Intern Management

[Herbsorion]

Hello,

I am a young entrepreneur looking to get some tips from the experienced people on this forum.

I am starting up my company " e-commerce" and i have the opportunity to take an intern for one full year.

But he is the same age as me and he will not be paid.

i was wondering if you could give me tips on the best way to manage interns.

Thank you,
Miles

[Deal_Maker]

Interns are a real test of your leadership because you can't control them through money. I recommend reading Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell.

By the way, it's not "manage", it's "lead".

Good luck.

[Herbsorion]

ok thank you for the help. will look into the book.

[Chris Brooks]

The best management system I have run across is a flat management system. Everyone has equal say without the fear of titles and things getting in the way of an idea. Another great book is one minute manager..

[lancer107]

Yes as previously mentioned you're always leading!! Most entrepreneurs and managers alike may not hire someone who may be smarter, more experienced, or have better credentials - as a young entrepreneur you should know that these are the people you can best learn from. No matter who you are there is always someone smarter than you, so why not have them on your side! Getting to your point, Chris posted a comment about a flat management system, this is similar to that of Gore-tex; (Google: The Chaos Theory of Leadership at Gore-Tex)

Also See "Gore Culture" in a Wikipedia search.

Everyone in the company bares the same title and are considered equals, another book that talks about this method is 'The Tipping Point' by Malcom Gladwell.

Be a leader and choose someone that is motivated by learning!
Best of Luck.

[Lyosha Christmas]

Hello guys!

I just finished a phone interview with the company and they are interested in having a face to face interview with me. I am an econ major and am wondering if this is a good internship to take part in??

[entrepreneurrebel]

By the way, it's not "manage", it's "lead".

Well put. Those who manage only manage to alienate themselves from their employees. You lead and you become someone to look up to.

[Scar Tissue]

''one minute manager'' really a great book. It is a really good way to recruit interns , a low-cost way to get real work done.

[itsjustmoney]

There are some sticky labor law issues to contend with when hiring interns. I think you basically have to hire students for school credit to be legal.

[Maxewhite]

Interns can be of great talent and responsibility but then they will not receive any payment for their services and will only be willing to help to learn in the process. To take care of your interns, here are three managerial tips:

1. Don't cut the intern too much slack just because he/she is unpaid or low paid. You might not hold them to exactly the same standards you'd hold your regular staff to, but you should at least hold them to something close to that -- because otherwise the time that you put into hiring, training, and supervising them won't be worth it.

2. On the opposite side of that, though, do recognize the person is working with no or little pay and find out what they're hoping to get out of the experience and see what you might be able to do to accommodate them.

3. Assume interns won't know some really basic stuff about how things are done and that you'll need to give more guidance than you might with a regular employee. Make sure expectations and goals are really clear, check in regularly to monitor how their work is being executed so you can make course corrections if needed and give advice, and so forth. The thing to remember is that a lot of the value of an internship for students is that it's how they learn this basic stuff about the work world -- so that when they're in a "real" position, they already know how things work.

[network.specialist]

Take it and if you dont like leave it atleast that way youll get some sense whether its worth it or not

[Cell.Phone]

Some internships are paid while other internships are not paid. It depends on the internship and the people/company/whoever is hiring the intern. You should get some on the job training....at least enough so that you are familiar with where you are working. If you want a paid internship you have to start out pretty early (as early as November but no later than Mid-March) to find one, especially if you are looking for an internship during the summer.

[David Morson]

Hey, I have read a book "leadership Gold" by John C. Maxwell. I think this book will help you a lot, so try reading this book. It has the solution to all of your problems.

[Ryan Heatherson]

The Management Intern Program combines work experience and professional development with the participant's university education.Internship includes in-house work experience and an assigned project that allows each intern to demonstrate his or her analytical ability and problem-solving skills. After the first internship, the participant becomes eligible to continue in the program in subsequent summers to build and enhance his or her skills. Interns work with experienced managers to learn about operations, management responsibilities and human resources and all management issues.

[bizalchemist]

I've used Interns throughout my career, here's some things I do to make it effective.

1. I establish exactly what they want out of the internship. Are they looking for a future job, experience, resume boost, personal development, education, contacts, or any number of other objectives. Formulate the internship around meeting their objectives.

2. Establish clear expectations of tasks, time commitments and results that are expected from them.

3. Establish timing of follow up so that both sides have scheduled times to discuss whether or not objectives are being met. (This would be similar to an employee review). These meetings should be frequent, at least monthly, with reviews as frequent as weekly for the first couple weeks while both sides adjust to the internship.