it's your legacy... Entrustet HIWI Blog

(Part 1 of a summer-long blog series by Jesse Davis, co-founder, Entrustet)

Interns Rob Howard (left) and Joe Brennan (right)

There ain’t no labor like free labor, right? It’s not hard to understand why a successful intern program could be valuable to a bootstrapping startup without sufficient funds to hire enough employees for rapid growth. The operational word here is ‘sucessful,’ which a half-hearted program is unlikely to be. Running a well-oiled Intern Program takes some time and effort, but if done correctly, your startup stands to reap real, direct rewards. And what’s more is that it will also result in a rich, fun, and rewarding resumé-builder for the interns themselves. This win-win situation is well-within every startup’s reach.

This post is part 1 of a summer-long series detailing the topic of running an intern program in a startup, using my experiences running the Entrustet Intern Program this summer. Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

• Finding interns
• Interviews & hiring
• Legalities of unpaid internships
• Creating a framework for the program
• Scheduling
• Understanding interns as an extension of yourself
• Finding and developing individuals’ strengths
• Providing ‘real-life’ experience with field trips and high-level projects
• Prizes, food, and giveaways: how to incentivize unpaid internships
• Assigning good projects
• Setting up a contact list project to increase your network
• Facebook, blogs, and Twitter with the interns
• Developing the right work environment for your interns
• Job roles and functions
• Division of labor
• Balancing the menial tasks with the high-level projects
• Creating a fertile ground for idea generation and creative leaps

In this, part 1, I will give an overview of the program, and then discuss How to find interns.

Overview of Our Intern Program

I spent the about 30-40% of my time this past April planning the Entrustet Summer Intern Program. We have 9 interns working some 125-150 hours per week, collectively. The interns are roughly split up into the following four groups: sales, corporate relations, social media, and finance/business development. Some highlights thus far:

• The interns have increased our contact list of attorneys from 100 to over 700
• The interns have saved us $1,000 in copyright consulting fees
• The interns have begun making real sales and actually generating revenue for the company
• The interns have begun a blog series called From the Interns’ Couch, which will detail their program from the inside out
• The program has already freed up hundreds of hours of time for myself and co-founder Nate Lustig to work on high-level tasks
• Our social media interns have landed us about 10 niche to midsize PR leads
• The interns have become comfortable enough in their positions to start taking creative leaps on assignments–an undeniable sign comfort level and ability

How to find interns:

It’s nice to be based in Madison, WI, which comes with a student population of 42,030. That said, it’s possible to find eligible student populations within driving distance of many mid to large sized cities in the U.S. So step one is to find out what schools are within say a 20 mile radius of your office. Hopefully there’s something–even a small liberal arts school–in your area. If not, step 2 would be to hit up craigslist or other free/inexpensive advertising options.

Step 1: Get noticed by local students

Many colleges have some sort of a system in place for companies to do on-campus recruiting, either in-person or on the web, or both. In our case, UW-Madison has an online job board where employers can post descriptions of job openings that get seen by the students. UW’s system was so customized, that we could even choose to target certain positions to particular majors within the school. For instance, we posted our Financial Intern position to only Econ majors and Finance/Accounting majors. Many schools also have job fairs and other on-campus recruiting opportunities. Find out what your local school offers and act on it.

• We posted 4 positions online: social media internship, financial internship, corporate relations internship, and sales internship
• I got about 40 responses and resumes and we offered an interview to all 40 of them
• 9 signed up

Step 2 (if step 1 is unsuccessful)

Post the job(s) on Craigslist, for starters. From there, I recommend spreading the word throughout your networks that you’re looking for an intern (I recommend doing this from the get go, actually). You can also target a Facebook ads to students who’ll be coming home from school to your place of business for the summer. Facebook ads can be targeted to just this demographic, and they’re pretty cheap–a $100-150 ad campaign is an affordable gamble.

Tips

• Descriptions on job posting boards should be detailed. Don’t just post ‘Internship Available’ on the site. Specify if it’s a sales internship, a finance internship, etc. Also, put specific talents or pre-reqs you’re ideally looking for–excel proficiency? Experience blogging in the past? Etc.
• Target certain job postings. If a certain position within the intern program require a basic understanding of a particular subject matter, then consider targeting specific majors within the school. For instance, a web development intern is likely to come out of the computer science department.
• Give everyone an interview. Worse comes to worse, you don’t offer them a position. But don’t be hesitant to offer an interview because the student’s resume doesn’t boast a 4.0 or an honor society mark. In many casees, those with so-so resumés may end up being the most qualified for the position.

Next up, part 2 of the series: Setting up a Framework for an Intern Program

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Entrustet Interns · how to run an intern program · intern program · intern program startups · interns · running an intern program · startups interns · tips for running a successful intern program