing interns.
Like most startups, Multibhashi set off as a bootstrapped venture with unlimited to-dos and a limited budget. Working with interns was an obvious solution to the problem but when we actually started the process, the results were not exactly encouraging.
We posted the requirement at multiple portals but the first challenge was that the visibility of the posts was low and hence we received very few applications. Secondly, even on the few portals where the number of applications seemed to be considerable, the applicants were either unavailable, disinterested (in spite of applying), or poorly qualified.
After a few weeks of struggle and disappointment, we finally came across a couple of good portals among which Internshala has stood the test of time. Postings are quick, responses in the form of applications are fast and considerable (our last post attracted close to 130 applications in a matter of 3 days), and the quality of applicants is so good that choosing a few among so many is tough.
We have till date hired and worked with more than 15 interns through Internshala from different parts of the country since we are trying to provide English learning to the speakers of almost all regional languages in India absolutely free of cost through engaging audio-visual lessons and quizzes. Hiring interns with diverse backgrounds gave us access to a variety of perspectives both in relation to the product improvement as well as marketing.
Hiring an intern is one thing and managing her is another task altogether! Since all our interns were supposed to be virtual, managing them was even more challenging. There are a few things which we got right and which made our experience with interns smoother like:
1) Sample assignment:
Before hiring an intern, we always assigned her a sample task with clear output expectations, a predefined deadline, and associated payout. This helped us gauge a candidate’s competence & sincerity and reduced the chances of regret before engaging an intern for a longer project.
2) Closed-ended tasks:
We made sure that whatever piece of work we assigned to an intern, the quality standards, reference material, and scope were immaculately defined. This saved a lot of frustration on both sides because of the less rework required.
3) Output-linked stipend:
Instead of working on time bound stipend, we have always linked an intern’s stipend with the amount of output produced. This way, the intern stays motivated to complete the assignments on time and looks forward to more work. One of our Tamil intern, Aishwarya Lakshmi, almost always beats the deadline by a huge margin and the quality of her output is unquestionable.
4) Prompt feedback:
We try to work in tandem with the interns, notwithstanding the long distance relationship and make sure that the submissions are duly checked and a crisp feedback is sent to them as soon as possible. Constructive feedback at the right time arrests the multiplier effect of errors on future submissions.
A happy intern, like a satisfied customer, helps in the word of mouth publicity and even refers more interns. Akshara, after interning with us for a few months, introduced her cousin, Mamtha, who proved be a fabulous resource for our Kannada module.
Interns are a source of huge untapped energy for start-ups and the likes of Internshala are helping the ecosystem by making the process smoother.
Planning to hire interns for your company? Please post your requirements here
