Thinking of working with an intern? Check out this great overview.
My first and most important rule is…pay them something, anything! It really makes a difference.
Only slightly less important, second, the intern MUST learn something immediately useful to them once they return to school or to the job market.
Treat your interns as you would like your children treated if they were interns somewhere. Think of yourself as a teacher who is getting some assistance from a student, not simply someone to answer the phone.
How to Legally Work With an Intern
School is coming to an end for another year, and many students will be participating in internships for the summer. An internship can be a real win-win situation—the hirer (you) gets low cost or even free help while the intern gains valuable work experience.
I did a number of internships in my college days. I’ve also managed interns in my professional days. When I worked for a small, post production company in Boston, we had an intern in our office every day of the week. They helped us with tasks such as blacking out tapes, burning DVDs and videotapes for our clients, assisted in shooting projects, and brought a great, young energy into the office.
What did they get out of it? They got to use state-of-the-art professional shooting and editing equipment for free. Many of these students couldn’t even get their hands on stuff this awesome at their colleges. Plus, they were encouraged to create their own projects when the equipment was free, which happened often since we were such a small shop.
