internshipIN

Hey guys!

So sorry about the time off on the blog. Jess, Andy and I were taken over by midterms.

The good news is we got right back to work and internshipIN is officially here!!

We have just launched private beta for all employers! What this means is a selective group of startups can set up a company profile and post their internship opportunities today.

In short, these companies will be have first dibs on the hundreds of students who come in.

PS We have some REALLY cool features coming up in the next couple of weeks. My eyes glitter when I think about them.

Because it doesn’t have the following……

1. Photos!!

Why shouldn’t you show photos of the office dog or of the free donuts in the morning?

2. Links!!

Give applicants a chance to get to know you from someone else’s perspective. Include both press links and links to employee blogs. This helps give applicants an idea of who they will be working with and what people think about the company.

3. Social Networking Elements!!

If your company is on Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter or any other space, give the links and encourage users to add/friend/follow you.

Wanna know something cool?

We opened up our beta launch sign up list and we were ABSOLUTELY surprised at how well we were received by both students and employers! Let’s just say we signed up 20 employers from the moment we launched at 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM. At least I think that is cool.

Feel free to sign up at internshipin.com.

Other than that, we are moving along as quickly as possible to make sure you can either find or post your internship opportunities.

See you soon!

Several employers have complained that their interns “just can’t keep up” with the pace of their startup. But they fail to realize their interns could very easily run at or beyond the pace of the company. They are just waiting for permission.

Most interns are uncomfortable. Think about it. Most likely on your first job you tried to do everything right and you would have preferred to perform naked rather than mess up a simple assignment. An intern’s fear is natural and you should respect it: they don’t want to mess up YOUR company by making a mistake so instead they wait for your every “ok”. They care about you and your success. Aren’t we sweet?

So, here’s how to get your interns out of that uncomfortable slump and start earning gold medals on the job:
1. DO GIVE them a huge project (preferably that spans an entire summer). This project should be directly benefiting the company. For example, you’re a new e-commerce startup and you hired an intern to help with customer service. Don’t just stop there! Have that intern develop a customer service process or program that will be used after they leave! *Gasp* Now that’s cool!

2. DON’T feel the need to check everything or have them BCC you when they send emails. It is your responsibility to hire someone exceptional. Once that is done, give them their project and focus on your own work.

3. DO make yourself (and your resources) available. The intern is going to be nervous once you leave them. They probably have never even sent a “business” email. They are going to have tons of questions. Leave them with a Project Guide that includes your personal examples (i.e., your emails, etc.), and let them go through it on their own. You’d be amazed at the productivity.

4. DO SET office hours. Make your internship as similar to school as possible. This is how they learn. Ideally your office hours will give you both a chance to answer each other’s questions, time to bounce around ideas AND for you to give them real advice on whatever career they are seeking. Remember, the internship is largely a learning experience. You have to teach what you know.

5. DO HELP build their network. Although this isn’t fundamental to internship employer-student bliss, this would be awesome! Immediately begin introducing your interns to people you think would help them grow within their ideal industry. Perhaps, take them to a couple of conferences with you! They speak VOLUMES for their internship to everyone they know and soon everyone will want to work for you.

Hope this helps you out a bit. Just remember interns are just a little afraid going in because they are worried about how you will perceive them. Follow the above steps and watch real innovation take place within your internship program!

internshipIN is helping students find opportunities at startups and small(er) companies. Why would students want to intern for startups, you ask? Well there are thousands of reasons, but I settled on the first six that came to my mind this morning. Enjoy!

1. Sense of Pride
This one is simple. How successful do you think the interns at Facebook, LinkedIN, Yelp or Meebo feel? There is a strong sense of pride that comes with getting involved with a company on the ground level and watching it grow before your eyes, especially if you have the opportunity to share your ideas (see Reason #5).

2. Interdisciplinary Skill-building
Everyone grows up thinking they want a particular career in life, only to come to college and change their minds 3 - 4 times. Wouldn’t it suck if you were a business major and only got business-oriented internships and in your last year discovered you had a HUGE passion for website design. I’ll bet you would feel almost trapped to your business career even though it isn’t what will make you happy. But at startups, the job responsibilities are usually more fluid and open. You can dabble in almost everything and really get a feel for what kinds of work you enjoy!

3. The coolest co-workers & bosses ever!
I would say a large percentage of all startups begin because the founders are passionate about what they are doing/building. Sure, they’re go-getters and risk-takers, but they are having a helluva a lot of fun doing something they love. It’s a lot more interesting to work with people who actually enjoy their work opposed to someone waiting for the clock to hit 5 PM.

4. They like you! They really like you!
Piggybacking off of #3 - they hired you because they like you! Startups are small groups of people all working to develop something remarkable. They want you to be a part of the group because you are awesome and you fit perfectly into their small community. They don’t want to just be your employers, they want friendship! Whoa… this is a big one.

5. Your opinion matters!
This one is my favorite. Guess what! At startups, you’re opinion actually matters and encouraged! You can offer solutions on how to improve the product, work processes, etc. So, when you are updating your resume after the internship you can add how you actually improved the company or product itself. I don’t know about you, but “conceptualized and implemented a new customer service solution” sounds a lot better than “managed all filing processes”.

6. Work on something you love
This is another favorite. One of the greatest things about startups is there are tons of them and many have really really cool ideas that appeal to almost everyone. Why not seek out internships at startups that resonate with you? For example, time management is not exactly one of my best friends. I adore how Timebridge and 37Signals are helping people (and me!) manage our time. An internship with these companies would be perfect for me. What about you??