Posted by Not only is an internship program a great way to spread your employer brand to the next generation of workers, but more and more companies see these on-the-job learning opportunities as the best way to find new employees. This shows that investing in candidates at the beginning of their careers can lead to strong bonds between employers and employees over time.
Almost every college students in Malaysia do at least one internship before they graduate. At the same time, more and more professionals in the middle of their careers are looking for fellowships and internships that will let them try out a career or industry change before making a long-term commitment.
Before you can start looking for interns at any point in their careers, you need to think about the challenges intern programs can cause and make a plan to find, pick, and train the top workers of tomorrow.
Follow this process to start an internship program for your company:
1. Paid or Unpaid? Start with your plan for paying interns.
In the past, a lot of companies did not pay their interns. People thought that the knowledge they got during this internship program was enough to make up for the unpaid work. But people’s views have changed.
The first thing to consider is whether interns are covered by the Employment Act 1955. This is the rule that covers most workers in West Malaysia.
However, this rule won’t apply to interns because internships must be signed contracts for at least 2 years.
As a result, interns who work for less than two years aren’t covered by the Employment Act 1955. This means that other statutory employee perks, like the right to take time off, don’t apply in this case.
There isn’t any minimum wage rule in Malaysia that applies to interns. This means you don’t have to pay the minimum monthly wage in Malaysia, up to RM1,500.
But because the cost of living in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, is constantly increasing, companies must ensure that all their workers, interns and full-time workers, can make enough money to live on. You should also keep in mind that jobs are not just cheap work. Internships, on the other hand, are an excellent way for students to get experience and a good way for employers to find future employees.
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2. Figure out what your organization needs and what its goals are.
An internship program can help you grow your employer brand, build positive relationships with future talent in your sector, improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and strengthen your talent pipeline as you build relationships with regional and national educational institutions and professional associations.
Set your goals in order of importance and decide how ambitious you want to be based on how much time your team members can give you to help you reach your goals and give your interns a good experience. Start with just one or two interns in the first year and then grow there.
3. Make a way to hire people and get applications
Next, have HR talk with the heads of different departments to find out what qualities they want in an ideal intern and develop an application process to help you find suitable candidates. For example, you can say in your job description that applicants must have finished a certain course of study or earned a certain minimum GPA to be considered. You can ask applicants to send examples of their work, a portfolio, or skills tests.
Next, consider how you will inform people about your internship program. You could go to job events, talk to the college’s career development office, or contact professional groups in your field or area. Post your job description on popular job boards with a headline like “Internship” or “Paid Internship” and the sector or professional field you want to hire. This will make it more likely that qualified applicants will see your call for candidates when they use search engines or job boards to look for jobs.
4. Evaluate and choose your interns
Your selection method should have more than one step. For example, start with an application review to narrow the candidates to a manageable number. Depending on how many qualified candidates apply for your internship, the final stage of your screening process might include task-specific screening and a round of interviews, or you might be able to narrow down your applicant pool to meet your needs with a focused review of resumes and a single round of virtual interviews.
Have potential interns meet in person or online with a few of your staff members, including the person they are most likely to work closely with and the manager who will be their main supervisor during the internship. Ask them various interview questions, and especially if they are new to your field, give them a lot of made-up situations to see how well they can solve problems and work with other people.
A thorough and professional evaluation method will help you find the best person for the job. It will also give all applicants a taste of looking for work.
5. Welcome, manage, and teach
The time your interns spend at your company should be like what it’s like to work there full-time. Show them a simplified version of how you bring new employees on board. This may be the first time they learn about workplace safety, anti-harassment policies, and general cyber security best practices, which they will need for the rest of their careers.
Whether the internship program lasts a few weeks or a few months, each intern should have short-term and long-term goals that they work toward under the direct supervision of a boss who can act as a mentor. Most of the time should be spent learning new skills and practicing those skills through hands-on work.
At the end of the job, your interns should be happy with what they’ve learned and accomplished, which they can put in a portfolio or resume. Include networking opportunities inside and outside of your company at each process step.
6. Look at your internship program and make it better
At the end of the program, give people an anonymous survey so you can find out what they thought of it. Which idea did they like the most? Which skills do they think they will use most often in the future? What did they want to learn or do that they didn’t get to do or know? Would they take a steady job with your company if you offered it to them? What’s the deal?
Get similar feedback from the managers and workers with whom your interns worked closely. Are there any interns you should try to hire for a full-time job? Did the interns have the skills to get the most out of their time there? Does the internship program need more organization to make it more helpful or less disruptive for the people who work with interns the most?
Based on this feedback, you can change how you hire people, improve skill training, add more management, and make the next group bigger or smaller.
Posting internship opportunities on Jobstore.com is a great method to attract talented newcomers and mid-career professionals to your organization.
Anisa is a writer who focuses on career and lifestyle topics in an effort to motivate both job searchers and employers towards greater fulfillment in their professional lives.
Reach me at anisa@jobstore.com.