The Pros & Cons Of Hiring Summer Interns

 

As the summer gets closer, your business will probably consider bringing on a couple of interns to help some college kids get industry experience that they badly need for their resume. The idea of opening up some positions for interns is a very noble gesture, but there are some pros and cons you need to consider before you actually start interviewing candidates.

New People Mean New Ideas

Sometimes people with years of industry experience view a problem and only see the standard solutions that have not been effective in the past. An intern offers a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective on issues your company is facing. That fresh perspective could be just what you need to re-energize your company and move forward.

Finding Work To Do

Whether you are offering paid or unpaid internships, you are still offering every intern experience that they badly need. But what happens when there is a lull in the work and you have nothing to offer? It can be frustrating for you and a bright-eyed intern when there is no work to do and your intern is looking to you for industry experience.

Low-Cost Summer Help

The truth is that even paid internships do not pay a whole lot, which means that you are getting summer help for a relatively low cost. You can use that help to get small office projects you have been meaning to get done all summer, and you can afford your hard-working staff the assistants they need to be more productive.

Inexperienced Low-Cost Summer Help

Your interns might be eager to get to work but, for the most part, they have no idea what they are doing. Your staff will have to spend considerable time training your interns on even the most basic tasks, and that can severely slow down productivity. You might be getting inexpensive or even free interns, but you will be paying for those free interns in hours lost to basic industry training.

The Class Clowns

Some interns will have a sense of humor that will help them to cope with their new experience, but others are simply immature kids who cannot seem to understand the serious nature of their situation. While you might revel in the summer help you think you will be getting, you might wind up with a class clown who has little to no interest in taking advantage of the situation.

Your Future Stars

It is not uncommon for interns to go on to successful academic careers and then come back to the company they interned for as full-time employees. You can look at an internship as a sort of trial run for those who are new to the industry but eager to learn. You can use that internship to mold your interns into the types of future employees you want them to be.

There are many companies in this country that welcome summer interns to help students get their first introduction into the industry of their choice. If you are offering internships, then you are doing a noble thing to help the youth of the country. But before you actually take on any interns, you might want to evaluate the situation and make sure it is the right thing for your company.