Businesses looking to grow or get through a particularly busy period are forced into a situation where they need to bring in more help. The problem here is that there is not always money in the budget to get the people you need, but that does not mean you can’t find good help. College students looking for some work experience can fill in a lot of the gaps in your business. An intern program is a win/win situation for you and the students brought in but enticing those bright young minds into your business isn’t always easy.
The reality is that students are picker now than ever before, with most looking to align themselves with businesses that have a proven record of being socially aware. You also need to offer up more than simply having a college kid come in to make coffee and grab lunch for everyone. College students want that valuable work experience, but they also want to feel as though they are part of something important. Coffee and doughnuts do not fall into that category. There are some things that you can do to effectively recruit talented students into your business, some of which we explain below:
- Become altruistic when you recruit students – Every business opens their doors with the idea of making money but doing so at the expense of everything else is not the way to go. Transparency is business is considered to be incredibly important nowadays, with potential employees now taking the time to peek behind the curtain to find the true message your enterprise delivers. When you are recruiting, show that you make every effort to help the community, both locally and globally, but be sure to do it in a modest way. You are not out for the Nobel peace Prize here; you are simply trying to prove that your company cares about more than the bottom line.
- Play to the needs of the students – College graduates do not expect to come out of school and immediately make a great salary, but they do have specific needs that have to be addressed. Most want a work environment where their voice can be heard, and their creative ideas taken on board. They also don’t want to have their social media “trolled” by Big Brother, although that does not mean that they should have the freedom to go online and blast the company or spend all day playing games. It’s more about having a balance between work and personal life, which is something a good company should deliver anyway.
- Put company ambassadors in place – If you have a former intern who parlayed that position into a full-time job with your company, get them onto your recruitment team. Students are sure to respond positively to someone who has already walked the path they are about to take. These ambassadors are especially important when you are heading onto college campuses to recruit for your company. Colleges do it when they are recruiting students, so why shouldn’t your business turn the tables and employ the same method?