Small Business Rebels

Everyone seems to be talking about Interns. Its become a new dirty word in business. Its entered the dictionary with the same level of respect given to words such as banker and clamper. Or I should rightly say that those advertising internship positions are the new demons of the business world.

Is offering intern positions really that bad?

Perspective.

Look, its simple really. Yes, there are unscrupulous people out there who will take advantage of the current economic climate and offer internship positions will the sole intention to exploit the interns by treating them like full time employees without having to pay them.

But there are also companies out there with far less nefarious intentions who just need a bit of help and dont quite have the resources to create a full time position. Businesses who genuinely believe that they have an opening for someone who can help out while learning the ropes.

A Foot in the Door.

An internship is an extending audition/interview. It’s a chance for the intern to prove that they can bring value to the company by helping solve the current problem. It’s training, its experience, it’s a chance to see if the job would actually suit the intern before the company goes to the expense of a contract.

I know a number of friends whose companies have taken on interns. As simply an observer, I’ve noticed that many of the full time people at these companies, were people who started there as interns. The fact that these businesses move people from interns to full time employees and that these same people decide to take those positions surely proves that interns are not just treated as monkeys and actually gain the experience needed to justify the expense of full time employment.

No Alternative Work.

People would want to get some bloody perspective and get off their high horses. In case they haven’t noticed, jobs are not exactly easy to pick up these days and many young people who are receiving the dole would love the opportunity to build up their CV through getting some experience in a working environment, especially an interesting and busy one.

Its a vicious circle and sometimes it doesn’t seem very fair but just remember over 14% of this country have no work, nowhere to go to create some semblance of self worth for themselves, to better themselves or just to get that experience on their CV that they need to pick up a proper position. 14% is not a small number so anything that any company can do in this regard should be encouraged and applauded.

It’s the Economy Stupid.

As for those who throw the acquisition of “if you can’t pay then you shouldn’t be hiring” attitude, lets be real. We all know the massive expense involved in hiring staff on a full time basis and sometimes you need an extra pair of hands around to move work and projects forward so that you can generate the extra revenue to create that full time job.

We’re all grown ups.

And in the end let’s face it; people are entitled to make up their own mind. They are more that capable of looking at the internship offer and making a judgment call. And remember with no legal contract, comes minimum responsibilities; if the intern feels like they’re being exploited at any point, they can walk.

If your business needs help or a dig out just remember that there are plenty of people out there who want the experience so treat them well, pay what you can afford and be honest about the work and what’s required.

Treat them as more than a pair of hands and you might have just found a future superstar employee for your business.