Entry by Ashley Cashen, Talent Acquisition and Retention Coordinator, digitalKnowledge
Once your company’s internship ends, it’s important to make sure the communication does not end with it. Hopefully at the end of an internship, both a company and its intern are parting ways with a positive experience to look back on. And if everything goes as planned, both that company and the intern will want to work together in the future.
Most interns still have one, maybe even two or three, years of school left before entering the “real world.” So a company can go from communicating with their intern on a daily basis to not speaking to them for a year. But, a lot of things can happen in that last year of school – your intern may attend career fairs, have job interviews, and meet potential employers. How are you going to continue to stick out from that crowd?
Sure, your intern spent a summer with your company, but a lot of options and opportunities can be thrown one’s way during their senior year of college. It is important that you don’t let your intern feel like history even after the internship ends. During an internship, a company and an intern build a relationship or a sense of belonging – make sure you keep that relationship alive.
A couple of ways to keep the communication flowing during the school year are:
• Add your intern to any mass email lists (for example, company newsletters),
• once the semester starts, send a quick email to check in and wish them luck during their semester,
• invite your intern to your employee outings,
• if any updates or changes are made to a project your intern worked on, let them know,
• utilize holidays to send cards or small gifts,
• when finals week rolls around, send a personalized care package including branded items from your company,
• let your intern know when you will be on their campus for career fairs or other meetings and take them out to lunch,
• when the spring semester starts, personally send any entry-level job openings to your intern and let them know you would love if they applied, and
• if your intern was assigned a mentor, encourage that mentor to stay in touch and continue to offer their guidance and advice during the academic year.
Those are only a few of the things a company can do to make sure that the relationship they build with their intern stays strong. Everything listed above is simple and cost-efficient. As the cliché saying goes, “It’s the thought that counts.” And your intern will be fully impressed if your company makes it a priority to stay in touch and continue to build them into a full-time staff member.
