Description: This week, we've got an encouraging conversation with Courtney Lamers, Senior Manager of Member Engagement at MRA, as she shares her expertise on interns and gives you 5 core tools to lead your internship program!
Key Takeaways:
- Don't let your interns be bored! Give them meaningful work. Interns want to learn and grow.
- Help your interns explore your business. Have them sit in on meetings, meet other leaders, have lunch with the CEO, etc.
- Give them opportunities to network! Take them to networking events, get them to interact with other interns, etc.
Resources:
MRA's Intern Leadership Program
Interns as a Valuable Resource Guide
MRA Membership
About MRA
Let's Connect:
Guest Bio - Courtney Lamers
Guest LinkedIn Profile - Courtney Lamers
Host Bio - Sophie Boler
Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler
Transcript:
Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.
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Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive,
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your go to podcast for anything and everything HR.
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Powered by MRA, the Management Association.
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Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR, MRA has got you
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covered.
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We'll be the first, to tell you what's hot, and what's not.
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I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here.
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Now it's time to thrive.
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Welcome, everyone.
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We're glad you're here today
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and spending some time with us to learn more about intern programs.
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I'm excited to introduce to you our guest, Courtney Lamers.
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She's our senior manager of member engagement here at MRA.
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A little fun fact about Courtney is she actually started out
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as an intern here at MRA, as did I, and worked her way up to project manager
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and to where she is now, as senior manager of member engagement.
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And she did that all in just over five years.
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So I want to start out with a little fun question here today, and do a little blast
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from the past, and that is, what is your favorite memory as an intern?
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Oh, that's such a good question.
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Thanks for having me here too, today.
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I'm excited to be back.
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I know it's a fun topic and especially a hot topic right now.
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Okay, Favorite memory as an intern, I am super fortunate
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because I've had a couple of different internship experiences, so I've
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I have quite a few memories, but I think one of my favorites, was
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when I worked for a company and they had 80 interns on their entire program.
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So I had the chance to work
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with a couple of them on a project, and we worked on it.
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We went and volunteered for the day,
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and then we put a business case together for our company to volunteer
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to reimburse that company and donate some of that money to the nonprofit.
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So we presented in front of the entire company, which it was a huge company
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that we actually ran into the CEO when we were practicing, and he was like,
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What time are you guys on?
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And he ended up coming and watching our presentation, and we
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ended up winning the whole entire--share tank is what they called it. And
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so it was just a very real experience.
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And I'm still friends
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with both of the interns today, so I think the connections you make
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and just the opportunities you have to grow is so important.
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But I would say that was probably one of that really stands out to me.
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Like I still remember it to this day, but how about you?
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I mean, you have had some internship experiences to.
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Thowing it back at me.
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Yeah, this is a two-way here.--making you participate.
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Well, like you said, I feel like I have a lot of memories as an intern.
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Not that it was that long ago, but I did experience
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my first true business trip as an intern, and that was super fun.
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We got to. I actually went with you.
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It was a good time and we got to meet some of our member companies
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and some of the interns participating in MRA's intern program, which was super fun.
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And then another one was just planning a tailgate event
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that we hosted here in Wisconsin office
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at MRA It was kind of an open house
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where members came and looked at our new facility
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and that was just a fun event to plan and see it all kind of lay out.
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So we're both a part of your internship itself,
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or do you think those are extra things that you got to work on
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just to make it a fun experience or like what made it so special, I guess?
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Well, I would say it's a little bit of both.
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They were part of my intern duties,
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but it was also a little extra kind of fun stuff too.
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But I think it helped to just kind of get away from my normal
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like I was a marketing intern, you know, like event planning goes
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along with that, but business trips don't necessarily go along with that.
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So I think it was fun to just get involved in as many things as I could
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and as many projects with as many people as I could do and so on.
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So I think it's all about that experience.
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Totally.
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Yeah, Well, it is a season to begin hiring interns
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and it's something that's really circling employers minds right now.
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And you actually created MRA's
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Intern Leadership Program that we were just talking about.
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So can you tell us a little bit more about that for the people
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who may not be familiar with it?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So this program was created really to help interns have an exceptional experience.
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So from an employer standpoint, we use it to help attract and retain interns.
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So some of the companies would put this on their website as a Hey,
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apply for our organization.
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We invest in your professional development.
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We really want you to have a great experience and grow yourself as a leader.
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So from an attraction standpoint, I think it really helped,
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and same with retention.
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So they go through this program with almost 100 other interns,
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and they have the opportunity to network.
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So from an intern standpoint,
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you really get that professional development experience, plus,
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that whole network of 100 other interns, plus, all of the business leaders
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in our community.
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So it's about a ten week program.
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We get together with the interns every week,
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really just giving them that real life experience,
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and giving them a chance to get together and learn from each other as well.
