How To Grow Interns

Interns are a popular item with in the market place because mainly they offer free labor although with minimum expertise on the job if any at all. They come in handy when you have overwhelming work load and can be a source of enthusiasm because of their high energy levels but do they actually achieve their purpose for being sent out…

According to Wkipedia.org, ``An Internship is a job training for white collar and professional careers.’’ Internship positions can be paid for or unpaid for and usually temporary.

In most universities in Uganda, the students are expected to take on internship in their second year in a bid to get work experience or have a taste of what it would be like to work after graduating from campus. The standard internship lasts for close to three months.

However, do students really get the ``so called work experience? ’Are the work places ready for these interns?’’ These are questions that every company or organization should be in position to answer.

The universities might be churning out thousands of graduates each year who are ill-prepared for the work place but isn’t this the solution the internship experience is meant to provide??

If students are rough on the edges, let the internship experience sharpen them. The whole internship process is geared at equipping students with work place etiquette as well as giving them a practical work experience.

A few tips on how to best prepare to receive interns in your workplace;

v Follow the trends of various universities in order to know when internship happens and prepare accordingly to receive interns .If they are expected each year, then planning for them will not be a hard task.

v Know how many interns the organization needs and break it down to know the departments that need interns.

v Define what the interns are to do while with the organization. Remember, people can`t do everything. This saves time on both ends –for the interns and the host organization.

v Allocate supervisors to the interns; these supervisors monitor the progress of the interns and ensure they are growing for the time they are with the organization. This process is about value –addition for the students as they help out the host organization.

v There should be a skill set the organization is dedicated to equipping the interns with.

This provides another dimension to youth empowerment and cuts the cycle of unemployment giving youth an opportunity to be trained and prepared for the work place.

Work places in all their various capacities need to be concerned with youth empowerment. It`s time they paid attention to the internship process and rigorously add value to the interns they receive each year. At Kyusa, we are keen and committed to empowering as well as equipping the interns that we take on from time to time because we realize the relevance of that phase in the life of a young person aspiring the launch into the labor market.

All stakeholders must join the youth empowerment movement and play their role.