It doesn’t seem possible, does it? Every year, all over Canada, hundreds of eager students are lining up at companies like yours trying to get that proverbial foot in the door. For a business, a successful internship can have a direct impact on revenue—after all, this person is working for free.

A recent debate, sparked by this Workopolis article , found some people questioning the practice, calling it “questionably legal free labour”. Let’s just debunk that myth right now—an internship handled wisely has hugely positive effects for both sides. As hiring managers, do you know how to make an internship work?

For a lot of industries, particularly creative ones like advertising, publishing, or audio and video studios, an internship is still seen as the only method available to enter the workforce. True or not, there lies opportunity to grab some young and enthusiastic talent at a bargain basement price (oh, and make yourself look really good too).  

At their best, internships provide a real environment for students to use the theoretical skills or concepts they studied all year. I had a fantastic internship, and took some useful skills and published work along with me when it was over. Others I know spent 3 months picking up dry-cleaning.

It is in your company’s best interest to be a great place to intern. Why? An intern who enjoys their experience will communicate that to others in the industry. They will speak highly of your business in their future endeavours. And they will actually work hard.

Want to have the top talent lining up at your doors for an internship? Here are 10 things to keep in mind when hiring an intern:

Make it legit. As we discussed in the article by Renee Sylvestre-Williams, keep the legal parameters for hiring an intern in mind. Find out the six guidelines you need to follow to avoid the risks here. Or, keep it simple and…

Stick with a student. Find a list of schools in your area and see which programs cater to your industry. Establish a relationship with post-secondary schools that have reputable programs in your field. They will likely send you the cream of their crop each year when they know what you’re looking for, which brings us to…

Prepare objectives. Have an idea of the kind of duties that an intern will be handling on a daily basis. Evaluate your company’s needs and think about if there is enough work to keep someone occupied, and also who has the time to dedicate to training.

Give them actual work. All the horror stories about unpaid labour and miserable internships generally come from students that were not given actual work. Sure, it can be nice to have a new pair of hands to organize those back files, but make sure to throw some job-specific tasks in there.

Test them under (fake) pressure. You know that a major project wouldn’t rest on an intern’s shoulders—but they don’t. Test their tenacity to complete something significant in a short period of time. It can give you a good idea of how they work under pressure (Do they stress? Do they perform?), and gives them a real leg up when this really does happen in the future.

Give ‘em a taste. Some of the best experiences an intern can get are just being privy to meetings between bosses, managers, and executives. Presenting a project? Let them sit in. Brainstorm session? Even better. A lot can be gained from being a fly on the wall.

Toss out the word ‘intern’. A study out of the U.S. found that up to 58% of interns end up being future employees. And with the prevalence of similar education programs here, we’re betting those numbers compare in Canada. Think of an intern as a colleague and they’ll probably act like one.

Flexibility. As much as you want to test them out, keep in mind that an intern very likely has a part-time job as well. During my internship I was able to leave early sometimes to get to a bartending job on time. Having the freedom to do that (without fearing for my shot at a job) took some major stress off my shoulders.

Consider it ‘free training’. A great intern can become a great new hire. Not in the budget right now? It might be next year, and you have substantially reduced the learning curve (and the cost of onboarding) if you ever hire them.

Throw them a bone (or at least some lunch). Ok, so you can’t hire someone—but maybe there is room in the budget for a transit pass, a lunch stipend, or a small monetary bonus at the end of it all. Doesn’t sound like much, but to a broke and eager student the prospect of free food is very enticing.

Have you hired an intern for this summer? Tell us about your experience.