Internship Program Advisory: Itís ëIntern Season!í

The time is now. Today, The Internship Institute declares that itís ëopen seasoní for businesses and non-profit organizations to recruit interns and plan ahead to make summer programs successful.

This purpose of this advisory is to ensure that ëhost organizationsí heed the easily overlooked academic calendar and window of opportunity to reap the benefits of recruiting college students and other workforce talent and creating a successful internship program.

ìWhat too few employers and organizations realize is that internships represent a tremendous untapped opportunity to create a strategic business advantage,î explains Matthew Zinman, executive director and founder of The Internship Institute. ìCompanies and non-profits can infuse their bottom-line with valuable talent while addressing labor shortages, skills gaps, ëbrain drain,í productivity deficiencies, and fulfill corporate social responsibility goals while yielding significant gains for the bottom-line.î

The Internship Institute is the non-profit affiliate of the Z University (ZU) brand, which markets a turnkey internship system. This includes an instructional video on program management called, ìThe Blueprint for Internship Successî (DVD), and a comprehensive set of useful materials with Intern Toolkit(TM) which together provide every advantage for employer ëhost organizationsí to make their internship program the very best it can be.

According to The Internship Institute, those wishing to take immediate action to establish an internship program or improve an existing one should follow three key steps.

Recommended steps include:

1) Define internal needs and wants ñ Companies should develop a job description based on defined needs such as projects involving research, writing, planning and online/telephone outreach.

2) Ask those in the know ñ Contact the career services departments of area higher education institutions well ahead of summer to establish relationships and how to best recruit the right candidates based on defined needs.

3) Prepare Internally ñ Internship programs donít run themselves, but advance preparation is key. Resources such as Z Universityís Intern Toolkit will make intern programs as easy as possible to implement and improve.

Zinman notes that: ìAny organization that hires college graduates or could benefit from an extra hand or second pair of eyes can turn an internship program to their advantage. All it takes is a little planning and creativity, and the interns can do the rest.î

Organizations that are mulling summer internship plans in 2007 can take the Internship Instituteís free Value-Feasibility Assessment, located at http://www.zuniversity.org/itk_is.asp. This assessment will qualify how valuable an internship program may be to the prospective organization as well as provide a sense of how feasible it is to manage the program effectively. Another free resource is an employer education series, located at http://www.zuniversity.org/education_series.asp, which features the value of having interns, a telling study capsule on intern productivity, and sample ideas about ëreal workí interns can do.

Interns are highly capable, highly motivated and ñ if well managed ñ highly valuable,î notes Zinman. The five core skills that bring value to just about any business involve: research, writing, planning, telephone and computer work.î Examples among the hundreds of meaningful intern projects: having interns conduct surveys, perform competitive intelligence research, uncover and pursue marketing opportunities, develop and manage website content, write and edit articles for publication, plan events and prepare presentations.

For those considering whether to launch a new program or resume an existing program, ZUís Intern Toolkit(TM) is a resource designed to ensure successful results for both the organization and its interns. It enables employers and non-profit organizations to run an internship program in a way that increases productivity and raises the quality of the student internship experience. Available for purchase at www.InternToolkit.com, the Intern Toolkit is the most complete resource to convert student talent and skills into employer profit.

Internship programs provide a ìwin-winî solution for companies by addressing social concerns and boosting corporate competitiveness. Making internships available to candidates in the public workforce can also demonstrate a corporate commitment to underserved and underprivileged populations, while creating another talent pool of productive workers.

A common misconception is that organizations and individuals donít have the time to run an internship program, Zinman adds. But with the right tools and preparation, internships can deliver a strategic business advantage. The key is advance planning -- a small investment of time to ensure that proper resources are allocated and that job requirements and goals are clear.î