Your Responsibilities as Intern Employer

While internships provide less expensive, semi-skilled labor, they also entail a host of responsibilities you need to consider before you hit college campuses and start recruiting. Consider these five pointers:

1. Give interns meaningful work. Some small business owners operate under the misconception that interns should be willing to work 40-plus hours a week assembling widgets on the factory floor. Wrong. As the employer, you can’t lose site of the fact that internships must be designed to be learning experiences. In order for interns to learn, you need to give them meaningful work experiences. If you aren’t willing to trust interns with more than making copies and fetching coffee, then you’re probably not ready for an internship program. Entrust them to assist your circ director with some statistical work or customer research. They can be quite helpful in that regard.