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So from a company standpoint, it's the attraction and retention,
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and then providing that exceptional experience for the interns.
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And just kind of taking a step back out here.
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So companies are
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starting to look to hire interns right now.
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So where should they be looking and how should they start hiring interns?
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Yeah, I mean, definitely start early.
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I think time goes so quickly and it's so easy to be like, Oh my gosh,
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summer is around the corner.
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I really want an internship or an intern to help with some work.
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But I think it's important to kind of have that plan of what does that look like?
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I definitely think it's important
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to get involved in schools, whether it's a university or tech school.
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Both have great opportunities to connect with students
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and it's also good to reach out to those departments or student groups.
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I know obviously where at HR Professional organization.
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So we had our recruiting team just went to UW-Whitewater SHRM group the other day.
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So i think it's important to connect with those professors
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or student groups and just the schools and general
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handshake is also a popular tool for internships
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and then networking, I think asking your employees
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if they have any referrals or, you know, asking your
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your kid's friends if they're looking for an internship.
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I think it really is about that network of the people that can
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you know, you always get a good referral from somebody that you know.
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And then lastly, I would just plug our MRA.
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I know our recruiting team Halter record interns last summer as well.
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So everything from the poll, seeing the sourcing and the screening,
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we can definitely help with that too. Totally.
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And you just mentioned being active and available on college campuses,
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but I'm also right and just seeing that employers
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are working as early as high schoolers, too, which is crazy.
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But it's true.
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It's like the earlier you can get in front of people,
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honestly, the better at this point.
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Yeah, well, I think I mean, every employer has talked
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about the war for talent and how hard it is to find talent.
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So the earlier you get in front of them and share what your business does,
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what different opportunities there are, that's who those students are going
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to remember and two, five, ten years from now.
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So it's a long term gamble. Sure.
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So let's say you're a company that's never really invested
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in interns, never had the opportunity.
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What is your advice on a company like that?
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Should they be looking into that or interns for everybody?
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And what if it's like a super small company?
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Yeah, it was a lot of questions, you know, it's that.
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Well, I think honestly, I don't think size really matters.
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I think you have to take a step back and say, Why do I want an intern?
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Is that
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because we have so much work to do that we can't possibly do it by ourselves?
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Is that because you're truly looking to build that talent supply chain?
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So understanding that why first helps you build out your program,
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I think you also have to take a look at do you have enough meaningful work
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for the interns because they're trying to get a good experience too.
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And I'm not saying you can't file paperwork.
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It's all part of the day to day work, but I think they need
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to have a capstone project or something that can help them build their resume.
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And I think from an employer standpoint, you'll be really surprised
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and happy with the quality of work that interns can do.
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And then lastly, I would say,
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do you have a manager or someone on your team
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that can take the time to help mentor and coach those interns
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just because a lot of them get is their first job.
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So they're going to have questions and they want to do a good job,
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so they just have to have the resources to be successful.
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Honestly, I interned at a fairly small company and I got to go on a workshop too.
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So again, another memory I actually went down to New Orleans
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for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
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But I think because it was a smaller group that I was working with,
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I had the opportunity to do a lot of different, cool projects
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that sometimes when you were at the bigger companies, it's so specialized,
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so I don't think size of the company really matters.
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But overall, I'd say it's important to understand like what your goals are.
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Yeah, I was the only intern here too, and I have no complaints.
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Honestly, I feel like it was the best internship I could have had.
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This is
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because I got special treatment because I was the only one.
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And but no, I think definitely having a capstone
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project helped and even having a couple of them, it's
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like you can always have them in your back pocket if you if you don't
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want to do a project that you're currently working on, pull out your capstone.
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Like it's just nice to always have in your back pocket.
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Well, and companies have gotten
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really creative with different projects interns can work on.
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Like I know there was one company
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that had their interns go through all their standard operating procedures
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and document it, and it was a huge project to take on
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because they had nothing documented, but it really gave the Intern
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a chance to be like, Well, why do you do it like this?
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And just ask and then, I mean, like, you know, I don't know.
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I would do it like that.
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And so to be able for that student to then go say, Yeah, my last company,
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I help document our processes and, you know, make recommendations for change.
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And I think he actually presented it to their senior leadership team,
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which was awesome. It's awesome. Yeah.
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Well, kind of going off of that, let's say a company
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has a group of interns, but they never have really created
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an intern program to go with the intern group.
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So what is your advice around that?
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Should there be a intern program that the interns follow?
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I think structure definitely helps when you take a step back.
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It really is all about the experience, but when you have somebody in one building
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and somebody in the other, you want them to have similar experiences.
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And I know we've talked to interns in the past where maybe one
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manager is really engaged and they buy the intern lunch
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and they buy their intern swag, and then the other one's like,
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I don't even know who my manager is.
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My manager doesn't talk to me.
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So I think it really is about putting that structure in place.
