Internship Programmes for Start Ups

by Startacus Admin
Getting the right staff when you are starting a business is essential. For many startups, providing an internship can be one of the best staffing solutions. In this guest post, Patrick Ross from Volume Marketing interviews Andrew Scherer, Director of Communications at Inspiring Interns and writer of Brilliant Intern and finds out all about running a successful internship programme
What are the key benefits of having an intern programme for a start-up?
Hiring a new member of staff is a big step for any start-up. Interns are able to bring a different perspective to your company than an employee that already has experience in your industry and are likely to have an inherent understanding of important new technologies such as social media and mobile. They can make a difference to your office environment as well as assisting in the work of regular staff members.
Running an internship programme gives you a way to hire untrained staff at lower risk. By employing an intern you can see how they work with your business before you hire them permanently. Structure their employment period to ensure they understand the nature of a full time job in your industry. It means you can view a candidate from a potential perspective. This gives you more freedom to pick a candidate that isn’t expected to “hit the ground running”. If you think that a period shadowing a full time member of staff will transform them into a stellar employee you can take that opportunity with internships.
What are the legalities of hiring an intern?
The legality issues surrounding internships are largely associated with payment. If an intern is relied upon for key areas of your business and is completing tasks unsupervised, then they would be classed as a worker and would need to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. If the interns you hire generally complete tasks under close supervision and spend a large proportion of their time shadowing full-time employees then they can be considered volunteers. If this is the case the employer only needs to cover the costs of travel and lunch for the intern.
Structuring your internship programme
To make sure you get the most out of your internship programme you need to provide a structure for the duration of the placement, which at the very least should be a rough outline of which areas the intern will be working on while they are with you. A member of staff should be responsible for the intern who can review any work completed and offer regular, formal guidance and feedback.
A structured placement doesn’t only help the candidate, but it helps you establish the potential of your intern. If you don’t manage your interns placement you won’t get as much out of it as you’d like. The intern will likely suffer from demotivation and it will end up being a waste of time for both intern and employer.
How do you source the best candidates for your intern programme?
To fill an intern position the methods are the same as standard role. The best methods for filling a position are advertising the position yourself or using an agency.
Advertising
Posting an internship to a job board will roughly resemble a full time position. It’s important that when you post an internship role to a job board, or brief a recruitment consultant, you should include the following:
An unpaid internship should not be longer than 3 months. If you intend to run the internship for a period shorter than this include it in the job description
Most interns will be in the office for similar hours to those of a normal employee but bear in mind that unpaid interns are free to come and go as they please. Any advertisement should not list set shift patterns or enforceable working hours.
Whether you are offering any salary or expenses. If the position does not have a salary be sure to include the likelihood of the position turning into a full time job.
It is also valuable to mention the kind of projects they will be involved in and who they will be expected to answer to. A prospective intern will be more likely to apply if the role structured well. If you put yourself in their shoes, you don’t want to be one of the interns that don’t gain anything from an internship. If you can help them understand what the internship will entail in the job board post the response will be much better.
Agencies
Internship agencies will take control of the recruiting situation, from advertising the position to providing you with candidates to interview. Agencies come at a fee, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but they will have experience in finding the best. Inspiring Interns monitor their intern placements and provide support and guidance throughout both the hiring process and the internship itself. If an intern isn’t happy or isn’t meeting the job specification they can provide alternative candidates at no extra charge.
You can visit the Inspiring Interns site if you want know more about internships. You can review the kind of internships on offer to get an idea of job specs and review video CVs of interns.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
The lowdown on the London-based health-tech startup Zedsen that has developed technology that can monitor the user’s bloodstream and collect data by using sensors that simply sit on top of the skin

The early-stage NI startups selected to pitch at LEVELUP 2021, the 2-day event taking place on 21-22 April as part of Derry & Strabane Enterprise Week have now been revealed...

Aimear Lynch, founder of My Pet Lamb and one of our Impacting Founders gives us the lowdown on her eco-conscious startup and business journey to date

The latest addition to the LEVELUP agenda is an online Speed Networking event, in partnership with Allstate NI and powered by Netminds. Come along and make new connections!

Digital DNA, leading lights in the NI Tech and Business community announced as media partners for the LEVELUP events at Derry & Strabane Enterprise Week

Kellie McCord from Toastmasters International shares some tips on a few of the key things you should consider to make sure that the online experience is inclusive and easier for more people

Thinking about embarking on currency trading? Here are some basic tips that will help you do just that...

The innovative Brighton-based startup, Naurt, that has created a plug-and-play toolkit for high-precision, beacon-free tracking

Thinking of using email marketing to promote your startup? Here are a few of the key things to consider when doing just that...

The lowdown on Fleex, the startup that helps companies provide remote employees with all they need to make working from home more comfortable
Published on: 18th October 2012
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Startacus brings virtual speed networking to Derry & Strabane Enterprise Week 2021 12th Apr 2021 The latest addition to the LEVELUP agenda is an online Speed Networking event, in partnership with Allstate NI and powered by Netminds. Come along and make new connections!
- LEVELUP bags Digital DNA as media partners 12th Apr 2021 Digital DNA, leading lights in the NI Tech and Business community announced as media partners for the LEVELUP events at Derry & Strabane Enterprise Week
- Huge rise in dog weddings leads Feast It and Poppy’s Picnic to launch dog wedding planning service 31st Mar 2021 "Mutt-rimonials" are on the horizon thanks to Woof Weddings, the UK's first dedicated wedding planning service for dogs
- Manual, the innovative Men’s Health platform Raises $30M Series A 31st Mar 2021 Manual secures major investment to help with product development and international expansion and its overall mission to become the global destination for men’s health