How Student Interns can Drive Down Costs & Power Growth
Student Interns… An underrated asset
I don’t usually boast about my mind reading skills, but let me take a crack at what you’re thinking right about now. Just try me.
Regardless of whether you are the sales manager at a regional FMCG company, or a marketing director for an Arab themed chain of restaurants, or an entrepreneur looking to carve out his or her own little slice of the pie, you’re thinking that you’ve probably got bigger concerns on your plate, and too many for that matter, than to deal with the rigors of fitting a bunch of young, inexperienced, pimple faced students into your organization.
A hundred dirhams says I nailed it. Told you I was good.
But here’s why you’re wrong. First however, a short extract from any business 101 textbook.
Delegation is critical to running an efficient organization. If you are a decision maker, responsible for reading the compass and subsequently steering the ship on course for glory, then you cannot, and I repeat cannot, afford to be bogged down with smaller tasks. On a ship that probably means shoveling coal or swabbing the deck, but in your day to day business life, it translates to repetitive data entry, standard sales follow ups, sleepy administrative work, or anything else that requires a truckload of time and a basic skill set.
This is where an effective internship program can step in.
Rather than delving deep into the labor force in search of full or part time employees, student interns are generally willing to work for less than the average bloke with two or three years of experience listed on his or her resume. Heck, many are willing to work for free. This saves your company an arm in labor costs, which could then be utilized more efficiently elsewhere (like increasing that never-enough marketing budget). But the benefits don’t end here.
Not only will student interns bring your company enormous cost savings, but they will arrive at your doorstep awash with energy and bustling with enthusiasm. Studies have shown that:
An intern’s primary motive for employment is a recommendation letter, and in that pursuit they will do whatever it takes to prove themselves to you, their employer.
Spreadsheets that would otherwise have taken a week to organize can be completed in days.
I get it, I get it. Reducing, or flatlining, wages and increasing productivity aren’t enough. The capitalist inside all of us says give us more. Alright then, here’s your final icing on the cake.
If handled properly and efficiently, student interns can actually (yes, actually) become great long term employees for your company. This is in fact a no brainer. Students who have interned with the company already have a feel for the ins and outs of your business, and have a basic understanding of the company’s expectations and workplace culture. Heck, they’ve probably mastered your office politics as well. Rather than go outside and bring in someone fresh, and have absolutely no idea how said person will gel with your organization, an internship program is a great way to brood and test young blood into your workplace, and eventually retain the ones you see potential in.
Now you’re probably thinking, “Hmm, why don’t I get us some interns?” That’s two hundred in the pot. I’m cashing out.
Pro tip: If you want expensive portals that make you pay to list internships, then navigate elsewhere. If you want a free to use platform that connects you with tens of thousands of students, then click the link below