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So no matter what your manager is like or what projects you're working
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on, you have a similar experience
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and I guess I would say that with all internships, the interns talk,
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especially with social media and that type of thing.
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Your brand is out there with your experience.
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So really think, take a look at what do you want
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your interns to be saying to other interns and to their families
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that night and their roommates and whoever they're talking to.
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It really puts your brand out there.
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The other thing I would say is, if you can onboard all of the interns together,
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I think that would be very beneficial, because you kind of build a bond when you
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start working on the same day as someone, even if you're in a different department.
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So it gives them an opportunity to, you know, be together
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and really start fresh and have that same experience.
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I would also say if you can have a you know, if you have multiple interns,
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if you can give them an opportunity to work on a project together, maybe
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that's not specific to their department, but could help the business as a whole.
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I think that could be a really fun way to get them together to.
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Oh, totally.
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I feel like interns want to meet each other and want to be
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like friends outside of work too, So that's a good idea.
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So I guess I'm curious to know your five core tools
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that you would kind of put together that all intern programs should have,
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and you start with the first one, but what would you say that is?
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I would say first and foremost,
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the manager is the
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most important piece of this So, you know, from an HR standpoint,
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you probably have managers coming to you saying, I need an intern.
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And I think that's great.
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And maybe they do, and maybe they have a plan,
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and they had a great internship experience.
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But I mean, we talked about this earlier today is people don't quit their job.
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They quit their manager.
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So and especially at that intern level, they want an opportunity to learn
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to get coaching, to have that mentorship experience.
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So you really have to have that
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right person in place to help manage and coach those interns.
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The feedback part of an internship is also very important,
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and I know we talked about this, I mean, I think it's so easy,
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and like you started ,and you did a great job from day one,
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and it's so easy to just like have that expectation
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that everything you do is going to be great.
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And I got I got into the habit of saying like, Great, thanks, I appreciate it.
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Like, everything's perfect, like, looks good.
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And you're like, like, I know, but can you give me something more specific?
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And I'm like, Oh my gosh, you're right. And like, I think about myself, too.
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Like, I would want specific feedback of what am I doing right
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and what is so great about it.
00:13:28:01 - 00:13:31:14
And I think it helped you kind of build on top of what you were doing, right?
00:13:31:14 - 00:13:33:10
I don't know. Totally. And you want to say on that?
00:13:33:10 - 00:13:37:08
I don't what I was just going to go off that like, especially at the intern level,
00:13:37:08 - 00:13:40:23
you're trying to learn as much as you can and you want to know
00:13:41:08 - 00:13:44:01
what can I get better at and what am I doing?
00:13:44:01 - 00:13:45:07
That's okay.
00:13:45:07 - 00:13:48:14
So it's like that feedback is so important at an intern level,
00:13:48:14 - 00:13:51:06
so it's like you can fix
00:13:51:23 - 00:13:54:23
whatever you're doing wrong or not wrong, I should say.
00:13:54:23 - 00:13:57:00
What you can improve on. Yeah.
00:13:57:05 - 00:13:58:08
At the intern level.
00:13:58:08 - 00:14:00:15
So that just as you continue to grow, you don't
00:14:00:15 - 00:14:02:16
have to worry about those anymore.
00:14:02:16 - 00:14:04:12
Yeah, and I know we were talking to one company
00:14:04:12 - 00:14:07:19
and they were all they were raving in.
00:14:07:19 - 00:14:08:08
You were with me.
00:14:08:08 - 00:14:10:13
They were raving about how great their interns were.
00:14:10:13 - 00:14:14:02
And like and their CEO said something about, like, I was really impressed
00:14:14:02 - 00:14:17:21
with the interns this summer, and I was like, Oh, what did you do?
00:14:17:21 - 00:14:18:12
Did they know that?
00:14:18:12 - 00:14:21:06
Like, did you tell the interns how great they were?
00:14:21:06 - 00:14:21:22
Like.
00:14:22:03 - 00:14:23:21
I don't know if we ever did.
00:14:23:21 - 00:14:26:02
I'd like to think about I was like, I think you should tell them.
00:14:26:02 - 00:14:29:18
I think they would really like that feedback and, and especially the CEO.
00:14:29:20 - 00:14:34:01
Is that how impressed that she was with them, it's such a cool experience.
00:14:34:01 - 00:14:36:20
And for the intern to really carry that confidence with them
00:14:37:06 - 00:14:40:13
on something that everybody else knows, but maybe they don't know.
00:14:40:13 - 00:14:43:19
Absolutely. So what about the second tool?
00:14:43:19 - 00:14:47:08
Yeah, I think meaningful work is a huge piece of it.
00:14:47:15 - 00:14:51:12
I know company is sometimes we'll be like, I'll just get an intern and help me file
00:14:51:12 - 00:14:52:22
paperwork and that's great.
