Rick,
All excellent points! You're very right that attitude tends to be the most important ingredient in that list. With a positive attitude, other things are certainly possible. Excellent job!
Dr. James Willis III
Having interns gives prospective employers the opportunity to see potential candidates for employment in action, see how they preform the duties they may be doing, their attendance, their interaction with staff, and most importantly their attitude.
Rick
Shonna,
Absolutely! This is especially true for fields that are changing every day; sometimes interns can bring a renewed vitality to the workplace. Great observation!
Dr. James Willis III
Interns are fresh out of school and may generate new ideas in an arena that may be saturated with experienced professionals that are out of touch with the basics and the intern may offer new innovations to the position.
Diego,
Absolutely! Interns can help give that fresh, outside perspective. It very much is a symbiotic relationship. Great observation!
Dr. James Willis III
Interns students may help the organization to oversee and review its own procedures and ways to do the job; as well as bring fresh and new ideas
Susan,
You bring up a great point. Having the opportunity to help train a person specifically for work duties is a big asset to many in the field. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
The employer has the opportunity to teach, and also receives help in the office at a reduced salary, or in our case for free. They also have the opportunity to train someone specifically for their office, and the extern could turn in to a potential hire.
Jeff,
Great point! I think you're very right that employers can serve as instructors to students; they are teaching them different skills than they receive in the classroom. Great job!
Dr. James Willis III
Having students as interns has several benefits to employers. The employers have a short term impact on the education of the individual student but also insight into the educational process. This can allow a long term impact when the employers can input into the educational system and allow it to grow.
Joseph,
You are absolutely right about the open line of communication. Organizations stand to learn from new and innovative approaches that interns may well know given their recent curriculum learning. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
Employers who have students as interns benefit from having part-time employees who have not been in the career field and are not tainted by previous supervisors or places of employments. Also, the students education is fresh and the organization may learn from the interns if there is an open line of communication.
Heather,
Very good point! Having a good fit between skill and personality is absolutely essential to a healthy working environment. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
They are able to pre-screen students and figure out if they would be good fit for hire!
khalda,
Excellent points! You are right that interns have the opportunity to learn the 'office culture.' That is invaluable not only to the potential employee, but also the employer. Both parties have to agree that it's a 'fit' for them. Internships provide a unique way of doing that!
Dr. James Willis III
One of the benefits that employers have with interns is that the student who can be their future employee is already trained with their office culture. Now they don't have to go out and search for the person for that particular position and wait to train him or her to start the position. The current intern has been already with them for couple of weeks he or she have been familiar of how the things are done and I beleive upon hiring they can easily transit from internship to employee and do the same level of job.
Rachael,
You are very right - having such a lengthy relationship with an employer certainly gives the student an advantage over other would-be candidates. Within the school atmosphere, it's best to help teach students how to be successful so they can put their best feet forward, as it were!
Dr. James Willis III
I agree with the win-win. Even though schools have hands on and practical situations in the classrooms, during internship students are able to work with real life situations before actually starting work. Instead of having a 30 minute interview with a site, they have the opportunity to "interview" for weeks or months by proving themselves while they are there. On the other hand, employers are able to assess the student as well.
Having students as interns is beneficial to the employer. Employers are able to train potential new hires while they are still students. Generally, the internship is for a number of weeks or months which may be longer than the normal training time. Employers get to see the student in action and assess the learning skills before hiring them. If the student is hired by the employer, the employer did not have to pay for the training. Also, employers can see what skills a school is teaching students prior to hiring other students from the school.
Belinda,
Good point. This also provides students the ability to put additional skills they've learned on their resumes; many times these skills only come from on-the-job training.
Dr. James Willis III
