Successful internships require supportive environments that provide direction and autonomy. Provide adequate structure and information to help interns adjust and become productive team members that contribute to your bottom line.
Planning tools coupled with a project-based on-boarding lasting 120 -160 hours provides interns with task autonomy and the opportunity to develop a strong working knowledge of the business.
Download guides and templates at the bottom of each section.
Interns are just like any other employee: they require a clear outline of duties and expectations. The internship job description helps set and align supervisor and intern expectations as well as areas for intern evaluation.
Tailoring the job description once candidates have been interviewed can avoid internship expectations that are not aligned with the skill sets and experience of available candidates.
Project-based internship training allows the intern to become familiar with the company’s day-to-day operations and business model. Sample projects develop interns’ industry-specific skills, company knowledge, and provide job specific learning opportunities.
One-Stop internship pilot results indicate a 120-160 hour training period is most effective.
Internship Project Plan Overview
Sample Project Plan
PDF Project Plan Template
The on-boarding checklist is an efficient way for internship supervisors to ensure that their interns have received the information they need to become productive team members. The on-boarding checklist should include items that cover the entire on-boarding period of the internship. The checklist template can be adapted for a variety of internships.
The checklist included in this toolkit is adapted from the One-Stop internship pilot.