00:14:52:22 - 00:14:57:07
And like we said, it's part of the job sometimes, but the meaningful work really
00:14:57:20 - 00:15:00:10
helps the interns learn and grow.
00:15:00:10 - 00:15:04:13
And I would also say they're capable of doing more than just filing paperwork,
00:15:04:13 - 00:15:06:00
so don't let them
00:15:07:11 - 00:15:09:20
hold that back.
00:15:09:20 - 00:15:12:20
I would also give them a meaningful project to work on all summer.
00:15:12:20 - 00:15:16:16
We talked about that capstone project and also,
00:15:16:16 - 00:15:19:21
I mean, what we did with you as we we created,
00:15:19:21 - 00:15:23:03
I think, three and a half pages of things that I never got to.
00:15:23:04 - 00:15:24:23
Some of the other people on our team never got to do.
00:15:24:23 - 00:15:28:11
And I was like, It'd be awesome if this could get done.
00:15:28:17 - 00:15:29:14
We'd be like, Here you go.
00:15:29:14 - 00:15:32:05
And just kind of let you run because of those.
00:15:32:05 - 00:15:35:11
Yeah, we weren't getting to it, so it would be an extra benefit for you
00:15:35:11 - 00:15:36:09
to be part of it.
00:15:36:09 - 00:15:39:06
When they accept an internship, they have three different opportunities
00:15:39:07 - 00:15:41:21
to have an internship, so they get to be picky.
00:15:41:21 - 00:15:43:17
They're really in the driver's seat.
00:15:43:17 - 00:15:44:15
And so,
00:15:44:16 - 00:15:48:11
I mean, I'm just saying, like I saw interns that were at a company
00:15:48:11 - 00:15:50:00
for like a week, two weeks,
00:15:50:00 - 00:15:51:23
and they were like, I got a different internship experience.
00:15:51:23 - 00:15:52:16
I'm leaving.
00:15:52:16 - 00:15:55:17
So even before the program, and during the program,
00:15:55:17 - 00:15:57:00
and then even after the program.
00:15:57:00 - 00:16:01:00
And so you want to retain them, it’s so important to make sure
00:16:01:00 - 00:16:04:00
that you're providing the best experience no matter what.
00:16:04:08 - 00:16:06:13
So I think that meaningful work is huge.
00:16:06:22 - 00:16:10:02
And I you know, we've also talked to like people have said,
00:16:11:03 - 00:16:12:18
I'm bored of my managers in a meeting.
00:16:12:18 - 00:16:14:19
I can't I don't know nothing to do.
00:16:14:19 - 00:16:17:20
And they go talk to other people and some people don't take the initiative
00:16:17:20 - 00:16:18:23
to do that either.
00:16:18:23 - 00:16:22:14
But don't let your interns be bored like your paying them to help with stuff.
00:16:22:14 - 00:16:24:15
And I think they are capable of so much.
00:16:24:20 - 00:16:25:06
Oh yeah.
00:16:25:06 - 00:16:28:07
You just talked about the three pages,
00:16:28:07 - 00:16:31:13
so I've got notes that you gave me, your projects that you gave me.
00:16:31:13 - 00:16:34:08
And I will say I told you on the first day, I was like,
00:16:34:15 - 00:16:37:03
Oh my gosh, how am I going to get any of this done?
00:16:37:03 - 00:16:40:15
I'm like, I remember going home, like man, I got three pages.
00:16:41:02 - 00:16:44:00
But then by the end of my internship, it was like man,
00:16:44:00 - 00:16:48:22
I was able to complete 85% of that or even if I did 50%.
00:16:48:22 - 00:16:51:01
It's like, look at how much I did.
00:16:51:01 - 00:16:55:16
And it wasn't that intimidating when I looked at it at the end of my internship
00:16:55:16 - 00:16:59:21
and it was nice to be like, Oh, well, I could go work on this project
00:16:59:21 - 00:17:03:15
with this department or, Oh, look at this project, it's with IT.
00:17:04:06 - 00:17:07:15
So it wasn't just my typical marketing projects.
00:17:07:15 - 00:17:09:18
It was a good realm of.
00:17:10:14 - 00:17:13:14
Yeah, maybe a note to managers, create that list,
00:17:13:14 - 00:17:15:14
but don't share it on the first day.
00:17:15:18 - 00:17:17:08
We might have even sent it to you before.
00:17:17:08 - 00:17:19:03
Like, look at all these fun projects.
00:17:19:03 - 00:17:20:13
You're probably like, Oh gosh, no.
00:17:20:13 - 00:17:24:12
But it was a good thing to be like, This is all of the things
00:17:24:12 - 00:17:28:14
that you can accomplish in your internship and just a short summer that we have.
00:17:28:19 - 00:17:32:09
Well, and think about how much you did that wasn't even on that list.
