Getting the Best Out of Your Interns

During my fourteen years of business I have been approached by several college students looking for an unpaid internship. Each relationship provided my business with great rewards. But it’s not a one way street. Five tips for getting the best out of your interns:

Ask why they want to be an intern and have them provide you with one to three goals that they want to achieve by working with you.
Conduct a reference check on your intern just as you would for an employee.
Put your agreement in writing.
Come up with a few projects that will help them meet their goals and provide value to your company. For example, the last intern we had wanted to learn how to write job descriptions and observe training. I needed to update our human resource audit with current employment laws. So, I arranged for the intern to work on job descriptions for one of our clients, under the supervision of a consultant, arranged for him to sit in on a training, and gave him the HR audit project.
Meet with your intern regularly to provide coaching and feedback.

My experiences with interns have resulted in co-writing an article on workplace bullying, creating a training program on change, updating my website and updating our human resource audit, among other things. Plus I have enjoyed mentoring and coaching college students and hearing their perspectives. What about you? What tips do you have for getting the best out of your interns?

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The service provided by Lindenberger Group is an invaluable resource to ensure staff retention and fiscal responsibility. Don’t go it alone. Trust the professionals who will get the job done with the accuracy one needs when running an organization.
–CEO, WOMEN AWARE, INC

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While working with Judy over this past year, she has exhibited great expertise while assisting us with various projects. She is extremely knowledgeable about HR laws and regulations. She also shows dedication to her work and always keeps us promptly informed of any legal changes.
–PRESIDENT AND CEO, VISIONARY BRANDS, INC.

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We initially engaged Lindenberger Group to support a small ILT project and were very pleased with their work. Then, we engaged them to support several follow up L&D initiatives, and one was quite complex. Judy and her team were great listeners and marvelous collaborators. We look forward to a long, fruitful relationship with Lindenberger Group.
–DIRECTOR OF WORKPLACE LEARNING, CUNY SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

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My most recent experience with Lindenberger Group exhibited, once again, first class delivery of consulting services which included design of the entire project, phone interviews with several executives, a synopsis with recommendations, and an articulate, easy to follow listing of next steps. Thanks again for all your help! We’ll be calling on you soon!
–SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BROWN-FORMAN CORPORATION

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I contracted with Judy to serve as an executive coach for senior business leaders for more than eight years. I consistently heard that her coaching was insightful, targeted, and practical. Judy’s ability to build trusting relationships was augmented by her capacity to understand an organization’s culture. Her actions resulting in improved performance for everyone she coached.
–DIRECTOR OF EXECUTIVE LEARNING, HORIZON BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD

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Judy and her team have taken over our HR functions with amazing results. In addition to HR, Judy's team is providing training and coaching for all employees most notably, supervisors. Our organization has improved greatly and continues to improve daily!
–BUSINESS MANAGER, IUOE LOCAL 825

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Getting the Best Out of Your Interns

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-Judith Lindenberger