Mentoring Your Intern

Providing effective mentoring to an intern can produce a win-win relationship with everyone involved. Here are some outcomes of effective mentoring:

• Contributes to improved employee motivation, performance, commitment and retention.
• Develops human resources by functioning as a form of on-the-job training, thus helping to build and retain a competent work force.
• Enables new interns to more quickly acclimate to a corporate culture and spend more time being productive rather than on learning how to be productive.
• Provides encouragement for the student to advance in their profession.
• Inspires mentors to develop their own leadership skills and possibly advance in their own careers.

Some qualities of effective mentors and students are:

• Mentor : Utilizes excellent listening skills, offers direct and honest feedback, understands the student's strengths and weaknesses, and focuses on professional as well as personal growth.
• Intern : Displays commitment to professional as well as personal growth, possesses a willingness to learn, displays trustworthiness and objectivity, listens effectively and asks questions, and connects classroom knowledge with experiences.

Incorporating teaching and learning activities enhances the experience for both the intern and the mentor. Here are a few suggestions:

• Utilize the “Buddy System.” New interns can benefit from peer mentors who show them the ropes. This one-on-one interaction can supplement formal training and orientation programs and accelerate a new intern's productivity and sense of belonging.
• Communicate job expectations in a clear and concise manner.
• Facilitate the achievement of performance expectations through feedback and performance appraisal. (A faculty adviser may request Performance Reviews if the student intern is receiving academic credit for the internship experience.)
• Assign the intern challenging tasks. Choose projects that offer appropriate growth opportunities matched to the intern's abilities and interests.
• Provide shadowing time for the intern to observe. For example, how managers manage time, people, communication, resources and budgets. Encourage two-way feedback.

A successful internship is making an investment in the leaders of tomorrow. Below are some of the elements of a successful internship program:

• Assign a mentor or staff member to periodically check in on how the intern is progressing.
• Introduce interns to co-workers and other important contacts within the organization. An official welcome will help interns feel part of the team.
• Clearly communicate job expectations. Encourage student interns to ask questions to clarify job responsibilities.
• Include interns in staff meetings and related professional activities where possible.
• Provide feedback regarding work performance that can contribute to the intern's professional growth.
• Familiarize student interns with company rules and policies.
• Assign the intern challenging tasks in several areas of the organization to enhance the learning process.