How can you help your interns to grow into your future employees?

They may just be passing through your company for a few months but they should not be neglected in any way. We are of course talking about interns! What can you do to help them grow and develop within your structure? Discover our practical tips to help your interns to flourish, to join your company on a permanent basis, or to add to your talent pool!

Tip 1 - Take care of pre-onboarding, onboarding and offboarding

Onboarding and offboarding are particularly important moments for interns, times when they may be feeling particularly unsure of themselves. It is those first moments, those first weeks, that set the tone for the rest of your intern’s journey. As for when they leave your company, this is also a key moment that underlines the importance you give to human relations. Here are our practical tips to ensure the best welcome - and the best possible send-off.  

• Do not forget the pre-onboarding period: there might be quite a long time between the signing of the contract and the actual arrival of your intern in the company...and if newcomers do not receive any communication from you, they may feel disoriented. Do not hesitate to communicate in writing with your future interns and give them as much practical information as possible before they arrive. They should get the feeling that everything has been planned for their arrival! 
• Be vigilant over the first few days: ensure that each intern receives consistent treatment, regardless of who may be interacting with them. To do this, anticipate the key moments of their arrival and plan a full agenda for the first few days: there should be no ‘disconnect’ time.
• Keep careful track of them for the first 3 months: onboarding does not stop at the first week, especially for an intern who is discovering your company and the world of work at one and the same time: make a point of scheduling regular check-ups to find out about their feelings, expectations and questions.
• Plan a formal offboarding event: the departure of an intern from your organisation is an important moment to review how that time has been for them. Take time to debrief them and encourage them to reflect on their strengths and on potential areas for further improvement. It is also a good time to let them know that they can develop and then return to your company at a future date. 

Tip 2 - Conduct regular check-ins to help them progress

It can sometimes be fairly intimidating for an intern to find their feet in the new environment of the working world. To help them to progress, you should schedule regular check-ups to discuss their progress, at which they can ask all their questions and can receive your advice. Here are some formats you can suggest, the important thing being the continuity of mentoring support. 

• Informal meetings (coffee or breakfast) to ask them how well they feel they fit in to the company and to learn in a frank and open discussion what they think of the work they are called upon to do.
• One or more formal points prepared in advance, to enable them to structure detailed feedback. Make a point of telling them how satisfied you are, and about what you expect, to enable them to adapt their approach and to develop their skills,
• Online questionnaires (Google Forms, GetFeedback) that will allow them to express themselves and take a step back from their experience (for example, a questionnaire at the halfway point and another at the end of their placement). 
• Finally, make a point of cross-checking each intern’s point of view with that of their manager, to find out what the latter thinks of how well they integrated and to obtain a view on whether those interns might be suitable for joining company at a later date in a full-time capacity.

Tip 3 - Don't skimp on training time 

Remember that an intern is (also) with you in order to learn. Through this experience, they can discover a profession, project themselves into a career or deepen their knowledge of a specific sector, and they will have as many wishes as they have questions! As well as providing them with an internship tutor, the best way to respond to this is to provide them with a ‘mentor’ or ‘buddy’, someone who does not have a direct managerial link and who will enable each intern to ask any and all the questions they may have. In terms of training, a number of schemes are in place that can help them to improve their skills and that lend themselves to every type of learning: 

• Mentoring: an excellent way of helping a talented youngster, while also encouraging them to make progress. Mentoring can be done on several complementary topics, such as project management, oral or written communication, self-confidence....This is also an excellent way for your employees to build upon their own communication and leadership skills.
• Shadowing sessions: the concept is to share the daily life of a colleague for 1 hour, enabling your intern to gain a behind-the-scenes impression of a profession and its associated challenges. 
• Online training (Openclassrooms, Coursera, Skillshare, etc.): useful because they are available 24/7. These online training platforms are also a powerful tool for helping your interns to acquire high-level skills. Access to them is often free and accessible. 
• Peer-to-peer training sessions: your employees have many skills that they can share with your interns. Simply organise training sessions within your team on a given topic at a specific frequency (e.g. a monthly training session), to help your interns progress and to find new ideas to carry out their tasks. 
• Self-awareness tools: it is crucial for each intern to understand and highlight their strengths, areas for improvement and professional aspirations. Make a point of guiding your interns to online tools and tests that will help them to better understand what they really wish to learn about.

Taking care of your intern’s experience means anticipating the long-term development of your future teams: your intern account manager today may be the manager of your sales team tomorrow! This is also an opportunity to enhance your image as an employer and to create ideal working conditions for your young protégés to develop and flourish.