00:17:32:09 - 00:17:36:06
It would be like you'd be working on item number eight, and I'd be like, Sophie,
00:17:36:06 - 00:17:37:01
I need help with this.
00:17:37:01 - 00:17:37:19
Like, you got this.
00:17:37:19 - 00:17:40:07
Done in the next couple hours and you're like, Oh yeah, of course.
00:17:40:07 - 00:17:43:06
And so it's like you you did so much more than even that list.
00:17:43:06 - 00:17:46:21
Which is, yeah, I'm so, you know, so just moving on.
00:17:46:21 - 00:17:49:17
How about third? The third tool. Tool.
00:17:50:18 - 00:17:51:12
The third tool
00:17:51:12 - 00:17:54:06
I would say is help the interns explore the business.
00:17:54:13 - 00:17:56:13
I remember for myself,
00:17:56:13 - 00:18:00:01
I wanted to learn as much as possible, even beyond marketing.
00:18:00:08 - 00:18:03:20
And I like I remember being a sophomore in college and kind of
00:18:03:20 - 00:18:07:12
getting to the point of them saying, like, you need to declare your major.
00:18:07:12 - 00:18:09:21
I'm like, Hey, like business, I guess.
00:18:09:21 - 00:18:10:14
Like, I don't know.
00:18:10:14 - 00:18:14:16
And I ended up picking marketing, but not really for any reason.
00:18:14:16 - 00:18:17:23
Besides, somebody had told me one time, like, I think you'd be good at marketing.
00:18:17:23 - 00:18:19:22
And I'm like, Well, I guess that sounds good.
00:18:19:22 - 00:18:20:13
And then I
00:18:20:13 - 00:18:24:02
had a couple of marketing internships and I really like different aspects of it,
00:18:24:07 - 00:18:28:05
and I think all of the experiences I've had have led me to where I am today.
00:18:28:14 - 00:18:31:19
But it's been that ability to work on projects
00:18:31:19 - 00:18:35:16
outside of my department and being able to work with other leaders.
00:18:35:16 - 00:18:38:20
And I think that's something we hear too, from interns,
00:18:38:21 - 00:18:42:12
even like for example, with HR It's like, okay, I'm an HR major,
00:18:42:12 - 00:18:44:19
but there is so much to HR, like there's the compliance
00:18:44:19 - 00:18:48:23
side, there’s the benefits side, and then there's recruiting and a lot of
00:18:49:05 - 00:18:52:09
HR Interns tend to do recruiting or filing and they're like,
00:18:52:09 - 00:18:55:14
i don't even know how to explore the other areas of HR
00:18:55:20 - 00:18:59:10
So being able to give them as many opportunities as they can
00:19:00:11 - 00:19:02:21
to just sit in the meetings with people
00:19:02:21 - 00:19:06:15
or help with projects or have lunch with the ceo if it's possible.
00:19:06:15 - 00:19:07:17
But really
00:19:07:17 - 00:19:09:15
and I know we’ve said it a million times a day,
00:19:09:15 - 00:19:13:08
they just want to learn and have different experiences to help them grow.
00:19:13:08 - 00:19:18:06
And, and who knows, maybe someone in I.T ends up
00:19:18:06 - 00:19:20:10
wanting to be in finance or something.
00:19:20:10 - 00:19:24:16
It's like internships are there to, like you said, help interns
00:19:25:01 - 00:19:28:04
learn more about the company and learn more about themselves to.
00:19:28:23 - 00:19:31:16
It cracked me up, during one of our intern program
00:19:32:04 - 00:19:37:05
business case discussions and presentations, we did one about accounting
00:19:37:05 - 00:19:41:05
and finance for the non financial leader and I kind of teed it off.
00:19:41:06 - 00:19:44:07
It was with our CFO and I was like, This is not my area.
00:19:44:07 - 00:19:46:15
Like I'm more like creative, that type of thing.
00:19:46:23 - 00:19:49:04
And like marketing, you know, whatever.
00:19:49:04 - 00:19:51:02
Like that's, that's okay, this isn't your thing,
00:19:51:02 - 00:19:53:08
but it's good for everyone to learn and get exposure to it.
00:19:53:16 - 00:19:57:19
And we're meeting with a company and one of the marketing interns was like,
00:19:58:01 - 00:19:59:04
That was my favorite session.
00:19:59:04 - 00:20:00:20
And she's like, I might switch my major.
00:20:00:20 - 00:20:02:04
And I'm like, That's awesome.
00:20:02:04 - 00:20:04:13
Like, you know, you know, like, you just, I don't know.
00:20:04:13 - 00:20:06:02
It's that exposure and
00:20:06:02 - 00:20:09:18
experience that gives people the clarity of what they need for their careers.
00:20:09:22 - 00:20:11:07
Oh, absolutely.
