Professional Report - 1st Quarter 2011

The “One-Two” Interview Solution

Interview One

I start off the interview telling the applicant a little about the company and how we operate. I then ask them questions that turn the attention onto them and help me understand what moves them, what makes them excited, and what keeps them up worrying at night, such as what they want to accomplish professionally and personally in their life over the next few years. Next we go over the list of ten items that my team and I came up with, and describe what each one entails. After describing them, we ask the applicant to rank each one on a scale of 1 to 5, ‘ 5’ meaning they would love it and would pay us to do it (not literally), and ‘ 1’ being they would hate it and we couldn’t pay them enough to do it.

Interview Two: Intern Management Solution

This second meeting is not so much an interview, but more so to establish expectations. We bring the candidate back in for a couple hours and sit down and work on defining goals and results, and then discuss a collaborative approach to resolve any obstacles. This helps us all make sure we are on the same page, sets out a plan for the Intern, and we work through what all the obstacles might be to achieving success. Commitments by full-time staff members are made up front to aid the intern on certain tasks. This spreads out the responsibility of mentoring over everyone lessening the burden on any one staff member and gives the intern access to the most knowledgeable person for each task. This way, when they come in to work the first day, they have a plan physically laid out that they can refer back to at any time. They are autonomous and know the game plan and solutions to provide the results and achieve the goals.

The Extraordinary Internship Experience

I try to make sure the intern stays engaged and excited about what they are doing and give them some ownership of the projects. I have to stay excited about what they are doing for them to stay excited and driven. I also try to make sure to do small things outside of normal compensation to make sure they feel appreciated, like take them to lunch, or give them my football tickets to some games, etc. I was surprised to find out over the years that monetary compensation was not the primary drive for interns; respect, intellectual knowledge gain, field experience, and network expansion are the reasons students take on internships.

Interns have been a great way for me to get ideas I’ve had into motion quickly and effectively. In this down economy I have had to prospect for clients more and had an idea for a process to efficiently do this, but it was kind of a mess. I hired an intern to get this, among other things, rolling and it has been amazing and has transformed my business. We now have an effective and efficient machine for prospecting and that intern is now full time. I also have another intern turned full-time hire, who started off getting multiple jobs done quickly and is now a project manager of our most important accounts, which allows me to focus on the aspect of the business that I love.

A lot of people see interns as free help for their business, but we discovered in the end you get what you pay for. Taking the initial time to set up a great internship program can provide your company with new energy and ideas, aid in your company’s positive image, and provide new job opportunities to those who are eager to gain more experience and make a difference. It is my prediction that you will find your next greatest employee this way.