Over the past 5 years, Transformation Marketing has been a launching pad for interns looking for experience in their field. We’ve been home to over 25 “bean sprouts” and have a history of hiring over 1/3 of those “sprouts” after their internship is over. Here’s the “secret” to how we’ve run our internship program and the atmosphere we create for our interns.
1. Our interns get real-life experience.
This is the one thing we do that is most near and dear to my heart. 9 years ago I did an internship with the Buffalo County Fairgrounds where I got real, hands-on experience promoting their county fair. They gave me the reigns and let me drive. They listened and took my ideas seriously. They allowed me to be creative and have fun with the promotions. This was an experience I’d never forget. But I heard about other students’ internships. Many did not have the same experience I did. They answered phones. They did paperwork. Their days drug on while mine flew by. I wanted to be sure that if I ever had the opportunity to bring interns on, I gave them the experience I had. So, when Shannon allowed me the opportunity to start our internship program, I jumped at it. Our interns get their hands dirty. They work on real projects for real clients. They come to our brainstorming meetings. They even meet with clients sometimes. They get the opportunity to be creative and share their ideas instead of taking directive and work within a strict set of parameters.
2. Our interns are part of the team.
They come to the same Monday morning meetings our full-time employees do. They are held to the same standards. Their ideas are given the same weight. They are 100% part of the Bean Team while they’re here.
3. Our interns are learning.
Because they’re getting hands-on, real-life experiences, our interns are learning how to apply what they’ve learned in school to the “real world”. We often encourage them to evaluate how they’re doing that and what they haven’t learned in a classroom that they’ve been able to learn during their internship.
4. Our interns are held accountable.
Just because it’s an internship doesn’t mean we don’t expect them to show up like we would any other employee. Like I said, they’re a part of the team. That means they have to log their hours, show up, and do their work. We are giving them “real-world” experience, so they need a true, real-world experience.
5. Our interns are participating in an extended job interview.
The entire time our interns are here, we are evaluating. Not just to give them feedback or to do their formal evaluation at the end of their internship, but evaluating how they fit within our culture and how they produce their work. In the end, we’re evaluating whether they’d be a good fit for our company someday. That system has worked very well for us. Of the 25+ interns we’ve had in our walls, we’ve ended up hiring 9 of them in some capacity. NINE! Several of the others have been able to use their internship here as a launch pad to other great things, some even ending up at national companies.