How Summer Students Can Boost Your Organization
While it's true that many post-secondary students have a shortage of work experience, that's not a reason to turn them away. In fact it may be one of the reasons why you should hire them!
Students Increase Productivity
Many of the projects that you may have been putting off can be assigned to a summer student. Instead of letting them sit on the back burner for another six months, you can get those small projects out of the way this summer. Often, you'll find that those seemingly unimportant projects can greatly improve your company's success once they've been completed.
Having a summer student on board will makes things easier not only on those employees who are not on vacation, but also to those who are. If they can come back from their holiday to an empty inbox, they'll be able to turn their freshly recharged energies toward the most current projects, instead of toward catching up on the backlog that developed while they were gone.
Students Re-invigorate Your Organization
One of the less obvious benefits of hiring a summer student is the vitality and energy that they can bring to your organization. When hiring a permanent employee, experience is generally considered an asset. The same can be true when hiring a temporary employee. However, one of the great things about a summer student is that, despite their inexperience, there is a good chance that they want to have a future in your industry. This desire will usually show up in the form of passion and excitement for the job.
This is where inexperience can become an advantage. Because they haven't spent years in the industry learning the "right way" to do things, inexperienced summer students may surprise you with new ways of thinking about the problems your company faces on a daily basis.
Students aren't constrained by a “this is the way it has always been done” mentality.
Students' unbiased viewpoint may help you discover a more efficient or effective way of doing things. Make the most out of your intern’s inquisitive nature by encouraging them to analyze processes and policies — then challenge them to improve those they think fall short.
Sometimes the idea will be so simple that you'll wonder why you didn't think of it yourself. That's the benefit of having someone who can view your industry through fresh eyes.
Students can Work on Special Projects
We all have projects we wish we had time for, and an intern can help you get yours off the ground. For example, maybe you’ve been meaning to increase your company’s social media presence. For small businesses in particular interns can offer expertise in areas where a business may be lacking, and can provide assistance with social media launch and/or development, digital marketing, and website design and development. Hand over the job to a technically proficient intern and ask them to present you with a recommendation.
Summer should be stress free for everyone.
Contact Wendy Ellen Inc. to develop your strategy!
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Best Practices for Hiring Summer Students
and Interns
Provide Students and Interns with Real Work Projects
Providing interns with real work is number one to ensuring your program’s success. Interns should be doing work related to their major, that is challenging, that is recognized by the organization as valuable, and that fills the entire work term.
Create a Welcoming Environment
Introduce your student employee to all of the staff, including full-time staff, other student workers, faculty and management. This gives the student a sense of belonging and is common courtesy for any person starting a new job with new co-workers.
Explain all Departmental Procedures
Provide helpful handouts if there are numerous details to
grasp immediately, including how to answer the phone,
who handles what types of calls, what forms are needed,
frequently asked questions, staff member phone extensions, important names or codes to remember and computer procedures for special systems. Be sure to define what is
acceptable for student workers in terms of attendance, punctuality, appropriate attire, breaks and other basic aspects of your departmental work environment.
Give the Student a Tour of Your Workspace
Point out where things are, such as supplies, restrooms, vending machines, copiers and fax machines. Impress upon the student worker that his or her contributions as a member of the team are important to the success of the overall department.
Hold Orientation Sessions for Everyone Involved
It’s important that everyone is on the same page. Make this happen by holding an orientation session for managers and mentors as well as a session for students. Orientations ensure that everyone starts with the same expectations and role definitions. This is time well spent—the effort you put into these sessions will pay off throughout the program.
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