Molding Young Minds – What Managers Wish for their Interns

Written by Mark Shaw.

In our first blog post about internships we explored what students are looking for. In this follow-up post we take a look at internships from managers’ point of view.

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, and all of them have tasks they need completed. Industry leaders have a strong desire to help up-and-coming students develop into competent and experienced professionals. What do they want from their interns?

Julie Barschow, Boys & Girls Club, has been managing interns since January 2014. A challenge exists when trying to balance the need for marketing with the lack of funds available to pay interns.

”The last two interns have been very nice, but have not been easy to manage in terms of productivity and meeting deadlines,” says Barschow.  “I’m sure this is partially due to the fact that we aren’t really ideally set up to accept interns, but we need them.”

The value of experience can help in a student’s professional journey. Companies want to give their interns a chance to grow. If students arrive with a strong attitude to grow and adapt, companies will gladly take them under their wing.

Renee Peterson Trudeau, WCA member since 1988, is the internship evangelist and president of Career Strategists at Renee Trudeau & Associates. She has been running a successful business and internship program for more than 25 years and explains,

“Most students enter internships thinking this is a one-time shot. Get the internships, get it on my resume, get some experience and move on. That is a very short-sighted view and can cripple your long-term career success. Students need to shift their mindset and realize their supervisor/work team and everyone they work with during their internship—key vendors, media, business partners, community liaisons—are now part of their professional network. The young professional’s job is to continue to cultivate strong relationships with these individuals, long after the internship has ended.”

Indeed it is not uncommon to go through multiple internships before landing a full-time position, which often occurs through the contacts developed at those internships. Connecting with coworkers will help keep those professional relationships alive.

Trudeau adds, “I have savvy interns that really got this relationship-building concept and I am still—decades later—an integral part of their professional lives.”

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People want interns, but may not always have the means of attracting the most desirable individuals. Inexperience can be a drag, but most employers like interns, because it provides a way for employers to mentor incoming professionals and develop their minds to be the best.