Get Student Interns
One of the things that really helped me get my business going was to bring on foreign language student interns. There are a number of schools in my city where they bring in students from overseas who want to learn English. They are usually university educated and highly skilled. After they finish their semester at school they look for an internship opportunity with a local company.
The students are looking to improve their English skills as well as gain some additional experience. Having worked in a North American company looks really good on their resumes when they go back to their home country and because they are on student visas, the students can only volunteer at companies - legally they are not allowed to receive compensation which is a great plus for the entrepreneur!
I have had interns help out with programming, marketing, event management, research, and a number of other tasks. They are usually also excited to work and bring dynamic energy to your company.
The language schools are constantly on the lookout for companies to host their students and will provide you with replacements after the student’s term is up (usually 1-3 months).
As entrepreneurs we typically have to think outside of the box and make our resources stretch as much as possible. Having free, skilled help by bringing on foreign language student interns can be a great way to help give your company the boost it needs to get to the next step.
Evan Carmichael
Evan CarmichaelYoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager
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4 Comments so far
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Do you have any suggestions on how to go about this process? Would it be easier to talk to the school and setup an intern program with them, or perhaps just try to catch them on their own accord during the summer. It seems like working with the university would involve more work before and after.. am I mistaken?
Hi Joshua - you want to talk directly to the schools. They have internship programs and are looking for companies to work with. An example of a school here in Toronto is the English School of Canada - http://www.esc-toronto.com/
Great suggestion! I’ve been exploring this option here in Denver, but so far, the universities I’ve talked to have rather high pay requirements. I’m still looking!
Hi Joshua - don’t go to the universities - they have paid internships which you can use but aren’t the focus of this post. Look for English language schools who bring in students from around the world. They are university educated and cannot get paid to do internships because they are on student visas.