00:20:11:07 - 00:20:14:08
So then going on to the fourth tool, what would you say.
00:20:15:07 - 00:20:17:07
Networking is the other piece.
00:20:17:07 - 00:20:22:05
I think giving them an opportunity to meet people both internally at your company.
00:20:22:05 - 00:20:25:09
Obviously within your own department, but all their leaders
00:20:25:09 - 00:20:29:08
in other areas of the business, but also other interns too.
00:20:29:08 - 00:20:34:04
And honestly, like there is one company that he took it on himself
00:20:34:04 - 00:20:37:00
to take every intern to one networking event.
00:20:37:08 - 00:20:39:20
And I know he was like, we had a lot of interns last year,
00:20:39:20 - 00:20:41:06
so I brought two of them
00:20:41:06 - 00:20:44:03
with me to one of them, and I was like, I'm in a competition.
00:20:44:07 - 00:20:45:23
Go talk to as many people as you can.
00:20:45:23 - 00:20:49:07
And whoever wins, I can't remember if they got lunch or something like that,
00:20:49:14 - 00:20:53:04
but they, they really just want to network.
00:20:53:04 - 00:20:54:12
And I think it's hard, because
00:20:54:12 - 00:20:58:10
especially if you think of COVID and the last couple of years with school
00:20:58:10 - 00:21:01:22
being virtual and that type of thing, it's not an easy thing to do.
00:21:01:22 - 00:21:05:10
So if you can be there and help mentor and help guide and just give them those
00:21:05:10 - 00:21:10:17
opportunities, meeting people will really just allow them to grow in their careers.
00:21:10:17 - 00:21:14:01
And I think I look back to the people that I've worked with
00:21:14:01 - 00:21:17:11
in my last couple internships, and I still talk to a lot of them.
00:21:17:11 - 00:21:19:10
I mean, like think about how many people you're so connected
00:21:19:10 - 00:21:22:22
with from then here in program to just our member companies as well.
00:21:23:04 - 00:21:27:10
I was going to say just the mini plug for the MRA's intern program.
00:21:27:10 - 00:21:28:19
Again, you're given
00:21:28:19 - 00:21:33:02
over 100 interns, right there that you're automatically connected with.
00:21:33:02 - 00:21:36:05
So it's like you don't really have to go out and do that extra
00:21:36:05 - 00:21:41:07
step of really like introducing yourself, finding I mean, yourself to do that.
00:21:41:07 - 00:21:43:04
But it's there, all right there.
00:21:43:04 - 00:21:45:07
And you see them every single week, some.
00:21:45:14 - 00:21:47:15
Plus plus the business leaders.
00:21:47:15 - 00:21:48:22
I mean, we have a different presenter
00:21:48:22 - 00:21:51:18
every week of the program and all of the panels.
00:21:51:18 - 00:21:54:07
I mean, over all, they probably met 30 other business leaders.
00:21:54:17 - 00:21:56:17
But I just think it's a cool experience.
00:21:56:17 - 00:22:00:16
And no matter what you can do to provide those experiences for them as huge.
00:22:00:16 - 00:22:04:01
And I've still been in contact with a lot of people from the intern program
00:22:04:01 - 00:22:08:03
from a couple of years ago, even help on my college project.
00:22:08:03 - 00:22:11:11
One of them was able to help me out and we're still talking
00:22:11:11 - 00:22:14:05
to a few of them now too, so yeah.
00:22:14:11 - 00:22:16:09
Oh, it's fun. That's very cool.
00:22:16:09 - 00:22:19:06
But I guess what is the last last thing
00:22:19:06 - 00:22:23:11
that every intern program should have in order to be successful?
00:22:23:21 - 00:22:27:15
Yeah, I think, you know, we covered the main pieces, but I think
00:22:28:02 - 00:22:29:23
when an intern has a great experience
00:22:29:23 - 00:22:30:13
and then when they're
00:22:30:13 - 00:22:34:14
going into an internship, especially going into like their last year of school,
00:22:35:16 - 00:22:37:14
they want to know what does the future look like?
00:22:37:14 - 00:22:38:18
Do I have a place here?
00:22:38:18 - 00:22:40:01
Do I not?
00:22:40:01 - 00:22:43:06
And I think it's good to be open from the beginning.
00:22:43:06 - 00:22:46:20
I mean, I know when we interviewed you, you had said, like, is there a possibility
00:22:46:20 - 00:22:50:02
of a full time role after the internship is over?
00:22:50:21 - 00:22:52:09
And I think we're pretty honest with you.
00:22:52:09 - 00:22:55:11
And but we continue that conversation throughout the summer.
