Risk Management/Insurance Intern Preparation
October 2009
So you've decided to have one or two college
interns join you next year? It's definitely then time to start thinking about
what you will have them do, and how you will evaluate their performance.
by Brenda
Wells, Ph.D., CPCU, AAI
All of these suggestions assume that you are hiring an intern to hopefully
recruit a full-time employee for the future, rather than just covering a seasonal
employment need.
Where Should They Work?
There are two ways to approach intern assignments. One is to put them working
on the job you'll eventually want to hire them for full-time. I personally think
that's a mistake in the sense that it's too "narrow" of an assignment.
My preferred approach is to give them a "big picture" look at the firm. This
involves having them spend at least a day or two in each major department. From
the reception desk to top management's desk, and everywhere in-between, the
view is always different. Not just the view of the company, but the view of
that intern. Give the intern and the company a chance to have a 360-degree view
of each other. This will maximize your chances of making sure the intern is
a good all-round fit for the company. If you plan it right, it'll be the best
multi-week interview you've ever conducted.
What Will They Do?
If you just drop an intern into the construction or manufacturing department's
lap for 3 weeks, you'll probably be wasting everyone's time. Have a representative
from each department serve as the intern's "personal trainer" or tour guide
for at least 1 full day, so that questions can be asked and answered. The experience
will prove educational.
Also, make sure each division that will keep the intern for more than a day
or two has a meaningful activity or task for the intern to complete. Many years
ago, I toured an office and they spent the entire time telling me how they entered
data into a computer. I knew how to enter data, and the explanation of the software
meant nothing to me. If they had had me sit down and enter my own information
into the system, I would have been able to grasp the process much better. Most
people learn best by doing, not by listening to a slick presentation about how
great a software package or a job function is.
The most commonly heard criticism of internship programs from students is,
"It seemed like there wasn't anything for me to do" or "The people who worked
there didn't have time to teach me anything." Make sure you keep them busy and
engaged.
Mentoring Is Critical!
Truly successful managers and executives almost always have a mentor in their
lives. A mentor is someone they can go to for advice and counsel when needed.
One of the most successful executives I know is 50 years old and still has a
mentor in his life. The one piece of advice I give all my students is to find
a mentor they can trust and to never, ever be without one. My biggest successes
in my career I can attribute in part to a strong and caring mentor. My biggest
failures I can almost always attribute to the lack of one.
If you really want your intern to succeed, they need a mentor in the company
who can help them by reinforcing successful behaviors and by discouraging unsuccessful
behaviors in a nonthreatening way. If your intern wears the wrong clothes to
work (as so many of my Human Resources friends tell me they are prone to do),
someone needs to tell them. So make sure the mentor is someone who can do that
firmly but tactfully.
Learning is a lifelong process, and you cannot expect college students to
know everything as soon as they arrive at your doorstep. I once had a student
who went to an interview in a pair of khaki pants and a white t-shirt, because
those were the nicest clothes he owned. He was 19 years old, incredibly smart,
but had no family whatsoever and no one to teach him about interview etiquette
or proper dress. The employer who would offer that to him through a mentoring
program would ultimately get a great (and grateful) employee.
A couple of hours worth of "here's what works around here—and here's what
doesn't" gives your intern the benefit of catching up on what everyone else
already knows. Whether it's the boss's hatred of visible tattoos or his extreme
passion for discussing sports, give the intern the chance to
not fail politically by sharing this important
information about the "unwritten" rules.
To illustrate this point, I'll share the story of "Barb," who was a student
of mine many years ago. She and another student were summer interns at an insurance
company. At the end of the summer, the company invited the other student to
stay on with the company, but the invitation was not extended to Barb.
I got the company's side of things, and here's how they described Barb and
the situation:
She's an intern for heaven's sake, and went to her bosses' supervisor to
complain about her boss's behavior. It's not cool around here to break the
chain of command. Also, she thought she was too good to do the work we gave
her.
I talked to Barb, and got a somewhat different story. It was true she felt
the work they gave her wasn't challenging, but she really didn't know that it
was not okay to complain about it, until
I told her so. She was genuinely surprised by that fact, and my guess is mom
and dad probably had led her to have an overinflated opinion of her skills and
her net worth on the food chain of life in general. That wasn't her fault, and
it's certainly not the company's job to teach her that. But she was smart, and
eventually became a good employee for another company once she had just a little
bit of professional coaching.
The other half of her story left me with my jaw on the table. The reason
she complained to her boss's boss is she felt that she was being approached
by her boss for a date. She did the only thing she knew how to do, which was
report it to the next person up the line. And (right or wrong), the news apparently
didn't go over well.
Admittedly, that was over 15 years ago, and attitudes toward that kind of
thing have toughened up tremendously. But I can only imagine how differently
things might have turned out if she'd had the benefit of a friendly mentor who
said, "Go to H.R., not the next supervisor in line" or "I'll talk to the company
about getting you reassigned to a different supervisor."
Understanding the Generation
I have made it a point to spend time researching the current generation of
college students in terms of how what motivates them. Your company needs to
do that, too. And you can do it now, while looking for an intern, or you can
do it later when all the college graduates have taken jobs with companies that
cater more to their needs.
What motivated you even 10 years ago may not work for today's 22-year-old.
Don't be afraid to explore demographic trends and, when in doubt,
ask them what they think. This internship
program isn't just a learning experience for them—it's also one for you.
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