So you have hired an intern—now what? You might be feeling you need to promote an air of authority, an 'I know this business' aura of benign dictatorship because this is a kid, a newbie, maybe half your age? You might be thinking, I have no idea what to do with someone of this generation as you nervously watch him or her check his or her iPhone and speak in a foreign language called social networking. Maybe even, you feel over the hill.
These are all natural things to think when a young intern has a placement in your organization. However, I can assure you, your intern is an opportunity for everyone on your team to learn and view your business from a unique perspective that often results in innovate solutions to long-held beliefs that something was broken for good. An intern is the conduit to an entirely new model of communication and business. Utilize the intern’s skills and resourcefulness with social networks to bridge your business strategy to a new and innovative model that includes new technology, new platforms, and new methods of doing what 'you've always done'. You have most likely experienced the moment when someone who is leagues younger than you looks at a problem with fresh eyes and comes up with an original way to solve it and your first thought is: This can’t work, it is way too easy. And then it does work? This is what you can glean from working with an intern, they’ll make mistakes, they’ll push boundaries, and they’ll look at things in an original way you never thought of.
“We bring new ideas to the table and look at things with a fresh new perspective. Also, we are eager to learn. The experience, which the managers have, coupled with our ideas and different perspectives, can bring out better solutions for the hotel” says Yatan Nazar, an intern who chose to go to a remote mountain resort for the field work portion of her Bachelor of Arts in International Hotel Management degree.
Ali Alzaki, an intern currently working at a Best Western in Whitehorse, thinks that hiring an intern is a win–win for both parties. “Students who pursued a degree in hotel management are less of a gamble for hotels looking to hire. We are more likely to make a career working in hotels than someone who just wants a day job, or even a second job – which happens to be at a hotel.”
To make sure that you get the best out of your intern and your intern gives you his or her best, here are five steps to take that will increase the chances of success for both host property and student:
- Design an Internship Program that reflects your company. This doesn’t have to be a long tome, but rather, should be a set of goals that you and your team feel would give the intern a sense of the business you do, the services you sell, and your destination.
- Give them an orientation tour and create an Itinerary for their first week, making sure to include face to face time with leaders, your GM, and ensure there is some fun, casual time with staff, be it a bbq or staff party; it’s a great way for the young intern to break some ice and get networking early on.
- Decide what areas you are going to focus the internship on and have those teams prepare a fairly itemized list of duties and goals for the intern’s time in their department.
- Delegate a warm, outgoing staff member to be a ‘go-to person’, a mentor, throughout the intern’s time with the company. This allows for some mentorship from the beginning and could provide opportunities in the future for the young intern.
- Provide opportunities for the Intern to job-shadow and rub shoulders with VIP guests as well as executive management. Could they be invited to a meeting or attend an invite only event? Seeing success is a powerful motivator for someone starting out in the industry.
The key to a successful internship is being open to the learning opportunities for both you and your intern — that social media stuff they’re doing? Ask them to share with you their expertise, encourage their ideas and suggestions, enlist their help in your company’s social media campaign and benefit from a demographic you might not always have the opportunity to work with directly. Gen Y’ers will challenge you to do things differently and this is a good thing because they could just be your company’s secret weapon.
Written by Margaret Doyle. Doyle is the Internship and Industry Relations Coordinator for Royal Roads University. This article is reprinted with permission.