00:22:56:19 - 00:22:59:11
And then obviously, once it got closer, we were pretty
00:23:00:07 - 00:23:04:12
adamant that we were able to offer you something before you went back to school
00:23:04:12 - 00:23:08:05
just because, like we said earlier, you have so many choices nowadays and
00:23:08:11 - 00:23:11:06
you really are in the driver's seat and you made such an impact
00:23:11:06 - 00:23:14:12
that we didn't want to lose you and we wanted to be flexible about it.
00:23:14:13 - 00:23:16:05
We could work around your school schedule
00:23:16:05 - 00:23:18:20
and you could work on projects and just keep you engaged
00:23:18:20 - 00:23:20:21
throughout the school year that you wanted to come back.
00:23:21:04 - 00:23:23:12
So I think having those conversations is huge.
00:23:23:21 - 00:23:27:13
But I would also say that, you know, we talked about feedback from the manager
00:23:27:13 - 00:23:31:15
to the intern, but I would say I would ask them to like for feedback.
00:23:31:15 - 00:23:34:13
You know, there's a lot of companies that halfway through the program
00:23:34:21 - 00:23:37:12
sits down with the interns and say, like, what's working?
00:23:37:12 - 00:23:39:20
What's not? How is your manager?
00:23:39:21 - 00:23:41:02
What do you need from us?
00:23:41:02 - 00:23:43:09
And having those conversations.
00:23:43:09 - 00:23:48:18
So, you know, after week ten or 11 or 12 or whatever it is, they leave and they do
00:23:48:18 - 00:23:52:09
their exit interview and you're like, Wow, this person had a horrible experience.
00:23:52:09 - 00:23:53:23
I wish I would have known earlier.
00:23:53:23 - 00:23:55:07
And it's it's a two way street.
00:23:55:07 - 00:23:57:04
So I think just having those conversations
00:23:58:09 - 00:23:59:11
is huge,
00:23:59:11 - 00:24:02:11
but I guess so I went through five things and I think we covered a lot of it.
00:24:02:11 - 00:24:05:01
But like thinking back to your internship experience,
00:24:05:06 - 00:24:07:19
was there anything I was missing like that?
00:24:07:19 - 00:24:11:11
I didn't cover that you thought was either I wish you guys would have done this,
00:24:11:11 - 00:24:14:18
or maybe like you did this really well, but we didn't touch this.
00:24:15:04 - 00:24:16:12
Or do we cover it off.
00:24:16:12 - 00:24:19:03
So, like, we covered or have
00:24:19:03 - 00:24:22:07
all great stuff, I would just say, like you, like you said,
00:24:22:07 - 00:24:26:15
to be very clear with the intern and have a good working relationship
00:24:26:15 - 00:24:29:16
between the manager and the intern, I feel like that's almost
00:24:29:16 - 00:24:34:13
make it or break it if you don't have a good relationship with your intern.
00:24:35:05 - 00:24:37:17
Chances are its not going to be a great internship for them.
00:24:37:17 - 00:24:41:08
So I would just say be very open
00:24:41:08 - 00:24:45:05
and honest with them and provide feedback as much as you can.
00:24:46:15 - 00:24:49:11
And yeah, everything else we said covered it.
00:24:49:11 - 00:24:50:15
I'll do that.
00:24:50:15 - 00:24:54:13
But as we wrap up here, do you have any last bits of advice
00:24:54:13 - 00:24:56:14
or any last pieces to share with us?
00:24:56:14 - 00:24:58:07
I have a few a little things.
00:24:58:07 - 00:25:01:10
I know we talked a lot about that experience as an intern,
00:25:01:18 - 00:25:04:09
but I just want to kind of remind employers,
00:25:05:12 - 00:25:07:21
keeping them engaged after you give them an offer
00:25:07:21 - 00:25:09:20
and keeping that excitement going
00:25:09:20 - 00:25:12:01
is almost as important as getting them there,
00:25:12:01 - 00:25:14:18
because if they don't show up on the first day, you have to start over.
00:25:15:00 - 00:25:19:01
So really think about that excitement and that communication with them beforehand
00:25:20:14 - 00:25:23:07
and then just a couple of little tactical things.
00:25:23:07 - 00:25:26:05
But when we had our first internship program, I remember really
00:25:26:06 - 00:25:29:23
one of the first weeks, we asked them like, what could your company do better?
00:25:29:23 - 00:25:32:03
You know, we just want to provide some feedback.
00:25:32:11 - 00:25:34:02
And I think like half of them were like,
00:25:34:02 - 00:25:36:02
I don't even have my manager cell phone number.
00:25:36:02 - 00:25:39:15
Like, I just want to be able like if I get a flat tire to call them and say like,
00:25:40:04 - 00:25:41:18
Hey, I'm not going to make it.
00:25:41:18 - 00:25:44:16
Like I'm going to be a little bit late or I'm not feeling well today or whatever
00:25:44:16 - 00:25:49:02
it might be just to have that phone number in that contact information was huge.
