FROM THE BLOG
Making the Most of Your Summer Internship Program
Posted by Prospera Financial on July 11, 2019
Summer is here and so are the interns. Did you happen to hire an intern to help out this summer? A lot of us remember our high school or college internships as weeks filled with getting coffee, making copies, and taking notes in meetings. But you can help them get more from their experience besides “grunt work”. This doesn’t just apply to summer interns, but any short-term employee or entry-level positions you’ve filled or planned to fill can gain from some of the actions below:
Show them how service is done
These days, customer service is critical to every business. Have your interns listen to the proper way to answer the phone, ask them how they would handle certain situations, or find some online customer service classes they can watch to get them up to speed. Being able to interact with others is invaluable for emerging professionals today.
Get around to those projects that seem to get overlooked
We all have those tasks that we keep putting off. Maybe your back closet is full of files that you really need scanned and loaded into your online system. It may seem like tedious work, but giving your interns a chance to get to know their way around popular computer systems or CRMs is valuable experience and great for resumes. And you’ve got yourself a clean closet.
Check in on their status
Our president and CEO, David Stringer, hosts an “intern hour” each week, giving them the chance to check in and learn from him. Not only does this give them a chance to get advice and feel heard by an important leader in the office, but it gives David a chance to see what’s going on behind the scenes from an employee’s perspective.
Make the most of your internship program, not only for yourself, but for your new employee. Investing in them during these next couple months could pay off – you never know if you’ve found someone to come back and work for you full time – they won’t forget the effort you put in to help make their summer internship a valuable one.
Have a great summer!
Katie Wengler
Account Manager
