From the classroom to the office - summer internship programs - includes related article on Hallmark Cards Inc.'s internship schedule - Focus

HR Magazine, Nov, 1998 by Nancy Hatch Woodward

Summer interns can provide short-term talent and long-term recruiting prospects.

Mark Witzke, team leader of recruiting at Chevron Corp. in San Francisco, doesn't mince words when he talks about summer internship programs. "If you are not involved with summer college internships, it's suicidal," he says. "As I go around talking to organizations about hiring, I explain to them that in this day and age, there are three points to a successful recruiting process: summer programs, summer programs and summer programs."

Whether or not you think Witzke is exaggerating may depend on how badly you need talented prospects. Summer internships can be a creative, productive tool for recruiting the most highly qualified college students. And recruiters say it is the best way to give both the company and the intern a chance to get acquainted with each other, which can reduce turnover.

"We are going to know far more about the 150 interns that we have for a three-month internship than any students we interview for half an hour on campus," says Witzke. "It's also true that if we give them a good summer, chances are they will be interested in working for us, not our competitors."

Patricia Rose, director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with Witzke. "Students are looking for a summer [internship] that will provide career-related experience and, they hope, an offer of full-time employment once they graduate."

Being all it can be

Developing a productive and interesting internship program - or revamping an old one - takes time and commitment. "It might take longer than five years to realize your investment in it," warns Bill Skinner, human resources manager at Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which offers 55 intern positions each year. "You have to understand that it is a long-term investment, and you have to have complete and total buy-in from the top that the company is committed and will not kill the program before it has had time to reach fruition."

Before you can get company buy-in, however, there needs to be a clear understanding of what you hope to accomplish with the program. "We have made an absolute commitment that this is going to be an investment in the long-term recruiting process," explains Jim Brockington, director of university relations at Air Products and Chemical Inc. in Allentown, Pa. "We have approximately 100 interns each summer, and we understand that not only are we trying to evaluate these kids, but we are also having them evaluate us. We want them to feel comfortable with the company, to learn and understand the culture of the company. That means we have to give them meaningful work."

The work assignments can be the difference between a successful intern program and one that fails to achieve its goals. "I think the biggest difficulty for a summer program is that - and this has been true for years - you are dealing with very bright and very motivated students," says Burke Stinson, human resources spokesman at AT&T Corp. in Basking Ridge, N.J. "We offer between 400 and 500 internships, and the challenge for us and for any company is to provide them with stimulating work."

Some internship programs tend to view students as merely an extra pair of hands, but these types of programs are not successful recruiting tools. First of all, says Witzke, "The fastest way to turn interns off is for them to perceive that they have not been given real work. The second reason is that whether you do or do not hire a particular intern, you still want that student saying good things about your company. You want your interns to be able to go back to their campuses and talk about what a positive experience they had working for you. They can be your best recruiting tool."

In addition to a positive work experience, students also are looking for reasonable salaries. "Students need money," says Rose. "That's just a fact of life." Internship programs that are geared toward recruiting have to offer reasonable compensation. "We pay them what we believe are competitive amounts," says Skinner. "There is no good salary survey data on intern salaries, but we know when somebody else offers an intern more money than we do because the intern will often come back and tell us."

Once a company decides the intent of the summer internship program and has a long-term commitment, the next step is deciding who will work with the students. This person will serve as a mentor and supervisor, so it is important to make sure he or she works well with college age students.

"The person or persons in the organization who are responsible for the program have got to have an enormous interest in and ability to interact with people at this age and level of education," stress Brockington. "There is a tremendous amount of coaching and counseling and just sitting and listening to the students, and that takes a person with a whole lot of interest and enthusiasm."

Hallmark Cards Inc. takes a two-pronged approach to making interns feel comfortable at work. "We have orientation sessions with our managers to help them understand what is expected of them," says Dawn Harp, college relations/career development manager at Hallmark in Kansas City, Mo. "In addition, we pair each of our 70 or so interns with a peer mentor, so there will be someone close to the intern's own age who can help with those 'unwritten' rules and general questions that are hard to ask a boss."