00:25:49:07 - 00:25:52:05
And from an employer standpoint, it's such an easy win, like I don't
00:25:52:05 - 00:25:56:11
think--they're not going to contact you unless they need to or so And it almost.
00:25:56:11 - 00:25:57:18
Gives them like
00:25:57:18 - 00:26:01:06
it builds some trust, you know, like, hey, like, here's my phone number.
00:26:01:06 - 00:26:04:16
I'm here whenever you want my whenever you need to reach me.
00:26:04:16 - 00:26:08:09
And it's, it's like a little more personal than just like, here's my email.
00:26:08:14 - 00:26:11:02
Yeah, email me whenever it's like, no, call me.
00:26:11:02 - 00:26:13:04
Yeah, I need to. Call you if you need to.
00:26:13:04 - 00:26:15:00
Yeah, I know there's one company
00:26:15:00 - 00:26:18:13
that the CEO gave out the enter their phone number and they were like,
00:26:18:18 - 00:26:20:12
We're excited to have you intern this summer.
00:26:20:12 - 00:26:22:19
Here's my phone number. Call me if you need anything.
00:26:23:01 - 00:26:25:09
And I'm pretty sure the intern never called,
00:26:25:09 - 00:26:28:03
but it's kind of like, Wow, the CEO really cares about me.
00:26:28:04 - 00:26:31:04
So kind of a cool touch, if you're willing to do that,
00:26:32:00 - 00:26:35:03
the last thing I would say is think about what they need to know
00:26:35:03 - 00:26:37:20
and again, a lot of them, this may be their first experience.
00:26:38:04 - 00:26:42:07
And I remember when you emailed me and we're like, What do I wear?
00:26:42:13 - 00:26:43:17
I was like.
00:26:43:17 - 00:26:45:03
I was like, That's such a good question.
00:26:45:03 - 00:26:46:05
Like, we never even told you.
00:26:46:05 - 00:26:48:03
Like, we're business casual.
00:26:48:03 - 00:26:50:18
Like you can wear what you know, whatever you're comfortable with.
00:26:50:18 - 00:26:53:22
But we do dress business casual and it's like, I don't know, you just aren't.
00:26:54:00 - 00:26:57:14
Yeah, you don't know those things and you don't want to mess up from the first day.
00:26:57:14 - 00:26:59:05
And I give you a lot of credit for asking,
00:26:59:05 - 00:27:02:04
but that should have been on the back of our minds to tell you too.
00:27:02:04 - 00:27:04:02
So all things considered.
00:27:04:02 - 00:27:06:18
Yeah, I know like, what do I wear? What's really fun?
00:27:06:18 - 00:27:08:04
I missed something.
00:27:08:06 - 00:27:11:05
But lastly, I have to say, when you're going through this program
00:27:11:13 - 00:27:13:12
does a lot of the entire experience as a whole.
00:27:13:12 - 00:27:16:12
It's all about the experience and it's you really want to leave
00:27:16:12 - 00:27:18:09
that lasting impression with the interns.
00:27:18:09 - 00:27:20:18
Absolutely. Great ending. Thank you.
00:27:21:07 - 00:27:24:01
Well, I want to thank you for being a great guest today
00:27:24:01 - 00:27:27:05
and really sharing your knowledge on how companies can either
00:27:27:05 - 00:27:29:22
begin or enhance their intern programs.
00:27:30:08 - 00:27:34:20
So if you liked our chat and topic today, make sure you share this episode.
00:27:35:03 - 00:27:38:06
Leave a comment or review and consider joining MRA
00:27:38:06 - 00:27:40:11
if you aren't a member already.
00:27:40:11 - 00:27:41:13
We have all the resources
00:27:41:13 - 00:27:44:18
you need in the show notes below, so make sure to take a look at those,
00:27:45:10 - 00:27:49:10
including Courtney's email and LinkedIn profile in the show notes.
00:27:49:10 - 00:27:53:08
So if you want to get in touch with her or learn more about the MRA's
00:27:53:08 - 00:27:56:23
Intern Leadership Program, she's the girl to contact.
00:27:57:10 - 00:28:00:23
Otherwise, thank you for tuning in today and thanks for all the great
00:28:00:23 - 00:28:03:17
info, Courtney, and we will see you next week.
00:28:04:00 - 00:28:05:01
Thanks for having me.
00:28:05:01 - 00:28:07:20
And that wraps up our content for this episode.
00:28:07:21 - 00:28:11:00
Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign up to connect
00:28:11:00 - 00:28:12:16
for more podcast updates,
00:28:12:16 - 00:28:16:11
check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
00:28:16:12 - 00:28:21:10
And as always, make sure to follow MRA’s 30 minutes Thrive, so you don't miss out.
00:28:21:11 - 00:28:24:15
Thanks for tuning in ,and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on
00:28:24:17 - 00:28:26:00
the HR conversation.
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