Avoiding Intern Isolation

Entry by Ashley Cashen, Talent Acquisition and Retention Coordinator, digitalKnowledge

Several things can lend to a negative experience for an intern – in my opinion, one of the biggest pitfalls can be isolating your intern from the rest of the company. One of the intern’s expectations is to dive deeper into your company and the industry – to get an insider’s look at how your company operates. Companies who treat their interns like temporary employees who come in and work on tasks that quite frankly, no one else wants to do, are neglecting their interns of valuable experiences.

There are several ways that we have chosen to involve Bart in the company and allow him to feel like he is a true member of the dK team. The first being very simple, but important – his location in the office. A lot of the work that Bart is participating in while with us falls under the web development category; therefore, we placed him in our development center. The development center consists of 3 developers, one being Bart’s mentor. This allows Bart the opportunity to both observe conversations and projects taking place. It gives your intern the chance to ask questions, get involved, and develop their professional skills.

The next outlet for intern involvement is company meetings. Bart was invited to attend our monthly staff meeting where he was able to see how digitalknowledge’s financials, staffing, and internal departments work. Through his experience at our staff meeting, Bart saw the dynamics of our company and was able to step out of his normal role in the web development area and experience the business side of digitalKnowledge. The digitalKnowledge team was also given the opportunity to hear about what Bart was working on and recognize him for all of his contributions.

The third way that we plan to involve Bart in the company is through invitation to employee outings. digitalKnowledge’s first employee outing is the Indianapolis Indians game. Employee outings can be rewards for your intern – it is a simple way to thank them for all of their hard work and allow them to get to know the staff on a more personal level.

Involving interns and avoiding the dreaded “intern isolation” is imperative to a successful internship. By offering your intern a positive experience, you leave a long-lasting impression, as well as give them the most valuable, and personal, experience they can get through an internship.