What s In Store for Your Summer Intern? by Pete Lorenco

As a small business owner, perhaps you're giving back this year by hiring a summer intern. If so, you're perpetuating a noble trend. A recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that in 2012, employers sponsored 8.5 percent more interns than they did in the previous year.

But don't fall prey to raising an office gofer because of sheer need. Instead, make it a mutually beneficial relationship. Consider these do's and don'ts.

DO define the job specs. (DON'T wait until the intern starts.)

Take the time to define what you expect from your intern. Create a job description and identify what benefits you and your student-in-resident stands to gain. To enrich the experience, consider creating a special project, such as researching records management or shredding vendors. Learning some key vendor-evaluation criteria could prove valuable to your business and your intern for years to come.

DO make the internship a true learning experience. (DON'T make the intern your unskilled temp.)

Make the internship worthwhile. For example, you could have an intern spend the first half of the summer shadowing various employees and departments within the company. After learning their roles, your intern can help define which documents it needs to shred and when, and which should stay. Such a project builds great communication and project management skills.

DO set your intern up for success. (DON'T leave the intern untrained.)

Having one point person give direction and mentor the intern instills confidence and security, and also lets you more easily track work in progress. The result will be a happy intern who can prove valuable to helping you define your company's records management and document shredding needs.

DO capitalize on your intern's talents. (DON'T make assumptions about his or her skills.)

Your likely very tech-savvy intern may bring fresh insights to your daily records management tasks. Challenge him or her with a project such as working with your HR manager to sort and assign records for scanning, or maybe corralling your social media activity. Then have them present a summary of the project in a final paper or presentation at the end of the summer.

Bringing in an intern might create a little more work than you expect, but the experience can ultimately be rewarding for everyone involved. Your lucky apprentice may gain valuable skills while giving you lift in areas where it's sorely needed. What's not to love about that?

LINK:	http://blog.ironmountain.com/2013/service-lines/small-business/whats-i...
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