5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Interns
We’re quick to boast about the outstanding group of students that make up the BYU Marketing Lab. (We are the ones writing this, after all.) Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business is a competitive, high-achieving college, and the Marketing Lab benefits from some of the school’s best.
Over the summer, many of our lab members got industry experience through internships with companies like Cummins, the Ford Motor Company, Qualtrics, and CVS Health. That experience is invaluable for them, for the lab, and for our clients, who look for innovative solutions and insights that these same students provide.
Now that we’re better equipped than before, we wanted to highlight a few of the lessons we learned during these internships.
5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Interns:
As we shared experiences and talked about some of the things we learned throughout our summer internships, we were quick to identify the ways our employers helped us (and them!) get the most out of our time. Whether they did things well or could have used some improvements, we identified 5 best practices companies can employ to get the most out of their interns—and to help them have a solid internship experience, too.
1. Set the tone and culture with a positive attitude.
A manager’s positive attitude helped rub off on their interns. Cali shares, “Sometimes the best thing you can bring to the table is a positive attitude! When I learned that my internship was going to be remote, I was slightly disappointed despite my excitement to have the internship in general. The first few days of my internship I was able to see the positive attitude of my manager and fellow employees. Positivity is contagious, so I decided I was going to bring a positive attitude to work every day as well. That enthusiasm helped me be successful in my internship more than anything else.”
- Cali Johnson, Cummins
2. Ask for feedback and always strive to improve.
“One thing that Qualtrics does best is constantly getting feedback from their interns to adapt and improve the intern experience as the summer progresses. Make sure you are listening to your interns continuously throughout the 10 or 12 weeks so you can make it the best experience possible.”
- Ben Harris, Qualtrics
3. Work with interns to find out what they want to learn and achieve throughout their internship.
“At the beginning of the summer I told my boss that I was looking to get more experiences and skills because I felt I had mastered everything I was already doing and I got bored. So my awesome CEO gave me a new project that required learning skills I was totally unfamiliar with. It was hard but I'm glad I did that!”
- Kyle Vorkink, Ovation
4. Have high expectations—and time to learn.
“…Employers should be careful of setting the bar so high during an internship that interns don’t feel like they have time to network or enjoy intern events. Sometimes I felt like the pressure to perform kept me from having fun and really enjoying my internship experience.”
- Ben Harris, Qualtrics
5. Use your company’s strengths and relationships to enrich your interns
(We’re the interns, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we’re asking for this.)
“One of the main things I looked for when choosing a company to intern with was how beneficial of a networking experience it would be for me and if I would have the opportunity to work with “real” clients or big-name companies that I am interested in possibly working for someday. Interns are more likely to be excited and engaged in the work they are doing if they have opportunities to network and be involved in direct client work that will allow them to develop relationships with professionals, both internally and externally.”
- Lauren Bushnell, Connor Group
“Implementing a mentorship program can help interns develop the talents and knowledge needed to succeed. During my internship I had the opportunity to be mentored and that helped me improve in areas that I didn’t know I could grow. I was able to have a better internship experience because I knew I had someone to count on.”
- Maria Arrayan, Cummins
We’re grateful for the companies—and the people behind them—that took us on this summer and helped us to learn, excel, and help in return. We hope that this collection of feedback and advice can help anyone planning to hire interns in the future to make the most of them and their experience.
All the best,
The BYU Marketing Lab